TedWilliams101

I don't know what to think of Coco anymore. I agree that they should let him swing away, he seems to do best when he is just trying to rake the ball than work the count and draw out a walk. He just doesn't look comfortable. I can't wait to see Ellsbury play for the sox, but I don't want to rush him. I'll leave the sox to figure that out, as they know best. I really hope Crisp wakes up because I think he can be a great potential. But if not, I wouldn't mind a trade. But they need to give him freedom and figure out whats going wrong. Let him do what he does how he does it.

Can we cut out the spaming? Who cares about Jacksonian and Crespoblows. This is supposed to be discussion about THE GAME. Can we get back to that? Either discuss Dice-K's great start or don't post at all. It's annoying to see all this spam when I actually want to discuss that game. Grow up boys. I was really impressed with Dice-K. 10 Strikeouts was far more than what I expected and he managed to get himself out of jams in grand fasion. Its reall obvious now that he has such a great mentality. Hes a rock. I can't wait to see him pitch at yankee stadium, I think he'd be even calmer! I'm not too worried about the offense, as they will get better along with the weather. I am worried about Tek, Lugo, and Crisp though. I have been really impressed with Pedroia, he's really been swinging the bat well. I wouldn't be surprised if he was bumped up the lineup in not too long if crisp doesn't find his stroke.

Unfortunately I will have to start class right at first pitch (GRRR....). Hopefully I'll be back in time to see Paps get his first save of the season.

Anything less than a sweep would be pretty pathetic. Schilling, Beckett, Dice-K. Those should be easy wins against KC.

I agree that an elite starter is "better" than an elite closer, but if you look at this move from both a team and individual standpoint, its a win-win situation. The team needed a closer desperately and had arguably the best rotation in baseball. Thats a fact. Moving Papelbon to the bullpen fills our HUGE hole and the team is stronger now. Papaelbon also said he wants to be a closer for the rest of his career. He himself said he pitched in the pen during college and in the minors before they had him a starter. And he seems to be made for closing. He has the electricity, the stuff, the mindset, etc. It can be extremely hard to find an exceptional closer, don't mess with it. NOW, the facts. Papelbon had a historic rookie year closing last season. Thats a fact. He IS an elite closer. He's already proven that. NOW, he HAS NOT proven that he can be an elite starter. SO, here I ask you, why mess with something that is worked out perfectly. We need a closer, and he may be the best in baseball. Isn't it logical to have him close when we have essentially 3 aces in the rotation? And again, we still don't know how effective he would be starting. Could he consistantly go more than 5 innings? Can he mix his pitches enough to go 3 times through the line-up? Can he maintain his stamina, meaning less heat on his pitches so that he doesn't wear out quick and he can reach back for more stuff when he needs it? These are all unanswered questions. The facts are that we needed a closer while we had a great rotation. Moving papelbon fills the hole while not greatly affecting the rotation. And its a fact that Papelbon is an elite closer, he's proven it. He hasn't proven to be an elite starter though. It would be a mistake to use this season as an experiment with Paps, when we already know he is amazing at closing games.

Papelbon IS the closer and SHOULD be the closer. Period. He wants to be and the team desperately needs it. On top of that, he was AMAZING closing last year. Why on earth would you want to change his role when he was amazing at it last year? Keeping him the closer is the best decision. I like Tavarez as the #5 starter to begin the season and then give the spot to Lester once he is ready mid-season. Maybe we'll pick up Clemens and put him in the #5 spot later in the season. Also, what if Tavarez actually does a great job as a starter? Would you still give his spot up to Lester mid-season, or would you let Lester stay in AAA and let Tavarez stay in the rotation? Would you fool with something that was working just to get Lester into the roster? I think we should only bring Lester in mid-season if Tavarez is struggling in anyway. If he is solid, I'd let Lester take his time coming back and keep him in AAA.

The problem is that the FO was WRONG when they "fired" him because they thought he was done. It would be like a boss wanting to hire the guy the fired when they realized he is still the top of his game 10 years later. (Maybe now not the top, but he would be a great #4 or #5 starter)

This is awesome. They cleared his arm, so we shouldn't really have to worry about injury risk. They wouldn't move him to the pen if it wasn't perfectly fine with his shoulder. I'm sure they will make sure he is nice and healthy too. And he wants to close for the rest of his career, so for the first time in a long while, it looks like we now have a fanchise closer that we'll hopefully see for the next 10 years. I love this move.

