Palodios

The Rangers are sitting on uber-prospect Profar in AAA this season for the same reasons as Bogaertz/Bradley. Tampa Bay let Desmond Jennings sit in AAA till June of 2011. Harper with the Nationals. Trout with the Angels. Hosmer with the Royals. Ackley with the Mariners. Alonso with the Padres. Its how things are done.

********. He got hit in the head with a pitch of no fault of his own. It isn't a minor nagging injury, this one can be life-threatening if not handled properly. How about we have someone throw a 95 mph fastball at your head and see what happens?

What we need to understand is that the Red Sox are a hobby for the owners of this team. It is fun for them to watch, and be a part of, but after Loopy Larry's bad decisions, they are going to be smarter with how the team spends its money whether we like it or not. It doesn't matter who the player is, in the long term, this could potentially cost the Red Sox 20-30 million for 25 games of one player. As a business owner, it would be silly to spend that kind of money on a guy who will likely provide 1 win over that time.

Just so everyone is on the same page here, Bradley's agent is Scott Boras.

I say this in the most endearing way possible: You're like an excited little kid who would rather have one ice cream cone now, than have a box of cones later.

Bradley will probably miss about 25 games in April. Bradley provides, maybe 1-2 extra wins. So instead of going 14-11, they go 12-13. Are those one, maybe two wins really worth 5-7 wins when Bradley is in his prime? Who do you think is more likely to be World Series bound, the 2013 Red Sox, or the 2019 Red Sox?

MLBTradeRumors show that it is mid-june right now. I don't think that is nearly as important as holding onto team control for the 7th year, which is in late April. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/02/service-time-considerations-for-top-prospects.html

I saw this, and he seemed like a good fit initially, but the problem is that he's a real mess defensively. Do the Sox really need another sub .700 OPS outfielder who has no business in Fenway RF? Sweeney has better splits against LHP, plays all defensive positions, and plays them well. Overbay also provides more versatility, and experience as well. If we're going on potential, Mike Carp is probably a better choice as well.

Why does this sound a bit ominous?

Who was he batting against? Gomes hit .980 against lefties last year-- maybe Farrell is probably trying to see if he can be the equivalent of a #4 hitter in that spot.

Sounds pretty logical to me.

Mike Carp is Jeremy Hermida all over again. No glove, no speed, mediocre hitting left handed outfielder with mild power who strikes out a ton. Both have had one solid season, which was helped out considerably by good a good BABIP. He's also hitting .200 in spring training.

Is Mike Carp actually superior defensively to Gomez? The stats I've seen show Carp to be pretty mediocre with a glove.

Greinke getting checked out for an elbow issue. Crazy s***, that could turn into a disaster.

Much appreciated Fred. We just see things differently-- I think that going to the playoffs is a solid season, and I think it'd be silly to consider that a failure. The problem we seem to face in New England is that we always look at two teams.... The Yankees, and the Patriots. Both teams are arguably the best-run franchises in their respective sports and our expectations end up too high. The Rays are well-run, but their PR department is has less talent than the Red Sox's talent evaluatprs. The Angels have the best player since Barry Bonds, and still couldn't make the playoffs. World Series titles are some combination of luck, organizational skill... and often picking up elite players in the draft. There will be peaks and valleys. This is definitely a valley. The problem is, many of us ballwashers don't want to be reminded of misery. They need some luck, and maybe some organizational skill, but based on the players here and the weakness in the AL East, this team has a chance to make the playoffs. Don't forget that.

Going back 20 years The Red Sox have won the division in 1995, and 2007. The Red Sox won the WS title in 2004 and 2007. The Red Sox have had a AL League title zero times. Essentially what you're saying is that you think the Red Sox have failed 90% of the time. If that's how you see this team, then we're going to argue a lot.

Sometimes I wonder if Yeszir feels like he has a fishtank full of sea-monkeys. For a while, he had more of active part, helped it grow, but eventually he got to the point where TalkSox was self-contained. He changes the water filter once in a while, but for the most part, the sea monkey colony works on its own. Sometimes the colony goes to war on itself-- he can decide to watch or interact, depending on a whim

I definitely agree that you didn't gloat nearly as much during the miserable 2012 season, but there was definitely a lot of pessimist ballwashing after 2011. The a700--iortiz dynamic was pretty brutal for a while there, couldn't make a single post without "The smartest two posters on the board" comments being thrown around.

The problem is that the entire thing is a paradox. As a player, you either care about winning, and overdo it, and potentially hurt yourself because you're working too hard early in the spring, or don't overdo it, but don't give it your all for your country.

********. After the 2011 playoff failure, you dubbed yourself "King of Talksox" because you had called out the team's potential flaws. How is that not dancing on everyone's head?

He's crippled now? The guy has some minor inflammation in his heels, and suddenly his career is over. 5-7 days has somehow turned to 5-7 weeks. And honestly, I do think some of the posters here enjoy predicting the team's doom. Most of them get some kind of satisfaction in being right, even though its at the expense of the team.

I went to the globe, and I went to Peter Abraham's twitter, and nowhere said he'd miss several weeks.

Hey now, it did happen to Manny Ramirez's knees once

Come on man, read the article before passing judgement on a career ending injury. This had nothing to do with his Achilles. Why is it we have so many so-called Red Sox fans here, whose first reaction is to expect the worst, and enjoy it?

You're complaining about Ortiz who only played 90 games last year, and your solution is to replace him with a guy who hasn't played a full season since 2008? And to say he's a greedy ballplayer? They're all greedy if you use that logic. He makes millions. So does Hamilton, Votto, Fielder, Cabrera .... you know, those guys that his offense is comparative to. If you want to put out a bunch of selfless players, watch independent leagues.