jung

I do not think Bard is getting a far shot either. I do not like what V is doing with him regardless of his intentions. I hope to God that Bard has an outing where he can resolve the walks issues as V has a built in excuse to nail him if he does not improve his ball:strike ratio and cuts down on his walks especially early in innings.

Well one piece of information that has filtered out of the last couple of days is that maybe dice will be ready sooner rather than later. That still sounds like July to me but earlier than August. Make Bard the 5 till dice comes back. That becomes his true shot at starting. He has the rest of spring and until dice comes back to show V and everybody else he can get it done. That gives him time to work out his mechanics hopefully once and for all and relieves everybody of the decision to stick him right back in the 8th inning role while he is struggling with these mechanics. He is most vulnerable to these issues when he just comes into the game. Don't tell me this is because he is trying to start because this is what happened to him at the end of last season in the 8th inning role. Let him be the 5 until dice comes back and make a decision at that point what to do with him. Nobody will be able to argue that Bard has not gotten a good look at being a starter. To be honest I actually think that if he gets his mechanics worked out Bard is likely a home run as a starter and the Sox will be able to pat themselves on the back big time for having worked him through the process and gotten a a legit starter for their trouble.

I can buy that....although I don't see BC or his underhenchmen as having the same sort of organizational horsepower as Theo had and even Theo in my view remained under the influence of LL for the entirety of his career here. However these Baseball Operations guys look like a bunch of high school seniors. I can't see how they would be able to wield much authority or will even over Tito if he was still here. I think we will learn a good deal by following the Iggy story. If V gets his way Iggy is here and we have our answer. V is dictating that the pitchers throw ground ball outs so V has a built in rational for keeping Iggy here. As others have indicated if Cook ends up in the 4 hole, Iggy here at the start of the season may start to have the look of inevitability.

Thing I liked about Cook is that other than Aceves, so far he is the only other guy that looks like a #4 to me. Unless something changes I cannot see Doubront as a 4 but might see him as a 5. I still think that there is no way the Sox can afford both Bard and Aceves in the rotation. So if forced to Aceves in the rotation Bard goes to the pen. If Bard makes it to the rotation, Aceves to the pen. If it does turn out to be Cook/Doubront Cook should be the 4. That has the benefit of sending both Aceves and Bard back to the pen. The only fly in that ointment is that Bard is so screwed up at present that I would not trust him with the ball in the 8th inning right now. While Aceves has out-pitched everybody vying for the 4 and 5 as I mentioned earlier Aceves is the single most versatile relief pitcher in baseball at present. Sending him to the rotation would not be my preference and I would like to see somebody beat him out for the 4 rotation spot. Once somebody beats him out for the 4 then we can safely send Aceves back to the pen because using him as the 5 would really be a terrible waste of his talents.

Pedroia is supposed to be a contusion. Since that is what they reported I have to believe that is what he was. Painful for a bit but if nothing more he should be OK.

Liked what I saw from Cook tonight. He clearly has the composure and the mentality of a starter. He might be an interesting alternative after all. Nice to see a guy go out there and look like he is a starter.

Tito was never a good in game Manager. It always seemed to me that Tito had a set approach for situations but was not a situational Manager in the sense of understanding the specific nuances of particular situations as they developed and managing to that. It was almost like pitch count extended to other aspects of the game. Pitcher has thrown this many pitches he is coming out period. Then when Tito would sort of throw you a curve he left you wondering what the hell he saw that led him to go that way! Really was a very frustrating experience in many ways.

V is already talking to much. So "will start" is actually "has started".

I totally agree about the need for a Manager that does not treat players like children. Although I am not sure that Tito was guilty of that. For the most part wouldn't you say that he gave them a tremendous amount of responsibility for themselves and the players ended up stabbing him in the back with it? V seems more about riding players publicly. V's take on what is or is not criticism is utter ******** and a means for V to rationalize doing what he wants to do. Just because something is truthful does not mean it no longer fits into the category of criticism. V's take is that as long is he is being truthful about players he is not being critical of them when he makes these public pronouncements about this player or that player. There is constructive criticism for example. Constructive criticism is often based in truth but it is criticism none the less. I fail to understand why V does not appear disposed to take up his "truths" with the player and the player's coach instead of putting his business in the street. The point being I fail to see why V has to put his business or in this case Red Sox business in the street seemingly every chance he gets.

