redsoxfan3

That is exactly what Farrell is doing tomorrow night. Holt will be in LF and Napoli will be back at 1B. Farrell also said Nava will be playing the next 4 out of 5 games. We desperately need Victorino back and to stay healthy. Also, another small note, I would prefer if Pedroia bats second and Bogaerts moves to third in the order. Not a huge change, but Bogaerts has been our best hitter as of late and Pedroia has been second in the order for most of his career. With Victorino starting rehab by late next week, we really need to start turning it up a notch soon. We need to stay healthy. Big Papi and Pedroia need to find their stroke. I am wondering if Pedroia is still hurt. We can't keep being this inconsistent. We need to go on another hot streak and end this losing streak BS.

He has been for our last three games or so.

He indirectly saved a run for us that inning. If he doesn't make that catch, this game is 2-1. Encarnacion would have been on base when Lawrie hit his homer.

David and A.J. need to work on their throws to second. It doesn't help that Pedroia is 5'0, but that is now two throws that have went into CF in the last two games.

I would much rather have JBJ in right and Sizemore in CF if it means that Nava is not playing RF.

Not too happy with this defense. Herrera makes a poor decision at 3B. Not saying Middlebrooks would have made the play, but I am starting to miss him already. Victorino at least stops the ball from getting by him there and possibly makes that catch. Getting Middlebrooks and Victorino back can't come soon enough. These could be a rough next couple of weeks for us.

It has netting where the seats are in the Green Monster. There is no glass. Also, I don't believe there is a restaurant. It is only seats in the Green Monster with the netting. They might have a couple different food stands up there. The top of the Green Monster is only SRO.

I see your point of view now. I just wanted to know what specifically you were referring to when you said he has his "stuff" back. I watched him pitch against the Red Sox and he has a lot of potential. He is definitely on the right track. He could be a real asset for you guys this year if he is used wisely. I was not trying to knock his talent, I was just not impressed by the numbers he put up in one game. If he continues to pitch like he has this spring, he could be pretty filthy this season.

You are kidding, right? Did you see the lineup he pitched against? There was not one starter in the lineup for the Orioles and you are claiming that he has his "stuff" back. Don't get me wrong, it was a solid performance, but I would expect someone in his position to pitch like that facing a AAAA or AAA lineup. It is encouraging that he is making progress, but I think it is a stretch to claim he has his "stuff" back based off of him pitching 2.2 innings against a weak lineup.

s I agree with that assessment so far this Spring. I have was at a few practices before the games started and have been to a couple of games so far. One practice in particular really bothered me. Big Papi was talking to other players in Spanish during the morning warmups, which didn't bother me that much. What bothered me was that he did his own thing and barely even stretched or went through the morning high knees, butt kicks, etc. He was not putting out any effort at all. He is supposed to be a team leader. A lot of these young guys in camp see the way he is practicing and are watching how lazy he was. That is not a good example to set forth. He has done that in other years as well, but this year it has been particularly worse. I don't know if he thinks after his amazing World Series that he had that he does not have to put in any effort, but if he reaches a breaking point this year, it is likely going to be in part due to his arrogance and lack of effort he is putting in so far. I was only at a limited number of practices, but I still was not the least bit impressed. This team seems content and complacent with where they are at. We played a combined two games yesterday and had a total of 8 errors. Gomes had an error, our utility infielder had two errors, and Carp had an error. The others were from guys who will not have an impact on the big league club to start the year. I understand errors happen and this is a time to get back into the game of baseball and get comfortable at the plate and out on the field, but it just seems like we have a lot of errors and we cannot win ball games. I do realize Spring Training has no impact on the regular season statistics, but what I would like to see is more energy in camp and more focus. I feel like there is a lack of focus and too much complacency. Last year at this time, I was pretty impressed with what I saw. I am not going to worry about the results and worry about the stats at this point, but I would love to see a little bit more effort to get the right mentality and focus heading into the regular season, otherwise it could be an ugly reality check for this team after the first couple weeks of the regular season.

