jung

I am not sure you can blame BC for what went down with the Marlins and hamram. I think the key takeaway from the deal announcement was the amount of money LA picked up in contract commitments and the amount the Marlins let go of. If this was going to be Crawford for hamram, I think that Boston would have had to pay part of Crawfords pay even if Crawford were going good and did not have a defective elbow. If there was a deal in the works after the Marlins scouted Crawford I would not be surprised if they just made the amount of contract money obligation the Sox would have been stuck with in both Hanram and Crawford just to rich....maybe like pick up all of hamram and half of Crawford. That Crawford deal is just deadly. Nobody is going to touch that thing with a ten foot pool especially the way Crawford is playing and with the elbow something that could blow up at any time. If Theo had only not overpaid for Crawford to such a large degree the Sox would have some room to move. What is truly galling is that the reports were that nobody was offering Crawford anything even close to what Boston was offering. That suggests that if they wanted Crawford they could have had him for much less and would not be stuck like this now. Bad bad deal....astronomically bad deal really.

I wonder if the amount of money Miami has to spend on what they have coming back from the Dodgers for a prospect and Euvaldi fo Hanram is a tip off to what might have screwed a Boston deal. Clearly, if the Sox were going to send Crawford to Miami, the Marlins were likely going to want Boston to pay some part of Crawford's ridiculous contract. Maybe once the Marlins scouted Crawford, the money they were demanding from Boston just got to be more than Boston could handle or at least would handle. So at least based on what the Marliins actually did with LA, I am inclined to think that the expectation would have been for Boston to pay for Hanram and pay for a big chunk of Crawford. The money maybe just got to be more than the Sox wanted to deal with. Carl is way overpaid under the best of circumstances and these are not the best of circumstances.

Gio really was the one that got away. Yea there was some risk involved but when you look at the situations that the Sox have walked into with their eyes wide open and not blinked, Gio's issues should not have been hard to deal with. As I recall, Gio would not have required the moon and the stars at the time but it would take just about the moon and stars now. When you consider the half baked deals the Sox have agreed to, deals they probably can't find anybody fool enough to let them out from under, Gio would have looked like a deal that could be done and they actually would have increased the overall asset value on this team. The asset value vs. the cost is really getting to be an issue. I suspect nobody is willing to help the Sox get out from under Crawford's deal and in reality so many Sox players are viciously overpaid at this point with nobody likely to take them without the Sox kicking in a substantial piece of salary even if they are playing close to their potential.

I don't believe the Sox will make meaningful moves either. However we don't know what Miami thought of Crawford after scouting him. If I were watching Crawford play, I would not be much interested in the guy and would have in all likelihood only taken him under extremely favorable conditions to me as the team then stuck with him. There is much about Carl's game that suggests he has issues unrelated to the size of the Boston market and other issuess that might be a factor in the performance we have seen from Carl so far. 1) the amount of money committed to him is ridiculous. I can't imagine a team that would not demand that the Sox pay a portion of his salary even if he were playing up to his potential. 2) he may blow out his elbow at any time requiring TJS 3) His defense has been in a word abysmal....Red Sox like....and much like Carl has issues outside of those we might associate with being in a big market, Carl has defensive issues that have nothing to do with the wall in Fenway. Most of Carl's defensive issues have been coming in on balls and have had nothing what-so-ever to do with the wall 4) He still shows signs of having difficulty with the slider from LH pitchers even with his new stance and still appears to be chasing balls low and away So maybe what happened is that the Miami scouts have eyes as well and they simply came back feeling forced to push a deal onto Boston that was just to difficult for Boston to swallow.

Did they really have the chance. Miami was up here scouting Crawford. Maybe that is where the deal fell apart. Crawford's elbow may blow up at any time and I were watching him play, there is not much I could point to that would make me want Crawford.

Oswalt...Mr Back already acting up..Oswalt....Good thing they never made him an offer.

There are just so many things you can be teaching a guy at any one time before it just becomes sensory overload. When Salty got here he could not throw, could not receive, did not block the plate well, did not call a good game and did not provide pitchers with good targets. He is throwing 100% better and has made a little bit of progress in some of the other mechanical/physical tasks. Much of his problem with handling his duties as a battery mate seem to me to be a matter of focus and concentration. Not sure what to do about that. I think he might still be so concerned about the mechanical tasks of a catcher that he is just not able at this stage to maintain the focus and concentration needed to handle the battery duties. May never be that kind of catcher. The numbers for Buch pitching to Shop vs Buch pitching to Salty are going to be ridiculous after tonight's game. They were already really lopsided in favor of Shop before tonight. Tonight's was Buch's 8th game to Shop and he has pitched 9 to Salty this year.

Unbelievable number of ground ball outs for Buch tonight...a great great performance. What is truly amazing is that he has dragged himself all the way back to where at least for now (and I always have my fingers crossed with Buch cause of the injury bug) he IS the stopper for this team. He has been the guy over the course of the last 12, maybe 16 games that has come up in his turn in the rotation and really done a great job. Were it not for that, we would likely be looking at 2-9 or maybe 2-10 over this last stretch of games. He has truly been the only thing that has stood between the Sox and an even uglier stretch than it has been of late.

Oh yes you do. Felix and Frank are on innings limits. Cook has to keep the ball down all the time and Lester and Beckett suck. This is coming down now to 1 good start in five on occasion....Buch's. That is the story regardless of all the other crap going on around it.

A win....wish Buch could have gotten it. He really kept them in it against that tough lineup. Geez they have to to do something for the other four starts though.

This guy again. Does it seem like Hamilton or Napoli are always up?

I very much doubt it Laser.

Nathan got cute there and paid for it. That pitch cannot be left out there like that cause the hitter might be able to keep the head of the bat in the hitting zone long enough to do just that. One of the things that makes baseball such a great game. Funny how pitchers can fall in love with an idea.

Great effort there to keep his shoelaces from breaking. A TIMELY HIT....roll tape!!!

Damn swung at Ball 4 would have brought ells up but can't blame him for protecting

Here it comes,,,,the bet at bat. I wonder if Nathan will even try one pitch inside. I don't think so. He will keep it outside

Well we sorta' know this story line...Salty bomb or Salty K

Padilla the wild man is pissed...at who...himself for being a jackass? Has there ever been a less likable much of guys wearing our Sox uniforms.

Talk about a bush league f***in play....my God give it a break.....lets try some gimmick baseball...see if that works.

Even if they get past Hamilton here and get out of the inning it would seem to take a Community Chest card for the Sox to score a run.

Crap....Hamilton here....

Very very few of the Sox do. So few it is almost non-existant. They don't even try to foul off and waste pitches they clearly can't handle. One of the most frustrating teams to watch I have seen in a long time. Watching Buch pitch has saved the night so far.

While I think he is trying overly hard to drive one out, Pedey's HR numbers have gone right in the tank since the injury.

That should be all for Buch tonight although against this lineup I can't say I am overflowing with confidence in the pen. Please got a couple runs for crying out loud. One thing I have to check is LH pitchers against Sox the last few weeks. I wonder if that is why they have seemed so stymied. The gap between Buch to Shop and Buch to Salty will surely grow based on tonights performance.

Buch is overthrowing a bit now.