redsoxfan3

What I want to see next year is a consistent batting order. Personally, I like: Ellsbury Crawford Pedroia Gonzalez Ortiz Youkilis Reddick Saltalamacchia Scutaro I like the first five in that lineup. I think we need to keep it consistent all year. I am tired of seeing different lineup cards almost every night. I like Scutaro at the 9 hole, he hit .299 this year and was pretty consistent, especially down the stretch. I know we have Salty and Lavarnway as potential catchers, possibly Varitek. In RF we have Reddick or possibly Kalish, depending on how things work out, we may even pickup a FA. At SS, Scutaro seems to be the best option, maybe with Lowrie and Iglesias on the bench. Depending on how Iglesias' bat progresses, I would love to give him a chance. At 3B, we have Youkilis, but if for some reason that doesn't work out, we have Middlebrooks in the wings, hopefully to take over that position one day in the future. The lineup could look like this: CF- Ellsbury LF- Crawford 2B- Pedroia 1B- Gonzalez DH- Ortiz/Lavarnway 3B- Youkilis/Middlebrooks/Lowrie/Aviles RF- Reddick/Kalish/McDonald C- Saltalamacchia/Lavarnway SS- Scutaro/Iglesias/Lowrie What do you think the lineup will look like? (I know it is hard to project entirely because the offseason has not started) Pitching Rotation: 1. Beckett 2. Lester 3. Buchholz 4. Bedard/Aceves/Weiland (??) 5. ?? Closer- Bard/Papelbon Personally I would love for Bard to take over the closing role and I know Red Sox Nation probably is not a big fan of either Papelbon or Bard right now. The 4 and 5 spots in the rotation are in the air. I feel at worst Bard would be there to take the ball every 5th day. Aceves is probably too valuable in the bullpen to start, but if worse comes to worse, I feel he would be a valuable 4th starter with what we have right now. I do not feel that Kyle Weiland is ready. I think we should go out and get two more solid starting pitchers, that would make me extremely happy. Please just get rid of Wakefield, Lackey, and Dice-K. Who would be your starting 5 and who would you like to have as a closer? Do you want Papelbon back? Do you like Bard as the setup man and Papelbon as the closer? Any other options in the bullpen or starting rotation?

As much as I want to put all the blame on Francona, he was only given what he had to work with. You have Lackey playing like s*** all season, Dice-K gets hurt, and Buchholz gets hurt. That only gives us two reliable pitchers. The Bedard pickup was a decent last minute pickup. He should have started Aceves down the stretch, it wouldn't have hurt anything, although it would have taken one our most consistent relievers away from the pen. You really can't blame him for the Bard and Papelbon collapse. Correct me if I am wrong, but they both cost us at least 5 games in September. You really can't just go away from them, especially in the clutch. You can blame him for the decisions, but you can't blame him for the players failing. Look for better management, but if the front office thinks Francona is the best option, then so be it. Just get better players for 2012 and get this team back into the playoffs. We all KNOW we are capable of winning the World Series, we just need to have great offseason pickups and come back on a mission in 2012.

The season is over, the only thing I can hope for now is that the Yankees do not win it all. As bad as this is, I will be hoping the Phillies win it all, they will be hard to beat as it is. No more Drew, possibly no more Papelbon. Get rid of Lackey. Trade for some starting pitching. Wakefield needs to retire. I want Beckett, Lester, and Buchholz. Get two new starting pitchers. I am excited about Lavarnway potentially competing for the catching spot with Saltalamacchia. As much as I like Varitek, his days are starting to become limited as a Red Sox. I like Youkilis as a 3B, but he needs to produce more. Crawford needs to have a better season. So much stuff to do this offseason, it will be interesting to see what happens.

Just my perspective, but why wouldn't he have the green light? He has had 7 45+ steal seasons. It only makes sense that he has the green light, especially because of what he is capable of. Yes, he has underperformed this year, but he still has the potential to be a threat on the base paths. I'm hoping next year we have three 25+ steal guys in Pedroia, Ellsbury, and Crawford. He has not met expectations at all, but also remember this is just his first year here. Let's see how he performs next year. If he hits .300 with 45 stolen bases next year, I will be extremely happy, as I'm sure the rest of Red Sox Nation will be as well.

Let's just hope we can win these next two and hope the Rays lose one out of the next two. We need Bedard to pitch top notch today to get a win. I'm comfortable with Lester going on three days of rest on Wednesday. I'm counting on Ellsbury and Pedroia to get hot to lead this team. Ellsbury really can make his case for AL MVP if he puts this team in the playoffs. The realization of not making the playoffs is finally settling in. We need to be fired up. Nothing is done and over with. We are playing the f***ing Orioles. We know what we are capable of doing, we just need to do what it takes to win these next two. Overcome the adversity, kick the Orioles ass, make the playoffs, and show all the haters what we all know what we are capable of.

USF is a good school, I also thought about going there, but when it came down to it, I decided on FGCU, for the fact that it is in Fort Myers and I can go to the Red Sox Spring Training games whenever I want. You are right, there are a lot of good schools in Florida. It was tough for me to decide between UCF, USF, and FGCU. I would never attend UF, UM, or FSU though, that is just a personal thing. Anyways, I see Rays fans all of the time. It's funny how a couple months back Rays fans were unheard of, but now I see Rays fans after I turn every corner.

I am a big Sox fan. I live in Fort Myers, FL and I am a junior in college. I joined a while ago at this site but finally decided to come back. It's been a while since I have been part of a forum. I look forward to posting here. Let's kick the O's ass tonight and make the postseason!

I think every Red Sox fan in their right mind hates Tampa Bay. I respect the Rays and everything, but I hate the team and their fans. I live in Fort Myers and there are a lot of Rays fans down here. There are a few Sox fans since Spring Training is down here, but we are only a couple hours away from Tampa and the Rays fans are everywhere. The Sox need to sweep the O's this next series so we don't have to worry about anything. We can't count on the Rays to lose. I refuse to let the Rays fans have bragging rights because they beat us out of the Wild Card spot. f*** you Tampa, let's get this done.

Yeah, it was. That was a while ago.

haha, got you. He seems like a decent man. Can't really say I know too much about him though. I think my name was always redsoxfan3, but if I remember right, I was an admin with you at one point on Red Sox Talk.

Why is that? I am not going to say I disagree, because I am transferring schools so I could care less.

Hey, what's up? I am a big time Sox fan. I am currently a freshman at Ohio State. Next year I am transferring to Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida where I hope to play baseball. I have been around forums for a few years now, anything else you want to know, feel free to ask.