I don't know if it was mentioned previously (I didn't browse through the other pages), but it was reported on MLBTR sometime last week, if I remember correctly, that Drew is open to playing more than SS. I am more open to resigning Drew with him willing to play 3B and 2B as well for several reasons (injuries, under performance, etc.).

If the Cubs do sign Tankaka, it would not surprise me one bit if they planned on trying to extend Samardzija. They could try to get a large return for him in a trade, but at some point they have to try to build around some guys. Wood is only 26, had a strong year last year, and is locked up through 2016. Samardzija is 28, a player they could extend to lock up long-term because he is only under contract through 2015. Tanaka is probably over-hyped, but he could make the Cubs rotation better. They could have a rotation of: Wood Tanaka Samardzija Jackson Rusin or Arrieta Rusin had a decent season through the 13 games he pitched last year, is 27, and is locked up through 2019. Arrieta could compete with Rusin for the 5th spot in the rotation, is only 27, and is locked up through 2017. Jackson had a rough year last year, but as a back-end of the rotation starter, he could add some value to their roation. He is not a free agent until 2017 and is 30. The Cubs could have a decent rotation by signing Tanaka and keeping Samardzija and extending him long-term. That is something that I could see them doing and building around their rotation in the future. Logically, trading Samardzija for a huge return makes sense. I know a lot of Cubs fans that are frustrated about being in "rebuilding mode" every season. Eventually that thought has to be thrown out of the door. It is a matter of when and doing it smart.

I do agree about Denorfia. In fact, I would be extremely interested in trading for him. He had a 1.5 dWAR last year playing in all three OF positions, mostly in RF, but he started 36 in CF. He seems like he would be a good addition to the OF. He had the best WAR of his career last year of 4.3. He has a career .833 OPS and .308 BA against lefties. He could definitely be a legitimate player to platoon with Bradley. Not to mention if Victorino gets injured, then I am more comfortable with Denorfia in RF starting than Nava. I wonder what it would take to get him. The Padres signed Seth Smith, so they added some OF depth. I know that they also signed Josh Johnson, but Dempster will probably be able to give them about 170 innings. His ERA last year was not great, but he is an innings eater who is probably a better option than Josh Johnson. Carp would be able to play some LF and 1B and will be able to provide some power in the lineup. Lavarnway is also a possible option. Would it take Dempster and one of Carp and Lavarnway to land Denorfia? Maybe we could do a three team trade. I would not mind trading Dempster and Carp or Lavarnway for Denorfia, but I would ask for more in return, especially if we have to eat some of Dempster's salary. Denorfia went to high school in CT and college in MA. I don't know if he is a Red Sox fan, but it would probably be a bonus for him to play in MA again. It would be a closer commute for his family, assuming that most of them live in the New England area.

To be fair, he did pitch in three relief appearances in the postseason. All three appearances were in games that were not close. A game we won 12-2 in the ALDS, a game we lost 3-7 in the ALCS, and a game that we won 8-1 in the WS. He gave up 1 earned run over three innings. There has been a lot of talk about potentially trading a starter. It has been somewhat of an expected quiet offseason for us so far. Mujica was a solid pickup to add some quality appearances out of the bullpen in late innings. Pierzynski was a good pickup that we needed to replace Salty, especially since it was a one year contract to allow us to have the flexibility to see where we are at with Swihart and Vazquez next offseason. We were able to trade a lefty reliever with injury concerns and a 27 year old prospect for a solid backup infielder in Herrera. I am hoping that we do not resign Drew. I think we will have a decent infield with Middlebrooks, Bogaerts, and Pedroia as starters and Herrera capable of backing up all three positions. Bradley is a question mark, but I do like giving him the opportunity in CF. I just wish we had more depth or someone to platoon with him until he proves to be an everyday starter. We filled the need at catcher, first base, utility infielder, and added a late inning reliever. At this point, we need to see what type of player we can get in return for Dempster, Lavarnway, and/or Carp. I think we have the pieces to be able to trade for a solid backup CF/RF. We need someone with speed who can cover a lot of ground and is solid defensively. A decent bat would be nice to go along with that, but it would probably be hard to find. I just don't see us paying Dempster $13.25M to start the season out of the pen. I know that we will have some injuries in the rotation, but I think we have serviceable backup and depth options between Workman, Ranaudo, Owens, Barnes, Webster, and Ball to be able to give us some quality starts. That is exactly why I think we need to look to trade Dempster to see what we can get from him in return. Carp would be nice to have on the bench again, but with Nava capable of playing first, I think we would possibly get more value out of a 5th outfielder in a trade who is a solid defender and who can cover a lot of ground that is capable of playing all three OF positions. With the addition of Pierzynski this offseason, there is concern about Lavarnway's future in Boston. There might not be a better time to trade him, although he is a good backup option if A.J. or David were to get hurt. There are still plenty of things to be looked into, but I find it hard to believe that BC will allow us to have six starters going into the start of the year. I imagine BC will look to trade Dempster and I can see us trying to shop one of Lavarnway and Carp as well to bring over a solid backup OF. I think we will see a couple more offseason moves, maybe even a fairly big trade.

