SoxSport

As bad as Millwood was, he was better than Wake or Miller. He proved that in Colorado.

Epstein made some big time mistakes with the pitching down the stretch. Buchholz took forever to come back, and they never really replaced him. They played politics with Wakefield vs Millwood, and they stuck with dead horses like Lackey and Miller. Surely they knew Lackey was struggling with his elbow. They even mismanaged Aceves--sticking him in the bullpen when the need was for a consistent back end starter. They kept Bard-Pap at the back end of the bullpen when the starters were struggling. Maybe they should have moved Bard to starter at that time. It can be done. These things used to be routine. Behind bad performance is bad management. Slow to make changes when needed.

This is true. They are just trying to make a living and sell advertising (= readership). But you have to get your info from somwhere. Just try to separate fact from opinion. Most of it is opinion nowadays.

The Globe has been setting up conflict situations on the Sox--real or contrived--and then have their writers take different sides. This is usually accompanied by a readers poll. They are now beginning to do this with the Celtics as well--the current issue is whether upstart Bradley should start over ageing Allen. This one is making Rivers look bad.

You couldn't predict that Bailey would get hurt. Or couldn't you?

On the plus side, I give the FO credit for not overvaluing closers. Closers are a lot easier to replace than starting pitchers or hitters. Any decent pitching staff has a couple of guys in the bullpen who can close--at least temporarily. In the Red Sox case, the best option would have been Bard. But they see Bard a being a very good starter, so Aceves gets the nod. It's only for a few months. Interesting that all those guys at MLB TV who spend a lot of their time stroking biggest market Yankees, have written the Red Sox off because of Bailey's injury. Wow, what a difference a year can make. Last year, the Sox spent their way right into the media's hearts. This year, they are on the outs. The MLB guys have TB 2nd in the division, but TB needed a September miracle to just catch the Red Sox last year--by a whisker. The Red Sox are still better than TB--provided they play at their potential. The Yankees are always overrated--not that they aren't a good team. The teams to beat are still the Rangers, Angels and Tigers. But watch out. The playoffs are never predictable. The thing that might kill the Sox this year is management friction. Henry is a lousy executive. He can make big money with his hedge funds and play fantasy games, but I don't think he can manage people and delegate responsibility. And he doesn't have a clue as to how to manage the media.

As I recall, Schilling came up in the Red Sox farm system, spent a short time with the Sox in the bullpen, and then was traded to Baltimore. That was many lbs ago--I remember when he was skinny. His career stats show his first year as Baltimore in '88, but I remember him being in the bullpen a couple of games for the Sox. He probably never got into a game before he was traded.

The first part of Bailey's surgery will be getting the thumb out of his ass.

I think the Angels and the Rangers are the teams to beat in the AL. The Angels now have a local TV contract where they can spend like the Yankees, so their spending spree pre-season is bound to reap benefits. I would put the Tigers ahead in the AL east, but behind the Rangers and the Angels. Adding Fielder has to help, but he or Miggey has to DH. Plus they have a great manager. The Red Sox have had poor management the last couple of years, and it shows in their chemistry. They have pitching and defensive weaknesses which are still there. They are still basically an offensive team. They won't be better until their pitching and defense get better. Somebody needs to tell the FO that runs prevented are equally as important as runs scored. The Yankees keep getting older. Now there's even talk of unloading ARod on the Marlins. Funny how they always seem to manage to find suckers to unload their baggage on. In the NL, it has to be the Phillies. They have the pitching. Manual is a nice guy who stays out of the way, and fills out the lineup card. The other team I like are the DBacks. Gibson looks like a winner. And the Marlins, who are desperate to make a big splash to sell tickets. They have to fill that stadium, or they will be in trouble. For next year, watch out for the Dodgers--the other big market team in LA. They just got bought for $2 billion--most of that value is in their local TV revenue. You would expect a big spending spree off-season next year.

