jung

How is BC going to swoop when he operates like he has one wing tied behind his tail feathers. With our luck BC will swoop down on the west coast, miss Haren and somehow end up sinking his talons into .......Beckett for a return engagement!:D

It is not so much the idea of Haren as much as the idea that he could have been a good fit here and we are not seemingly seeing many guys that look like we are all that interested in them. For all that folks don't like about him maybe Johnson is the best candidate at this point now that Peavey is gone and Haren is gone. I hate to say it but I see a likelihood of a number of posts like "forget about enter whatever name you want here he is gone. Move on".:D

Wow, I want to say you have got to be kidding me but come on! I am tellin' ya, this FO is just not capable IMO of acting decisively. If a player is attractive to multiple teams, I just do not know how we are going to land him. Been afraid of this for months now.

The pre-game crew announced it during the Celtics Comcast Sports Network pre-game show. The qualifying offer you mentioned was done earlier today as a protective measure.

Apparently it is done at 2/$26 with incentives that can take it to $30

I would rather not see this get to the point where the Rangers are somehow involved, not because of anything about the Rangers but just because the Sox don't need another team right angling right into whatever they are trying to get done with Ortiz. Clearly the Sox want to get something done with Ortiz and I am OK with it. I am not OK with the price suddenly ballooning out of whack.

We just don't have anything to go on yet this offseason cause we have not seen any sign of a completed deal between the Sox and anybody yet. But trying to read between the lines, now it seems like whatever the difference is, it is greater than 2/$20 vs 2/$25 or as has been posted here, both positions have solidified to concrete with David figuring it is worth it to him to see if somebody will bridge that $5M gap for him in FA. That might not work to his benefit though because of the Achilles. Nobody outside of the Sox is going to know anywhere near as much about that Achilles as David and the Sox know and while David would have to pass a physical after signing with somebody, I am not sure there is a team out there that will both bridge the gap for Ortiz and then take the risk.

Well Crawford and Gonzalez were mistakes that were corrected. Soriano is not going to get the money Boras is whispering in his ear about from anybody much less the Sox. Soria is a low cost, risk/reward kind of deal that could work out pretty good or be a bust. He is going to cost way less than Soriano regardless of what Soriano gets. I don't think we are going to see big money thrown at closers not named MO, not with the Paps example staring everybody right in the face. It is simply to easy to see that you can be made to look pretty silly spending 4/$44 for a closer when you did not end up having enough team for a 9th inning guy to pay off anyway. As solid as the Phillies looked they ended up 3rd beating out the pitiful Mets. The "big money for closers" argument certainly did not get any help there. If Boras tries to throw the Paps/Phillies deal around in an effort to get Soriano a big pay day he will likely be laughed out of the room. While Paps is proven at some level, there is and I think will likely only be one MO. Soriano is not even proven at a Paps level.

Thing that really stinks about this off season is that while they might be loath to admit it, the Yanks are in about the same boat we are in as far as player personal is concerned: -The yanks ended up with enough injuries and age in their pitching to be in the same shape we are in with regard to that critical component...maybe worse shape - both teams ended up with to many aging stars at their core...the Sox did take a big step forward unloading so many of those whacky contracts on the Dodgers but we still have plenty of holes to fill - both teams have question marks in the outfield....maybe the Yanks are one outfielder ahead of us at this point since we have not done anything on Ross...they have Grandy and Gardner...we have Ells - Yanks are really starting to get old around the horn...ARod, Jeter, Cano and Tex....YIKES....Cano is I guess a spring chicken comparatively....although you have to think the Yanks are in better shape behind the plate than we are at the moment. Sox are much younger around the horn but we don't at the moment really have a SS or a 1st Baseman. The point is the two teams are in remarkable similar shape right now. That really does worry me though cause I don't think our FO is as capable as theirs at this point in time and I hate it when both teams are looking for the same types of players for similar positions.

The Yanks are in the unenviable position of thinking they are only a player or two away from going all the way.....That is a tough place to make decisions from....we have not faired well from that spot either I think. Ichiro surely worked out for them but that was a trade deadline find.

Actually beginning to wonder if there isn't something a bit more complicated going on than what has been reported. It would seem that even 2/$25 would not be a monster one sided deal. Would be surprised if 2/$23 or something like it wasn't already in the discussion as I thought the Sox would be at 2/$20 with Ortiz willingly accepting 2/$25. Can't shake the feeling that there is something else going on here.

Probably a bit surprised that he passed JBJ in the process, if only by one spot. I don't have last year's in front of me but I am sure JBJ would have been ahead of Xander in last year's list.

Interesting how Xander went flying past Iggy like he was standing still....then again Iggy was sorta' standin' still.

