SoxFanForsyth

Lots of hard hit balls. Either Phelps makes an adjustment or this is going to be a short outing.

atta boy Pedey. Here we go. Put up a crooked number.

Exactly. And between the $80mm (per Tim Britton of the Providence Journal) in cash to spend, and the enormous amount of prospects, this is the richest this team has been going into an offseason in a long, long time. Especially if they're able to unload a portion of Victorino's contract, now that they have Nava, Craig, Cespedes, Bradley, and Betts.

What's crazy is that the Sox have the ability to afford BOTH Lester AND Scherzer. Can you imagine that? (don't try its not gonna happen). But the Sox are going to go into 2015 with one of the best rotations in baseball, count on that.

I know i'm in the minority here, but I love Kruk and Schulman. And I also really like Joe Buck. Not sure why, other than it just reminds me so much of the 2004 playoffs. Just some good memories maybe, but I love those broadcasters.

I'm torn on JBJ. I absolutely love his defense and if he can just be a league average hitter, he is a 3-4 win player because of that defense. I thought he was turning a corner earlier, but he's back to his old struggles. I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on him yet, but I keep getting more and more discouraged everyday. Having said that, I love (so far) Mookie. I just can't comprehend why the hell we would call him up, and then only play him 1 of 3 games. That just makes so little sense to me. And then Farrell says that Holt is going to play CF vs tough lefties. Ok, so why the hell is Mookie up?? I'm so confused. Is he only going to play RF against LHP? And if so, where the hell does Craig go?? That's absolutely ridiculous and impedes on Mookie's development. The kid is only 21 years old. He's not a 30 year old veteran who has shown himself to be a backup OF. How they're treating Mookie right now is beyond belief. And the exact same thing goes for Middlebrooks. Why the hell did we trade Drew? Well, from the mouth of Cherrington, "so that we can see what we've got in Middlebrooks". Well, how do you expect to see what you've got with Middlebrooks if you're not playing him?? It's absolutely ridiculous! Are the plans to only play WMB vs LHP in 2015? Because if not, figure out what you've got so you can address the situation in the offseason if you need to. My goodness. Combine those two things with the way they've bounced Bogaerts between SS and 3B this year, and this has been one of the most atrocious years I've ever seen in terms of how teams have treated player development. It's just an absolute incoherent, throwing the darts at the wall to see which ones play today, disgusting management of the rookies. Absolutely disgusting.

I'll ask you the same question I asked Spud. The Sox have around $70mm to spend in the offseason. I think the thing we can all agree on is that the FO isn't going to go into 2015 with a light payroll after coming in last (or 4th) in 2014. You're set at C (Vazquez), 1B (Nap, Craig), 2B (Pedey, Betts, Holt), SS (Bogaerts, Marrero, Holt), 3B (Bogaerts, WMB, Cecchini, Holt), LF (Craig, Betts, Cespedes, Holt), CF (Bradley, Betts, Holt), RF (Vic, Cespedes, Betts, Holt), and DH (Ortiz). You've got 2 of the 5 SP slots filled with Buch & Kelley, and lets just say they'll go in with 1 rookie (RDLR). So where are they going to spend that $70mm? They have no slots open. They're not going to spend $70mm on a backup catcher and a couple middle of the road SP. And they're 100% not going to go into 2015 with a payroll around $130-140mm after coming in last. They can't go into 2015 with a low payroll AND no ace or they will get crucified. And they don't have anywhere else to allocate that money, and its $70mm. Hell they could go spend $25mm on Lester, $25mm on Scherzer, and $5mm on Ross, and still have $15mm set aside for some bullpen arms.

oh this is just so, so, so ugly.

Breslow is as bad as they come.

how do you figure?? They couldn't have done much else. They lost Lester, Lackey, Peavy, Doubront at the deadline. What else could they have done? The pitcher they acquired had just thrown on 7/30. So you just don't trade for him because you want to win a meaningless game?

They didn't have anyone to pitch today if they sent Webster down.

yup. For Kelley.

that was so painful. But....Ortiz - Cespedes - Nap coming up. This game will be at least tied after this inning.

Well his BB/9 isn't but that's so tough to translate because hitters in AAA swing so much more than MLB.

So, question for you, because this seems to be a pretty common theory (that they won't get Lester back). The Sox have around $70mm to spend in the offseason. I think the thing we can all agree on is that the FO isn't going to go into 2015 with a light payroll after coming in last (or 4th) in 2014. You're set at C (Vazquez), 1B (Nap, Craig), 2B (Pedey, Betts), SS (Bogaerts, Marrero), 3B (Bogaerts, WMB, Cecchini), LF (Craig, Betts, Cespedes), CF (Bradley, Betts), RF (Vic, Cespedes, Betts), and DH (Ortiz). You've got 2 of the 5 SP slots filled with Buch & Kelley. So where are they going to spend that $70mm? Thats why I think they give Lester the money. And then they'll give probably another pitcher some money too. They can't go into 2015 with a low payroll AND no ace or they will get crucified. And they don't have anywhere else to allocate that money, and its $70mm. Hell they could go spend $25mm on Lester, $25mm on Scherzer, and $5mm on Ross, and still have $15mm set aside for some bullpen arms.

Guys. Shane Greene is pitching for them. This is going to be a slugfest.

Exactly. But we need to stop putting him out there as if he's a starter.

Webster is a pen arm.

Seems like that's the issue with all of the young kids we have coming up. But I think that's fairly consistent with most young kids. Probably the last thing that develops is command.

This new lineup is awesome. So. Much. Power. 3-5 is crazy power.

Finally. That's excellent.

Soxpedis!!!

woah, that's weird. I can't remember this ever happening.

Hahahaha. Wow. This strike zone is absurd.

Another game. Another set of rookies. Webster going today against Shane Greene, who has recently turned into a pumpkin. Hopefully Cespedes makes his debut today (can't imagine he won't). Keep winning. Let's shock the world.