Rdsxmbnt

Agreed on all fronts, great move. Fills a huge 1B hole for reasonable money and years

3 straight years of close to 200 IP, 3.70 ERA, solid peripherals, success in the AL last year, 29 years old.

If he'll take 4 years I think you have to bite at that. Wilson is a better pitcher but was also 2 years older and got a 5th year. I think I'd offer Sanchez 4/52 but would probably go all the way up to 60.

Nope he hit more HRs at home

I completely agree with you that the Red Sox need another Jackson/Sanchez/Marcum type FA starter and would be disappointed if Cherrington just sat on that. Completely disagree that Cherington being 'surprised' has anything to do with him getting his lunch eaten. Maybe he was surprised the deal got that big but I would bet that he knew exactly what it was going to take to get Johnson and wasn't about to take on 150mil of Reyes/Beuhrle in order to do it.

There's not enough information out there to possibly know this. Where are the facts that he really wanted Johnson? And don't you think the Marlins would call the Red Sox up and tell them they are about to deal Johnson to a division rival/make your best offer now?

This is just so false all around. Why the hell would the Red Sox participate in the FLA deal by taking on an absurd amount of bad contracts after they just did the reverse trade back in August???

Yes this exactly. I think given the league differences it would best best to compare the Sox to AL rotations. Rangers: Harrison - 213 IP Darvish - 191 IP Holland - 175 IP Next closest was 123 IP Oakland: Milone - 190 IP Parker - 181 IP Colon - 150 IP Next closest was 111 IP Yankees: Kuroda - 219 IP Sabathia - 200 IP Hughes - 191 IP Nova - 170 IP Next closest was 107 IP Orioles: Chen - 192 IP Next closest was 133 IP Tigers: Verlander - 238 IP Scherzer - 187 IP Porcello - 176 IP Fister - 161 IP Next closest was 99 IP Those are the 5 AL playoff teams. Only the Yankees had 2 200 IP guys. Most teams had one 200 IP and another close, but the rest of the rotation is fairly limited. Doubront was at 160 IP this year and could probably be bumped to 170-180 and be right in line with these rotations. The point isnt to have 5 horses but rather one or two and DEPTH. Cherrington has some sick young arms almost ready to come up in De La Rosa/Webster/Barnes/Morales and if they can have Lester/Buchholz be those 190 IP+ guys then we are getting closer.

Your expectations for what a good rotation looks like are extremely out of whack. There were only 30 pitchers in all baseball last year who topped 200 innings, and only 12 were in the AL. Doubront would slot into the 4/5 slot, theres no way the expectation for that slot should be a top 30 pitcher in baseball.

It happened back in August

Yes but it's not like we were a good team and just need to replace that .812 OPS in order to remain a good team. Realistically we need to replace that production with someone better (a lot better) in order to go from mediocre team to good team. The argument then is that Gonzalez going at full strength is that guy which is why he's hard to replace.

Completely different scenario. Theo was getting promoted in his new role in the cubs, while Farrell was lateraling. Its convention that bench coaches for example are allowed to freely interview for manager positions since that is viewed as a promotion, why wouldn't that more or less apply to GM -> President? Why can't the Red Sox find the best current manager in baseball under contract and take him from that team for nothing? Because teams want compensation. If a team wants to keep a bench coach from being manager of another team, then you have two options. Make him the manager or let him go, that isn't the case here.

There's only 30 teams, even less big market ones. That means there are 30 manager jobs out there, he probably just took the first one he was offered.

Lot of different ways today could turn out, what do you want to see? A Red Sox loss and a Marlins win moves them up in the draft. A Red Sox win and a Orioles loss forces a one game playoff. The O's and Yanks are each guaranteed two chances to make the ALDS round (EDIT if the Yanks lose and O's win). Whoever loses gets another another one game playoff, whoever wins gets in automatically. Will be interesting to see rotation strategies from here on out. But anyway this is it for the 2012 Red Sox, it's all over but the crying.

Our best young pitcher for a manager who is managing a team that is somehow WORSE then weakest Red Sox team in decades? I like Farrell but there are so many other candidates out there who can manage well.

Its more a function of how the Phillies have played rather than Lee. His QS% is close to 70% which is pretty good even in an 'off' year for him.

Doesnt fit the agenda

It's because you base your opinions off tiny sample sizes

Everyone wants a top 5 SP but you don't NEED one. Who is the Texas ace? Who is the Oakland ace? Baltimore? Atlanta? St Louis? The point is you don't need a brand name Sabathia/Strasburg/Felix/Price/Verlander/Weaver to be a good team. You need DEPTH and that depth needs to be good enough to keep your team in baseball games. With the Red Sox offense (pre trade) and 5 SP that all put up 4.00 ERAs the team would have been top 5 in baseball. Again five #2/#3 type SP are much better than a standard 1-2-3-4-5 group led by a king felix. If the Red Sox came out with a rotation of Lester/Buchholz/Garza/Josh Johnson/Lackey, I think theyd be in a lot better shape then if they dealt Lester+ to get a king felix and be left with Felix/Buchholz/Doubront/Morales/Lackey

He was before he got injured and was dam good in his 10 starts as a 22 year old. I definitely think he has a chance to make the rotation in Boston next year and I think they'll give him every chance to do so.

Definitely not: Home OPS: 1.009 Road OPS: .736 He seems like a product of Coors Field

If not SS then LF makes the most sense since we aren't locked into Crawford anymore and Iglesias could solidify his spot

Here's the thing though, if you look at the offense (second in runs scored), it is pretty elite. That's without full seasons of Crawford, Ellsbury and under performing guys like Gonzalez and Pedroia. I think all those guys back next year keeps this an elite group. Bullpen also is pretty good, 3.38 ERA and has been even better than that since the awful start. Bailey will be an elite piece to add and any number of AAA guys could be impact pitchers also. I think we're ok here too. The problem has been Beckett and Lester. They are supposed to be your top guys and give you a chance to win the majority of games. The team is a pathetic 16-27 in their starts. On the other hand all the other pitchers (Buchholz, Cook, Morales, Doubront, etc) have combined for 41-32 which is good out of the back end of your rotation. If the team goes just .500 in Beckett/Lester starts then we are in a wildcard spot. I think adding Johnson, who will pitch innings and keep us in ball games, and counting on a Lester resurgance will make us a winning team. The Yankees are 27-16 in Sabathia/Kuroda starts, if those guys were as bad as Lester/Beckett the Yankees would have the same record as us. Bottom line you need your top two guys to win games. I think we can count on Lester to potentially do that, I think the 2nd piece is what we need to find. EDIT: Also, for 2011 up until September, the team went 35-17 in Beckett/Lester starts and as a result the team was a run-away favorite. That's the kind of production you need out of your 1/2 slot

DiceK is a free agent after this season so definitely assume he is gone forever

Lineup looks to be pretty good already going into next year. Gonzalez and Pedroia are back to hitting like all-stars and even Crawford looks pretty good which is promising. For lineup I'd go: 1. Ellsbury CF 2. Crawford LF 3. Pedroia 2B 4. Gonzalez 1B 5. Ortiz DH 6. Middlebrooks 3B 7. Ross RF 8. Lavarnway C 9. Aviles SS Rotation wise I'd unload Beckett and take the hit. Doubront should have quite a bit of value and could be a center-piece to get a legitimate #2 type SP like Josh Johnson 1. Buchholz 2. Lester 3. Johnson 4. Lackey 5. Morales