SoxFanForsyth

No way. I'll add Doubront to the list, but I need a bullpen arm back with Stanton. The Red Sox can 110% get Stanton without Bogaerts or Bradley. Cecchini was ranked 21 in Klaw's midseason top 50, Betts is a no doubt top 100 (probably top 60), Swihart will be a top 50, Barnes easily a top 100, probably top 70. Nobody is going to offer two top 50's and two top 100's for Stanton because nobody has the goods. Cecchini, Betts, Swihart, and Barnes or Ranaudo (Ranaudo was BA's #37 midseason), so that's potentially 3 top 50's, a top 60, and an MLB ready pitcher. The Marlins won't be able to get a better package than that. Period. Not even close.

A's vs Angels today at 3:30 EST. Weaver going for the Angels. Hopefully he's got it going today.

How is this not a smiley yet???

Well, the ALDS tickets sold out in 1 hour, so I can only imagine it would be about the same. Not sure they can sell out much faster than that, especially with 4 games rather than 3.

Yeah not looking good. Kind of a bummer, I thought he'd be a key piece of the pen. Two things that are going to bite this team in the ass this post season. 1. No power pitcher in the bullpen who can come up with a big K in a big situation. 2. Buchholz is going to throw away a pick off attempt at 1B and allow a run at some point this post season. He's so obsessed

Yeah I got tickets to Friday's game (Game 1) and I believe my wife got me tickets to Game 2 for my birthday, but I think she got game 2 tickets on stubhub and paid a premium for some really good seats (like 3-4 rows back from the on deck circle).

Not to mention that the Red Sox are going to absorb the loss of Ellsbury by trading Cecchini, Betts, Barnes, and Swihart for Giancarlo Stanton.

So essentially what you're saying is that, not only do you have to be a C, 2B, SS, or CF in order to qualify, but you're also going to rely heavily on UZR, which is the most erratic defensive metric, but is a huge component of fWAR? Try using BBRef, which uses DRS rather than UZR, which is a much more reliable defensive metric, and Boggs 87 season (8.2 bWAR) is better than Ellsbury's 2011 season (8.1 bWAR).

Brilliant.

Red Sox rotation: 3.80 ERA. Yankees rotation: 4.12 ERA. Lol. Hey Jackso. You have about 5 weeks left until your 1 month sig bet takes effect.

I know that YOTN hates it when people do this, but I'm doing it. Jackso, after all the s*** he gave me for thinking the Red Sox rotation could be a top 5 rotation if everything broke right, deserves to eat crow. Red Sox rotation: 3.80 Overall ERA, 2nd in AL. Lol.

Wade Boggs: Career 132 wRC+. Jacoby Ellsbury: 2011 136 wRC+. It's not even a comparison. In Ellsbury's most outrageous, non-repeatable season, his wRC+ was nominally (3%) better than Wade Boggs' CAREER wRC+

Lackey throwing vs Chatwood, then Peavy vs Oswalt in Colorado. Follow that series with Buchholz Lester Lackey, our top 3 against the Orioles without Machado. I like our chances to go 4-1 in that span.

Of course, you're not going to make a decision until you absolutely have to. And bringing Berry is under the assumption that Ellsbury returns and is fine. Obviously, if Ellsbury or Victorino sustain an injury that keeps them from the post season, then you bring Bradley.

No way in hell either Victorino or Ellsbury sit out just 1-2 games in the post season. If anyone misses any time, it's significant time. You don't just take a day here or there. No way. Besides the Sox will have 4 complete days off from the end of the season to the start of the ALDS, that's plenty of time to rest up.

I thought you loved Nixon, no??

The Sox are much more likely to benefit by getting a key stolen base late in a close game than by pinch hitting for Ellsbury. And if Ells hurts his foot, he won't just miss 1-2 days. It will be 3-4 weeks. Which means you call Bradley up and Ells misses the rest of the PS anyway.

