a700hitter

What is Ben's philosphy?

New sig.

I think that those were the marching orders going into this season. They had a lot of fan capital to expend after 2013 so they just needed to put out a competitive product that played .500 ball. They just needed to put on a good show as 3.4 million fans came to pay homage to the new championship banner and bask in its glow. Going that route is a fine line , and they under shot the mark plus everything has gone wrong thus creating a disaster. This is what can happen when your FO deliberately holds back and is content to put together a competitive team (not a dominant one) and crosses its fingers. The approach was similar in 2013. The differences were that they didn't undershoot the mark and everything broke their way. Arrogantly, they thought they had hit on some formula for success combined with cost control. This year was hopefully their wake-up call. This approach is more likely to end up in a train wreck than a world championship. From 2003 to 2011 we consistently put out 90 plus win teams because they had constructed dominant rosters not rosters that would be competitive. I like Napoli, but on those teams he would have hit 7th or 8th not cleanup. If they think the formula for future success is to let Lester walk and go to a youth movement, they will be making an awful mistake. Frankly, I look at our prospects, and I don't see a lot of stars. XB and Bradley have 2/3 of a major league season under their belts and hopefully, they are just experiencing growing pains. They have not taken the league by storm as many had expected. Betts could be a very good player, but at 5'8" he is not going to be a big power hitter. Cecchini can't field, and he isn't tearing up AAA. We will be lucky if WMB becomes a Mark Reynolds type. His biggest score may be Jenny Dell. We don't have an OFer worth spit in the entire organization. Of our pitchers that everyone coos about Rubby is the closest, and I don't think he projects to the top of the rotation. Workman's name perfectly describes the type of pitcher that he can become. Barnes isn't dominating anyone and Webster still has no command of his pitches. Renaudo has me curious. A total youth move starting in 2015 will have a lot of people excited, but it will result in more long offseasons and boring Augusts and Septembers.

This wishful thinking is reminiscent of E1's Pipedream a few years back that had us getting King Felix.

Lol! Sometimes watching such crap on the field reminds me that it is time to take a bathroom break.

It will be marketed as a youth movement. People need to realize that teams going through youth movements almost always stink for a few years.

It looks like the Red Sox most important in-season acquisitions have been Steve Lyons and Gary Striewski.

This one looks to be over. There is only so much torture to which I will subject myself. I'll check back later and make the Hot Stove thread.

There should be spike in this poll after this performance.

oh yeah. We have some bullpen pieces to trade. Koji should bring a nice return. Why are they waiting? They are not going to re-sign him.

Rubby is clearly not finishing his fastball. It is leaking out up and away. They are able to lay off it and his off speed stuff is a sitting duck. Yet, the coaching staff seems to be in a coma. No one has run out there to straighten him out.

It's nice to be able to discuss sports with a mature reasonable person.

Inning should be over.

Does that count as a run given up by Bradley? That should factor into the metrics.

Not exactly Paul Blair like there on the play by Bradley. Well, he makes up for it with his bat. Lol!

I guess all that beard pulling enthusiasm takes too much energy when you are on the first year of a 2 year contract.lol!

we don't need bullpen help. The Yanks got a pretty good player in Headly for next to nothing. You don't have to sacrifice your future to help your team.

Please you can rebuild around a Championship without coming in last place. Besides wasn't 2012 the rebuilding year. How about we wake up and realize that the FO screwed up this year. At least Ben knows he screwed up and has taken accountability, which is why I am not calling him a boob.

If we lose today, I am going to start the 2015 Red Sox Hot Stove thread.

Thanks Pete.

Still playing Bradley. Well, after all, he is red hot.

Hey Pete. I could use a win to lift my spirits today. Yesterday was my mother in-laws funeral. She had been part of our household for the last 25 years.

July isn't even over and we have to resign ourselves to the fact that the team is completely out of contention. This is completely dispiriting to the fan base. I really hope that Fenway is a ghost town by the middle of August to send these chumps a message that sub .500 teams don't cut it for the Nation. I hope that they get so desperate with their stupid marketing gimmicks that they are offering free drycleaning with a game admission. Seriously, to go from a World Championship to last place the very next year is embarrassing. As I have posted before, it is like following a strike in bowling with 2 gutter balls. You just negated the advantage of getting a strike. What gets me is that this team was a trainwreck coming out of Spring Training and they did virtually nothing to right the ship. The one move that they made -getting Drew- buried the team deeper in the standings. The FO performance in building the 2014 team has been an utter failure. Good luck to them trying to sell extremely overpriced tickets in 4 game GamePax next season. Even the scalpers will not bite on those. Thank you Ben and Co. for providing the fans with nothing to care about in August and September and what will seem like an eternity of a Hot Stove season. This is like a restaurant serving a gourmet meal one day and the next serving up a putrid meal that gives you food poisoning. It is going to damage your franchise.

By all accounts, the Red Sox FO botched this situation. Small and medium market teams are retaining their aces before they hit the open market, but the Red Sox, one of the richest franchises in the game will let an ace walk in his prime. That's just a mess. So next season we will all get to coo about our young arms until the middle of June when we realize that you can't win anything with 2 rookies in the starting rotation.

De La Rosa vs. Stroman Game time 12:37 The last place Red Sox will go through the motions against the Jays today. Hopefully, Rubby can dominate the Jays lineup to give us a chance to win.