jung

This is just a guess but I am going to guess that if for example the Sox do bring in a VP level guy, that guy would likely want to pick the GM he wants unless he is going to handle the player personnel decisions and uses BC to handle the logistics of player personnel.

You really do have to wonder what JH is thinking having installed so many place holders in management positions. V was an obvious placeholder. BC may have been less obvious at the time but clearly we have to perceive him as a placeholder at this point. Although just thinking it is hard to do only because JH has never made it seem like you can untie the two of them but maybe LL's days are numbered after all and JH is leaving things so that the next guy can pick his GM. Maybe LL moves sideways or something like that or is moved completely out but I can no longer bring myself to think that the Sox WANT BC in the GM post or ever wanted him there.

Although I said this the other night some of these striking differences sort of provide another example of the same thing. Some teams have made moves that look like they actually think they are in this thing. We have made moves that were just sort of there to be made. The difference between rejuvenating Byrd and rejuvenating ichiro is light years. Even the way the Yanks have handled Ichiro makes you wonder if the Sox would have been capable of it. I hate to say it but this is the first time in so long I feel like we are just outclassed on so many fronts. The whole way the FO has handled this season from beginning to now makes you wonder if they actually threw in the towel before the first pitch was thrown.

Geez....Rays sweep and O's take 2 outta' 3. We were never going to catch those teams. Not only are they not weakening....they are doing what we need to do and we are doing the opposite.

I have got such a bad feeling about how the Sox are going to end this season.

Another nice gopher ball Josh

China just K'd the batter for Japan with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the 8th inning. What I have seen of the LLWS this year has been some outstanding baseball...just terrific stuff. Moving the fences back in the major regional ballparks was the best decision they ever made.

Oh my God no. The worst thing about this is not what it says potentially about Bard. The worst thing is that it makes it sound like the are already planning to be f***ed in the rotation. You can't convince me in a month of Sunday's that they would want Bard starting next year.

Don't you just love to see Swisher looking foolish up there. Although I have to admit, seeing Swisher grinning like some idiot rounding the bases, is the absolute worse thing in the world.

It is true that a number of the Sox issues have been brewing for a pretty long time now. In part its why I think it likely will take longer than one off season to fix. I can take the bad mix of personalities on a team as much as it makes you shake you head but I really struggle with a bad mix of player strengths and weaknesses and that is really what the Sox have in spades.

I don't think he tagged him even though that last shot looked more like he might have.

Hi all just home from takin' the kids to see Paranorman. just wanted to boost the game thread post count and say hello. Sounds like Lavs is catching a better game than Salty already. Although not sure why Lavs wanted that pitch where he targeted. Beckett missed it but not by that much.

I can just imagine...especially with something new out there almost every day. Next will be another Ortiz comment aimed at his desire for a long term deal....seems to me it is about time for that one to come up in the ******** rotation again.

Well of the Sox really cared about fan favor as it relates to a single player they would shut down CC now instead of waiting for him to go into a slump leaving the fans and CC for that matter with a decidedly less optimistic ending to his 2012. It might even be more important for CC that they send him into surgery on a high note. The only oddity about this surgery beyond the fact that they have not done it already is that CC is claiming that the doctor has already told him that it is inevitable and the Sox are contesting that. Can they not do one single thing without spinning it a particular way. In the first place they are so f***ed up these days they no longer even know what direct to spin something.

Well that is the step I am not willing to take. The Sox have made virtually the same gamble on Lester and Buch and Beckett the past two years and frankly with similar results. To me, regardless of how they finish the season, Buch is not ready to be a 1 and Lester has had the opportunity for two years running and has not done it. The idea that you start the years with a bunch of guys that look like 2's at best dooms you to being lucky to have one of them turn out to be a 2 and the rest not even make that standard either due to underperformance or injury or both. The Sox may not be able to bring in a 1 for 2013. They simply may not be able to get that done. Moving Beckett may be enough of a challenge what with everything else going on over there. I am resigned to the possibility that is may very likely take more than one off season to resolve. I do feel much better about things if they do bring a 1 here....at some point because I do think you can make a case that they would be pretty solid from the 2 down. Without a 1, I just do not think they have the kind of rotation you need to get to and then also succeed in the post season.