I cannot claim to know if Bard can be a productive starter either. When a guy has stuff like he has, even with only two pitches (heater/slider) it is hard to at least not want to find out. If in fact he does have a decent change up for 3 pitches (heater/slider/change up) given his stuff that becomes a wow. Now do I have the expertise to know when meh becomes wow.....No. My biggest concern now is that Bard appears screwed up at this point regardless of whether he is starting or relieving. Could you safely dump him into the eighth inning role at this point? I don't think so. He is most vulnerable to this mechanics issue when he first gets out there. Regardless of what we might think each of us may or may not be seeing, it is hard to argue that he does not eventually settle in and throw strikes at least in this year's iteration of the Bard Mechanics Problem. I am actually at this point more concerned with seeing him in the eighth than in the first. I think Bard deserves more effort from the Sox to resolve this mechanics issue which is now pretty long standing in baseball terms. We are crossing multiple seasons now. I also think he deserves at least one more start in ST and I think V needs to talk to him, not to the damned media or Scouts for other baseball teams. Seems to me that V is talking at him and not to him. Tell him what is expected of him in these ST starts. Bard threw 12 change ups in the stint before this last one and only 1 in this last one. My only issue with his only throwing one in the last outing is that it is impossible to blame his mechanics problem at least in the last stint on working on the change up. He didn't throw it. Most disconcerting to me is that V asked Bard the "are you still up for this" question after his first two stints. What the hell is V doing asking the question at all and especially after only two outings. If V does not want him in the rotation....fine....talk to the coaches and Cherries or whoever but don't ask the kid if he is still up for this. If I were V I would tell Bard that I want him to prove to me that he can get through innings without allowing runners on with no outs. In effect prove to me that you can get strike one on batter one and eventually get batter one out. I would not for this next stint ask him to throw change ups unless Bard wants to throw a change up to a particular batter in a particular situation. I want Bard to get the first batter out in innings instead of continually walking the first batter. I don't care if he has to practice his motion in the runway to the clubhouse. I want him to get the first batter out instead of walking him. I want him to give us a better ball:strike ratio and I want fewer walks generally. That is it for the next outing. I don't care about results. I don't care what else happens. Today's V gem was "I don't criticize players. I never criticize players. I will tell the truth about players but I do not criticize them". That is the biggest load of hogwash this side of a political convention. In the first place if he is going to tell the truth about players, tell the responsible coaches. Tell the FO. Tell the player when the time is right. Don't tell the GD media and your scouting buddies from other teams who in the competitive environment of pro sports are likely not to keep their big mouths shut....why should they? Cause they are your buddies....PLEASE!

Mechanics can be resolved by reps if you are repeating the right things. Bard's issue is not mechanics pitch in and pitch out....inning in and inning out. He cannot seem to get settled into his motion, such as it is, early enough in innings and particularly early enough in innings early in games. Once he finally finds his rhythm he seems for the most part to be fine but it just takes him to long to find it particularly if he sits for what we would likely agree is kind of a mean average period between innings. It is like he has the typical starter's tough first inning every inning if he sits at all in between innings. Somebody on that coaching staff has got to help him find a way to get into his rhythm earlier than that. I don't know if part of the key to that is going back to a full wind up again or not. I don't think so because there are more moving parts to a full wind up and he can't seem to get into a rhythm even pitching from the stretch. However I am not convinced that the Sox have a clue one way or the other. It does not matter whether I have a clue or not. Nobody is paying me to do that job. Have him count steps in his motion in his head if has to.....something.....ANYTHING...... At least he has the more common problem of rushing his front leg and getting it ahead of the rest of his motion instead of lagging and leaving his front leg behind. That can be really ugly. At this point this Sox organization needs to fix Bard so that he can be effective whether the role is bullpen or rotation. It is pretty staggering to me that he finished the season with this problem last year and if anything has gotten worse. So what did they do at the end of last season. Was there an exit evaluation of any kind given? Any instructions or help during the off season? How do you let a guy with his obvious natural talent leave with such a glaring problem, come back and be worse more than half way through ST?

