SoxFanForsyth

Well, Cano don't ya know, the Grandy Man Can't. Someone send Sterling a Tex message, because Russell didn't show enough Muscle. Not even Jesus could save the Yankees. A-Rod just dropped an A-Bomb on the Evil Empire.

I love watching Russell Martin suck. EDIT: At baseball.

I am really hoping that it's Jim Hickey or Dave Martinez. Hickey first, by far. He's a fantastic pitching coach for the Rays, and not only would it be fantastic to pry him away from that pitching staff, but I would love for him to take the helms and have some influence over our pitching staff, even if it is at arms length. Dave Martinez would also be a good choice, after being in the Rays system for the past few years. This team needs a change, and maybe bringing in a page from the Rays book would be a good idea. It would be brilliant to bring in Dave Martinez for the manager job, and replace Curt Young with Jim Hickey.

Yeah the only reason I would want Crisp back is if we dished Ellsbury for, ultimately, some elite SP (Felix-esque, even if that requires a 3rd team involved). And I think it would be a terrible move to make Ellsbury flop between CF and RF based on the opponents SP. Players need consistency.

I think we're really grasping at straws here, and have become incredibly selfish. What does Theo do? He puts out a team, year after year, that is good enough to win a world series. Year after year. Despite the FA signings, he still manages to put a team out there via draft and trades that overcome the shortcomings of his FA signings. Yet people what to get rid of him? Tell me something. Would we have won in 2007 without Pedroia, or JD Drew? I will never understand the desire to get rid of him. As bad as his FA signings are (and they are bad), his drafts and trades are much, much better and completely overcome that. Should they change their outlook and process for signing free agents? Absolutely. But do not, by any means, throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Blow it up? Really? This is the exact same team that was 31 games over .500 on August 27th, and if they could have played .500 baseball from there on out, would have won 97 games. And we want to blow the team up?? This is incomprehensible. The reason the clubhouse was in such shambles was because Francona didn't crack the whip. He was a great "players manager" but when the players stopped respecting him, he had nothing to fall back on. Francona is gone now. A new voice in the clubhouse is all this team needs. You get a guy in there who gets onto Lackey when he rips his defense for misplays, or when he shoots a bad look before he's pulled. Get a guy who won't allow drinking in the clubhouse, and limits the "family trip" to one per year, like all the other teams. Make sure all the players are in the dugout for every single game. Nobody gets a free pass to just sit and play PS3 while the team is out there fighting to win the game. You know what the difference is between the Rays and the Red Sox? Heart. That's it. Every single game, you know who is on the top of the steps, high fiving players when the come off the field, after homeruns, screaming at umps when they miss a call? David Price. A starting pitcher. And our SP are in there drinking beer and playing PS3. That's the problem. The leadership. It's not Theo. It's partially the players. But it's ultimately the manager who ALLOWS it to happen. And that's why they've done what they need to do, and should move on at this point. Be a f***ing team and have each others back. Watch the damn games from the dugout and take a page out of David Price's book. We have all the talent in the world, and for that, we absolutely do not need to blow anything up. But we need a manager who can come in and promote team unity, and make sure everyone is playing together, as a team, both on the field and in the dugout.

Whew. That's a bit of a pipe dream. If we could get Theo to take Lackey off our books if he went to the Cubs, I'd be thrilled. I think Ben Cherington would fill in nicely for Theo, if need be. I still think Theo should stay with the club. He's done far, far, far more good than bad. I'll take Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzo, Ortiz, Youkilis, Lester, Buchholz, Bard, Scutaro, Lavarnway, Aceves, Papelbon, Beltre, VMart all day, even if it does mean the occasional John Lackey/DiceK Matsuzaka contract.

Surely we have insurance on DiceK's contract. We should have insurance on any contract > 10mm. If that's the case, we can get a portion of his $$$ back.

Haha true. How funny would it be for Henry to say "Alright Theo. You can leave. But you have to take your s*** with you." and give them Lackey's contract. That would be awesome.

In a piece for the Globe, Nick Cafardo writes about what the Sox should ask for in return if Theo goes to the Cubs. Here's the beginnings of what he writes: Pretty interesting ideas there. I like the Starlin Castro idea, even if it did mean giving up Iglesias with him. The Garza idea, I was joking about, and I don't think that would ever happen.

