Bellhorn04

If Henry had something to do with this, it means Farrell will not be starting the season as Sox manager. That's the only way it would make any sense.

Re: Papelbon. He followed up his perfect 2007 postseason with another one in 2008. In the first 17 postseason appearances of his career, he pitched 26 innings, allowed 0 runs, 16 baserunners and a .339 OPS against. Then in his 18th postseason appearance, in 2009 ALDS Game 3, he got smoked for 3 runs, blown save, loss, series over. And he hasn't been in the postseason since. It's a funny game...

Maybe it's a natural consequence of networks hiring good-looking single women to cover sports teams?

Apparently he and his wife have been separated for a couple of years.

What exactly are you trying to say about this? Do you have any actual knowledge that pertains to the legality or illegality of Chapman shooting a registered firearm in his garage?

It was a registered firearm and he wasn't shooting at anyone so it wasn't illegal.

I have to give it to Foulke. In Games 4, 5 and 6 of the ALCS he pitched 5 innings and threw 100 pitches over the course of 3 nights. He was absolutely gassed in Game 6, it was a miracle he was able to get the 3 outs there.

He shot it 8 times in the garage. Which wasn't illegal. But it's obviously a big part of the reason for the 30 games. It's the only thing Chapman is admitting to. He says he doesn't own a gun anymore.

Please let me know when jacko changes his avatar back from the fat guy so I can take him off ignore.

Kimmi, I truly respect your point of view on Sandoval. I think it's admirable. I will just add one thing here. When players who are in the first year of big contracts have horrendous seasons like Pablo and Hanley did last year, fans want to have some idea why they did, and they want some sort of basis for believing that it was an aberration that can be reversed. With Hanley, you can look at the tremendous start he had last year and the shoulder injury, and draw some hope from that. With Pablo, though, there is no indication of injury, there is nothing to explain why he was so horrible on both offense and defense. So fans naturally grasp onto the hope that it had something to do with his being out of condition. And of course we know now that the Sox asked him to show up in better condition than he was in last year. So he shows up looking like he weighs about 300 pounds. It's quite natural that he's going to draw some flak for all this. The only way Pablo can get fans back on his side now is with his on-field performance. I certainly hope he can.

And that will happen, when Pandas fly.

E-Rod and Swihart.

Sure, he's a little on the creepy side, but as long as he wants to win titles and is willing to spend like this I'll consider him a great owner.

We really need a new topic.

8 years? That would take in 2008 and 2009, when they won 95 games each year.

Henry and Werner are pissed about the last two seasons and they're trying to figure out how they happened. Henry has already said this year will be a disaster if they miss the playoffs again in Papi's last year. These guys want to win, you have to give them that.

John Henry himself has revealed that Pablo's body fat content is down to 17% from 21% last year. Yes, I know, that's a scary thought...

You have to change your avatar back. I can't look at that.

Here's a comment from FanGraphs that everyone is going to love: From the 'After Dark Chat' on Tuesday: 9:12 Barry from Boston: The SP rotation after Price, slobs Panda and Handley, unproven Castillo and catchers. How can they be so highly regarded with this many holes? 9:13 Paul Swydan: Because there are potential solutions there. The Sox have a very wide beta. They could easily be a 98-win or 72-win team. Which I think is about 8-10 wins wider than the gap is for most teams. So there you have it folks - anywhere from 72 to 98, per FanGraphs! (I think the guy who asked the question may have been Jacko posing as a Sox fan.)

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Sox have about $78 million riding on Panda's 2016 season. Because if he isn't an appreciably better player this year than he was last year, he's a writeoff.

Again I say, that is very ironic.

I'll bet you really wrecked 'em the first time you told that joke.

My optimism about Panda turning it around was quickly snuffed by the pictures. This guy might be a complete writeoff of 95 million.

Agreed. I was just pointing out to mvp78 that he wasn't '3 wins in half a season' bad.

Well, he was awful, but he wasn't quite that awful. His actual UZR for the games he played in was -17.8. The -31.9 is the number extrapolated to 150 games.