SoxFanForsyth

Them? Or Pedroia? I'm not defending anyone from underperforming. That's all I care about. There's been a ton of underperformance this season. The rest of the stuff, nobody knows whether it's true, or what parts are true, or whether the stories have been manipulated to read in a different way than the events actually occurred. I've been burnt, and I know a ton of other people who have been burnt, by making assumptions, so I assume nothing. You can hate this team all you want, but absolutely, positively nobody knows anything about what happens inside that clubhouse. So I don't give a s*** about what the public perception is on the team because it's all ********. The only thing that the public knows is what the media digs up, and 90% of the time it's borderline fabricated.

You have a very weird definition of what a primma donna is. If there was ever a person who was the exact opposite of a primma donna, it's Dustin Pedroia. When you think of a primma donna, you think of Manny Ramirez. Someone who marches to the beat of his own drum, hustles when he wants to hustle, works when he wants to work. How does that, in any way, define Pedroia?? Because he is sticking up for his teammates? Because he was the 1st one in the clubhouse at Patriots day and didn't read the comments about Youkilis but was bombarded by reporters BECAUSE he was the 1st to the yard because he always wants to get extra work in? That's why he's a primma donna?? Come on man. That's crazy.

I just hope every single one of the players tells the media to go f*** themselves and stops giving them anything to write about. All the media does is dig and dig and dig for s*** on the Sox. At this point, I would just say "No media in the clubhouse and players are no longer giving interviews". Maybe then it won't be ******** story after ******** story all year.

And for what it's worth, I still have faith that this team can make a run at the PS.

RSFFL - I'm still here (referring to your sig)

Through July 31, 2011, the Red Sox bullpen threw 322 IP. Through July 31, 2012, the Red Sox bullpen had thrown 321.33. In all of August, 2011, the Sox bullpen threw 80 IP. They've thrown 33 IP thus far this month, which puts them on pace for 79.2 IP for August. So no, they haven't burned through the bullpen faster this year than last year.

Plus, you've also got guys like Chris Carpenter, who is hitting 100 in Pawtucket and has allowed 1 ER in 11 IP and 13 K's, De La Torre who has a 2.45 ERA and throws in the high 90s from what I hear (24 K in 18.1 IP this year). It seems like, with Bailey, Bard, Miller, Carpenter, Wilson, and to a lesser extent, De La Torre, the Red Sox could have a hard throwing, deep bullpen next season.

Lineup looks really good. Although, I really, really want some elite defense at SS so I take Iglesias at SS over Aviles. I punt Punto, and make Aviles the utility IF. I also resign Ross. He's got a .755 OPS vs RHP this year, so he's adequate vs RHP, and he absolutely punishes LHP (1.152 OPS vs LHP). I'm curious about something, though. Lets say we resign Ross on a 2 year deal, and we have Sweeney until 2014, with Brentz, Jacobs, Bradley, and potentially Bogaerts (if he doesn't stick at SS), do you deal Kalish along with Doubront, and a RP like Melancon in a deal for someone like Josh Johnson? If so, then you have a bench of Aviles, Salty, Sweeney, and Ciriaco (who they are trying to get to play IF and OF, and likely will be able to by next year). The bullpen will be very stout next year, too, with Alex Wilson, Bard, Bailey, Aceves, Miller, Breslow, and Tazawa.

Ah yes. The offensive outburst day. The Sox must have seen their Total Runs number dropping. Had to bump it back up to the top. No worries, though. They'll be sure to score 3 or fewer in their next 5 games.

I've always heard 5-6 months for position players. So much less strain on their arm than having to throw 100+ pitches to a tiny spot with cut or curve. So if Crawford went in on 10/1, you could expect him back by 3/1 or 4/1. Personally I say get the surgery done now so that he's back and ready for ST next year, and it gives you a bit of a cushion for any setbacks. Also it takes the ball out of the FO's hand, because I guarantee you that Cherrington is still trying to push Crawford into rest and rehab for his elbow.

It's not even a discussion. You keep Lester. You get rid of Beckett. It's not close, either. Lester is a much, much, much better pitcher than Beckett. Lester was touching 95 in his last outing vs TEX, so you know his stuff is there. His cutter has looked much better in his past couple appearances as well. I actually liken Lester's past few starts to that of Buchholz right before he got out of his funk. He would get through 5 or 6 IP, and then implode in the 6th or 7th. That is when he was right on the verge of getting out of his funk. And that's where I peg Lester to be right now. Plain and simple, I think Lester is still very capable of being the 3.30 ERA pitcher, and I think he will be that guy next season. I would be shocked if he didn't bounce back. I wouldn't bat an eye if he did. His K rate on the entire season is down, but he's struck out 64 in his last 67.1 IP, so that's trending upward, while keeping his walks low (19 BB in that same span, over a 3.00 K:BB, which is excellent). His biggest difference between seasons past and this season is a 15% drop in his LOB% and a .040 point spike in his BABIP. To me, all signs point to him being back to normal next season. And if you are wanting to give up on 813.1 IP of 3.33 ERA baseball over the past 4 years because of 141 IP of 5.33 ERA baseball, then I just don't know what to tell you. You don't just drop a guy because he's had a tough season. Look at Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Dan Haren, Ricky Romero, Tim Lincecum this year. Pitchers sometimes just have down years for whatever reason. If it's a young, controllable guy who has a track record, you don't just punt him.

