jung

"Boss boss have I got good news" "What is it Ben...can't you see I am busy planning my next European vacation." "I just bought this lamp from the antique shop down the street. The shop keeper assures me that if I just rub the lamp a genie will appear granting me three wishes......What do ya' think I'm gonna wish for boss?" "Well I am sure you are going to tell me anyway...So, go ahead, but hurry up....I can't be expected to spend much time with you when I have so many suckers, I mean loyal fans to convince to come on down to Fenway this year." "Well I think I got three good wishes here boss. First, I am gonna' wish for peace on earth....second, I am gonna' wish for good will to all men and I guess women too" "Gee Ben you have come a long way son.....you really think you can toss women in there too and wish good will for them as well? God we have become a progressive organization." Well this is the best one boss, I am going to wish that our starting rotation just as it is will all pitch over 200 innings each and post ERA's at or below 4.00! What do ya' think boss?" "Well, I think you might have a shot at the first two Ben but that third one....man that is gonna' have to be one hell of a genie ya' got in there son....Well anyway let me know how it all works out but right now your making me late for my manicurist....these fangs need constant sharpening so I can sink them into the next poor unsuspecting Sox fan that happens by my door". When ya' need the volume of turkeys....I mean suckers...I mean fans that I need to keep the ole' man happy....ya' can't spend much time reelin' each of em' in....ya' know what I mean son!" "Your my hero boss...I could only aspire to some day be as slithery as you are.....actually I think I would be happy if I had a personality or presence of any kind at all." "Keep at it son....at the rate you are going you might have a shot at making it to toad one day....snake may be just beyond your scope...but, ya' never know." Yes folks....just another day down at the ole' ballpark.::D

That works for me. Unfortunately, it seems the Sox efforts at such an outcome have been frustrated by the fact that Dempster does not have a twin brother. Sox have lodged a formal protest with Mrs Dempster as this is apparently raising havoc with their intricate and tediously constructed plans.

I am not sure I can any longer trust these guys weighing the option of which hand to whip their collective ass with. I don't think I have ever been more disgusted with this den of thieves. Please God save the Red Sox from these idiots. Tom Yawkey was Tom Yawkey. Eccentric on a scale with Ray Kroc in his own way, placed where he was historically, a true remnant of WWII if not WWI. "What....a black ballplayer in a Red Sox uniform....not while I'm around!" Herrington and his crew was a throw back. Next came a bunch of caretakers. At least JH brought us two championships and in reality I will forever be grateful for that. But in all honesty...it is time to go. If the only way to get competent management in here is for JH to leave town then so be it. However nothing is going to get better as long as the Keystone Kops routine continues down at Fenway. I suddenly feel bad for Farrell. Probably will be driven to the therapist's couch in about a year or so. "Ben I am not quite sure I grasp the plan with regard to catching for our ML team. How do you think we will start the season." "I don't know John, ask Bill." "Ask Bill....you are still the GM...right Ben." "I don't know John, ask Bill." "Well Ben, do you think I should stick my head between my legs and kiss my own ass." "I don't know John, ask Bill."

I hate to say this but the Sox FO is still a bunch of clowns. Having "announced" to the world that James would be paid more heed, now we have a FO that is just going to point in his direction when somebody starts looking for some heads to lop off. 1-2-3 1. Sox announce James is back to much fanfare 2. BC publicly offers that the key to the Sox pitching is not in who they can bring in but in the current rotation pitching to its "potential" and surprisingly makes a move for Dempster (much longed for by the Sox for God only knows why) but not much else. Fortunately, Soxed saved by Dempster himself. 3. James projections posted In all honesty, much as I mused last year, this team is going nowhere without a major infusion at the management and FO level...ours is infested with snakes, tired old men and buck passers and for as long as the snakes and buck passers remain around the rest is likely an exercise in futility.

Maybe they specifically hired James back to convince them that their pitching is fine after all. I am going to stick my neck out and "project" that it would take an almost unrealistic amount of good fortune for those pitchers to hit those marks for ERA and innings pitched. I would hazard to guess that if you looked at guys that actually recorded those kinds of ERA AND innings pitched numbers in the AL East, you would also find guys that were considered to have had banner years. So coming off of TJ (Lackey), coming out of a very difficult year with work to to (Lester) and in what is basically his sophomore year not having really shown any indication of going bonkers in year two (Felix) we already have 3 guys that are going to have banner years?? Come on over to the dark side Mr James. You would make an excellent fan.

