Gom

The Mariners are the favorites in the West.

Way to take my words out of context. I expected no less. That being said, I wonder what other teams would go for AG. I wouldn't sleep on the Braves.

Not at all. I just understand the business side of it, as in my own way, I'm in business with the Yankees. Their product on the field directly impacts me financially.

6-8 weeks for an old 3B? I'd be surprised... If you move Youk, you don't have a 1B worth s***. If you move Vmart to 1B, you don't have a catcher worth s***. You're short a player.

This is fair. It's your opinion, and you're entitled to it...and I respect you for it. I for one, do not want it fixed. I like my team winning. I also invest heavily in my team. I buy 10 season tickets, and sell them. This basically is my spending cash for the year. In a normal season, I profit around 7-8 thousand. In a World series year, it jumps to over 20 thousand. Why would I want that to go away? Fair play? Funny concept. I told you Dipre...trust me, I understand the business side of this better than anyone here.

In 2008...Yankees sign free agent. Red Sox FO cries, claim poverty. RSN buys it. In 2008...Red Sox don't sign any impact players. Claim poverty. RSN buys it. In 2009...Red Sox FO claim payroll contraints. RSN buys it. Red Sox then sign impact players. Increase payroll dramatically without any obvious increase in revenue stream. RSN buys it. You honestly don't see the hypocrisy of the Red Sox FO and the idiocy of the fans?

You don't remember Henry complaining about the Yankees signing Tex? Seriously?

Lowell to Texas is dead. My bad...it was already posted. Now you don't have a 3B for the beginning of the season. Good news for Yankee fans.

ORS...I've ALWAYS said that the Red Sox have the ability to spend, they just choose not to. You go with whatever they do. Explain to me, genius, where did this increase come from that would allow them to increase payroll so dramatically? Could it have been there all along, and you were too ignorant to see it? How is it the obvious can't be seen? Maybe this is what happens when the gene pools are not that different.

I get it...when they complained last year, their claims were legitimate. They couldn't possibly spend more than what was allocated in their budget. When they complained this year, and then swooped in and made signings, they were coy and smart and involved in misdirection. Somehow, their budget will increase by 27%, in a year where they were swept out of the first round, and didn't add in any appreciable revenue stream, and didn't lose any bad contracts. I get it. Thanks for clearing it up. I thought they were just full of s***, and that you were sheep. I was wrong. It's so obvious, how could I not have seen it? You made more sense when you cried like a baby and ran away.

Honestly..forget my points. Debate the Boston columnist. He's basically saying you're idiots if you believe your FO.

Yes, one year swings are inevitable. The Yankees payroll actually went down last year, even after signing CC, AJ, and Tex. The Red Sox are closing the gap on the Yankees payroll. All I'm saying is that the Red Sox FO is full of s***, and only an IDIOT would buy what they tell them. Consider yourself in either the enlightened or idiot group...it depends on which one you choose. Don't believe me, dude...your own columnists up in Boston are saying the same s*** I am. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2009/12/10/fans_shouldnt_buy_red_sox_bridge/ He tells you not to buy a bridge. I tell you that you're sheep. Same s***. f***ING THINK FOR YOURSELF.

Once again...what happened that caused this increase? I know baseball is a business, probably better than anyone here. It's a weak free agent class. They had no increases in revenue that we can see easily [no new stadium, network deal, increase in seating, etc]. What I'm saying is, if they did it this year, they could have done it all along. Which means their cries of poverty were ********. Bingo. Hypocrisy at it's finest.

Keep bleating. Your front office will let you know when to stop. Any intelligent Red Sox fan want to tackle this question?

Whatever dude...what happened this year, that you can spend like it's going out of style, but not last year? How come we're going to see an increase of nearly 27% in their payroll? Did they change ownership? Win a World Series? Increase seat capacity? Anything? No. They ALWAYS could. They chose not to. What Yankee fans and smart Red Sox fans have said all along. Instead, they convinced the SHEEP that they couldn't, and they believed it. Now they spend, and you guys applaud them for it. Why not last year? The year before? Answer this...why?

Where do you get this number? Let me guess...you got it from Cot's baseball contracts. Have you noticed that the following players do not have contracts listed [2009 salary in brackets, rounded to nearest 100K]? Papelbon [6.2 mil] Kotchman [2.9 mil] Okajima [1.75 mil club option] Iglesies just signed 4 year, 8.25 million, so add in about 2.06 million since I don't know the details] Delcarmen [.48 mil] Ellsbury [.45 mil] R. Ramirez [.44 mil] Lowrie [.41 mil] Buchholz [.41 mil] R.A. Ramirez [.4 mil] Just bringing back the same players at the same salary will result in a payroll increase of 15.5 million. If the rumored Lowell deal goes through, and you send 9 million, you save 3.5 million. Add in Beltre for at least 10 million AAV, and what do you get? 22 million above the current payroll, which jumps you to 155 million. This doesn't count the 5 players who saw time last year or figure to this year, figure each one [or similar players] at 0.4 million [bard, Bowden, Brown, Doubront, M. Wagner]. That's another 2 million. Now we are up to 157 million...and that doesn't take into effect any raises you might have for any of your pre-arb players. I'm not that far off..but you are.

Ok, I'll play nice. No name-calling. Defend your position.

No, it's a Red Sox FO bashing. They always had the ability, they chose not to do it. Every single person who defended it now feels like an idiot for being played. The anger should be directed towards their own FO, not the Yankees. Who said I was baiting? I was 100% serious.

I vote this as your most insightful post ever. You are improving, my friend.

Johnson will hit 20. Granderson will hit 35. The Yankee defense has improved. If I was the Yankees, I'd go get Damon for one year, 12 million and move Melky to the Cubs for a bar of soap.

Fellas.... The Red Sox have fooled pretty much every Red Sox fan except for a700. Their payroll will be close to what...about 170 million or so? So all this complaining about the Yankees being able to outspend everyone by 60-70 million is a crock of s***. The Red Sox were always able, they just chose not to. They had you guys convinced that you "couldn't" compete with the Yankees. It was never "couldn't"...it was always "wouldn't". They maybe couldn't go dollar to dollar with the Yankees, but they sure as hell could do better than 60 cents on the dollar. Finally, people realize that they've been lied to...and what you guys should be asking is this...why didn't they do this before?