jung

I hate not being able to have a comfortable conversion at a baseball game and as strange as it may sound I long for the days when it was just....Evans-#24, Right Field, Evans It sounded like Bingo night at the old folks home....O63....B21.....I19

I could be wrong on this because the Sox throw over so seldom that you don't get a feel for what they are doing...only for what they are not doing. I don't recall seeing anybody at any time vary his throw over, if he was throwing over at all....no effort to throw the runner off his stride or put a seed of doubt in his mind....nothing. Then the idea that Salty could throw behind a runner on first is just not even in the program at all!! They don't even make an effort to hold runners that are known threats.

You are right Laser. Just comparing the things about Jackson that are being raised as making it tough to get Buehrle. It almost sounds like it would take too much money to overcome things that could convince Buehrle to move.

Well Jackson is younger, costs less money and is used to moving around. Probably does not have strong ties to break at this point.

That sounds right Laser Show. I would hope 3/33

That might be so for Lavarnway. I did not notice that but the time I actually got to see him catch was so short. However, Salty is also about the worst offender I have seen in that regard as well. I am not sure which looks worse, Salty trying to catch it or trying to block it.

I like Buehrle to fill a particular need that the Sox have. Does anybody have an idea what it will take because I really don't know. He has been in what would have been considered the high rent district when he signed in 07 or 08, I think. I don't know if he is at the point where the absolute $ are going to be less or if in fact the inflation in pitching contracts means $14M in 07 is bargain money for him in 12. Rare anymore for a guy to get through that many contract years without some sort of renegotiation or something that gets you close to current dollars. Any ideas?

Lavarnway appears to have a much better arm from the limited time I have seen him and appears to have a marginally quicker release than Salty. It is not a release anything like Yadi's but at least it is a fairly fluid motion and he gets something on the ball. Salty has to fully raise up, step and the ball still tails off, fading right. Wish I could have seen more of Lavarnway but what I saw was a marked improvement. I am not sure how willing our new manager will be in giving Lavarnway the bulk of the work but if he proves out in the spring I would want to see him getting the bulk of the work assuming the other option is Salty.

As far as Sox running is concerned I tend to agree with you here. There is much more to being a "running" team on the base paths than having guys that can steal. If you really want to make that pay off you have to be able to do a pretty good job of hitting behind runners, bunting, hit and run and the Sox just never have regardless of who owns them, who manages them etc. Sox don't even Sac Fly that well. As I said earlier I don't think some of these other teams would have come in here running as much were it not for the combination of pitchers and catchers we had in 2011.

I was sorta' surprised that he put the 25 pounds that he lost after knee surgery back on again. While it is pretty clear that he is more comfortable at around 310....that is a good deal of weight to put on that knee not to mention the general issues that come along with that kinda' weight. To be honest, I would be happy just seeing him leave the AL East as I guess I am actually starting to worry that we are starting to look a little like the RT 95 North version of the Mets. Becoming somebody else's problem that I don't have to face competitively unless we get to the WS is OK by me.

The Sox face the double whammy of pitchers that have not held runners on and a catcher that can't throw anyway. Once that got around the league teams came here looking to burn up the base paths and you had guys not even known for running bounding up the base path like a herd of lumbering elephants. The surprise is that we did not get Peddey or whoever had SS on a given day killed in the process. Sox will probably have to do something pretty early on in 2012 to change that or teams will be running from Logan airport to second base.

Does anybody know if 5/125 is what is being suggested as what it would take for Philadelphia to sign CC. I am presuming that what folks are saying is that Philly is where CC wants to go. Is that correct?

What did the Doc recommend? Retirement! I have lived through a good many screwed up Sox eras but I am having a hard time comparing this one favorably to the rest. Revenue generation...great job....General quality of effort intended to get another flag up there....Ugh!

Well anytime the guy directly underneath you is let go, it usually is a statement about the overall success about your piece of the organization and there is no way to feel comfortable about that. How many times do we see an assistant coach go and determine that he was made to walk the plank for the most part. Also I really do think Theo came to realize that there was no upward path for him that made sense to him. Is he the kind of guy that can be the kind of President Larry is? I don't think so. And then Theo himself said that the chance that he would be a central figure in the growing Fenway sports enterprises really did not interest him either. So if anything Theo here became something of a dilemma for both sides and both sides have found a way to extricate themselves under terms that....well....have not been concluded. Oh well.

Dave Duncan is really hard nosed but you end up having to look at the contract mix on any given team as well to get some feeling for how many guys are making large money long term (least likely to control), large money but not long term (marginally controllable), short money short term (very controllable). Don't have to look to hard at the Cards salary mix to see that they have not allowed that mix to get out of balance. They have maintained a nice mix and are heavy in categories 2 and 3. Unfortunately the Sox have let that mix get out of whack and that is what for the most part creates some issues with players and whether a hard nosed guy can have an impact.

If Ortiz does come back I think that he will not only have to take a pay cut but will have to be less demanding about platooning. The Sox need to ween themselves off of this dedicated DH ********. Ortiz will hopefully be the last one. As a part of that process, they can't pay him much and he will have to be satisfied with the Sox inserting him when it best suits them. He should still get many appearances as DH at least for the 2012 season. But this has gotten to be more trouble than it is worth particularly given Sox performance in the inter-league games. It would not matter if they did not count in the record but they do and the Sox progressively have more and more difficulty winning in those games.

