TheMino007

The Adrian Gonzalez ship has sailed, for this offseason at least. I think one way or another come trade deadline next season, he'll be on this team. Since Mike Lowell is still on the team, there is no need for Adrian Beltre. There isn't much upside of having Beltre over a healthy Mike Lowell next year. You play Lowell 100 games next year between 3B and DH, so that gets Kotchman some time at first. The Sox need to fill out the bench, go find that utility man in Nick Green or Tug Huelett. Do the Sox need a RHH 5th or another arm in the pen? I think the Sox will dread water in the AL East race by July, hopefully be only be less than 7 games out and then trade for Adrian Gonzalez and make a push for the AL East crown. There is no reason why this team shouldn't lead the Wild Card with this current roster.

I like Fenway, don't get me wrong, but the Sox need a new stadium. The place is too cramped, the seats aren't comfortable, and the prices are out of control. If they build a bigger and new stadium, prices will be lower because there will be a greater supply of seats, and I bet if the stadium held 42,000 people the demand would be high enough to still sell out every game.

Bruins sign Miroslav Satan

Could there be a split between the young and old guys on the C's? I heard a Bill Simmons podcast with Ric Bucher and they were both in agreement about there being a schism between the Rondo/Perk faction and the Big 3 of PP/KG/Ray. They went into the examples of Perk and Rondo tuning out KG and that was the reason Perk sulked through the Clippers game. In sum, the young guys are sick of being lectured to by the old guys and this is causing a real problem. Another note, injuries could really hurt the C's again this year. KG was supposed to be day to day with a thigh bruise and Doc said he could be out up to 10 more days. Pierce had another operation to clean out more s*** from his knee, and there is no time table for his return. Daniels is out for the long run. Rondo is constantly playing with some nagging him.

The NBA is effed up, players are doing drugs, clubbing and drinking every night, getting put into questionable situations (Glen Davis bar fight, Paul Pierce stabbing years ago), the Refs throw games, and now we have guys drawing guns in the locker room.

Lucic is coming back soon so the B's need to build off of this win, this game wasn't any regular season games, and the players seemed to play like it was. Besides Thomas stupid cross check move he played a great game, and better late than never for the Bruins offense.

It was a great game and I hoped a lot of people watched it and it got people interested in Bruins hockey more so. It would have been a real stinker if the Bruins lost at Fenway, but thanks to Recchi and Sturm's OT game winning OT goal the B's came back and prevailed. Great game, must have been a heck of an atmosphere to be in, but for $300 bucks the seats were far away from the rink.

I'll miss Bay, but he has been gone for about a month now, or whenever the Cameron signing was. Offense takes a hit but with the improved defense and pitching (run prevention) we won't miss him as much.

I could see Cameron making great use of the Green Monster. I see a jump in his offensive numbers also. Gonzalez is an all out beast who hits to all fields. Get him out of the pitcher friendly PETCO Park and NL West in General and put him in Fenway Park for 81 games and other friendly parks in the AL East like Yankee Stadium and his numbers will jump. Dude already hit 40 homers last year. He could hit 45-50 if he doned the Sox uni next year

Kelvin Escobar is close to signing with the Mets. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/kelvim-escobar-very-close-to-agreement-with-mets.html

we need a big bat, Ortiz is not the anwser in the cleanup spot, or even the 5 spot. The Sox need more offense because Ortiz isn't what he used to be. Everyone is saying he won't slump like he did last year and he was on a pace for 48 home runs etc. if he played like he did from June on all year. Well guess what Ortiz probably won't go on a tear like that this year, but he won't be as bad in the first two months as he was last year. Like I said, he's a 6 hitter at best in this lineup if we land the guys we need.

If the Sox sign Bay I don't see Ellsbury being on the bench for this team, that makes him expendable, so I think the Sox would trade him and try not to trade Clay. Theo doesn't want to deal two major league ready players. It would make sense to keep Westmorland and trade Kelly b/c we need a guy who will be ready in two years when Cameron and Drew leave. What is Kalish's upside, will he be better than Westmoreland?

The Sox are so worried about the luxury tax threshold... why don't they just back load the contract offer to Bay?

