a700hitter

The offense is #3 in the league. The pitching stinks. There is no enigma.

BTW, you have stated that but for the poor offense in May, that the Red Sox would have been in first place at the All Star break.

He is a power hitter and he said that he wanted to play for us.

So, you no longer maintain the position that our last place position is enigmatic? BTW, you have stated that but for the poor offense in May, that the Red Sox would have been in first place at the All Star break.

No, it is not about that. Manny played shallow and got to a lot of balls that since he left have fallen in as base hits. He also had a pretty good idea of how to play caroms off the wall, and while he had only average arm strength, he got rid of the ball very quickly and he was pretty accurate. He was far better than Hanley.

Agreed.

Manny was Yaz compare to Hanley. But I do agree that his offense does not justify or make up for his defensive shortcomings, which is why I think they need to shed him.

The discussion was regarding whether he could play 1B. I say give it a shot in 2015 to see if it is a possibility. You were skeptical because of his lack of focus, which you stated was not intentional. No one else brought up either his lack of focus and whether or not it is deliberate. I asked you why intent was important. That is how it started.

No one ever accused him of deliberately being a malcontent, so why bring it up?

I didn't say that he would have made the team better. That would have been a hypothetical. I said that Cruz wanted to come to Boston and that Ortiz recommended him to management and that he cost $30 million less than Hanley and he would not have had to change positions and that Boston made no attempt to kick the tires on him. None of that is hypothetical.

If you are truly a devotee of statistics, the larger seasonal numbers tell the more accurate story of the team's season. To pick out a month of bad offense and conclude that it is the reason for the horrid season, is misleading cherrypicking. If our pitching was middle of the pack or better to go along with the #3 offense, you would have to dig deeper for an explanation and maybe the flat offense in May would be the answer, because top 3 offense and top half pitching finishing in last place would be an enigma. However, top 3 offense paired with dead last pitching fininshing in last place is no mystery. It means that the pitching sucks and needs a lot of improvement.

Those "if this had gone, wrong people would have been mad" hypotheticals are childish arguments. What they did has gone wrong and we are hearing it. If it had gone right everything would be coming up roses. I prefer to deal with what is and not what hasn't been.

Over the course of a season, that doesn't matter.

As of this morning the Red Sox offense is 3rd in on base percentage and runs scored. They remain dead last in ERA by a comfortable margin. Surprise surprise. What an enigma!

Chalk up a big assist to our coaching staff in yesterday's loss. In the 9 inning with the bases loaded two out and the winning run on second base, Lovullo did not pinch run for Ortiz. That decision was compounded by Butterball sending Ortiz to his death at home plate by 20 feet on a hit that was fielded so close to the infield that the left fielder could shake the shortstops hand. Why not leave him 90 feet away and give Swihart a chance for the walk off? We have lost a ridiculous number of base runners on plays that have not been close or that just went against the book. Does Butterball think about what he is going to do out there?

Two guys who were considered damaged goods and over the hill coming into this season have helped propel the Yankees into first place this season -- Mark Texeira and ARod. Pedey's physical problems have not been as severe as theirs. He is also younger than both of them. He is only 32 years old. BTW, Happy Birthday, Pedey! There is no discernible diminution of his skills. He seems to have rebounded from his hand troubles as his power numbers are up over last season. There should be plenty of optimism that he will continue playing at a high level for a few years. His contract is reasonable enough too. This trade Pedey bandwagon is silly. The guy is a great player even though some think he only gets attention because he is a little white guy. That is absurd and incorrect. Pedey is not the problem and Ortiz is not the problem. Every time Ortiz goes into a slump everyone writes his obituary. He is on pace for better than 30 bombs and close to 100 RBI. I posted this before he went on his most recent tear. Guys like that are not a problem. The fact that he no longer OPSs at 1.000 doesn't mean that he is ready for the bone farm. Message to Ben or his successor, it isn't Pedey. It isn't Ortiz. It is the pitching stupid!

And the Red Sox decided to be holier than thou and put together a white bread team devoid of controversy and way short on talent.

We could have had a real power hitting outfielder with $31 million left over to spend on pitching.

Clown Town Time. That about describes it. But it isn't intentional. That would be much worse.

Breslow is a disaster.

And now we have Breslow in the game.

The Red Sox come all the way back to tie the game at 8-8 on Shaw's two out 9th inning bases loaded hit. Why in the world did the third base coach send Ortiz to his death at the plate. He was out by 20 feet. Butterball sucks.

That would work, but we are still going to have Miley and Porcello. If we have 2 rookies in the rotation with them, that leaves room for 1 stud. That won't work.

We don't know who has used (except for those who got caught) and who didn't. It doesn't really matter to me. If the guy is going to hit 40 bombs for us I'd root for him. We have probably unknowingly been rooting for many cheaters throughout the years.

Recent hiccups by ER and Owens highlights why our 2015 rotation should not feature 2 rookies. Let one win a job. The others are depth.