A+ for active imagination:D:D

I think it unlikely that Lackey will only start a few times next year even if he is awful. The Sox will want him to work his way out of awful so that they either have a pitcher to use or a pitcher to trade. On the other hand it would not surprise me if he struggled.

Even Dempster was smart enough to know better!

The point is they can't get through this season without adding even some middle rotation guys. Who are we kidding? This rotation is in tatters. To me it makes no sense to make a run at Dempster for two years when they really need to find a way through this year and then get to work on resolving the SP problem long term a different way. That might include a guy they took on a one year deal this year proving out and it might not. It might include packaging a trade deal around Ells now or later and it might not. However it makes no sense to me what so ever to go after a two year deal with the likes of Dempster and pass on the guys they passed on. However as I said early, it does sound like something they would do. It sounds exactly like something they would do, the equivalent of the dumb ass moves they have made regarding pitching of late only on a much smaller scale. I simply do not think the Sox have a clue when it comes to pitching.....I mentioned in a thread weeks ago that if I had my way, I would mold my FO such that it was the ML's best evaluator of pitching talent. I would really be focused there. Instead it seems to me that it is the weakest part of our FO assets. It certainly appears that way from watching them operate.

I think Hamilton would be fine in either place if the team he went to provided him the same regimen that Texas has used. That is not from what I remember a small imposition for him nor a small inconvenience for the team. But I would not risk having him start up with a new team without the trimmings in tow.

Nah we're all set. The guys we have just need to pitch better.

Well now isn't that interesting. I wonder if the Sox haven't finally revealed something about how they process their possible pitching options. I suppose I could see how Dempter would turn that deal down. Might not sound like enough to come over here and get clocked. Sort of suggests that Dempster is smarter than the Sox are when it comes to pitching. I don't understand not taking a shot at some of the guys that were out there for one year deals only to try to hang Dempster around their necks for two years. It does sort of sound like something they would do....unfortunately.

Most definitely different PED's but they may not be all that less effective considering what the game has become. Players now struggle more than ever with recovery...recovery from the double header, recovery from a night game when they are faced with a day game, recovery from arduous travel schedules and recovery from injury. Recovery is precisely what many of this generation of PED's addresses offering faster recovery, more complete recovery allowing players to go out and on the field with 100% of their capability intact as opposed to some number less than 100%. If we go back to the comments AGons made it would appear that just the travel schedule can be arduous enough to create issues for players. In addition, we have no idea what they might be using because the one thing the MLB testing is not is comprehensive...it is just not. I suspect that at this point a very high percentage of players are using something probably even multiple somethings. Now that these guys are onto more sophisticated formulas that don't result in bulking up, that tip off no longer exists. I would believe almost without question that there is a much higher percentage of players using something than there has ever been before. The $ incentive is simply to high, the test regimen is simply to incomplete and frankly the league and certainly the players association prefer not to know. That is not what they say, but if that were not the case, their positions would not be so obviously flawed. On the one hand we have MLB resisting improvements to a program of testing that is porous and flawed and a PA that avails itself of every opportunity to call for an end to testing instead of demanding improvements to testing.

It is hard for me to accept the notion that we are beyond the PED era. Seems to me they are still snaggin' people at a pretty alarming rate with a system that has more holes than swiss chess. I do think we are seeing a resurgence of dominant pitching and that the numbers we are seeing from the batters box side of things are more a reflection on the general quality of the pitching and the general sparsity of hitters making solid plate appearances.

I would not think ARod has a single reason to consider a buyout of his contract.

Ross was a three ring circus especially in RF.

Well not to be argumentative I really think that Theos comments while they were roundly criticized as inaccurate by LL spoke to the irrationality of the whole thought process once it gets under your skin. I think what Theo was trying to say is that he knew what he was doing was not right, not grounded in logic but that he got swept up in it. They or at least BC might be better equipped to not get "swept up or swept away" but I would not say anybody was immune especially down there. Then again, it might be hard to imagine BC getting swept up by anything. From what I have seen of him if some folks can be categorized as dry, BC seems downright Death Valleyish.

Yah 3/60 for Hamilton would make 3/37.5 for Victorino look kinda' bad. But Hamilton would never take 3/60. It does give us another way to look at the Victorino deal though. Would we think 3/75 an overpay for Hamilton? Would we think Hamilton is twice the player Victorino is if we are measuring in $$. I would think so.

