SoxSport

Carl should ask to be traded. That would create a bit of a storm to wake a few people up.

I think what's going on is Ben & Co are trying to push V out--by neutralizing him and getting him to quit. Look at the way Ben publically contradicted V on Youkilis. That's when V should have quit. But that's what the FO wants. The folks in the front office haven't forgotten not getting their manager pick. Nor have they taken lightly, maybe, to Epstein getting the boot. Too bad Henry doesn't have the balls to boot the rest of them. The big mistakes were made pre-season by Lucchino/Henry, and it's blowing up in their faces.

Cook is a lousy pitcher to be starting in Yankee stadium. Any fool would start the lefty Morales. The Yankees are built to feast on RHP at home. That's been their secret weapon for 80 years.

This will be the year forever known as the year the Red Sox refused to spend any money--and flamed out. Filling their roster with retreads.

where is Morales? Oh yeah, he mopped up yesterday. Using RHd relievers late in the game against NY is hari-kari. Unless their names are Bard and Pap. This team doesn't have a setup guy. The TV networks aren't showing this game. They won't go near the Red Sox--even with the Yankees playing. Everybody knows the Red Sox are dead.

After reading a few tweets today, I think the next thing that will happen is V will quit. There is indeed a power struggle with the front office through Reinhold, the trainer--who has veto power over who plays and doesn't play. Crawford isn't playing today because of Reinhold--but is it really the front office exerting its authority on the manager? The Red Sox have coaches like Tuck and some holdover players--who were laughing with Francona today in the locker room. Crawford came in, and immediately left. The holdover coaches are anti-V. This club has deep, deep division problems that a trade or two isn't going to solve. Valentine should get the hell out of that environment before he loses his health.

Yeah--and when he comes back, he'll spend a month in the gulf coast league and two weeks in pawtucket. Then he'll come back and rest every 4th game in Boston for 3 months.

The team is out of control. V has no leverage. They need new ownership. The whole organization is rotten. Blow it up. Imagine-Crawford hits a HR last night, and today he is told to sit. what a bunch of *******s.

Fire Henry.

Inexcusable Crawford isn't playing today. Absolutely. Once again, it shows the red sox are the katzenjammer kids. The left arm is telling the right arm what to do. The medical staff? Christ, the guy has been out for 5 months--he finally gets back and now those jerks are cutting him off at the legs in the middle of a Yankees series. The Yankees must be laughing their asses off at the incompetence of the Red sox organization. I hope they beat them 20-0 today. Screw the Red Sux.

The old veterans never get traded or dropped from this team. They are wedded to the team--even after they start slipping. Timlin, Wakefield, Tek... others. That has hurt their player development. Just another nail in the coffin. You can point to a lot of reasons why this organization is now a loser. It's possible they could fall further if more management changes aren't made. My guess is Henry will sell first.

You know, the irony of the trading deadline is the top teams that don't need much help--the Rangers, Angels, Tigers and Yankees--are the teams that go out there and try to improve themselves--dealing prospects for players they can win with now. Looking for an edge. Call it greed, if you like. That makes it difficult for the teams that really need help to do anything. The top teams behave as though they are more desperate than the lesser teams! They are the aggressors. In the meantime, the also rans like the Red Sox are left with the leftovers. And even the leftovers might not be there for an organization hopelessly hamstrung with bad contracts and poor judgement.

Doing the little things is what the Red Sox management does poorly. For example, not getting Papi ready for the Yankee series."He looked good in batting practice" last night, somebody tweeted. He should have been DHing. And then keeping Crawford playing in the minors during the weekend series against Texas. Was Cook the proper guy to start last night in Yankee stadium? Hell, no. Not with the sharp left Morales sitting in the bullpen. Aviles still playing SS in slow motion--with an all-star defensive player rotting in Pawtucket. Last night, V sounded pretty foolish spouting the company line. I can feel a streak coming, he said. He is sounding like Cherington. This is a sleepy team, with sleepy leadership. Cherington reminds me of the walking dead. There is no sense of urgency. All those disastrous moves made the last few years are now biting them in the ass--and they are in a state of denial. To top it off, they have stubbornly resisted injecting young talent from Pawtucket until forced by injuries (Aviles--please get hurt; Salty--please get hurt). In the meantime, Pawtucket has had one of the best records in AAA this year. One wonders if they would be doing better in the AL east than the Boston team. They'd be playing with a greater sense of urgency--for sure.