Ross has had a pretty decent career before ever walking into Fenway Park. So I don't think teams will not express interest in him and he was not making that much money in Boston. Will I think the bidding will get ridiculous for him....no....Do I think the Sox could have had him for much less than they are going to end up paying for him if they had just made a contract offer before FA....yes. Could it be enough of a dif for them to pass....no doubt. It's not harder than that. So he may end up back in Boston but I just don't understand why the Sox didn't get something done on him before FA.....other than the same reasons we have been discussing generally with regard to this FO.

I think you can forget Ross at this point. If the Sox wanted him, they would very likely have made a bid to keep him off the FA market. At this point while Ortiz has every reason to continue to entertain whatever the Sox are putting in front of him, Ross has no reason not to wait. Frankly, I don't think it likely that Ross will get a low enough offer out on the market to draw the Sox back into the running for him. I am surprised, but I really do think that if the Sox wanted him they would have signed him before FA.

A little hard to jump on the media I think when ultimately everything reported other than how close they were to signing Ortiz (close being a relative term anyway) turned out to be true. The Red Sox need a full time media consultant that helps both the players and the execs because neither group covered itself in glory in 2011 or 2012. If anything both groups covered themselves in s*** and if they can't learn to keep their mouths shut, they should learn how to do it right.

The way things are going I keep coming back to something I posted earlier. I am just not convinced that our FO can or will act decisively. I think we are at a disadvantage in cases where the player is sought after by several teams. I cannot believe the Sox would completely pack in a whole season at this point but they may simply be unable to execute under the circumstances. I suspect we will see player after player taken off the market much like we saw last year.

I don't know about Youk....I am so surprised that they did not at least take a run at Ross that I would also not be surprised if they just did not want Youk back. We might be about to witness the biggest departure in Sox player personnel decision making that we have seen in a long time. So far we are just seeing the things they did not do. I guess we will have to see them do something in order to get some idea on direction with regard to players.

Well I meant ridiculously big for us. We did not do ARod and while I don't think whatever number we flopped out on the table ever got any exposure clearly it was lower than what the Yanks offered him. In fact, even Cashman did not do ARod's ten year deal. Cashman was willing to see ARod walk. The big crybaby whined to ownership and they were dumb enough to listen. Now they are stuck paying a guy who PED's his way to performance numbers $30M per even though he is now basically done.

The Crawford contract should forever change our perceptions of "ridiculously big".

Boy advancing JBJ up that quickly would be even less Sox-like than not trying to tie up a Fenway Park kinda' guy ala' Ross. But hey.....maybe a complete departure from the past is actually what is happening. Maybe they are wayyyyyyy farther apart on Ortiz than anybody thought for that matter. So far they have gotten a Manager and Coaches so it is tough to really see if they are on the road to complete departure from the past or not. Not pursuing Ross would suggest complete departure from the past.

I am struggling with this tread a bit. Do we think $13M is to much at this point....I guess I would agree with that. Considering the Sox have not made a move to secure Ross, I really don't know what to think about what they want to do at this point. I would have thought that Ross would not have been terribly costly and a guy they would have wanted to bring back for a couple years. Maybe they really really want to clean house in which case I would not expect the Sox to have any interest in Youk. However now I am wondering who is going to be on this team next year besides Pedey, Middlebrooks, Lackey and maybe Ells.

There will be OF options for the Sox to consider. I am just sorta' surprised that they ended up so non-plussed by Ross that they did not make an effort to secure his services. He clearly wanted to stay....so the turmoil had not put him in a bad state of mind....he seemed like a good trooper and a guy that was tailor made for the monster. If looking at it from the other side, OF seemed more of an adventure for Ross than I expected. Every play seemed a bit more dramatic than it needed to be in that fairly routine plays did not look as routine as I thought they should be. On balance though I thought what he gave us at home was worth a bit of a downside on the road and he was available.....your basic good clubhouse guy from all appearances. It begs the question though....does this suggest a departure from the "build a team for Fenway" approach? Does that suggest no interest in a Napoli for example?

I did not think about this what with all the Sandy stuff of the last few days but heard it mentioned today that the Sox have not done anything on Ross after all. At this point Ross will obviously wait to see what comes his way via FA which is likely a number way past what the Sox could have signed him for if they did have interest....my conclusion....Sox aren't interested. I think that is pretty interesting. I would have thought they would have wanted to lock Ross up for at least a couple years and at least know they had that player in their camp. Without Ross they will start Saturday with an outfield of......Els.....and.....and......and.....who???? Kalish.......Nava....Sweeney....Yikes!!!

In retrospect, maybe staying with CWS was going to be a natch for Peavy since they were already in the hole for $5M on him. He ends up getting his money and CWS look pretty slick in the process. Maybe Haren would be the next target in line and then maybe Lohse??? Gonna' be interesting to see what Sanchez does end up getting and if the Sox actually make a run at him.