Deebs

Every Yankee fan that I know is saying that this is a good deal for the Sox and that Beane must have been drunk or on drugs. When Yankees fans think the Red Sox made a steal, you know it's a great deal.

I may be mistaken, but my understanding is that Kalish likely won't be ready to start the season. Barring the acquistion of a RH right fielder, I look for Sweeney to get the bulk of the playing time, particularly against RHP, to start the season. Kalish could earn the starter's job around midseason. That said, if Kalish could help bring in a decent starter, then that's a deal that needs to be done.

That sums it up pretty well. Our offense should be fine. Pitching is the concern for this team, and the addition of Bailey is a step in the right direction. We need one more middle rotation arm, and this team will look very good, IMO.

There were some good points brought up by Frank Lennon in an article on the Bleacher Report, one being that a manager does not have to rip his ballplayers publicly in order to keep his players in line. I agree that several of the players need to lose their sense of entitlement and selfishness, but a really good manager would be able to do that without creating a media circus. Francona clearly lost his team this season, but I've always felt that the reason he was so successful here was his ability to manage the clubhouse and to keep the dirty laundry out of the press for the most part. Having the clubhouse behind you is more important than any in game strategy, IMO. For those of you who think it's a great idea for Valentine to call out players publicly, be careful what you wish for. This may seem good for a while, but it will get old really fast. I don't see how you can think that negative media attention towards any player, deserving or not, can be good for the team as a whole.

It's not about enablement of bad behavior. If Crawford is having a pouty attitude, the he should be dealt with, just not publicly. There are ways that Valentine could have handled this so as not to make a media circus out of it. He certainly didn't have to throw in the comment about going down to watch Crawford's workout. If I eff up, I expect to be reprimanded. However, I don't expect to be reprimanded in front of the entire office. I expect to be reprimanded privately.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell example1. Well said.

I pretty much agree with what you wrote. The bottom line is that this will not be a rebuilding year. This team does not need a major overhaul. It has most of the pieces to make it to the postseason in 2012, if it can stay relatively healthy. Our offensive production from right field last year sucked. We were one of the worst teams, if not the worst team, in most of the offensive categories from the right field position. It has to get better, as does Crawford in LF. I'm expecting a drop off from Ellsbury, but his drop should not outweigh the gain from the other OF spots. I am concerned about Youk. IMO, he is NOT solid defensively, and I worry about his ability to stay healthy. That said, if he can stay healthy, his offensive numbers are solid for a 3B, albeit not as good as when he played 1B. As far as pitching is concerned, I think that pretty much anyone we slot in the rotation will be better than Lackey was last year. We'll have Buchholz back, hopefully healthy. One solid #3 or #4 pitcher, and our rotation looks pretty good with Aceves or Bard in the #5 slot. I don't like the idea of both of them going to the rotation. Melancon, Bard, Aceves, possibly Jenks, can be solid late inning relievers. Since one of Bard or Aceves will likely be in the rotation, I would like to see one more late inning arm picked up. I don't know that it will be either Bailey or Madson but we'll see. The other BP slots can be filled by the names you mentioned and/or some cheap reclamation projects willing to take a minor league deal.

I agree that players need to be accountable. I agree that Carl should call Valentine back. I disagree about Valentine going to the media with this. That is the completely wrong approach IMO, and will end up alienating players more than it will help. As MVP said, this needs to be left in house.

The needs of the team are not great. This team was the best team in baseball by a good margin for 5 months, with quite a few injuries, not that injuries were an excuse for the September collapse. They only needed to play .333 ball in September to go to the playoffs. The fact that the team collapsed that badly is an anomaly.