SoxSport

Lackey has gone sour the last couple starts. Didn't he have a high pitch count a couple of starts back? 120 +? May have affected him.

The kids will make mistakes. Wish Cecchini had been up the last couple weeks. They played him enough in ST. Middlebrooks not enough, maybe.

I see they paid Roberts a million bucks for his brief vacation in Boston. He even gets a ring if they repeat. That's enough to wish they won't.

I doubt the Red Sox are interested in Stanton--not unless Size and JBJ don't pan out. They also have Vic and Brentz, who might be ready next year. But you never know. I don't know why they don't sign Lester for 6 years with a front loaded contract. Heck, Lee is still pitching well at 35. Lester is pretty sound. Just taper off Lester's salary the last couple years to discount any decline. 4 years doesn't sound right. I don't know if we know the real story. I wouldn't rely on the media for the details.

Koji saves it.

You know the Yankees are playing over their heads when CC beats the Rays in Tampa.

Sale is close to a top ten pitcher. Lester is not considered in that category, yet he always seems to come up big in big games. That has to mean something to the Red Sox in terms of his contract.

Victorino going down after the first two games really killed this team.

haha. this is better than the tweets.

What X needs is to have the media lay off him. Half those guys are promoting Drew for Boras, anyways. Bogaerts is the top SS prospect right now in MLB, and he needs some experience as the Red Sox SS. So does JBJ in the OF. X has looked OK to me so far. Let's turn off the microscopes. We don't have to do this for a living, thank heavens. Fact is the Red Sox have defensive holes--especially in their backups: Carp, Nava and Gomes as the major bench along with Roberts who? and Herrera.

Any comparison of ANY MLB team with Walmart's is pure fantasy. Though they do live in a fantasy world thanks to you and me and about 200 million others.

Now here's a guy who should be Red Sox GM. He is thinking like one.

The sample size is much too small to reach any conclusions. Anyways, there are people in the organization who are paid very well to identify any problems and correct them. The best thing they can do is ignore the media--which is paid to make instant judgments on everything. Having said that, my own judgment (LOL) is they are getting injuries they have to deal with. Lots of injuries early could mean some of their regular players haven't gotten enough conditioning in Florida. It's easy to conclude that with all the PT the minor leaguers got who haven't a chance to make the team. They should change that next year. Last year, they got off to a slow start, too. They lost two closers early. But they straightened out eventually to become the best team in baseball the 2nd half. It's a marathon, so you just have to ignore the early setbacks and the media which views every day as a season. X makes a bad throw, and the media yells Drew as if they were getting a commission from Boras. One conspiracy theory that is probably accurate. The guy is capable of it. Cherington & Co have some work to do. Carp is showing his primary use should be Papi's backup at DH--which makes him eminently expendable. They have discovered two very good outfielders in Sizemore and JBJ. Combined with Vic, that's a good OF. Not sure who plays where, but they are the top three. Badensomething has disappointed--they should cut him, but he's got a 2 yr contract?, so they will suffer with him until he gets in shape. A reminder that this team won the championship last year--and pretty easily. They have nothing to prove this year. A good time to let the kids develop and ignore the media. Luck is a big factor in winning, and lightening rarely strikes twice. Except for the Miami Heat--who have been damn lucky for several years James has stayed sound.

The irony of Jackie Robinson day is there aren't many black Americans playing baseball these days. Maybe less than when he was playing baseball. The reason is black kids prefer basketball and football. When you consider that Blacks are about 13% of the US population, and that pro basketball and football consist of mostly black players, it's a testimony as to how great black athletes are. Unbelievably great. And yet you never hear it expressed that way in the media.

LOL. The Red Sox offer is probably what he's worth. Forget the rest of the market. What do you want to compare to? Yankee dollars? Dodger dollars? Cannot do. Besides, how many CEOs make that kind of money? It's absurd to have to think in these terms, but that's the life of the TV sports these days--thanks to you and my cable bills (and many fans who have no clue about where those millions are coming from). Having said that, they'll probably settle for 5 years with an option year. How old is he? 30? That sounds about right. And with even that, they aren't going to get their moneys worth the last year or two. They have a strong farm system with kids coming up. They feel they don't have to overpay--especially into late years when they might get back 25 cents on the dollar. That is what's killing the Yankees. And they're still doing it because they have no choice. They MUST make the playoffs. Their market dictates it.

It's all about TV. check the Dodgers and the Angels lately.