The problem with Infante is the he bats RH. We need a LHH.

I would not mind signing Rajai Davis to platoon with Bradley in CF. He has a career .294 BA, .354 OBP, and .779 OPS against lefties. Not to mention he stole 45 bases last year in 108 games. His speed will make up for some of the speed that we will be losing from Ellsbury. It doesn't look like a bad move if the price is right. How is Rajai's defense in CF? That is the only thing I am not too sure of. He posted a 0.3 dWAR last year, but only played 16 games in CF. Kemp would be a good option if we do not have to trade Peavy. We would also have to consider how much salary the Dodgers would eat. He still has 6 years and $128 million left on the table. We also need a LHH that can play 3B and SS. I don't know who the options are. Obviously Stephen Drew is a LHH, but is his price too high? I don't know many options beyond him that can play the left side of the infield and that hit LH. I briefly glanced at the FA options and it did not look too promising. I am sure a trade would be a better option for a LHH SS and 3B, unless I overlooked a FA. Brock Holt is a LHH and can play 2B and 3B, but he has never played SS in the majors. That is an interesting in-house option, but you'd think that we would want someone capable of playing SS. I doubt the Mariners would be interested in parting with Brad Miller or Kyle Seager, who are both LHH. Seager posted back-to-back 20 home run years and is only 26. Miller is only 24, but he would be interesting to think about as well. Both have experience at 3B and SS in the majors. Miller has only played 3 games in the majors at 3B and Seager has only played 10 games at SS in the majors in 2011, but I think it would be an interesting situation if we could try to trade for one.

I don't buy into that genetic BS. Sure, he could have a bigger bone structure due to genetics, but the pounds that he put on his something that he has some control over. I know there are exceptions to certain diseases that make people gain weight and it is harder to lose weight for some people that have a slower metabolism. He is a professional baseball player. He has to put down the Twinkies and start running on the treadmill. Baseball Reference has him at 5'11 and 275. That might be right because he is not that tall. I am 5'11 and 190, so I can't imagine what carrying around 85 more pounds would be like. In all seriousness, he really needs to make that extra effort to lose some weight. I am not talking about 100 pounds, but an extra 20 to 25 might make a big difference for him in the long-run health wise. I don't want to hear the genetics BS, because with a little hard work he can drop 25 pounds over the offseason. He is a little extra baggage. Instead of spending all of that money on the Hostess truck, he needs to spend some money with a personal trainer.

He gets injured, he has surgery, he gets injured, he has surgery. It is a never ending process. Kalish has had no luck going for him and it has gotten to the point where he contemplated retirement. I think he just recently had surgery, but I honestly have no idea about any time table for him.

