win red sox

It was meant to be sarcastic to another posting. The point I keep on making is that our 3-4-5 last year had to be the worse in the AL and with Buchholz,Bard and Doubrant taking over the spots your getting a huge upgrade over Lackey,Wakefield,Weiland and Miller. The backend of the bullpen with Aceves,Melancon and Bailey should be fine. So while the pitching staff is not great, it is a significant improvement from Last year's staff.

who would you consider as depth?

agreed, if we stay somewhat healthy we wil be there to the end

Is it unreleastic to get 175-200 innings out of our big 3, is it unrealistic that Bard can log 150 innings at 3.75 era. Obviously the big 3 will miss of couple of starts and thats when you will see one of Miller,Silva,Cook or Germano but that's what they were signed for, emergency starts. To say that were going to lose one of the big 3 for a half season or more is being nothing more than pessimistic. One thing you have to agree on is our back end of rotation will be significantly better next year.

Fact: Bard pitches 150 innings in the rotation and another 20-25 out of the pen. I really saw him as our 3rd most effective reliever last year behind Aceves and Papelbum. Fact: We had Lackey,Wakefield,Miller and Weiland as our 3-4-5, that probaly had something to due with us finishing 9th in era. Fact: We have improved our rotation with Buchholtz, Bard, Doubrant. Melancon and Baily were both excellent acquistions and will be comparable to Bard and Papelbum. Fact: We did finish 3rd last year, but wasn't that because of the backend of starting rotation? Fact: Gonzales was injured after the all star break, therefore had no power in the 2nd half Fact: Youkilis injury effected the whole lineup, no power from rt side Fact: Crawford will show significant improvement this year Fact: Shoppach can actually throw to 2nd base. Of course you can bring up this person or that person will get injured. Every team needs a little luck with injuries.

true, but i really think he will be motivated due to it being a contract year and maybe the Valentine effect.

maybe we should just cancel this season due to the fact that we finished in 3rd last year and there's no hope for this year. Better yet let's trade Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lester, Buchholz, Gonzales for prospects and rebuild.

your on crack

what's this? a red sox fan with positive outlook on next year.

agreed, AA is been making some great moves that last couple of years and I was having nightmares that he would sign Fielder. Due to the east being so competitive this year it wouldn't shock me if there were 4 teams going into september with a chance at the division.

Kuroda?

If you can get Madson for 3/30 and maybe an option year that would be a steal, the only problem I see is if he is willing to setup.

I assume that we have to be in on both of them, The sox would lose a lot more than the 5 million in luxury tax money if they start slow and ratings drop. Next year we should be under the cap considerably with Dice K 10m, Jenks 6m, Ortiz 15m, Miller 1m, Albers 1m, Scutaro 6m and possibly Youkilis 13m. Most of these players could be replaced via the farm system, which should keep us way under the cap and plus 2014 I think the cap goes up to 189m. I think Ben is looking for 1 year deal for innings eater, and Kuroda matches that perfectly.

weei just shot down the Kuroda rumor.

ESPN baseball analyst and former major league general manager Jim Bowden dropped this interesting nugget in his Bowden Bullets piece today: The Boston Red Sox appear to be closing in on a short-term deal with right-hander Hiroki Kuroda to add him to a rotation that already has Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz and Daniel Bard. This move, along with the trades for relievers Mark Melancon and Andrew Bailey, quickly puts the Red Sox back among the AL’s elite. Kuroda is extremely underrated for the valuable innings he can provide from the back of a rotation. The durable Kuroda has made at least 30 starts for the Dodgers in four of the last five seasons, including the last two. He pitched a career-high 202 innings in 2011 with a career-best 3.07 ERA and 161 strikeouts. ESPN Stats & Information guru Jeremy Lundblad also points out that Kuroda is one of only nine starting pitchers with a sub-3.80 ERA in each of the last four seasons. The others are CC Sabathia, Tim Lincecum, Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez, Wandy Rodriguez, Roy Halladay and Matt Cain. Impressive company to be sure. Kuroda is 36 years old, so a short-term deal might be exactly what the Red Sox are looking for here. Stay tuned This is just what the Red Sox need, hopefuly on a 1 year deal w/ a club option. With this addition it marks a signficant improval on last years 90 win team and maybe this also keeps Bard and Aceves in the pen. This would be a significant upgrade to the rotation and bullpen, I'm still hoping they can swing a deal for Harden. Beckett Lester Kuroda Buchholz Harden Bailey Bard Melancon Aceves Morales Jenks/Miller/Bowden/Albers/Doubrant

no doubt the gamble on Ortiz accepting arb backfired, but Ben could still rectify the situation by releasing Ortiz prior to opening day(arbitration does not guaranty a contract) and taking the money freed up and signing Madison 4/36 and Kuroda 1/10. Another interesting option would be Matt Thornton, I'm assuming It wouldn't take much maybe Doubrant(out of options) straight up, the problem is his contratct 2/11 with a club option. It would be nice to have a lefty out the pen that didn't make me a nervous wreck. Also, with the releasing of Ortiz you could have Youkilis/Lavernaway rotate at the DH and balance the lineup. The point is, with the current financial constraints the FO is limited, with the releasing of Ortiz there would be a ton options. Now does Ben have the balls to do it? Probaly not, I would assume they would take a pr hit and we all know how image conscience the organization is.

How is this team weaker than last year's team? The offense should be better next year with a healthy Youkilis, better year for Crawford, the combo of Aviles/Sweeney should be an upgrade in right field over Reddick. Shoppach is a monumental upgrade over Varitek. Last year's starters were Beckett and Lester and that was pretty much it. A healthy Buchholz,Bard and even Doubrandt is a huge upgrade over last year's rotation and you can even add Dice-k around the all star break. The Pen maybe took a small step back, but nothing significant. The team is already better than last year's squad and the offseason is not even over. This team is capable of winning 100 games and winning the series. Of course all this depends on health.

I like Oswalt with a 1 year contract and not having to give up any prospects, the key here is the future, in 2013 Lackey will probaly be the in the rotation, so with the big 3 and a solid year from Bard it would appear are rotation is set until 2015 when Beckett and Lackey's contract's come off the books and I don't think it will be Oswalt, probaly somebody like Saunders, Francis, or Young. With the current contract situations its a pipedream to be in the potential bidding for Cain or Hamels in the 2013 offseason.

Red Sox Acquire Andrew Bailey By Ben Nicholson-Smith [December 28 at 3:42pm CST] The Red Sox have acquired Andrew Bailey from the Athletics in a deal that will send Josh Reddick to Oakland, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Twitter links). The move provides the Red Sox with a closer and gives the Athletics some much-needed outfield depth. excellent acquisition, good move Ben!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

agreed, just with a healthy Buchholz the pitching staff is better and with a healthy a Youkilis the offense improves. And reference the backend of the rotation, but Bard and whoever cannot be worse than Lackey,Wakefield and Miller. This team won 90 games with only 2/5 of their starting rotation performing up to standards and Losing there only power hitter from the rt side towards the end of the year. I explect 95-100 wins and a playoff spot.