italstallianion

I think it's just about winning games and series at this point. I'd love to keep pace on the road and really win games at home, but then again I'm not picky about which games we win, just win. And get healthy, make trades, sign draft picks etc.

It's good to see that they acknowledge there is a problem and that they appear to be looking for a solution. I'm happy with pretty much any reliever in a deal that doesn't involve a top 10 prospect.

When it's too late to do anything about it.

What about being in a crappy band? Harang is miles behind Arroyo.

It's looking like Sheffield isn't going to sign either which makes me nervous. I knew Boldt and Burkamper weren't likely to sign from the start, but I figured we'd need to get Sheffield in order for me to consider this a great draft. Still, with Ball, Denney, Stankiewicz and company I feel like it's a good draft, but I'm still disappointed that we weren't able to sign some of the others. We do have plenty of money left so perhaps we can sign Myles Smith, Nick Longhi, Derik Beauprez, Mark Nowaczewski or Nick Zammarelli. I imagine we'd be able to sign at least 1-2 from that list. Still disappointed that we couldn't get Boldt or Sheffield. One of them is worth like 10 of the others. Quality over Quantity.

I agree on Parnell. I'm torn on Papelbon. I mean I think he's a total dick, and he's very much overpaid. Not to mention it defeats the purpose of letting him go in the first place if we're going to take on later years of his contract (the very years we let him go to avoid in the first place) PLUS having to give up prospects in order for the privilege to do so. But I do think with our current bullpen he could be a strong asset for the team and a help in the postseason. (Same with Cliff Lee) I guess it all comes down to what the other teams want in terms of prospects. I'm ok with giving up money, and prospects I think we'd lose in the Rule 5 draft, but once you start getting into top 10 prospects in our system I get closer to hanging up.

I'm too lazy to read through the thread, but has anyone mentioned that Ortiz is 3/3 in stealing bases this season as one of their biggest surprises?

I think he can be a useful piece for Boston, and I don't consider Brentz to be a player that we'd use full time in Boston, so I'm ok with parting with Brentz in that kind of deal. Another thing to point out is that we have a lot of players that might be Rule 5 eligible so that might tip our hand into a couple of trades.

On the bright side, as long as it's not Breslow/Uehara/Tazawa getting injured in the bullpen then the 5 innings are likely coming from guys that are replaceable.

The other bright side is now we can go to bed on time on the East Coast instead of staying up late watching the Sox try to hold onto a lead.

On the bright side if we lose road games early our team only has to pitch 8 innings.

Makes me just want to lose the games until the All Star Break now so we don't have to actually play them and risk further injury. Then we can hopefully play the games back at home with a rejuvenated team and possibly a trade acquisition.

The article does bring up a good point, the Sox/Mets could be a good match for trading considering how far the Mets are out, and how bad their OF is. The Sox could really use a good RP (and I like Parnell) and the Sox have tons of outfield depth. I think we could get a deal done without JBJ. I looked at the Mets roster and yeah, it really is as bad as I thought it was.

The Sox probably said no a lot more politely than I would have. Parnell would be a nice piece but not worth JBJ. Not to mention I don't think trading JBJ is in the Sox best interest unilt they mentioned Zach Wheeler or Matt Harvey (I can't think of anyone other than David Wright on their roster that doesn't totally suck) then we'd talk. Yes, I am well aware that Matt Harvey is worth a couple of JBJ's and then some.

I know that this may be a silly thought, but is there any chance that Lee can be a resource to help Lester regain his control/composure? Lee is one of the best pitchers in my opinion since Greg Maddux at getting "more with less" in terms of strikeouts and limiting walks with a relative lack of velocity. (Koji Uehara would be high in that category as well) That could be an added benefit to Lee. I am more focused on his benefit to a postseason rotation. (Buccholz, Lee, Lackey, Lester) than his effect on regular season games.

It's a 4 game series. Edit: @SoxSport saying that we could win 2 of 3.

At this point I feel like our bullpen is our only real need, with Morales hurt, Miller hurt, Hanrahan hurt (and bad) and Bailey inconsistent. That just leaves Breslow and our Japanese imports (plus or minus Wilson) that I'd feel comfortable with in a game. I wouldn't say we'd need a Papelbon, but someone like a Jesse Crain, or another reliable arm (I'd also give Rubby De La Rosa a shot at some ML innings) And Workman for that matter. I also think we can use a 3B for our offense. I wouldn't mind a combination of Bogaerts/Middlebrooks/Iglesias in the future at 3B and SS, but I don't feel comfortable with Snyder and Holt getting many AB's. I think we could go after someone like Michael Young which could benefit our team at a reasonable cost without changing anything for the future. I'd love to get a starter but there's literally no point in a starter that isn't better than any of our 5 starters, and there isn't a point in overpaying for a halfway decent starter unless the news on Buchholz is dire, or Lester can't regain his previous status, or if Dempster/Lackey/Doubront get injured/suck. I believe the only point in getting a starter should be to get an elite starter that would be paired with Buchholz (and hopefully a good Lester) in the postseason.

How about the rest of his posting career?

I'm still winless in my career mojo.

That I clicked Reply and I thought it would quote your post or otherwise indicate that I was responding to you instead of a "quick reply" which would involve just posting in the textbox and clicking post. Since a700 posted in between our posts, my post might not have been clearly addressed to you since mine was no longer under his.

It was an FYI to the person that asked about it. I know that you knew. Edit: Damn reply vs. reply with quote system....@Thunder

I typically root for the team with the worse record in every game not involving the Sox. Nothing more, nothing less.

The unearned run was because of an error on Brandon Snyder.

Yeah that sucked. What's funny is that I went to bed with a 3-2 lead in the first game and we won it 6-2, and the next night I went to bed up 6-3 and we lost 9-7. WTF?

I feel like the last few pages are highlighting the difference between "regular season" trades and trades with the focus on the postseason. I'd love to make trades to increase our chances this year, but we have the potential to do a lot with our farm team and I don't want to mortgage that unless it gives us a huge favorite status to win the WS. I wouldn't trade Bogaerts in any deal unless the Phillies gave us Lee, Papelbon, and Young AND threw in a fair amount to hedge their contracts. I think we got lucky that Beckett/Lowell helped us win 2007 but in hindsight I'm not sure how we would have handled if we kept Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez.