cp176

I agree and I think it probably is fairly safe to say the a huge majority of relief pitchers regardless of the role they play started out as starters. The question is though if you already have that guy why risk the change? If he prices himself out, then of course that is another matter. My point still remains that Kimbrel may be the best in the game and he currently plays for us. Trying to replace the best might not be an easy job.

In that era, how many innings did the starting pitcher tend to throw per game?

All probably decent possibilities I guess but in my opinion a solid effort needs to be made to sign someone who has proven to be very reliable as opposed to taking risks. His asking price might be too high but someone will likely get a closer that can be counted on. Sometimes you just don't know nor do you appreciate what you actually have until it's gone.

Tough question for me to answer Slasher. It is all play money as far as I am concerned. We have the highest payroll in baseball and in all honesty I don't care. The players are overpaid and the owners have made and are making ridiculous amounts. My only point is I guess that bullpens are and will continue to be unpredictable and when you have someone out there who appears to be solid, you just need to think long and hard before letting him go. If the price gets to steep, he walks but he won't be easy to replace. The impression I get here is that some posters believe that losing him will be no big deal and that he can be replaced. Maybe and maybe not. It is a gamble.

ditto - bad catching!!! too cute.

so maybe Vazquez needs to set up just an incy bit closer to the gd plate. He hit the mitt that has been out of the K-zone. ridiculous.

I agree

I agree with you but assuming that by signing a whole bunch of guys who we think might get the job done could very likely hurt us badly. If he walks, it would be a huge gamble moving forward for us.

I actually agree with you about Kimbrel possibly seeing a little decline. It's a good bet. He has been so good for so long. It is a tough situation for JH to be facing. Letting the one dependable arm that you have out there won't be easy. This decision could go either way.

Are there any real guarantees? Isn't it at least a little comforting to know that you have at least one fairly dependable arm at the back end of the rotation?

Like I said - there are absolutely no guarantees with signing relief pitchers. I'm not a strong advocate for spending big money on an extended Kimbrel signing but if having at least one arm in the bullpen that you can at least sort of count on - particularly at the back end of it -doesn't at least make a person pause then oh well. We might be able to win without having someone like Kimbrel out there but on the other hand our bullpen might look worse than it does right now. It is very debatable as to whether or not we would be fine next year without a closer like Kimbrel next year. Not signing him is a gamble. Signing 3 or 4 good relievers (whoever they might be) might work out and then again it might not. Much like JD Martinez, I think that Kimbrel has played a huge role with respect to this team's current success. I for one would never accept the blanket statement that we would be just fine without having either one of these two guys. I understand (for the record) that you did not mention JD here but it has been suggested here that we would have produced as well without him. That to me is similar to suggesting that we would be as successful next year by just taking a chance with others as opposed to keeping Kimbrel. I like Kimbrel but if he is not resigned my bet would be that it won't be because John Henry has decided to get frugal all of a sudden.

I'm not sure that I am totally in favor of giving a boatload of cash to Mr. Kimbrel but watching the current bullpen antics makes wonder if we really should sign the guy. He comes the closest to a sure thing that we have out there. bullpens in general seem to be unpredictable and just lining them up and taking your chances isn't necessarily the way to go. It is good to have at least one guy out there that you can kind of count on as opposed to just throwing them out there and hoping they get it done.

1. Bob Melvin 2. Alex Cora

There is no question about this. It is something that has been known for a very long time. I think that JH by not selling this team by now is saying that he might not intend to. He might just enjoy being the owner of the team. They all want to run successful businesses but this isn't where he has made his money. He has money and it is fairly obvious I think how he wants to spend it. You either like his philosophy I guess or you don't. I like it because I like winning. The "drunken sailor" analogy I don't think applies but only because I have not really known any billionaire drunken sailors. The cliff myth will be proven to be a joke.

All teams will face similar problems as we move into the future. Worrying and over thinking about it, would tend to take some of the shine off of what we have done and what it looks as though we are going to do. I'm sure that it is fun for all of you to debate. What I tend to focus in on is what the franchise has done since John Henry and Company took control. I have a hard time understanding how anyone can think for one minute that at a certain time based on what you assume is going to happen financially with the franchise and ML baseball in general, that by the year 2020 this team out of nowhere becomes a bottom feeder. That in my opinion is not very likely to happen regardless of all of all of the gloomy predictions made here.

I don't let go of guys easily but I am at that point with Pomeranz and especially Kelly. Using kelly in any late inning role with a game on the line is now really looking to be an exercise in futility.

Yes I have very much so. Considering the fact that really neither Vazquez nor Leon seem to be able to hit much of anything these days a possible tactic might be to let them each get one trip to the plate and then pinch hit for them. Use all 3. lol

My biggest disappointments this year are even thinking that there were any disappointments. You really have to be kidding me right. Of course there will always be players that you want to be better than they are and in some cases better than they may even ever be but there is 0 to be disappointed with this year. End of story.

I like this one - Why don't you just say stuff like this the first time through! I agree with everything you said. That's the problem with the internet and forum boards. I'll bet that you and I and at least 3 other people here operate on the same page most of the time! LOL Keep em coming my friend.

Is this a question? if yes - no I did not have a question about Bogaerts becoming our future ss. I liked very much what he did that winter and appreciated the work the kid put in. He also had Brian Butterfield around to work with him.

Ya ok Slash - Another good one! You rascal you. I can just hear Sale saying right now - screw all you guys I'm the man and i want my 300 and I don't give a s*** about how the team does. Really Slasher - How does this absolute ******** even start? Is it because people are bored and just want to drop a few names or what?

I'm confused once again. Why would anyone plant the suggestion that Chris Sale would place his chances of winning a Cy Young award over a World Series title? Chris Sale is a gamer - the kind of team player that coaches dream about. He wants to pitch and that is it. I think that he probably has a pretty good idea of how valuable he is to his team. Since coming to Boston, if he has once given anyone any idea that he might be a selfish player, I must have missed it.

Bogaerts is a worker. Since the winter he worked with Pedroia in Arizona, his defense looks to (I wonder if it is legal to say that here) me to be pretty good and getting better. There is nothing about this guy that I do no like. He is a shortstop and that is where hopefully he stays for a long time in Boston. There would be absolutely no reason to try to move him off short. Are there better fielding shortstops? pretty sure there are. Does it matter? nope - He ain't bad.

My condolences and thank you for sharing.

I tend to agree with the way you look at Espinoza but I do also think that you have to take his age into consideration when he was actually pitching. He was younger than most.