Hopefully they will prep Aceves for a starting role in spring training so that he starts the year there. Presuming relievers are still important to this team, and presuming he gets his mechanics straightened out, Bard could continue to be the 8th inning guy. Is Jenks on the DL now for 2012 as well or does anybody know if Jenks will be out of his injury woes by then?

Paps gets the appearances, they just don't often translate to wins and loses because the game is over, won or lost by the time he comes into it. So he gets the work. The Sox as constituted either win big or lose and if they are behind by the 7th inning they categorically lose. They went something like 2-65 in games that they trailed by the 7th. They have become the Sox of the late 50's and early 60's winning 12-8 when they win but losing too often to make the 12-8 wins matter. 2010 and 2009 were hardly better. More important than what it says about the value of Paps to this team, it says they have a snowballs chance in hell of getting anywhere in the post season even if they happen to get there. As indicated earlier it really is not that much of an issue for me one way or the other especially since I guess they are talking about a 3 year deal for Paps. But unless they change the profile of this team in significant ways, who pitches in the 9th inning will continue to be for the most part anti-climactic. That is what is interesting about the limited number of save opportunities:appearances for Paps.....again not saves:appearances but save opportunities:appearances. They say nothing about his quality as a pitcher. They simply say something about his ability to effect the outcome in spite of how good he is.

Well I can't imagine that they would say goodbye to Paps because Ortiz wants big dollars. In that scenario it is by-by Dave I would think. As long as Paps does not want 5 years...maybe even 4 is a stretch but the talk is 3 years....thats fine.

True but it's not like they carted dice off to Siberia. Hurt is hurt. What are you gonna' do. Well does that mean they should not try? FA market for pitchers is just weak this year. It just is. Not sure there is much they can do about that either. It would not take much to look at this argument and suggest that your worried about underpaying for junk when the real problem they have had in the FA market is overpaying for junk. There is CJ Wilson and I guess CC on an opt out. I absolutely agree that the Sox need more pitching but before they throw another bazillion dollars at somebody they might in fact be better served trying to take some guys with upside (which tired old Smoltz was not...I never got that and I agree with you there). Waiting one year presuming a deeper pool of pitchers might finally yield a better result. It seems to me that they need to revamp their player evaluation methodology as well. Either that or just being more thoughtful about who they go after instead of lurching into going after the top guy every time might go a long way to getting more value out of the money they do spend. At some point and maybe that is the message that JH is sending us through BC, JH is just going to pull the plug and say look guys we need to do a better job at this and I need to be assured that we are not just doing more of the same before I sign off on more bazillion's. I will grant you that I think JH is in part responsible for the Sox glitzy but underperforming FA perspective. That does not preclude him throwing up his hands and saying "enough already. Show me a better process first." I am OK with getting some of their own guys back or at least Paps and Scuts.....maybe Ortiz.

Some interesting insights came out regarding Theo in Chicago. The opinion was offered that they really wanted Theo because he was around here for the refurbishing of Fenway and the Sox branding and marketing initiatives. We don't hear much about Theo having a good deal to do with that but he has been here for all of it and it does make sense that some of it has rubbed off. I know we wonder here how much faith the Cubs could have in Theo given the FA mess we have here but I guess it makes sense that they want him for much more than player personnel related issues. Maybe that also means we won't see the Cubs suddenly looking like the Sox as far FA signings go.

Maybe his post season performance will make the money needed to get a CJ less but there are more pitchers coming up in the FA season after this one presuming they all don't get signed by their own teams before they enter the FA market. However there always seems to be something of a surcharge for going after the top guy at a position in a FA season and that in part is why the Sox have so much committed money for guys that are underperforming. They have had a propensity to go after the very top guy at a position every time. I would love to see them take a shot at some big upside guy or guys this year and then maybe go harder at guys that sit at the top of the FA market next year if at all. Spending some money to sign a few of their own FA guys is fine.

I would be OK with Aceves instead of Bard. The point is they need to replace something like 300 innings at the back end of the rotation and Aceves might be fine there. Hopefully whatever buy low gamble they take at SP eats some of these innings. I suspect that if they are both still there and Pap has the closer job the Sox will try to prepare both Aceves and Bard for more innings and ultimately decide which one gets a back end starting role there.

Presuming they successfully sign Paps, then that takes care of the Bard decision as closer and unless somebody takes him in free agency Bard maybe goes to the Lackey role, Bedard goes to the Wake role. I agree with your contention that as good as the big 3 are, none of them distinguished themselves as a number 1. However I am equally convinced that Lester should have moved past Beckett and been good enough to be the stopper of the SP. Given the sparsity of SP talent in the 2012 pool, it might make sense to take a buy low gamble on somebody and try to help Lester actually do in 2012 what was expected of him in 2011. From a talent perspective, having Becket, Lester and Buchholz as the core cannot be a negative putting the attitude issues aside.

Its my error not Users. I grew up with a Buchholtz and I have never been able to get the name outta' my head seeing it on a mailbox for 15 years. 2013 has a much better stock of FA SP to play with than 2012. Waiting one year might not be the worse thing for them so that might be a Godsend. CJ Wilson is the accepted top of the 2012 FA SP heap.