Really? The Sox have brought pinch runners on their roster pretty regularly. 'The Red Sox always have carried a pinch-runner in the postseason. You remember Dave Roberts, of course. For that matter, the dual presence of Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco Crisp on the roster in 2008 gave the Sox obvious pinch-running options. But you might not recall as clearly the presence of Joey Gathright (2009), Alejandro Machado (2005) and Adrian Brown (2003) on the postseason roster. But there they were. And so, it seems fair to say: Welcome to October, Quintin Berry.' From WEEI

Yeah I think the pen will shape up like that as well. Although to be completely honest, I think I'd rather see Britton than Thornton, and also, I wish they would have had a better look at Webster coming out of the bullpen because he could have been a huge wild card that caught lightening, kind of like he did in Spring Training.

Yeah I can see him as a late game PH for Drew, or, if Drew really struggles vs LHP in the PS, maybe start Bogaerts vs a tough LHP deeper into October. But certainly, Drew gets the first shot against LHP. As for JBJ, I am not sure he makes the roster. I think the 25th slot will go to Quentin Berry myself. Since we're only carrying 4 SP and 7 RP, that leaves an extra slot for a position player, and I think Berry gets it as a PR.

The best way to describe the Red Sox SP right now (and I heard someone say this on WEEI last week): Lester is the best pitcher right now, Lackey has been the most consistently good pitcher all year, and Buchholz has the best stuff on the team. Like I said, I like the way it's lined up, it just took me a little digging in and thinking to understand it. As for the 7th and 8th, I have no idea. A combo of Workman/Breslow/Tazawa/Dempster, I think. I actually really like Dempster/Workman/Britton in a 7th inning role, and Tazawa/Breslow in the 8th inning, mainly playing matchups. For what it's worth (and I think it's worth something), Dempster has a 2.17 ERA in the 1st inning this year, which I believe will translate into some bullpen success.

So the way the Sox have reset the rotation going forward (Lackey - Peavy - Buchholz - Lester - Lackey in next 5 games), it looks like the postseason rotation will be Lester - Lackey - Buchholz - Peavy. Thoughts on this? Initially, I hated it. I think Buchholz gives us a much better shot to win than Lackey. But, the more I thought about it, I came away with 3 points that made me perfectly content with the decision. 1. Regardless of whether you go Buch - Lackey or Lackey - Buch, it doesn't much matter as they both only get one start in the ALDS, and they're both guaranteed a start in the ALDS. So there really isn't a huge difference, which brings me to point #2. 2. If there is not a huge difference (as stated above), then you can start to look at some splits, and you see Lackey has absolutely dominated at home (2.47 ERA at home, 4.39 ERA on the road), so getting him his start at Fenway could serve us well. I'm not sure how much stock I put into these numbers, but it may be part of the decision making process. As a side note, Buchholz has a 1.99 ERA at Fenway, and a 0.95 ERA away from Fenway. 3. This is probably the biggest of the 3. If the Sox can clinch the best record in the AL, it means they're going to face the WC winner. That wild card winner will attempt, at all costs other than missing the PS, to line up their ace to pitch in the play-in game. That means the Red Sox will likely face the WC pitchers in the order of #2 vs Lester, #3 vs Lackey, and #1 vs Buchholz. So, Buchholz, who probably is the Sox best bet to match up toe to toe with another team's ace, will probably draw the other team's ace rather than Lackey pitching away from Fenway against the other team's ace. Obviously #3 is completely contingent on the team locking up the WC early enough to line up their SP, and who knows how that will go, but at least from today those are the 3 points that make me a bit more comfortable with the way things are lined up right now.

Jonny Gomes punted a few beer cans over my head. Awesome.

Woot!!! So after the game, I went down and got front row seats for the celebration (right on the wall), high fives from the players, champagne sprayed on me by Lester. It. Was. AWESOME O CLOCK!!!!

Executive of the Year. And it's not close.