Dojji

Already been announced in Morales' case. Would not shock me to see Miller take some starts too. They might not decide to mess with a good thing, but all the upside that ever existed with this guy is still there

There's never going to be depth by your definition of the term.

One thing Fenway is not suited to is the kind of offensive game Napoli plays. Fenway suits itself best to righthanded line drive hitters with solid contact ability. Not heavy bombers like Napoli. I don't think he'll fail to hit here, but park factors won't be why.

Three years ago? Definitely. Now? NWIH. We have "depth," we're 9 deep if you count Morales and de la Rosa breaks camp in the Pawtucket rotation. We need high end pitchers or nothing. Right now our rotation is set. Lester, Buchholz, Dempster, Lackey, Doubront. Some of you might not like Lackey, and the rest of us flat out hate him, but he breaks camp in the rotation, no way he doesn't. Depth is Morales, Aceves, de la Rosa, plus possibly Miller, Barnes and Webster. Miller, Aceves and Morales can probably each "swing" into a starting role though there's a distinct heirarchy in terms of which guy I'd prefer first, (Morales first, followed by Aceves and then, in desperate situations, Miller). I have to think we're loading up so much in bullpen arms because they're going to try to pull guys from the pen to spot start if they have injury trouble this year so this "depth" isn't as illusionary as it would have been under Tito..

*double-checks numbers* OK I don't know whose numbers I had mixed up with Miggy's in my own mind, but I'm wrong, you're right. Miggy pretty much picked up where Manny left off.

I think the Sox think they can win. I also think that getting Hanrahan is aimed at helping us win. I also think the Sox aren't deluded that they're any kind of frontrunner. What they're doing amounts to not locking the door and throwing away the key just in case lady luck starts knocking.

No he isn't. He's elite. but he's not a player that makes my gut churn to see my best pitchers facing him the way Manny must have in his heyday, or the way Ichiro did as a generational caliber contact hitter. He's an exceptional cleanup type, incredibly valuable, I'd love to have him on the Sox, but he's no more generational than Kevin Youkilis was at his peak. Nor is he any more generational than, say, Adrian Gonzalez.

I've seen the word to mean both. But all that really means is neither of you can say with any confidence that the other is wrong. When I think of something being elite, depending on the context what I think of is something in the range of top 10% to top quartile. A relative statement in other words. Generational talent is a whole different plane of discussion. A player can be the best in the league at his position -- elite in any reasonable definition of the word -- and not be generational. CC Sabathia is probably elite. He was the ace of a very good team and in play for the Cy a few years straight. NWIH is he generational. Pitchers have come and gone on a regular basis that stand out more than he does. Ditto for Cliff Lee. The only real generational talent I can think of right now who's currently playing is Justin Verlander. That's the guy who's going to get remembered after he's done, if anyone is. I'm not convinced any other SP, or any hitter, is special enough right now. Stanton is on his way but has a ways to go. No one else is really doing it for me yet. And then of course just to muddy the waters a bit, there's generational PLAYERS who are not generational TALENTS. A classic example is Curt Schilling. He's generational in the sense that Bill Mazeroski was generational. What he did over a short period of time was far bigger and added far more to the game than the sum of his numbers.

Anonymous speculation and thirdhand anonymous sources? Yep. It's definitely hot stove season.

A 1B/corner OF who's pretty good in right field. He could platoon with Gomes and back up 1B too. Looking at the Pirates roster for players who could be imvolved in a trade like this, and the Sox would want, Garrett Jones is easily the single most obvious fit for a second player.

Salty was a WAG on my part based on what we had to give that the Pirates might be interested in. At the time I had no idea that Martin was signed by Pittsburgh and thought a second catcher with 1B experience and a 20 HR bat would be a pretty fair fit.

I'm just trying to figure out what the Sox would give up 4 players for. If Salty goes the other way, I can def see Jones coming back, and we could use a platoon LHH who can play some outfield and is not Daniel Nava.

Jones could platoon with Gomes too. Pretty solid splits vs RHP. It could work pretty well.

Salty, Iglesias, Sands, Stolmy, for Hanrahan and garrett Jones would make me a happy camper, and there would be a lot there to sell to Pirates fans too.

Hard to, yes. Sands is hardly proven, and Pimentel lost some value last year. Another solid little move by Cherington. He's slowly building a pretty interesting team. I donno if they'll win anything, but I like what he's trying to do. I'd say it's increasingly likely that Morales is "in the mix" for one of the rotation spots given how much we're loading up the pen. As a power lefty, I can't hate that move either. He's got every chance in my mind to be a very good SP. That and the Dempster acquisition pretty much closes the rotation out with 6 options that aren't going anywhere before Spring (Lester, Buchholz, Doubront, Dempster, Lackey, Morales, with RdlR and Webster in the mix as replacements) so I don't see another big arm coming to Boston -- but I'm also not sure we really need one

Iggy and Salty. That's a deal with some fair upside on inexpensive players for the Bucs, and we get a good power arm back. Not a bad deal.

Montreal > Carribean. Carribean fans love their beisbol but they can't support a big league team. Montreal did so for decades before their ownership became toxic. Put Montreal in the AL East. THey have a rivalry with Boston. They have a rivalry with Toronto. They would play against the best and richest baseball team in the world (NYY). Tons of reasons to come see a game in the AL East. A lot more than when the nearest divisional rival was the Mets or Phillies. Although I'm normally strictly against relocation or contraction, if the Tampa Bay Rays played in Montreal I think both the league and division would be tougher and more interesting.

Rumor is the Pirates want Doubront. If that happens, I will be very upset.

It would give Lavs an opportunity at least. Salty at first, Sands backs up first and fills in in the outfield. Lavarnway and Ross split catching duties. There's a lot to recommend this configuration.

You're getting a bit too exotic. Most likely, if the Napoli trade falls through, it'll be a battle between Saltalamacchia, Mauro Gomez, and Jerry Sands. Frankly I'd be intrigued by what Salty and Sands could do at first base between them. Both of them have the talent in theory to get it done.

Sounds about right. We're talking about a guy who cannot legally drink alcohol yet. Plenty of time, and no real need to rush. It's not like we're contending this year.

Depends on if you mean "this year" or "eventually." This year I'd say maybe 40% chance. They're already closer to "settled" than either Lester or Buchholz were when they first came up. In the long run I'm not THAT worried. I think he gets it down eventually, no problem.

Doesn't matter. If he plays up to his potential in the first 150 innings next year, the last 50 won't hurt his numbers that badly. This kid has the potential and stuff to be our best pitcher next year even if Buchholz and Lester rebound. He's very talented, we haven't seen half of what this kid can do yet. He got over 9 k/9 for a full season facing big league hitters for the first time. That's A grade stuff. Lester didn't do that, and Buchholz didn't do that. I say Doubs has all the potential he needs to become a top of the rotation starter a few years from now, if he can harness it and remain healthy. It comes down to him taking a step forward in his command. If he does that, he pitches more efficiently and everything else comes easier.

Lefty Throws low to mid 90's Solid offspeed stuff Winning pitcher on a lousy team 160IP last year, should be poised to bump that up to 200 no problem. 9+k/9 Honestly he's a pretty trivial jump in command away from breaking out. HE was at 4bb/9, needs to get it down to the mid 3's and make a few less mistakes high in the zone is about it. Doubront impressed me last year. He's got everything he needs to make a big jump unless he struggles with his health.

Just because they have little chance doesn't mean they shouldn't sieze at the chance they have.