Henry either needs to clean house or sell the team. Too many front office mistakes have been made, and the team is now paying for them.

Poor judgement, not starting Morales instead of Cook. They wasted Morales with two innings of useless relief behind 3 runs. Good reasons why this team loses. The management sucks. Watched the Olympics tonite instead of this crappy game. Why would anybody want to watch this team?

It isn't that Cherington is delusional, its he just has no money to spend or to take on salary. Seeming delusional is the delusion. Having said that, I do think they can get Garza for Bogaerts and another piece or two. His market may have been diminished by his MRI.

Crawford had a couple of good games when he came back--batting 2nd. Stole 3 bases his first game. Then he slacked off, got moved to 7 against LHP , and has maybe one SB since? This is the same kind of treatment Tito gave him, and I don't know what to think of it. V said he's removing him late to take some pressure off his arm. I don't know. Makes me wonder if V is calling the shots here. Could be the trainers or the FO. With the Sox, you don't know.I suspect Lucchino is the gatekeeper. He decides who decides.

The holdovers are still there. You don't expect them to admit their errors, do you?

MLB rumors this morning has some quotes from Joel Sherman saying the Red Sox want Crawford gone "in the worst way" and they wanted to flip Crawford to Miami to improve their SS situation (aka Hanley?). But the talks never got serious. Translated to me, he's saying the Sox initiated the talks but the Marlins didn't bite on Crawford. Amazing how that's the opposite of what came out initially. The Marlins were supposed to have initiated the talks, and the Red Sox declined. It's understandable now why they had to deny this. The caveat is do you believe Sherman--a NY writer? They are always trying to make the Red Sox look bad. Hanley is being given the MVP treatment in the media--as if the Dodgers pulled off a spectacular deal--eating a 40 million dollar headache. Same treatment for Ichiro--who suddenly got 10 years younger going to NY. With the network media, it's about the big markets--NY and LA. MLB TV has been gushing over the Dodgers and the Yankees lately.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2012/07/its_time_to_blo.html Cafardo says it's time to blow up the roster. Four years without winning a playoff game is enough. What he doesn't say is it's time to blow up the front office.

Part of the problem is the team is full of retreads who don't get on base. Not enough walks. This has been Ellsbury's problem all along as leadoff batter. Now they've added Aviles, Crawford, Salty, etc. Plus AdGon has forgotten how to walk. And Youks is gone. They don't walk anymore. And they don't take pitches. Not much discipline there on more than one front.

A lot of talk about trading prospects. Hard for me to see that happen, since I don't think they can afford to take on salary. That means no Garza or JJ. It's tough to see them making a deal for a high end starter unless they dangle Ellsbury. They need to trade some salary. Maybe they can dump salary with a prospect or two as an incentive.

They can certainly dump salary, but they can't take on added salary. That means they are at a disadvantage in the trade market right now vs other teams who can trade prospects and take on salary. Which is why they probably won't/can't do anything. They are hamstrung with big contracts. Also, I think there is no way they are going to eat any more contracts of underachievers. They did that with Youkilis and look what happened. Of course, they did box themselves in with Youkilis, and maybe allowed the media to be involved in the process.

The problem with writing off bad decisions is they become bad decisions and somebody has to be held accountable. And accountability is a problem on the Red Sox.

I would fire most of the current front office, and replace them with experienced people who aren't committed to the status quo. In other words, can make major changes without having them reflect on themselves. When a team screws up royally in FA signings and trades, you have to replace the people who made those deals. Not just the head guy, but most everybody else, too. That means Cherington and a few others. Clearly, they have to cut salary. So you start dumping salary. They could dump Crawford in a minute for nothing, and it would not affect the team. Another dump would be Beckett. He's a $5mil pitcher making 3 times that. Dump him. I would trade Salty while he has value.They have Lav waiting in the wings--too long, now. I would dump Aviles, who is the picture of mediocrity too common on this team these days. An example of the low salary retread they have brought in--instead of giving the farm system a chance. There is no upside with retreads. Iglesias has far more upside, and would boost their defense to another level.Another dump is Sweeney, who is useless except as a defensive replacement. I would move Lester to the BP, and keep Morales in the rotation--keeping Lester in the rotation right now is a sign of incompetence.