cp176

damn that "desperate Dave" lol - Kansas City adopted the Houston mehod of building primarily from within and it worked for a while for them. How's it looking these days? There is no one perfect way to produce winners year after year. I like the Red Sox way. Combination.

Not to mention the fact that he is an All-Star this year playing on the team with the best record in baseball. Not the same as when Holt made the team because somebody had to. Great signing.

You are making a very general statement here. It is ok and it is one shared by many others on here for sure. I respect the rationale behind the way Rodney wears his hat too. It is a good story. Actually i could care less about how he wears his hat. If he came to Boston, I could care less about the way he wears his hat but I know a number of outstanding families who would have to explain to some very young and impressionable athletes why it is ok. Believe it or not, there are still people out there who have the following rules for their kids. No tats - no piercings - no hats worn backwards or whatever-and yup believe it or not no jewelry worn on the field. These are really solid families who truly care about the way their kids grow up. Are they wrong to impose such Draconian rules on their children? I don't think so. They still believe that the way you look can in some way impact the type of person you become. I believe in individuality as well but I tend to side with the folks who still believe that the way you look can impact the type of person you become.

lol - You still playing = winner in my book.

I doubt seriously that Devers is sent back at all. He is experiencing growing pains for sure but for gawd sake this team lays over all but just a few others as is. There really is no real reason to think about sending this kid back. If we can live with JBJ, it really is no stretch to think that we are just fine with Devers learning on the foy.

Ain't that the truth!!! Vaz is a decent defensive catcher but if Swihart can keep the ball in front of him, I don't think that anyone should be to worried about this one.

Based on youth alone, I think that it might be substantially less.

I think that there is a whole lot more that goes into things than just the results shown on the field. Outside of a few scraggly beards, I don't see too many of these guys trying attract any attention other than by the way they play. People can say what the want to but the way a person looks and carries themselves and behaves can say a great deal about the type of athlete they become. I think that the Red Sox have put this current team together with some of those thoughts in mind. I like that very much. That being said, it does sound as though Rodney might get a pass to wear his hat any way he wants to. My opinion might not be all that popular these days but what the hell I have cut a few very talented ass holes over my years.

Thanks for posting this.

So in looking back, it looks as though you are commenting on what people do or do not know about the arbitration process. People will obviously have a wide ranges of opinions surrounding this issue. I guess it is possible that the arbitration process could price him right out of Boston.

Who would argue this? I hope you are not hinting on a forum board that anyone thinks they know more than the guys inside the organization. That would be a ridiculous hint. We are sharing opinions.

How about that - keep it going.

So what actually is the deal with the hat? What does wearing it the way he wears it have to do with his father's death? Got no skin in the game, just curious. It is a story that I have never heard.

Regardless of how anyone felt about him, and their feelings were certainly justified, that man knew and knows baseball - real baseball .

I think that you are coming up with some good ones these days. We may never be able to replace JBJ's glove and at this time we don't even need to think about it. But if he were replaced by someone who could field an outfield position as well as Benintendi, costs less and hits substantially better, it would be foolish not to explore that. One of the things to consider is though how would trading JBJ affect that clubhouse. Seems like a pretty tight knit group and if that would upset the chemistry at all then it might not be worth it. Who knows - maybe Castillo???

seabeachfred is still going strong? Good for that old bastard. He really did piss off a lot of folks here.

ya but - I'll give you two kellys for one Sevy and I would even raise you a few. I'm a sox fan too but I'm blind.

Good insights.

I can understand this approach but at the same time it is also possible that without Kimbrel at the backend of games we wouldn't look quite as dominant as we do. Personally I didn't mind the overpay (and I agree that it was) but felt it had to be done. There are lots of wannabe closers out there but we seem to have the real deal.

Good opinions and I think that lots of people share them. I totally understand where you are coming from. I like what he has done so I think that I could put a positive spin on all of those deals.

So based on the Dombrowski moves to date do you really think that any GM could get any more than he has gotten? I understand that not every move works out as well as we would like them to but moves absolutely needed to be made. I understand that you don't seem to like much of what he has done but what were the options? Suffer with what might amount to lifelong minor league players or actually do something to keep us competetive.

I agree with you very much here. Larry Lucchino has served as a great scapegoat for anything that happened that was bad during his time in Boston. Maybe the criticism is justified but I sure don't know and I think that I have read quite a bit all the goings on. In my book, no one wears a halo when dealing with a professional sports franchise.

Still can't get over how dimwitted this one game playin might be. Only good thing is that the Sox will play hard to the wire. Much more entertaining.

yes I think that it is an embarrassment of riches. The popularity of this great game seems to be in decline. There are lots of reasons for this for sure but one of them might certainly become that there are so many pathetically poor teams playing these days if something doesn't change going forward. I'm ok with it because our team is what one of the best 4 out there. I really do think that it is and embarrassment of riches that we can be so damn good with a starting center fielder who struggles to hit .200 whether he is gold glove calibre or not. But - I think that everybody is ok with it as long as we continue to be one of the most dominant teams in the game. It is all good.

So ok now I bet you are seeing how it works here. You are upset with 30 pages of discussion based around the merits of keeping or possibly seeing JBJ being traded. Here we are at 35 on a thread dealing with our starting pitching and the discussion reverts back to an old tired one. For the record I agree with your opinion. No one really knows what or for whom Cherington would have traded for. A "pretty sure he would have" could be equally countered with "but maybe he wouldn't have". No one knows. It is basically the same as people here claiming that they know Theo left because of LL's presence. DD has the job and to date he has done it very well. Yup - he could have kept the so called prospects at the expense of not making the signings that he has made. That sounds like a lot of fun - Not. There are many ways to build a winner and it kind of looks as though he believes in a combination of ways to get it done. Personally I could care less about who the better GM is or was - I really like this team and the direction it has taken from a personnel perspective. This is what we do here and it is fun - rehash tired topics.