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Paps went through a couple of periods here where the Sox forced him to go over a single inning in relief as a closer. Those are certainly tough stints for a closer. He did not do well in those instances but hard for me to say they coddled him when they were willing to force him into 4, 5 and 6 out stints on occasion.

Well closers do have a tendency to change rapidly because they are at the violent end of the pitching business. I sort of think that is what folks are talking about when they talk about the volatility of closers. Some of them, especially those reliant on heat throw extremely hard every pitch. They don't show signs of deterioration. Today they are fine...tomorrow they are headed for surgery or a hospital bed or therapy or something. It happens quickly and unexpectedly generally cause there are no tell tale signs like what we look for or see in a starter. Sometimes you can see it coming with a closer but more often he is OK all the way up until he is not OK. Paps certainly relies on heat and if anything ever does happen to him I expect it will happen quickly and unexpectedly.

It does matter whether Sanchez or Grienke...they don't have 5 guys in the rotation....they only have four!!!! and unfortunately just any old starter won't do. They already have the any old starter role filled by Felix who by the way people here want to toss around as trade bait so maybe they actually have two holes in the rotation. Unless they intend setting the clock back forty years they need at least one more starter of some stature greater than 5...probably greater than 4 cause Lackey is probably that guy. Even if they had five guys unless the mystery guest is some stud...(highly highly doubtful), the most pressing concern on this team would still be starting pitching. It never ceases to amaze me....how little Fenway's fans value pitching. Now apparently we have gotten to the point where the Sox don't even have 5 rotation guys, they have three question marks and a solid #5...So, they don't even have A ROTATION yet and the #1 target is Mr swing man catcher /1st basemen. This after a season where their starting pitching totally blew apart. The Sox blew up the lineup by virtue of trade....the rotation blew itself up. Only in Boston.

Why don't I believe it ...because right now they can't get anybody out....last I looked Napoli was not a pitcher.

I expect Napoli is on the Sox radar screen and as much as anybody but what does that mean? Right now they could not hold down a line up of hitters fielded by the Sisters of the Poor so any everyday player other than a true superstar claimed to be their number 1 target would seem kinda' off the charts wrong headed. I don't care how little pitching there is available right now.... at least today...they can't really field an even remotely reliable ML rotation. They may have Lackey in the rotation but they certainly can't at this point have any confidence in what Lackey is or is not. They have no idea what Lackey is or is not. Lester has obvious work to do. Buch ....Buch has now worked his way to the top of the Sox rotation from the perspective of reliability....BUCH! Felix....come on! Right now they have no clue what to expect from 3/4 of their existing rotation and don't even know who the mystery guest will be....and Mike Napoli is their #1 target??? I am willing to bet that the closest Lauber's "industry source" comes to the Sox is Mike Napoli's agent.

Based on what? One Scott Lauber column where we does not even quote a Sox source but an industry source...doubt it

I doubt Napoli lands in either NY or Boston. Neither will like the years. The Yanks won't like the money trying to get set up for 2014. I do wish LaRoche was a RH bat but I think he is the guy the Sox end up with either 2 or 3 years. Nobody may offer him 3 which would make things cozy for the Sox. I do think the Sox for once were truthful about something said earlier this off season....that being a recognition that they have not been aggressive enough bringing guys up from the farm and giving them legit chances to play without having to look over their shoulders every five seconds. Not only do they have numerous examples with guys still in the system but they may rightfully look at Riddick and surmise that had they given him a chance WITHOUT having to look over his shoulder every five seconds he might have done here what he did in Oakland. So I expect guys that really have not proven they can play up here yet to get their shot in 2013. I expect this to be the year that the Sox answer this legitimate criticism for themselves and for the fans. I do not expect them to tie themselves to 4 or and 5 year deals to multiple players the likes of Swisher and Napoli and Ross. I expect they might end up with one of those three....maybe Swisher is the most likely followed by Napoli and then Ross. But I would bet one of three lands here rather than two of three or three of three. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that instead of getting a bunch middling star guys and get tied to 4 and 5 year deals on them they are going to make at least one monster deal that will suck up a fair amount of the excess of cash they have but not so much that they are not left with resources and flexibility. I do not think they are anywhere near as concerned as we might think they are about our desires regarding how much of the LA money they spend in one off season as there are as many fans that do not want them to spend the bulk of it in one off season as fans that do. There are also many fans that have been as critical of the Sox as they appear to now be of themselves for not being more aggressive with guys in their own system.

Napoli is the Sox #1 target according to Scott Lauber of the Harold who is quoting an "industry source" which means it is not even a Sox source. So Lauber is quoting second hand from somebody who must claim to know somebody within the Sox organization...nice work Scott. They may be after Napoli at some level and he may be their #1 target although that does not make much sense. But Lauber quoting somebody who must be attempting to quote somebody from inside the Sox organization is a little far removed for me to consider that likely. Sounds more like a Napoli agent plant to me.

I just don't see a plan for Napoli here. Just don't see it.

Thank you SFF. Glad folks are starting to see through this GG horse dung. Most overblown irrelevant and unsubstantiated award in baseball IMO. That said I think LaRoche can be had for a max of 3 years...maybe 2 but a max of 3. So I am already liking it. Another of those kinds of moves that the Sox should be on I think.

I could be OK with LaRoche. Fills a hole. Still leaves room for a blockbuster move and/or pitching help. 3/36 looks like the low end and 3/42 looks like the upper reaches for him. He is unfortunately another LHer but hey we should be able to live with that.

