SoxSport

This one is a well-timed no-brainer for Epstein. You want this guy extended now. Or make that after April 5th, so it doesn't count against this years' cap. Same as AdGon. The Cardinals, by the way, did the Red Sox a favor not signing Pujols now for funny money--which might have put ideas in the head of AdGon's agent. Setting the bar at ARod's Steinbrenner contract is ridiculous--nobody else can pay that kind of money to an over-30 player. And Pujols knows it.

Kalish has the potential of being a Crawford-type player. Watching Crawford play LF this year will be something.

Will somebody fix the "2010 Hot Stove" thread? The posts somehow got blown up too big (maybe those huge pictures), and it won't take posts--at least for me.

Pedroia-1, Youks-2, Lester-3, Crawford-4, AdGon-5, Buchholz-6. Pedroia is the straw that stirs the Red Sox.

Izzy A. must have been unemployed after that tantrum.

Bill James projected those stats for Kalish this year, but that was before they got Crawford. Kalish is a keeper, and could wind up in CF if Ellsbury/Boras are too rich for Boston.

Off-topic, can you tell me who was the batter and the catcher in your photo? Looks like the batter is kicking the catcher. Never heard of that incident. thanks.

Coaching 3rd base is important for obvious reasons. It's a mystery how the Red Sox could pick such terrible choices to coach there. Apparently, there wasn't any competition for the job, nor any way to gauge the ability of a candidate. Logic says you pick someone who has proven experience doing the job competently. That didn't seem to be the case with any of the candidates mentioned. They were clearly picked for other reasons unknown.

Ha. Well I must say I never faced a softball pitcher who could throw like Pedro Martinez. At my level, just throwing very fast was usually good enough to succeed. Saw a few of those, and always hit them by just timing the ball. That means swing very fast. I always found a softball easier to hit than a baseball, and I'm sure it was because it's bigger-easier to see and a bigger cross section to hit with a same size bat.

Baseball has a built in mechanism that practically guarantees salary inflation. The Cardinals will wind up giving Pujols more money than ARod's insane contract--because that's the standard set when the Rangers and then the Yankees pushed the bar up. So they will pay him $28-30 million per. It will happen, or people will drink less Budweiser beer. 'Nuf said.

I always found a softball easier to hit than a baseball--fast speed or slow--because it's bigger and easier to see. And more cross section of it to contact. Besides, a pitcher can do more with a baseball--fits in his hands better to make it curve, etc. A fast pitch softball pitcher throws it straight and fast--and you can time it pretty easily. I have to chuckle at those female fast pitch girls teams that get televised on ESPN. About the same level as intramural college teams I've played on. The girls are good, but TV good? LOL.

You see all those people in the stands behind Teddy in the pic? When he was at bat--not a sound in the park.

All of these guys are mediocre--when they have mediocre teams to manage. You can look it up.

No splitter, no show me the money, Paps.

His fate will probably be determined by how he looks in spring training. They'll keep him if he looks like he can help the team. If not, they will gently ask him to retire. He gets to keep his salary.

The interpersonal stuff--players and media as well--is probably the most difficult for a manager. And Tito does that very well. At this point Tito is making big bucks for a manager, having been around a long time. Probably a couple of mil per year. But Baseball is one of those rare businesses where the Chief makes much less money than a lot of the Guardians. That makes it tough for the Chief to be Chief.

On the thread question, That fellow Carrigan who managed 3 World Series Champions for the Red Sox in the WWI era--just before the core of the team got transferred to NY--he has to figure in there prominently. Then Dick Williams, who won the AL pennant in '67 --the pre-playoff days, with Yaz and a bunch of no-names. Dick was MOY. And then there was Ralph Houk--highly respected, managed the team to a few 2nd place finishes in the early 80s when their GM, Haywood Sullivan, was thumbing his nose at free agents while George Steinbrenner was having them for breakfast.

Quite a few good posters here who recognize Tito's strengths are mainly interpersonal: great with the players and the media, mediocre in game management. The one positive in the latter case is the way he uses the whole team. Doc Rivers of the Celtics could take some lessons from him on that account. Tito has an advantage, like Girardi, of having a wealth of talent to handle. Which is why he will never win MOY. Girardi won't either. Tito's main weakness, in my view, is his handling of pitching. This dates back to his days managing the Phillies, where he allowed Schilling to throw 145 pitches routinely. And Curt routinely got bombed after about 120 pitches. Schilling had to have a shoulder operation after a season of that. And Tito lost his job. With the Red Sox, he seems to have swung the pendulum in the other direction: too much bullpen, not enough starting pitcher. The result is Epstein goes out and gets a new bullpen every year or so. But then his overmanagement of pitching seems to be the norm in Baseball these days. Starters aren't used much beyond the mid-innings anymore. But then why are they so highly paid? The use of 3-4 relief pitchers every game--win or lose, one per inning--does tend to wear out a bullpen. We'll see what Curt Young, the new pitching coach, will do to this routine--coming from a pitching oriented team.

Looking at that lineup with Crawford and Ellsbury, two prime time basestealers, you wonder how Tito is going to handle this. Will he run more? Looks like he'll have to, with all that speed. The problem is the Red Sox have never been much of a running team with Tito--though Ellsbury has looked like he's been given the green light and has stolen a lot when healthy. I should say this has not been a small ball team--more a team that plays for the big inning. Seems like they have the flexibility now to go both ways--reverting to small ball in those close games on the road that are inevitable. They have the speed and talent now to do that.

Could be that Lowrie is more valuable for the Red Sox as a backup at SS,3B and 2B than he is as regular SS--considering Scutaro is a decent SS who probably isn't as versatile as Lowrie. Plus Lowrie can come off the bench to platoon as a switch hitter. This will all work itself out in ST. There should be no closed minds here. Good players have a way of forcing themselves into the starting lineup--if they are that good.

You know, Tito is a company man (which explains why he is still manager), and he's just reflecting the front office view: the guy that makes the big bucks starts. I give Lowrie credit for having some spunk. I'm sure he has the respect of the FO and the manager, but he has to demonstrate some durability before he can lay claim to anything. The team has been very patient the past few years with him, and it's time now he demonstrated he has the durability to be a regular. Scutaro isn't a bad player, and Lowrie will have to show he's better.

Yeah, Wake at this point is a drag on the roster. No place for him. Not unless some starter gets hurt. And even then, they've got Dubront. No sense in holding back the youth for the old fogies without good reason. [salary, by the way, seems to be the compelling reason. Same deal with Lowrie vs Scutaro.The guy making the big bucks plays.] I dislike carrying 12 pitchers. Never used to be done when starters threw 6-7-8 innings in quality starts (I won't even mention the blasphemy of a complete game). If they made those zillion dollar starters throw another inning, they wouldn't need all that mid inning mediocrity crowding the bullpen. Some of those guys should only be seen in blowouts--one way or the other.