With trying to stay at that 32M range, I don't think I see Beltran, Ellsbury, Drew, or McCann on the team next year. I think we resign Salty for around 3/27M. I think resign Napoli for 3/42M. That adds 23M for next year and leaves us with around 9M to look at OF options, relief pitching options, and utility IF options. Beltran is asking for too many years. Ellsbury is going to be asking for too much. McCann's AAV will be too high for additional flexibility with FA signings. I think Drew finds a better contract than we are willing to offer. Here are my projections: Salty- 3/27M Napoli- 3/42M Clint Barmes- 1/5M (utility IF) Chris Young- 1/5M (to reestablish his value on a short-term deal; platoon in CF with Bradley) Brian Wilson- 1/9M (set-up reliever) Total Additions to 2014 payroll- 42M Trade Ryan Dempster and Mike Carp for prospects, which will take somewhere around 14M or a little more off of the books for 2014. Which reduces the the additional payroll to 28M, if need be, we can eat 4M of Dempster's contract or a little less. I don't know what we could get in return. This is just a hypothetical scenario, but something that I think might be interesting to think about if BC wants to stay under the luxury tax. If we sign McCann and Napoli, we probably go over the luxury tax threshold. It will be interesting to see what actually happens.

My advice is to just keep checking the Red Sox website to see when tickets go on sale. To my knowledge as of now, tickets are not currently on sale to the public and there has been no release date yet. You can always sign up for the Red Sox Insider here: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/ticketing/index.jsp?c_id=bos Fill out the email information for Red Sox Insider at the top of the page for updates on ticket information. I would stay away from third party sites as of now. Wait until they go on sale to the public. The only way I ever use third party sites is for last minute tickets that people are trying to sell that are cheaper than face value. Generally, tickets on third party sites are astronomically higher unless it is for teams like the Astros or Marlins. Coming off of a World Series championship, tickets will be in higher demand at the start of the year.

I honestly don't get the Hudson rumors. He would be nice to have, but does that mean we shop two of Doubront, Peavy, and Dempster? I do not want to shop Doubront. I think he has a great future in Boston. I would be all for shopping Dempster. I still want Peavy for next year. I highly doubt we sign Hudson and have both Dempster and Doubront in the pen. We do not need Dempster making 13.25M in the pen next year. I understand the idea of depth, and Hudson could be a solid signing if we only had four starters penciled in for next year, or even five, but we have six, plus Webster, RDLR, Workman, Ranaudo, Wright, and Barnes all knocking on the door. Of course Barnes, Ranaudo, etc. need more time in AAA, but we have an abundance of starting pitching depth and you can never really have too much, but signing Hudson does not make sense unless we get rid of Dempster. I am still not sold on Tanaka. He is a question mark that is a 100M+ investment.

I didn't forget about Brentz, but I didn't really think about him factoring into the majors next year. You are right, a lot of it will have to do with how he does in Spring Training. He has a lot of power. His plate discipline is not that good. He chases a lot of breaking balls out of the zone. He strikes out a lot too. If he improves his plate discipline, it would be interesting to see what his chances are in Spring Training. He has a good arm too. If we do not sign another OF and our OF is as it stands, Bradley could take over CF and Victorino will be in RF, but it would also be interesting to consider shifting Victorino to CF and having Brentz in RF. I would say that is a long shot, but he might get some reps in the majors if we do not sign anyone else. He needs to have a great Spring and try to work on his plate discipline. I imagine he doesn't break camp on the big league roster, but if we have an injury to Victorino, then I could see him in the majors. If anything, he is probably going to get called up in September. A lot of things can happen between now and then.

I was referring to the AAV being too high at 4 years. I think a 3 to 4 year contract is what Drew will get. What I said was outlandish is the years for the 8 year contract. I never said 4 was too many.

Boras is comparing Drew's contract negotiations to the contract of Andrus. If we stick with Andrus' guaranteed 4/62 contract, that is still too high for Drew. I think he was comparing it more in terms of years, which is even more outlandish because it is an 8 year contract with an opt-out clause. If Boras can get Drew an 8 year contract, the more power to him. It sure as hell better not be from Boston. Beltran wants a 3 or 4 year contract. We better sign him for 1 or 2 years if we do sign him. Anything more than that, we can let the Yankees make another foolish signing.

What about 4/60 with a team option for a 5th at 15M?