a700hitter

Hey, SFF good to see you. Did you get to Fenway this season?

I think you are borrowing trouble. If he is performing well in the first two years, will you be actively worried about the back end of his contract? I like to live in the moment when it come to sports. That is just me. I am not criticizing you for worrying about the future. Different strokes. I save my worries for my real life. Baseball is fun for me, and if the idiot owners want to throw around their money like it is Monopoly money, that is their business and their worries. The financial aspect of sports is so far out of hand that average people just can't relate to it. I am not worried about the Red Sox running out of money or going out of business. They will find a way to be very profitable, and they have a huge advantages and resources compared to other franchises, so I am not worried about them crippling the team with bad contracts. And really, how much worse could they do than 3 last place finishes.

I enjoyed the heck out of that World Championship. It was a dream come true to be at game 6 (even better that it was free), but I do shudder at the last place finishes.

i knew you would appreciate the humor.

Two ******* posts in a row. Go for three and win a prize. Lol!

So did you shudder at Pedro's contract or not? You are talking out of both sides of your mouth. If you would sign the guy and like having him on the team, what are you shuddering about. Just enjoy getting a great player to watch. I just don't get the shuddering thing. It just seems fatalistic to me. Not very optimistic.

Three last place finishes in four years is a golden shower.

I love the team and the players, but the GM did a terrible job and suffered the consequences. Good luck to him getting a GM job in the future. He didn't exactly cover himself in glory. It is very unusual for the Red Sox to fire its GM. Duke got fired as part of a regime change. Other than ownership changes, I can't remember when the Red Sox fired its GM. Criticism of the GM is not criticism of the team in my view.

If Papi gets 500-600 PAs this year, doesn't he vest for another year? I wouldn't be surprised if he plays 2 more years. If he does, then we signed HanRam for 4 years to take over DH in the last year of his contract. That is not a wise move in my opinion if that was the strategy.

Talk about evading an answer! If you shudder at all long term contracts, and since you didn't deny that Pedro's and Manny's contracts made you shudder, I would have to conclude that those contracts also made you shudder. If that is the case, fair enough. From day one of those acquisitions, I enjoyed every minute of watching those guys play, and I am glad that Duke had the balls to pull the trigger on those deals.

If he stinks from day one without being injured or because he didn't want to play in Boston or for some other reason that should have been discovered during due diligence, that would be a true enigma, and no one would be to blame. And the chances of that are less than one tenth of one percent (.001)

So you shuddered at the 8 year contract for Manny Ramirez and the 6 year contract for Pedro?

He will only stink if he is injured or he just doesn't want to play in Boston. The FO needs to do it it's due diligence on those issues. If he is healthy, he is not going to stink. That is not going to happen. He will perform in the early years, but age and wear and tear might result in underperformance in the later years of the contract. That would not be unexpected.

A funny prick. You get me.

Let's go Mets! In the ALCS, I like Toronto.

What price for Price wouldn't make you shudder?

It's your wacky pessimistic hypothetical. You tell us how you will react. The only thing that I am somewhat sure of is that I will be happy if they sign Price.

Wow, what a pessimist!

I know that McClain was a thief, but I thought he went to jail for looting a pension fund. I didn't know that he ran a bookie operation while still playing.

Second guessing is the right and province of the fan. We can't be fired. Speaking for myself, if we get a couple or 3 years of good performance from a player, I am good with that even if they stink at the end of their contract, but if we sign a guy for big bucks who is a bust on day 1, I will blame the FO.

LOL! But they would love not having to face him.

I am just speaking for myself. I am just a fan. I don't pretend to jibber jabber about budgetary matters other than my own. If the rest of you want to get involved in a micro-analysis of the team's finances, go right ahead if you find enjoyment in that. At the macro- level, $189 million for a last place team is an overpay. As for whether Kimmi will shudder if Price gets a $160 million deal from the Red Sox, you would have to ask her. I would not.

All that matters to the fans is whether they get Price or don't get him. Their budget and how they manage it is their concern. If they do a lousy job of it and put out a lousy product, that is my concern. If they sign price for $160 million, I am not going to lock myself in my bathroom and cry about how they can afford a bullpen. They need to find a way. Every team in their division found ways to be better than them the last 2 seasons, and those teams used very different approaches. Red Sox management found a way to pay more per win the last 2 years than probably any team in history.

I get all of that, but it is not my business. If they are not smart enough to manage their business without spending themselves into insolvency, they shouldn't own this kind of business. Their balance sheet is not my worry. Other teams sign these star ballplayers to big contracts and they manage to stay in business even when the players deteriorate at the end of the contracts. It can be done successfully. Our guys managed to spend $200 million the last 2 seasons and run a bunch of Yugos onto the field. In the end, I have no control over their finances, so I don't worry about it. I have control over whether I go to the games and spend my money. I don't go to many games if they have an uninspired last place team. The fact that they spent $200 million on garbage the last couple of years indicated to me that the organization needed changes. They have taken steps to address that, and we shall see if they made the right moves.

Yep, and when I can't afford to go to the games, I will stop going. I went only twice this year, because I didn't think the product on the field was worth the price. In the last game that I attended, I had my four seats all to myself. No one that I knew wanted to waste their time watching them and I couldn't even give the other 3 seats away. I think I had them listed on Stubhub for $10. In years when they are competitive and fun to watch, I go to between 10 and 12 games a season-- about one weekend series each month. I don't mind paying the price and I can afford it. It is one of the few luxuries that I indulge in. If they stink, at these high prices, I don't go. I can spend my money in more enjoyable ways than watching a last place team with no hope. If they get guys like Price or Greinke, they would be giving me something fun to watch. I would expect those guys to break down at some point (every athlete breaks down with age), and I would expect that management will find suitable replacements. In the end it is Henry's money and he has to figure out how to best market his team to make his target profit, but don't charge me $75 for a reserved ticket to see Buchholz, Porcello, Miley, Kelly and Masterson. Keep the tickets Mr. Henry if that is what you are offering. You wasted your money on those chumps, and I will not subsidize you. If you want my money, give me a good product. I don't care how he does it-- long term contracts, trades, voodoo. It makes no difference to me. He is in charge of a billion dollar enterprise. He needs to figure it out. I could give a rats ass about his balance sheet or whining about the back end of big contracts or excuses about not wanting to sacrifice the future for the short term. He is the head of the Boston Red Sox -- one of the richest and most elite baseball franchises. There is no excuse to finish last for 3 years out of 4. They should never have to make an excuse about sacrificing the future- that is a concern for small market teams. The Red Sox should be competitive almost every year. If a Canadian team can stock its team with Price and Tulo at the trading deadline and add them to a star studded power laden lineup that already includes Bautista, Encarnacion and Donaldson, save me the excuses for Mr. Henry and his clueless crew over the last several years. Spare me the excuses for management that hasn't produced a single meaningful arm since Buchholz. I am very hopeful that DD will right this ship of fools and produce a consistent winning competitive team. I will not shudder at the contracts if he brings in high producing talent.