I think they outsmarted themselves, figuring they could start Bard instead of spending big on a FA, and then trade for a cheap closer like Bailey. It worked on paper, but now Bailey has invented still another injury in his short career, and they are up the creek without an oar. They either have Bard close, have Aceves start, or vice versa? Bard is better suited to close, but he may also be an excellent starter, so it's a tough call. Maybe they should just go with Melancon, and see how it works out. He had 20 saves last year, and Houston has a hitter's park.

Oh sure he can close. His stuff is probably better as a closer than starter at this point. He has been lights out setup for a couple years. Anybody with high heat who can get it over the plate can close.

Looks like Melancon will replace Bailey as closer. Aceves will setup. That is, unless they need him to replace Beckett as starter. In which case Bard's career as a starter will be delayed. Thumbs up, guys.

No fried chicken in the clubhouse? Now that's pandering to the media. Boggs used to eat chicken before every game. What about baked? stir-fried? Maybe some fan should send them a recipe book on chicken.

Bailey has now qualified to wear an "Injury Prone" insignia on his lapel. That decreases his value.

They decided on Miller and Wakefield. Very shakey options. Millwood was clearly better, but other considerations prevailed. Aceves had done better as a reliever, but he was still better than the other two as a starter. The best options were Aceves and Millwood. You look at Aceves, and they still aren't starting him, even though he is their best option on the back end of the rotation. He must be related to Rodney Dangerfield. Bobby V is a new guy, so you listen to him. But the others don't have a good track record on judging pitchers.

Bailey seems to be one of those guys who has to find an injury to happen. Like Lowrie? Now he has a thumb problem and may go on the DL--before the season starts. Maybe they'll move up Melancon or Aceves, but Aceves may have to replace Beckett because of HIS thumb to start the first game--against Verlander. What's with the thumbs? Cook had a good start today, so maybe he figures in. Hope he keeps his thumbs where they belong.

I think the 4th and 5th spots will be evolving during the season. That's why you have to have some decent alternatives available. If Bailey goes down, for example, you have Bard back to the bullpen. If Buchholz goes down, you have to have a 6th starter ready to fill the void. Their failure last year was not having competent pitchers in those slots to take up the slack.

MRI's are as common in sports as aspirin. I don't think it's an economic issue. It's hard to see what's going on there from the outside.

What's the difference about compensation? The Cubs ownership knows the Red Sox wanted to unload Epstein. Why else would they let him go? I think the Red Sox are bluffing. I think Theo's problem is he has a huge ego, and LL/Henry saw that--initially with the gorilla suit. I don't think Ben C. is that type of guy.

I think they'll have to unload significant salary before they do any more spending. $180-190 mil is out of their comfort range. I can't figure why Henry let Epstein spend all that dough the last two years for iffy free agents. Notice that Theo hasn't spent a dime pre-season in Chicago. He's on good behavior.

Pineda is overrated. He's still a kid under development. Probably overpitched last year--he faded the second half and maybe strained his arm.

Aside from being a great baseball player, my impressions of Schilling personally is he is like many baseball newbie millionaires--he loves to make a lot of money and hates to pay a lot of taxes on it. He knows how to butter his bread.

Yeah, that's my view after watching him for a few at bats in games--when he made solid contact. He looks like a pretty strong kid. And he can run, too. . I of course totally agree with the reasoning about defense.His defense will make him a .300 hitter in runs prevented--no matter what he does at the plate. I think there's a power squeeze going on with the FO, and Lucchino is trying to satisfy everybody--to the detriment of the Red Sox. Trying to portray the kid as a weak hitter who needs more seasoning-- with his kind of glove is a bunch of BS. They also did this with Kalish last year, and he got himself hurt in Pawtucket, and lost a season of his career. It's called mismanagement.

Every time I see what Beckett says in an interview, or hear him on TV, I don't see the same Beckett as being portrayed by the Globe or ESPN or the rest of the media.