Pretty neat NESN night tonight. Red Sox Yankees on at 7:00 PM followed by Bruins Sharks from San Jose.

Exactly + 1 More

Smoke and mirrors so they could do what....fool who.....themselves? All they have done is screw the kid up and that is a hell of a penalty to pay for smoke and mirrors.

Bard's mechanics are so fouled up now there are times when he does not even look like a pitcher any more. He looks on occasion like some converted outfielder looking for a new job. I am officially disgusted with the way the Sox have handled this whole thing. The kid is a legitimate pitching talent at a time when the Sox are desperate for more pitching and they basically take one of their announced initiatives from the off season and do what??????.....basically nothing! What are the Sox depending on in order to improve this team....luck? Lets see, if I don't walk under any ladders and no black cats cross my path maybe I will get lucky and Bard's mechanics that were s*** at the end of last year will suddenly be better this year....yea thats' it.....that's the ticket...all I need is a little luck. No wonder they end up sucking Ray's exhaust.

If Bard goes back to the pen Aceves won't unless Cook bails their dumb asses out of this mess.

No need to trade Aviiles. He is very good utility player and even a passible outfielder. He is just not a front line SS. He does not have the range to be a front line SS. As for Iggy. If they pinch hit for him it will be because he comes up late in games where we are behind and they need a hit. Baring that, they won't pinch hit for him. By that point he may very well have already saved a run or runs in a given game particularly if the alternative is Aviles. Apparently he has not hit anything yet and has not taken it out to the field. The Sox will need to take the pressure of hitting off of him and make it clear to him that hitting is not why he is here. As i have often said there is the chance that if Iggy never sees anything he can hit, he may never hit anything but it seems to me that the Sox have already crossed that bridge when they did not leave him in AA where he would have had a real good shot to develop his hitting along with the pitchers that are developing apace on the other side of the equation. If Aviles looked better to me I would likely not be as adamant. However Aviles range is terrible at SS. He is a liability on a team with a pitching staff that will be looking for defensive help. In addition it is clear that if the coaching staff has one initiative that I can identify, it is for pitchers to throw ground ball outs. Do you really want Aviles out there with pitchers trying to throw ground balls? I don't. I have seen enough thank you.

So what now......I have to wait for a Saber Matrix to be developed for the Sox to figure out how important SS is defensively? There is not enough evidence to be found in..... oh let me think..... the last 100 years of baseball for the Sox to lurch uncontrollably forward and burp out the right decision? The single most impressive thing I give V credit for so far is recognizing that Iggy needs to be here now....not a few months now....not next year.....NOW!

The issue is not by the way a bad outing vs a good outing. The issue is Bard's mechanics are still obviously a mess by his own admission! You can't just sweep that under the rug nor can you likely change it between ST starts. So when the Sox decided that they would make the effort this year to turn Bard into a starter what lamp did the Sox start to rub in an effort to "wish" their way to better mechanics for him?

By the way......I should point out that the Sox don't have the exclusive rights to screwed up organizational messes. Neither of the teams to our immediate south have been models of efficiency either for my money. Frankly I only care about whether we are performing as well as we can or at least well enough and don't give a rats ass about who might be as screwed up as we are or worse for that matter. I hate seeing talented players regress. Usually they end up being tossed on the scrap heap or end up flourishing elsewhere. I don't think this team can afford it cause upper management has temporarily tightened the purse strings. So we have to make the best of what we have. Frankly it seems to me that it has been a long time since the Sox have made the best of what they have. As for 4 and 5 being better than what they were last year, they could hardly be worse but that is not the issue. Pointing to a guy headed for TJ and a guy headed for retirement really does not make for a compelling argument. The issue for me is that we are stuck really with what we had last year in the sense that if anything happens to 1,2 or 3 in the rotation, we really don't have any apparent answers. While I have posted here that if I had to make the decision today Aceves would be my 4 cause he has out-pitched everybody vying for the position by a wide margin, that does not change the fact that Aceves may well be the most versatile reliever in baseball. That is his spot and that is where he would actually do this team the most good. While we can muse over whether Bard to the rotation should have ever been tried at all, if you look at the two of them Aceves and Bard, Bard would appear the more natural starter because his stuff is that much better. So, my issue is that it appears to me that Bard could be and quite possibly should be a starter but he has not progressed. If anything he appears to have regressed. You cannot blame him entirely for that. What the hell are coaches and baseball organizations for if not to take talent and develop it. Just when we would dearly love to have a solid 4, he might be sitting there right in front of us but we have allowed him to go backwards! So now it appears that we will be forced to take the most versatile reliever in baseball and toss him in the rotation because we don't have a choice and take a kid that very likely should be starting by now and toss him into the pigeonhole of the 8th inning set up guy again because we may not have a choice. Maybe Cook will bail us out of this mess if we are incredibly lucky. I am so pissed off I am about ready to accept Bard's walks to see him start but V very likely will not and I cannot blame him. I am so mad I could spit nickels. If Iggy goes back to the minors I think I will take a long walk off a short pier.