Contrary to anti-conspiracy theorists, I believe conspiracies do exist in some cases. So don't a lot of Americans, about 70% or so think JFK's murder was a conspiracy. Why? Because of strong motives disclosed later after the Warren Report. There's always a good reason for everything. Here's another "conspiracy theory": The Yankees engineered the sale of the old Philly As to a group which moved them to KC in the early 50s--over a group that wanted to keep them in Philly. For quite a few years thereafter, the KC As were known as the "Yankee farm system", funneling some of their best players to NY (Roger Maris & Bob Cerv come to mind). How much power do the Yankees have today? Enough, in my view, to turn MLB and the NY based network media (CBS, for example) against ARod to help the Yankees unload his salary--or as much of it as they could get away with. Sure, ARod was a cheater, in NY and in Texas, but so was Bonds, Braun, Clemens, etc, who never got penalized like ARod. And ARod never failed a test. MLB's informant told the world on 60 minutes that their testing was useless--easily circumvented by timing dosages. Yet the media has never pointed this out in all the controversy. We live in an age where cable TV controls sports--at least the major sports. They pretty much make up the schedules for the TV sports, and that includes college football and probably basketball. I recall reading an article in the NY Times about this. Ever notice how the NY teams get on network TV all the time? Well, that's by design. NY is the biggest TV market (about 16%) and so commands the highest advertising rates. It's about advertising.Between ESPN and MLB network, at least half their games involve NY or LA teams (about 25% of the market) with the Yankees getting the lion's share. You don't think there is media pressure on the Yankees to make the playoffs? You better believe it. Steinbrenner forked up a lot of dough to do it. It isn't surprising to me that the umpires the other night couldn't come up with a view of a play that cost the Red Sox a game in Yankee stadium. I haven't seen the Yankees lose a close call in Yankee stadium in years. And it's a wonder the league allowed them to build another stadium with that ridiculous RF porch that has given them such an advantage over the years. It really has been the key to the history of the Yankees since Ruth. Hey, nothing against NY fans. Cripes, they can't even watch their team on network TV, as NYC is usually blacked out for their games on the networks. But they have to realize that the Yankees don't play on a level playing field, with their money and market advantage, which is why many fans of other teams hate their guts. Nothing personal against the Yankee players, mind you. Quite the contrary.

Look, the Yankees MUST make the playoffs this year. TV dictates it. You can fill in the rest.

Drew is just too expensive, and limited to one position. He is no longer a fit in Boston. He'll get a job somewhere when some SS goes down for 6 months. It's very telling that Dombrowski went elsewhere when Iggy went down. Drew is way too expensive. The $14 million was thrown out there to get a draft pick. I'm sure they were delighted when he declined. Vic going down so soon has hurt them. But they have discovered Size and JBJ. Hopefully those 3 guys will make a great OF, but don't hold your breath. Farrell is in love with last year's players, which means Nava/Gomes/Carp will see plenty of action in LF and maybe RF. Carp should be used strictly at 1B. They need to play out the string on JBJ, and let the kid develop. He is showing confidence now.

No excuse losing 3 of 4 to the mediocre Yankees. The injury to Vic has really hurt them. Middlebrooks, too. Now Pedey and Koji? You wonder about their conditioning in ST. They never seem to start fast in April.

http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/massarotti/2014/04/for_red_sox_especially_in_new.html This article says it all. You got to use lefty starters against the Yankees in NY. Farrell apparently forgot about this, except for lefty Lester, and has gotten burned in this series because of it--so far. Hubris is always a killer.

The NY market is way richer than the Boston market in terms of size and advertising dollars. It is the sports media center of the country. LA is now on the map because of the Fox sports west contract--made possible because the West TV market is expanding. Texas is, too. Take a look at the total luxury tax money the Yankees have paid since its inception. It dwarfs everybody else. They have been supporting the poor teams in baseball for years almost single handedly--keeping them afloat. It's all about cable TV these days. They pretty much run sports. I don't live remotely close to NY, yet I have yes network, Texas Longhorns network, NCAAF network and ESPN--all in my package--just to get the league networks. I don't watch any of them, yet I'm paying for them (yup--I support the MF Yankees). There is a sports TV bubble right now--it could all collapse if the politicians or the FCC changed the rules on cable packages. Lots of people pay ESPN 5 bucks and don't watch it. That's the crux of the problem. And why ballplayers make millions.

The Yankee fans are yelping with joy on the tweets about Lester's "offer". They have come to know these kinds of numbers are chump change in Yankeeville. They fully expect a staff next year to include Lester, Scherzer, and whoever else wants $25 million per year. Seriously, the media once again lumps the NY and LA markets with everybody else. Those two markets set the bar for them. Everybody else has to follow. That is a ticket to bankruptcy, for most other teams. They can't do that. Agents and players know that. Boras types are an exception. Note that if NY or LA don't want a Boras client, say Drew, they're in trouble at his prices. In Lester's case, it's hard to see him anywhere but Boston. He's more like Pedroia than Ellsbury--Ells was always long gone for the money, as a Boras client. The per year figure I heard--maybe $18 mil or so, sound right. The years, however, needs to be greater than four.

Have you been drinking?

You got to start lefties in Yankee stadium if you want to win. That has always been true. Farrell seems to be operating on cruise control so far this year. You got Doubront and Capuano to slot in here. And when you have a hot lefty hitter like Sizemore, you start him an extra game. Rest him another time. Remember when they rested Crawford in the middle of a Yankees series here a couple of years ago? That was the epitomy of stupidity. You load up with lefties--hitting and pitching--here, or you lose. They play 19 games against this team this year--far too many, in my view. But that's MLB. Every game is important. They have to beat the Yankees first, in this division.