Not at Boras prices and there is no way I would go 7-8 years on a guy that spends as much time on the DL as Ells does. Sure much is due to freak train wrecks but Ells has to many, gets damaged to severely and takes to long to come back from them. Plus everything has to be perfect physically for Ells to produce numbers that are really attractive. I don't think his natural power is all that impressive. If his swing is perfect and he makes perfect contact he drives the ball. At any rate somebody will be convinced to end up north of $16M per for several years and I am just not that interested in Ells for that kinda' money. Plus the Sox need for pitching is severe. Gotta' give something to get something. Not sure waiting till midseason will be all that effective in this case. What team in the hunt for the post season is going to give up pitching. If a team is not in the hunt at that point why would they be looking to give more than they should in a deal that includes Ells? Might end up with a better deal now when there are more teams that think they have a shot.

Nobody is saying you trade Ells by himself. I don't think a single discussion on the topic has been focused on Ells straight up for anybody. The Sox have chips that they could use around ells and just about nothing that will work without ells. I am a bit more concerned that if they wait till part way through next season that the Sox will necessarily be able to make a better deal than they can before this season starts. The option is hold onto ells until he becomes a FA and then wave goodbye to him. That is not very appealing either.

I guess if you could tell me how else you free up Ells or tell me what trading chips the Sox have without using Ells to get a real legit starting pitcher for more time than a cup of coffee for the rotation then I would argue that Victorino was probably not such a good idea either. But I really don't know how else they get somebody real in here. Now if they don't do that now or later in the year.....I will not be a happy camper cause this never ending cycle of Sox teams that can batter walls but can't pitch their way out of a paper bag just gets tiresome.

I know those poor innocent players are just pawns in the hands of those swarthy snake Management scums. Bard has had as many periods in his career when he could not hit the barn door with a base fiddle as times when he could. Starters make buckets more money than middle relievers and set up men and they make more money than closers. Closers make more money than middle relievers and set up man but less than starters. The "elite set up man" is a contrived term and a means to pump salaries further. I do think that both the Sox and Bard mutually decided that he was not well suited to closing. If he was, they would have kept him on that path and he would have been glad to have stayed on it. The problem if there is one is that Bard appeared to have loads of talent that nobody including himself had been able to unlock. So he took his shot at the brass ring....ML starting pitcher. I don't believe the Sox really understood how much support Bard was going to need once all parties were committed to that path. I don't think he received anything like the support he needed. Maybe there was no way to give him that kinda' support at the ML level. In truth he probably needed to step down one level and try to work it out at AAA instead of being inserted directly into a ML rotation. However I don't think he would have succeeded. He just would not have failed so visibly and so spectacularly. At least Bard no longer has to be conflicted about what he is and what he is not. He will likely have to be satisfied with a career as a middle reliever or a set up man if he can come back. Several times late in the season he looked so disjointed that you would swear his body was going to blow apart as he released the baseball. I don't think we will ever see him pitch out of the full wind up again. While it sounds terribly simplistic I know, one thing they apparently all agreed to do as part of his foray into starting was go back to a full wind up pitch with nobody on base. I actually think in hindsight that was eventually his undoing. He did go back to just pitching from the stretch at the end but I think the damage was done by then. I think that when the final book does close on Bard he will have turned out to be a one pitch pitcher. He simply does not appear to be able to handle any variety. Can't pitch from the wind up and the stretch. Can't throw multiple pitches both from the wind up and the stretch. Was ill prepared for the rigors of starting in the sense of having to pace yourself over innings and through lineups two and three times. By the same token, I don't believe either he or the Sox felt he would bear up under the pressure of closing. If you want to blame somebody...blame everybody including Bard himself and baseball generally for not being willing to address guys like Bard honestly. The system of baseball is what it is and sometimes it is going to take a guy like Bard and just grind him up.

Regardless...whatever it is it is likely not anything that impacts KC's effort to win now. That is likely what torpedos Lester in that role. Even we can't be confident in what Lester will be on opening day this year. Why trade away Myers and be left guessing like that.

Heard a report just now that the Rays with Shields have the inside track to Myers with KC. That makes sense. The Rays were always going to be the fly in the ointment for that deal.

Well it is still a work in progress at this point. Almost not worth commenting on the lineup as it is today. I guess if nothing changed which would suggest Iggy at SS at the bottom, Ells, Pedey, WMB, Ortiz, Napoli and then maybe Salty/Lavs followed by the COF combinations then I would say it is lighter than the pre-trade offense from last year. It will still suffer a good deal if Ortiz has to go to the DL. I don't think Swisher changes that either. Hamilton might be the only guy that changes that. So at least for next year it really for the most part is going to boil down to whether Ortiz is in the lineup or not.