I agree, Benitez would be a waste of time. He's a piece of s***, more so than our s*** currently trying to be closers. Theo needs to stop being stupid and trade for a closer now before its too late. Delcarmen sucks, he always has. Just because he grew up in Roxbury doesn't mean he deserves to be a RS prospect. Hansen hasn't looked very good lately either. I would trade either of them to get a solid closer. I'd rather have a good shot at a World Series this year and maybe next year, then worry to much about the long term and not have a chance at winning anything this year. If Timlin, Donnelly, Peniero, or Tavarez end up closing this season, we can kiss this year good bye.

I hate our FO. Thats all I have to say.

Adam Dunn... O god. He's basically an older, white Willy Mo. Strikes out nearly 200 times a year, TERRIBLE BA. Average with the glove at best. I don't know why we would ever be interested in him. He doesn't even come close to our high OBP philosophy.

I was watching the game and cought that. I laughed a little ":lol: hehe thats funny... thats a joke right... He can't be serious... See tavarez close for a game would probably make me puke out my intestines. Then again, Piniero would probably do the same to me.

I know ST really doesn't mean that much, but I'm worried about the guy. He hit only .257 after the all-star break and he's now 33. I don't know about you, but that is certainly cause for concern, especially where he had a terrible season in 05.

Does anyone thing he has any gas left in the tank, because I sure don't. He's now hitting under .100 this spring and that and his slip during the second half of last season is great cause for concern. We should have gotten rid of him and persued Huff. Oh well. I really hope the FO gets rid of Delcarmen, Tavarez, and Lowell so they can get Helton and move Youk to 3rd.

And our #5 spot this year will be Wake, or maybe even Lester. Talk about a good rotation.

I can't wait to see him pitch this season. He looked good yesterday, and he said he's only at about 40-50%. I'd like to see him when he thinks he's pitching 100%, he might be unstoppable. Speculation aside, I think he'll be great. Living right next to Fenway, I can't wait for the season to start. Hopefully I'll end up seeing a start or 2 by him at the park.

I'd much rather get Darrell Jackson from Sea. There is speculation that the Pats might turn to him instead, possibly getting a better deal. He is just as tallented, but seems to be more professional. Randy Moss seems like a head case after what has happened the last 2 years. I'd rather a team player who we don't have to worry about.

I'm very worried about our bullpen. They got lit up today and I don't expect to see many of them step-up and do anything great. I think Donnelly and Okajima will be good this season, Im very worried about the rest. Anybody else look at Delcarmen's performance today and imagined how much better Helton would be in our lineup than Delcarmen in our bullpen?

I wouldn't ever put my money on Iricho in a HR derby when Ortiz, Howard, etc were competing.

Yes, but I don't think he has the pure strength and stamina to hit 10 jacks, sit down, then get up hit a ton more, sit down, get up and hit more. Power hitters are bred that way, they train to build strenth and stamina to knock lots of balls out of the park. Ichiro, however, doesn't. Sure he can hit homers, but I certainly don't think he could hit more in 3 rounds than some of the big power hitters.

I heard that Ichiro has been asked to join in on the homerun derby but has opted out, but I just can't take any one serious who thinks he is a homerun derby favorite. Have you seen the type of damage Abreu, Ortiz, Tejada, and Howard have done recently, just to name a few. They are power hitters with power swings. Ichiro isn't a power hitter, nor does he have enough actual power to contest with the big guys. Sure, he can hit homers, but he doesn't have the same type of strength, stamina, and pure homer swing that the others do, simply cause thats what they do. Oh, and yes, I am a gambling man. Smart gambling man, as in I play lots of poker, winning poker. I don't lose money gambling when I can't get an edge and have a positive expected value return on my money.

Ichiro a favorite in the homerun derby... AHAHAHAHAH. Your telling me he's a favorite over Ortiz, Howard, etc etc. Wow, thats one of the most funny things I read in a while.

I know, but I don't think it is necessary that he is the fastest player. Thats not the type of player he is. You don't need your power hitters swiping bases. You need them driving in runs, and no one does it better than Pujols. Just look at fantasy rankings. The entire point of that is getting the best players possible. There is a reason why Pujols is the #1 ranked fantasy player.

Why is it necessary that Pujols be speedy? And sorry, but he can steal a base when he wants, as he stole 16 bases in 05. But realistically, how many opertunities do you have to steal a bag if you always slug over .600? I'm pretty sure you can't steal a bag if the pitch went over the fence or your standing at second with a double.

Pujols is the best hitter in baseball. Period. Maybe he'll turn into the best ever. He also plays above average first. What more can you ask for? He hits for really high average, insane power, has great plate coverage and pitch selection, walks a s*** load, has one of the most rediculous walk-strike out ratios ever, gets RBI and is arguably the most clutch hitter in baseball. I would be suprised if this guy doesn't win tripple crown at least once in the next 5 years. He's that good.