If the Sox were rich in pitching I could see Lester going for a bat but they are not. They are so NOT RICH in pitching that like I posted earlier I don't think it really matters whether Lester would be pegged as a 1 or a 2 or a 3. He eats innings...struggling or not he eats innings. He does not eat #1 rotation guy innings but he definitely eats rotation 2 innings. I think the Sox pen is on pretty thin ice considering how overused they have been two years running and right now chances are pretty good that they will be overused again this year. Once they get blown out more than lets say twice in a year, they are like a bicycle racer suffering oxygen death. All they can do is stop. We have already gotten some healthy doses of what happens then.

We don't know how many years Napoli might be up to with somebody though. Maybe now the years are already up to 5 and the Sox don't want to go 6. I would not blame them. I know the Sox are looking to fill a lotta' everyday slots or at least they appear to be. I am not at all convinced that makes sense for them. If striking out on Napoli and Swisher and even C. Ross means they believe they are forced to go hard at Hamilton, maybe that is the right direction for them to take instead of trying to fill so many slots like this. All we are looking for is a fun team to watch this year that plays hard and at least give us a shot. I don't think realistic fans are looking for more than that this year. If you got Ells, Pedey, WMB with Hamilton and Ortiz anchoring the lineup, maybe Iggy at SS and Lavs/Ross behind the plate and Kalish in right is that so bad for a lineup? If scooping up at least one solid arm for the rotation and maybe eventually one more solid pen arm this year is possible is that so bad for one year? As long as that approach lands us a real shot in 2014 when the B's start showing up I think we are happy. But if this turns out to be a road to mediocrity year after year, well then I think the fan base is really going to be pissed. The more we sign everyday players in bulk to try to do something semi-serious with this year, the more I think we doom ourselves to mediocrity over a longer stretch. Oh and NO on Dempster...pllllleeeease

O's had a lot go right for them in 2012 including Sox and Jays collapses. Rays needed Longoria to come back sooner than he did. All of the O's bets in the rotation and bullpen paned out for them...very rare. Even with that, they could not get past a Yankee team that was very beatable this year. Maybe they should have but they didn't.

Could you realistically pick the Sox above the basement if you had to pick today? You could make the case that the O's are a fraud and might compete with the Sox for the basement. But today....who do the Sox beat in the AL East? You would have thought the Sox would have given us some inkling of where they are going before ticks went on sale. I do think the kids are going to be playin' this year and I am fine with that. However while I don't expect them to spend all the money if they really hoard a big chunk of it.... wow that is going to go over none to well I would think.

There is a yankee fan flippin' banner ad for Yankee Stadium facade crown molding and retired number plaques right under the Quick Reply field here at TalkSox. I am going to be sick. It should be interesting to see what the early ticket sale numbers are without a major signing to help with the early push. Maybe it won't matter.There is probably that early rush that comes from folks that have been waiting for the first few days of availability.

Holy Baseball Helmut Batman....we aren't depending on Bard for anything are we? As for Bailey....I remain uninspired to date.....waiting for the next hangnail to sideline him for four months. That said, the pen is the "strength" of this Red Sox team. So I would not be lookin' there either until we get some other business taken care of. Apparently that darned signature page has gone missing again from Red Sox contracts. So it takes two weeks for done deals to finally be done.

If Ells can't play at least 130-140 games this season I think that becomes the bigger problem for him unless he puts up astronomical numbers over a short number of games. It is not going to matter that these are kinda' freak injuries....to many and he looks both reckless and fragile. You can actually make a case for both. Besides, if he suffers an injury in a previously injured area teams might think he has really turned into Mr Glass. He needs to play a full season this year AND put up serious numbers. While I agree he will get paid. The way baseball has gone you can make just insane money. He will not get the insane money unless he plays a full season and puts up serious numbers.

I can't remember which it is with the Dodgers but I think they don't own their sport's TV network but have a huge contract with one that will bring them just monster $$'s. FSG does own NESN so the ad revenues are something they have a stake in. LA has their contract and they will get paid regardless of the Network's ad revenue. The Dodgers won't have to worry about that again until their contract is up for renewal.

The TV ad rates for this year will be based on last year's numbers. So whatever that number is ...it is done for 2013. They will sell spots...it all boils down to who buys them and at what rate. If things are bad...plan on fewer Lexus ads and more Weed Whacker ads. But that is determined by the rate. Either Weed Whacker types can afford to advertise on Sox games or they can't. No slight to Weed Whacker or their parent. The spots will be filled though. "yes folks do you wonder how that Fenway lawn always looks so manicured....the trusty Weed Whacker of course.":D:D

I was more referring to how long it has taken to announce on Gomes. It is not like the reports have been that they were close to a deal....the news has been that the deal is done. That was from last week I believe. Oh yes...Thanksgiving must have gotten in the way this time. We could not even start the manager hunt until LL came back from his European escapades. "Sorry...we can't even start the manager hunt...LL is still sipping Chianti on the continent".

Unbelievable.....glacial......is there an increment small enough to describe how quickly or slowly things happen down there.

This next move that LL is talking about is not likely to be Hamilton. I just would not rule Hamilton out unless they are paying big money for some other COF. The only thing that bothers me if this is Swisher or Ross is that it is a little to early for those two guys and a signing would suggest an overpay, maybe even a big overpay. Heck if they are going to overpay for one of those guys, overpay for Hamilton and really do something.

I don't know if that would in and of itself rule out an effort regarding Hamilton cause nobody is talking about giving him 7 years and I don't think anybody will. However I am not surprised that the Sox are now non-plused by 7 year or longer deals. I don't think that is specific to the Sox either which is good for them. I think a number of teams are somewhat non-plused by the long term deal. They will hopefully not find themselves behind the eight ball cause somebody else is willing to go out to 7 years for somebody.

Jeez I swore Gomes was officially announced...no???? Good grief already I just can't believe that.