Actually I should not be directing my ire at the team specifically because it is the organization as a whole that seems screwed up. In some cases we have picked at the edges of this topic with regard to things like their FA signings especially the high ticket signings and things of that nature. I for one have avoided discussing issues of how players are handled or developed but something is just flat wrong here. It almost looks like guys develop in spite of the organization not because of it. This is where comments about what other organizations do with far less resources really begin to resonate for me. Nobody is perfect but there is so much crap surrounding this organization that I think even Tom Yawkey would be spinning in his grave by now....not to say he was some genius. He wasn't. Things are boiling pretty close to the surface when a knucklehead like me begins to notice. I do agree that this organization has been left in a quagmire that will take a goodly period to resolve. I am not ready to lay it all at Theo's doorstep and I don't think I will ever be able to do that. Just as I have commented that there are issues that go past the Manager here I think there are issues that go past the GM as well. It is becoming easier and easier for me to accept the notion that JH has not had the same interest that he once had and has not had his eyes on the ball for a long time now. Absentee ownership will do it every time.

Well this might sound like a reversal on my part but it really is not. Bard has got terrific stuff. From where I sit there is only one thing standing in his way and that is the issue with his mechanics which lead directly to his lack of control. I don't see why the Sox have not been able to work this out with Bard or even improve it a little. When I see how poor his mechanics are sometimes it looks like the Sox have done nothing to help him improve. Remember this is exactly the issue he had last year and for my money it almost looks like he has regressed a bit in this particular regard. As bad as his mechanics were at times last year I don't remember him looking as hurky-jerky at any point last year when compared just to this ST. Bard is a real deal talent with serious heat and movement that has done a good job in my view of developing secondary pitches. Now the kid appears to have tried to work toward the rotation because that is what the Sox want and they are going to kick him back to the pen while still not having done anything that I can identify to resolve or improve his mechanics. Honestly I am beginning to lose patience with this team. Wasted money....squandered talent.....this is starting to look ugly. If Iggy goes back to the minors at this point to me that will be one more step in the wrong direction. OK so maybe Bard has to go back to the pen. My point is nothing seems to get better. Players seem to stagnate here lately. I am beginning to have nightmares that start with Bard and Doubront finding their way to others teams where, low and behold, they begin to flourish because somebody smarter than we are finds ways to resolve their issues and/or get the most out of them. For all the money they spend they seem to sit there with their thumbs stuck up their asses when it comes to actually moving the team forward. I don't know what happened to these guys after 2004 and surely after 2007. However something is wrong. Can't say I know what it is but there is something just not right about the way this team functions. So far, it does not appear to me that V has changed much of that other than window dressing. Probably unfair because he is only one guy and he has not had much time. But there is something wrong here that I think goes past the Manager anyway.

Looks like Lester had the only notable line score.....4 ER on 8 hits and 2 BB in 3 innings in a 6-5 losing effort. What is up with Sox Pirates this ST. I am so conditioned to losing to these guys that I am not even checking to see what game it is. I was in and out of here for the earlier game and did not recognize the line score from it. Should have noticed Padiila who likely won't pitch for a bit.

That is what I thought it was supposed to be. I must have pulled up the wrong internet site. Pulled up the earlier Pirates game.

Sorry man...just found the info. I guess Buch was so so. Padilla finally got tagged like I expected he would giving up three doubles in a row. Sox lose...yuk. Thank God these are spring loses.