I still ultimately believe Bay will be signing elsewhere, probably with the Yankees as they will swoop in at the last minute as usual, but it is great to think. If the Padres are really dead set on the getting both Clay and Jacoby in the same deal, then I don't think its getting done. If the Sox add Jason Bay, I don't think its drastic that the Sox get him. But if you trade Ellsbury, you need to keep Westmoreland as a future replace OF in CF or RF in two years. Ellsbury, Kelley, Anderson, Bowden, Reddick get the job done for Adrian Gonzalez? But the again, who leads off? I think Peds will be fine leading off b/c he hits for a higher average an OBP. Sure the speed element of the team is gone, but at least Bay can steal 15 bags for what is worth lol. Pedrioa 2B Drew RF Youkilis 3B Gonzalez 1B Bay LF Martinez C Ortiz DH Cameron CF Scutaro SS Have that lineup combined with the rotation that has Beckett, Lester, Lackey, Buchholz, Dice-K and thats a 100 win team and the Word Series Champion.

You think a talent like that would be suited for the bench? I see him being traded more than anything. Your wasting his talents by letting him be the 4th OF and cripple his trade value.

Bay in LF, Cameron in CF, Drew in RF? Ellsbury gets traded? Cameron won't be on the bench.

Well, the door on Bay's career in Boston has gone from slammed shut to slightly ajar, the Sox have been taking internally about bringing Bay back. Currently, the best, and only offer so far is from the Mets at 4 years, 65 million. Nobody is giving him 5 years, so maybe the Sox 4 year 60 million dollar offer will be back on the table. Maybe 4 years 70 million, since its the years not the money per year which seems to be the trouble holding up the deal. That would put Cameron on the bench, but would he stay there? No, that makes Ellsbury expendable in a trade. Westmoreland will be ready when Drew and Cameron's deals are up.

Having an I formation with a fullback blocking in front of the RB who gets a direct hand off from the QB who then runs in between the tackles is smash mouth football, not having the RB in the shotgun and the Pat White coming off the bench from time to time to make stupid plays and fumble the ball

was doing some browsing and this is what came up for the Sox top ten prospects: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2010/269311.html 1. Ryan Westmoreland, of 2. Casey Kelly, rhp 3. Josh Reddick, of 4. Lars Anderson, 1b 5. Ryan Kalish, of 6. Junichi Tazawa, rhp 7. Reymond Fuentes, of 8. Anthony Rizzo, 1b 9. Jose Iglesias, ss 10. Derrik Gibson, ss/2b

I wouldn't call the wild cat smash mouth football....

Hasn't he been sacked the most of any QB this year?

http://www.csnne.com/pages/landing?Knee-pr...amp;feedID=3352

Comeback Player of the Year: CEDRIC BENSON Quarterback of the Year: DREW BREES Runningback of the Year: CHRIS JOHNSON Tight End of the Year: DALLAS CLARK Wide Receiver of the Year: ANDRE JOHNSON Offensive Player of the Year: CHRIS JOHNSON mvp: PEYTON MANNING

Ortiz hitting 4, now that is a scary thought. 1-3 looks great, but at this stage in his career Ortiz isn't a cleanup hitter, ideally he should be hitting sixth. V-Mart isn't a home run hitting type that should be in the cleanup spot. This team still lacks a true clean up hitter. They missed out last year on Tex, and right now Theo is doing his best to screw up and not land Gonzalez. Looking at the each guy by themselves looks ok 3-7 in lineup listed above are all guys who can hit 20 home runs. When you put it all together, the Sox had problems scoring last year, even with V-Mart, and we saw that in the playoffs. A times this offense was down right horrible. Sure the offense was third in runs scored, but a lot of those runs were garbage runs. The team couldn't hit when it needed to. If you look at this lineup compared to last year, it is signficicantly worse, about 35 home runs and 115 RBI's worse. Scutaro is better than anything we had last year, we have a full year of V-Mart, and Cameron can hit 20 bombs, but the offense as a whole still sucks.

With Lowell back on the team (although he technically never left), it looks like we're down to the 25th spot on the roster. That seems to come down to a RHH 5th OF or a bullpen arm. If the rotation's healthy, I agree that the light opening schedule makes 5th OF a clear choice, at least to start the year. Plus there's the available resources; Dustin Richardson and Michael Bowden can be shuttled up to Boston as necessary, whereas IMO Reddick could use a season in AAA before taking on a role with the big club, and moving him up to sit hurts his development far more than either a SP or RP. Getting another OF with options would be ideal, but finding a decent one probably means giving up at least a little talent. In terms of FA's, does Nady accept that role? Would/can Baldelli come back in a reduced role Jonny Gomes mashes lefties but can't play the field. Would you prefer a guy who can take CF, or with Cameron and Ells do you target the best hitter who'll take the spot? Are there any FA's Epstein should be targeting, or should the FO wait for a cheap team to unload a "pricey" arb-eligible player with options?