Heyward is a good player, but they need a middle-of-the-order bat, and that's exactly what Ellsbury could be for them. He could easily be a #3 hitter in that line up. Or even a number 2 hitter.

Sox don't have the high end prospects right now, but they can deal Ellsbury to the Braves for some high end prospects, and then flip those prospects to a team like SEA for a guy like Felix. It's actually a perfect sell-high opportunity for the Sox, and if they feel as though Boras is going to go year to year (which he almost certainly will), and that Ellsbury will demand Crawford-type money (which he almost certainly will), then it wouldn't be a bad idea at all to call up Seattle and ask what they would want between the Sox organization and the Braves organization for Felix. If they can get what the Mariners want, then you're basically trading Ellsbury + 1-2 prospects for Felix. And I pull the trigger on that deal all day, especially with Kalish in the wings. And I was joking about Theo for Garza. It was more of a dig at the Marlins for trading for Ozzie.

It was a joke, FWIW.

2 seamer, 4 seamer, slider, change up? Those are 4 pitches, when coming off a 95-97 MPH fastball, that will be more than effective as a starter. He won't need to develop a starters repertoire because he's already got one. And by the way guys. Bard struggled as a starter because he ad a 9.4 BB/9 (14.8 BB/9 in A+ ball) in his first season in the MLB, when he was a starter. I'm pretty sure he's got more control than that. And Jacko is over here trying to say he'd be a terrible starter because he struggled for 75 IP over 22 starts when he was 22 in A-A+ ball. Give me a freaking break.

To me, it's not even a discussion. Move Aceves to the 8th inning role, and move Bard to the SP role. If things don't work out for him, it's incredibly easy to put him back in the RP role. If things do work out for him, you've got a potentially electric arm starting every 5 days, and you've got Aceves in the 8th inning role. He's absolutely good enough to be good in that role. Like I said, it's not even a question. Move Bard to a SP. I don't care what his stats were in A+ ball when he was 22. Guess what. When Lester was in A+ ball, he posted a 4.28 ERA. Plain and simple, minor league stats are utterly meaningless when it comes to translating to MLB stuff. And it's obvious that Bard has the stuff to be a borderline elite SP if he can harness it.

It pains me enormously to say this, but they didn't even win one in 2009. They haven't won a playoff game since 2008. :thumbdown

AMEN! Seriously, though. What's the difference between the team that we have right now, and the team that was picked by 46 ESPN experts to win the WS in 2011? Answer? JD Drew. That's it. So how the hell is this team in such shambles? We need a #3 starter right now, and then some SP depth, and that's basically it. On top of that, would it really surprise anyone if Bard was stretched out and put into the rotation this season? Rotation: Lester Beckett Buchholz Bard Lackey Depth: Doubront Weiland ________ ________ ________ Lineup: Ellsbury Pedroia Gonzalez Youkilis Ortiz Crawford Lavarnway/Salty Scutaro Kalish Go re-sign Papelbon. Make Aceves your 8th inning guy. Get Bobby Jenks, John Lackey, and Carl Crawford back on track (or trade Lackey for Bay, and trade for someone like Danks to be your 5th SP). This team is extremely well put together right now. This isn't the Oakland A's were talking about. That line up right there, that will put up the most runs in the MLB again next year. Tack on an extra quality starter to that rotation, and all of a sudden it's a WS contender, again. It's a hell of a lot easier to find a 7th inning pitcher than a SP for cheap who would be at Bard's caliber, too.

If they increase their payroll, which they very well may do, I would expect them to do it via trades, i.e. trading a few prospects for a higher end pitcher. Or Theo to the Cubs for Garza.

If the Sox dish Ellsbury for some solid, can't miss prospects from Atlanta, and then dish someone like Boegarts, Jacobs, or Iglesias with the prospects they get from ATL to SEA for Felix, they absolutely have a shot at it, no doubt about it.

Hey man. All I'm saying is that Millar will keep the clubhouse loose. That's what we need, to play relaxed. Maybe he wouldn't be a good manager, but he could be a good "coach" that's just there to keep everyone from pressing.

There's a difference between the manager being a guy who played with some of the guys on the team now, vs that of a guy like Jim Rice or Dennis Eckersley who didn't play with any of the guys on the team now. Eck or Rice would both be great managers. How about Millar as a bench coach? Someone needs to be in there to loosen up the clubhouse.