The key to watching Beckett and frankly the key to watching most pitchers is not whether or not they are making mistakes.....they are going to make mistakes. In some cases as they age, their velo comes down and they can make fewer mistakes as they can't blow people away like they used to. Surely that appears the case with Beckett. They are going to make mistakes but when they start making a high percentage of mistake pitches in a condensed period of time....that is the genesis of opponent rallies and multiple opponent runs. Lester had a fine start last night....mainly because while he made some mistake pitches he did not make them in bunches in single innings resulting in multiple runs. Buch who has been terrific of late, makes mistake pitches but does not make them in bunches in single innings. He limits the rallies and limits the number of runs against. This year Beckett has had these multiple mistake innings earlier in the game and gets the team behind, sometimes by big runs early. So it should not take long to know if he is going to have a good night or a bad night. Hopefully if he does get in trouble, V will be confident enough in the pen to remove him as that has been a big part of the problem this year. V has attempted to preserve the pen a bit more than Tito did last year.

I am actually kinda' happy that this has come to light. Both MLB and the Players Association are dirty here in my opinion. MLB has not in my view developed a solid system of testing. They do a good deal of testing but they are pretty far behind the times. Just because you test a bunch does not mean that you are conducting testing that is effective and comprehensive. The Players Association takes every opportunity to ding MLB for its testing but not really in an effort to improve it or demand that MLB improve it...they want it discontinued! MLB simply does not want to come to grips with the issue. I think they are afraid to see MLB completely clean with the implications it would have on offense. As for the Players Association, the only thing they really care about is that salaries increase...that is it. Hopefully we will see an effort on the part of baseball to redouble their efforts and finally address this issue.

Just to be clear I think this is really a good sign for Lester...one because as I have stated I think he is working really hard at maintaining consistent mechanics and having found a way to do that in the middle of the season. I think he really has to concentrate very hard while on the mound to maintain consistent, repeatable mechanics at this point...more than he probably would like to. Two, it does suggest he can resolve the mechanics issue completely given enough time to work through it, likely an off season. While he has had less issues to go ballistic over lately, at one point he seemed to be going ballistic over one bad ump call. So, it does look like he is making progress there as well.

Just wondering if anybody feels like they had seen enough of Bailey pre-injury, repair and rehab and Bailey since coming back to offer an opinion regarding how he looks pitching now. I cannot claim to remember enough about what he looked like before he went down to offer any comment.

The next manager should be longer term. They did not extend Tito's contract at a time when that likely sent the wrong message to a group of players that seem so focused on their individual contract agenda's that it would appear to have had an impact on his ability to manage the team. A two year contract for V likely sent the same message. I guess I could believe that V could be kept around here for one more year cause they can't find somebody they want for this job especially since it really has to be someone they give a long term contract.

I would think that since at least in my view not sending Crawford off to surgery now is more a marketing decision than it is a baseball decision, I would think that LL once again has more to do with this one than BC does. LL may not have specifically said, we don't want to do this yet. I would be inclined to think that at the least he has told BC that they are not ready to send major signals that suggest that the Sox have packed in the 2012 season just yet.

folks would look at sending Crawford off to surgery as the definitive signal that the Sox have packed in this season...something they are not willing to do at this point regardless of the fact that they are basically hoping the Jay help them out by losing enough games to keep the Sox out of the basement. Lets face it...the Jays have lost more in the last few days than the Sox have won hence giving the Sox a little breathing room over last place.

I think MVP is right about that. You can still see Lester struggling with his mechanics and I think he is forced at least this year to concentrate really hard on his mechanics in an effort to keep from getting really erratic. Where you could credit him I think is that he has in my view worked really hard probably off the mound and on the mound to find a way to get through the remainder of this year. That truly ugly pitch he grooved to Granderson you could have seen coming as he let the ball go. But it does suggest that with a full off season he could get it back. I really hope that somehow he finds a way to deal with his emotions on the mound between now and the start of next year. He just makes it more difficult for himself, particularly this year when I would contend that it is taking a great deal of concentration for him to keep his mechanics from going goofy on him.

I am not sure that the Sox are all that high on Farrell at this point. They would have fallen all over themselves to get him at one point. Now I am not so sure they would be that interested. I actually do not know who would take this job at this point. Would you feel confident coming in that you would actually have a shot here between changing diapers on some of the players every day and dealing with the whacky upper management that we have here? I suspect that if there is any effort at all to keep V past this year it will be out of an inability to get anybody worthwhile to come in here.

Felix has hit his innings limit...if you want to call to pooped to pop worthy of the DL then it got Felix off for some time and another warm body here. While Felix has had a fine rookie season his choice without a plan for getting through the remainder of the season is part of the rotation issues for this season. Not a Felix problem but another planning problem handled badly by the FO.