Dojji

:blink::dunno::harhar:

In theory, we do have a second pinch runner, if they'd ever risk Buchholz that way.

I agree. t hat does seem to be the best time for a sac bunt. I guess it depends on just how much you trust your guys to hit (or how little you trust them to get the bunt down)

I see no reason to believe Lee would have continued to pitch to that ERA in the American League East.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/t/junichi-tazawa.shtml

Mostly because Theo won't kick out the incumbents and fall back on that depth, even when it would be difficult for the depth to pitch worse than Smoltz and Penny.

Wow. So Pedroia, Youkilis, Papelbon, Beckett, these guys don't have personalities? You were going pretty good there for a while Jacko, but this is a ridiculous post.

Agree to disagree I guess. I think that he was getting by on the margins in Cleveland and the higher level of competition in the AL East would have eaten him alive.

That's kinda ducking the question IMHO. I'm asking at what point you turn on or criticize a guy for making a move that made sense in the offseason and blows up in his face. "Every GM has a few bad days" sort of addresses the question but IMHO not really.

That's kind of what I'm talking about. That's a very legitimate way of looking at things (and one I'd expect to hear from a NYY fan, but that's neither here nor there) but you can't look at every move the GM makes that doesn't pan out as a bad move just because you have the benefit of hindsight either. My question is where do you draw that line.

No, but at least he was a gamble that didn't cost us any talent. We would have had to pay a fair price for Lee. That combined with the higher than normal risk that the guy gets torched if he comes here, combined with being a GB pitcher with a mediocre infield defense, it all adds up to a guy I wasn't sure I wanted them to go hard after.

A lefty with a high h/9 has no business anywhere near the Green Monster. Even if the lefty-heavy Yanks might have trouble against him, the Rays would not.

I'm not sure Lee wouldn't be lit up in the AL East. He's got a high-risk profile even without the talent he'd cost. He's better off in the NL.

Agreed. Given their opening day roster, the Kansas City Royals or Cleveland Guardians might be competitive in the NLW. Just to get this thread back onto a productive track I'd like to answer D-money's question with a question if I may: Exactly how much do you blame a GM for good moves that don't work? Do you write them a pass if it was a worthy try and just doesn't pan out? Or is there a point where they have to get this stuff right?

I'd say that's a fair take, Jacko. The loss of Daisuke made serious contention a lot more difficult, and the problems we've had with Ortiz and Bay are at a level no one would have expected before the season started. The only reason I brought this up is because it starts affecting how we think about what we should be doing right now. If it's about this year, Buchholz isn't giving us the best chance to win. If it's about next year, we need him to start producing up to his ability and the only way to do that is to leave him in the major leagues. Also whether it's about this year or next year affects how we deal with Josh Reddick. If we're building the team up for future seasons, getting Reddick as many starts as possible makes sense, if we're trying to contend now, we need to ride the veterans. Similar issues exist involving Varitek and V-Mart and how we position our catching staff, and to a lesser extent the Papelbon-Bard debate, although not as drastic there since we'll have both pitchers next year.

Next year? LaRoche's contract expires this year. And he's a better hitter than Kotchman by more than a little. And as a LHH backing up 2 RHH's and a switch hitter I think there'd have been at bats for him, especially since Ortiz never really got it together this year. If it were still about this year, we would have kept Adam LaRoche.

Then why trade LaRoche? Personally I think they're doing just the opposite of what you said. Trying to line things up for next year without hurting their chances this year any more than they have to.

I'm not talking about just tonight. It's just that there's some things that we've been doing that make less sense if we're going for it this year than they do if we're no longer aggressively chasing a 2009 playoff appearance.

This is just something I've been thinking of recently. The last time we won the World Series followed a year where we took a serious step backward to reevaluate what we had and in what direction the Boston Red Sox needed to go. We kind of had to, because injuries shook up all the roles and we had to reload the roster to settle people back in place. Going towards the end of that year, especially following the disastrous 5 game Yankee series, it was clear that the Sox were starting to make moves with more of an eye towards 2007 than 2006, such as the Hinske acquisition and the starts given to Tavarez and Gabbard, all three of which turned out to be useful to the next season but not particularly helpful to a team clinging desperately to its playoff hopes. What brings this up is that the more I look at our deadline acquisition the more one thing stands out -- we didn't get guys who would be gone at the end of the year. We got guys who might still be Red Sox next year, and part of what they're doing right now is auditioning for their 2010 roles. And what's more, the one rental we DID have, we shipped off for an inferior player whose contract we control beyond this season, even though there was technically no need to do so. With the injuries and slumps by Ortiz, Bay and Daisuke, the inconsistency of what should be a great bullpen, and the utter fail in the 3-4-5 slots in the rotation, is it fair to call what we're seeing from the organization right now a step backwards pending a shakeup? Are we about to see another great rethinking of the roster? More to the point, is 2009 even still the top priority? Has it become a situation where a playoff appearance would represent a pleasant surprise and the time has come to start building towards a serious World Series run in 2010?

It's time to step back and seriously ask how much worse Bowden and Tazawa could possibly be. Smoltz isn't going to get better down the stretch. This IS the stretch. He's done. Get him out of here.

If Reddick is rejoining the team 3 days after he was sent down, someone's on the DL.

We seem to be assuming Byrd is guaranteed a big league roster spot. Is that confirmed yet?

Of those matchips, I like Lester-Pettitte and Beckett-Burnett as games we can win. I think we can hit Sabathia and will win that game if Buchholz pitches up to his ability. Smoltz vs. Chamberlain is right out.