TheKilo

Yeah great idea...let's give the WS Ball to the team drunk.

Farrell Likely to stay with WS winner

He said motherf***er.

I'm sorry, but the goal of the FO is to make the team better. I wouldn't give ARod 8 years. But would having ARod and Bonds on the '08 Sox make them better? You tell me...

Papelbon's lucky they tape Letterman far in advance.

Why wouldn't they take Crisp? He's a young, cost controlled CF and fills a need for them. I don't think this trade happens either, but Crisp could be a chip Minnesota looks for.

No. The state of the game being "designated" designated hitters. Ortiz, Giambi, Hafner, etc. You can't sit here and tell me having these guys instead of a pitcher makes things difficult for the NL to win. edit - Besides, I don't have any problem with my team spending money. I have to put up with s*** like "President of RSN" and "Sox Appeal." And since when do the Sox buy good free agents, Mr. LUGOforMVP?

Again, while I can't totally disagree with this, the state of the game today puts the NL at an extreme disadvantage, and as a result, will be hard pressed to win more than 50% of the World Series unless something drastic changes.

While I don't disagree with you, I find it very hard to believe that they'll sign Bonds, ARod, and Schilling in the offseason (I believe you said you had Schilling in the '08 rotation)

Man, I'm loving JB's posts. Can you say why you're so high on Chris Carter? I'm wondering why he hasn't gotten his shot before. Is it because of the ballpark he hit in in the minors?

Get ready, Cooperstown!

I think the Off Season can be summed up with a few questions: 1. Will they re-sign Schilling? 2. Will they re-sign Lowell? 3. Will they trade Crisp? 4. Who fills out the bench? 5. Do they really feel comfortable slotting both Buchholz and Lester in the rotation? 6. If they sign Lowell and Schilling, does that remove them from the ARod sweepstakes?

The way I see it, the Sox have about $45 million to spend on Free Agency this offseason. The question then becomes what does the OD Roster look like, and where do you spend the money? Opening Day Roster: C - Varitek 1B - Youkilis 2B - Pedroia SS - Lugo 3B - ??? LF - Ramirez CF - Ellsbury RF - Drew Bench: Backup C (?) Cora Crisp (?) Moss (?) Kielty (?) Pitchers: Beckett Matsuzaka Wakefield Okajima Papelbon Delcarmen Tavarez Buchholz Lester Timlin (?) Schilling (?) Corey/Lopez/Snyder (?)

I think a fundamental question for the FO is to first ask how much money are they willing to spend? They spent $ 143,026,214 in 2007. Of the players who are signed through next season: [table]Player|2008 Salary M. Ramirez|$20,000,000 J. Drew|$14,000,000 D. Ortiz|$12,500,000 J. Lugo|$9,000,000 J. Varitek|$9,000,000 D. Matsuzaka|$8,000,000 J. Beckett|$9,500,000 T. Wakefield|$4,000,000 C. Crisp|$4,750,000 J. Tavarez|$3,850,000 A. Cora|$2,000,000 H. Okajima|$1,250,000 C. Hansen|$700,000[/table] By my count, that's $98,550,000, assuming JT's option is picked up. Then you have the people who are potential free agents: [table]Player|2007 Salary C. Schilling|$13,000,000 M. Clement|$9,500,000 M. Lowell|$9,000,000 E. Hinske|$2,800,000 M. Timlin|$2,800,000 D. Mirabelli|$750,000 K. Snyder|$500,000 B. Corey|$500,000 J. Lopez|$400,000 B. Donnelly|$1,400,000[/table] You also have to factor in Eric Gagne, Bobby Kielty, and Royce Clayton. All in all, we see that $41,150,000 is coming off the books as of now, not including what we pay the other three. Kevin Youkilis, Javier Lopez, Kyle Snyder, and Brendan Donnelly are all arb-eligible. Papelbon, Buchholz, Ellsbury, Delcarmen, etc. are still under the Sox's control.

IF Pettitte doesn't come back, the Yanks are left with an opening day rotation of: Wang Mussina Hughes Kennedy Joba 3 rooks and Mussina?

http://a736.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/6/l_fec2733f93a961e67217c41b2586e1e7.gif

If this team is willing to pay Clemens $18 mil for half a season, they can spend $13 mil on Schilling. Gordon Edes thinks he's gone: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/10/31/schilling_seems_headed_for_exit/ I'm very skeptical of unnamed sources.

That's all well and good but what the hell did you mean with your other points?

http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2007/10/30/1193796661_2873/410w.jpg

Ortiz is actually very underrated with his glove. His range isn't great, but he's got soft hands. It's not as ridiculous as people here are making it out to be. I just don't think it's very realistic. I would not be opposed at all to adding Bonds's bat to this lineup, especially for a one year commitment. ARod is a different story because it's such a long contract. What? What? What happens if Lowell gets 5 years guaranteed on the FA market? Are you willing to bring him back then?

Two in my mind. Buchholz's no hitter because I was there. The second shouldn't be a surprise at all to anyone who has read my posts this season. The best moment of the year for me was JD Drew's Grand Slam in Game 6 of the ALCS. I'm probably the biggest Drew fanboy on this board. The amount of crap that he had to deal with all season, both on the field and off, had to have made that so sweet for him. As much as he struggled this season (there's no denying that), the manner in which he conducted himself should be lauded. He's a quiet professional, comes to work every day, and never gets too high or too low. He's not like Youkilis, who wears his emotions on his sleeve. He's like Jason Varitek, a real professional. I know not many people like him because of his injury history and/or the fact he doesn't look like he cares (if you listen to his interviews you can tell he cares, and how much this season sucked for him); or maybe it's because he replaced everyone's favorite dirt dog. Whatever the reason may be, the venom that was directed at Drew this season was at times embarrassing and unnecessary. [youtube=I Could Watch This All Day]hReY0ISo2-c One last one - Wakefield's interview with DO on Sunday and what Timlin said about Wake. Pure class. http://www.boston.com/partners/worldnow/nesn/landingpage.html?clipid=1877543&topVideoCatNo=80767&c=80767&autoStart=true&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage

Because it is the FO's responsibility to field the best team possible.

Agreeeeeeeeeeeeeed