Something crazy that I just noticed. Remember when Buchholz had a 9.09 ERA on May 6th? Well, he's now leading our SP in ERA (outside of Morales, who has a 3.06 ERA in 6 starts, but nah he belongs in the bullpen). Buch's 4.24 ERA is very impressive given where he started.

Like I said earlier, at this moment, I would throw Buchholz against any offense and against any pitcher and feel confident that we had a very good chance at winning any game. The Red Sox are 13-7 in games pitched by Buchholz this season (10-4 in games after that dreadful start). In his last 11 starts, he's got a 2.08 ERA. Since the ASB, he's got a 1.79 ERA. He's been nothing short of fantastic. Again, if he continues this trend, he's an ace. And if he's the pitcher that we've seen recently, that takes a huge burden off of the Red Sox this offseason because they will be able to go out and get a #3 pitcher rather than having to go out and get an ace.

Pedro had a span of 4 games in 1998 where he allowed 23 ER in 24 IP, for an 8.63 ERA during that span. So, 2 fewer games than Buchholz had. Pedro also had 5 games that season in which he allowed 5 ER or more. Is that really going to be your justification for Buchholz being "at best a 2"? Because of the distribution of the poorly pitched games, Buchholz is not an ace? I'm not saying that Buchholz is definitively an ace, but he certainly is trending in that direction, and if he can continue throw like he had been throwing, he is an ace.

Hahaha. You quoted fielding percentage like it actually means something. And in the minors, no less. That's funny. Did you know that Derek Jeter had a career .934 Fielding Percentage in the minors? Or that HanRam had a career .939 Fielding % in the minors? Hm. They both stuck at SS for a while. Oh. Ozzie Smith had a .943 Fielding Percentage at SS in the minors? Hm. That's funny. He was a pretty good defensive SS if I remember correctly. Wait, no. He had to have sucked because he had a bad fielding percentage in the minor leagues. Good point dude. Good point. :blink: Wait, what's that? Ozzie Smith had an OPS of .573 in his first 4 combined seasons? And he was what? An All Star in 81 when his OPS was .549? He was 2nd in the ROY voting and had 2 GG in his first 4 seasons? Guess that's just "f***ing terrible." Because in 1980, when he had a .589 OPS, and he posted a 4.1 WAR, he was just a terrible, terrible player. Oh wait. No. That's not it at all. He was actually a very GOOD player despite having a SLG% less than his OBP. That's weird. I thought that wasn't allowed. Hm. :blink: Well. I guess we can all agree. You're clueless. You have less than zero idea about what you're talking about. Goodbye.

Valencia has a .649 OPS over his past 2 seasons in the MLB. He had a .719 OPS in 3 seasons of AAA ball. That's hardly drool-worthy. Iglesias is obviously a glove first player. Not everything revolves around offense.

If you're going to dog a guys defensive skills like you've scouted him, shouldn't you know how to spell his name? The only knock on Bogaerts defensively is that he is likely going to be too big. Which means that's down the road, as in when he's 26-28 years old. So he's got 4-5 good years at SS before he will need to make the move to 3B. Iglesias makes them better than Valencia does. Maybe we should start looking at defense up the middle a bit more than we have been, because clearly our SP needs all the help they can get. Saving runs defensively is a good way to help the SP problem for the short term.

This team sucks because of 2 reasons. 1. Complete and utter underperformance from the top 2 SP. The Red Sox are 15-27 when Lester and Beckett start. If they were merely 21-21, a .500 record (which, from your top 2 should be worst case scenario), the Red Sox would be 62-52 and leading in the WC race. 2. Complete and utter lack of the ability to take a walk or get on base in ways other than base hits. Ellsbury, Crawford, Salty, and Aviles all have OBP's of .301 or less right now. That's 1/2 of your starting lineup. This team has no idea how to grind out at bats or foul off tough pitches to work a walk or get themselves into good hitters counts. Last season, the Sox had a team .349 OBP. This season, only 2 regulars (Gonzalez, .351, and Ortiz, .414) have OBP's over that mark. This cannot be overstated. Only TWO of the current starters have an OBP higher than the TEAM OBP from last year. Welcome to mediocrity.

Like, Danny Valencia bad? To me, there is a threshold of complete suckage where, if you're not over this threshold, you're all lumped together. In terms of OPS, I peg it around a .675. If you're a sub .675 OPS player, you just absolutely suck at hitting. Period. I don't care if you're a .674 OPS guy or a .580 OPS guy. You're the same to me. You're not going to produce, plain and simple, so I have zero expectations from you. Thus, I think that, even though Aviles's OPS may be 80-90 points higher than Iglesias's, you're still getting around zero production from him. Iglesias's defense is significantly, significantly better than Aviles's, so I say go with the glove if you're going to have an auto out at the plate everytime.

Valencia has a .522 OPS this year. Meanwhile, an actual prospect (Iglesias) is just sitting in Pawtucket because Aviles is just too good for him to come up. Heaven forbid this team moves Aviles out of SS. His glove is just so much better than Iglesias's that it would be a ridiculous move. Yes, yes. Let's instead call up Valencia and keep our defensive wizard down in Pawtucket. So freaking stupid.

Per Pete Abe: Middlebrooks has a broken wrist. Red Sox will call up Danny Valencia for game on Saturday.

I should warn you. If you're going to walk around after watching this video, I'd make sure I was wearing my boner pants if I were you. http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=22677449&sid=t533 http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=23597579&sid=t533 Send Aviles outta this town.

Obviously that would never happen. But I do wonder if they would call up Iglesias and stick Aviles at 3B. That would be the most logical, IMO. At least then we get to see Iglesias at SS.