cp176

I forgot about Hernandez. I think that he gets a good luck once again as well.

I feel the same and would hope that any loyal Red Sox fan would feel that way also.

and on and on and on you go. beat beat beat goes the tired old drum. Once again as I mentioned earlier - I hope that he gets an opportunity. What part of that statement would lead you to think that I did not realize that he still has to earn his stripes? I would love to see him be successful primarily because he came up through our organization. Not that it matters but I might feel that you were something other than a huge wind bag if you could show a little loyalty to a young man who paid his dues in our organization.

I would think that now it looks as though we have plenty of firepower at the plate, there has to be some concern for our infield defense. We all hope for the best with respect to Devers but I would think that Marrero's stock just jumped a bit.

Here's to Bryce Brentz!!! I really wish him well. I really think that with the signing of JD it became inevitable. I hope that he does get the opportunity that obviously he was not going to get in Boston. I also hope that this young man (yes notin he still is young) just rakes it over there in the nl if for no other reason than to just piss off the haters(i'm looking at you).

if Hanley is truly healthy and hits like the Hanley of old, which I still think might be a longshot, he will vest and the Red Sox could be one hell of a baseball team. I think that our ownership kind of wants to win.

You are absolutely right and all Red Sox fans should literally be all frothed up over the potential of having a healthy Ramirez and a power hitting Martinez in the middle of that lineup.

I don't necessarily think so. If he is healthy and hits, he plays. Moreland becomes the super first base sub in that case. Hanley gets to dh and play first. JD gets to dh and play occasionally in the outfield. I'm glad that i don't have to figure it all out but It is a great problem to have. With a healthy Price, this team isn't even close to being the same team that started off last season

Don't forget a full year of Devers as well. This really is a different team than the one that started the 2017 season.

I think that it is possible that the A L East could produce one team in the World Series. it's a long season and anything can happen. It should be very interesting. It works for me - I'm looking forward to a great season from a team that at least for now looks substantially improved.

And he could throw that speedball by you, make you feel like a fool boy.

I know that you are! I'm not an anti stat guy either.

It is good stuff - bring on them Yanks now!!!

I agree with you and I don't blame them one f***ing bit for keeping things in house and away from both the public and the press. Look what happens here. Like the style or not, that is one of the things I like about the Pats. We just don't need to know everything that is going on.

I think that that certainly is a valid point but even though we all know that you can never have too much pitching, the Red Sox are in position to address immediate needs and trading a very young solid player who is proving to be a real hitter would be asinine considering what our pitching staff potentially looks like right now.

Saying that he and his coaching staff sucked with everyday players is just a little too extreme for me. I wish Alex Cora well and maybe they will win a game or two more but John Farrell and his coaching whether you like them or not did not suck. I shudder to think what will happen to Cora and his staff if this incredible high number of what you and a few others say under performed so dramatically last year don't show an equal amount of improvement this year. I think that it would be a good thing for everybody if this concept of extreme under performance was allowed to just kind of fade away. Maybe we will find out that last year was really closer to what Betts and Bradley really are and maybe we won't. I'm not willing to grant membership into the under performing society to any player who played through injury. Crap happens - it is a new year and the under performance drum has been beaten to death. It is now all about this year not last year or the year before. Like I said before, Alex Cora may be very successful but it won't be because he has some secret baseball formula that no one has ever seen before.

That probably is quite likely. He might have known what he wanted to do with his veterans but a wealthy talented athlete under contract I bet could be tough to deal with.

It does look like you could be right but I don't know what was going on in there. I do know that it bothered me. One thing that I will say about Farrell is that his reaction to Pomeranz's little fit in the dugout seemed to turn the big lefties season around. Personally I can say that I really don't know who was leading the way and who represented the distractions. Reading what some of these guys have said this spring has made me aware that all things were not great and that things could be different in a good way this year. Oh well, it seems that for the majority of fans these issues don't really matter as long as the team wins. Sometimes I wish that they didn't matter so much to me.

I don't think that the dysfunction was colossal by any means but there sure looked as though there was some. If Cora becomes the manager that we hope that he becomes, trying to get a player in his corner will not be a priority for him. it will happen naturally if he is good at his job.

One of my questions would be why would anyone trade a commodity that you really need as in hitting for a commodity that you are not desperate for? I would love to see Archer in Boston but I think that the Rays are likely to be willing to talk trade for a lot less than a hitter who could help us a great deal going forward. I really hope that our players are able to block out all of these analytical reports.

I guess my primary point was (is) that if they improve as a group wonderful but the other guys I mentioned in addition to a better better version of Betts will be where the biggest positive difference will be made.

I'm not arguing with your statistics and I certainly hope that all of these guys improve this year. I just don't think that it is a given that they will. I think that Betts likely falls somewhere between the high and the low if he has a good season. I don't know really what to expect out of JBJ and I doubt that anyone else does either. I expect a healthy Bogaerts to be better than last year. Holt I don't really care about and as for Beni who knows - hope for the best. Once again though signing Nunez, having Devers for a full season, hopefully signing Martinez and having a healthy Price on the mound are the players that will make the biggest differences on this team IMO. Obviously Betts once again is a key figure for us. I just think that with the four pivotal players that I mentioned for this team maybe some of the pressure to perform to career whatevers will be lessoned on the rest of the troops and as result they will be able to relax and just play the game. i hope that none of them really gives a crap about all of the predictions being made as to how everybody thinks that they will perform. Day to day - pitch by pitch - inning by inning - block out the ******** jibber jabber and just play this simple game. Don't try to make this an intellectual endeavor.

I actually think that when it comes to character in general this organization has done a very good job in general of bringing in quality people. I do continue to believe that many of the things that can't be measured are far more important than many things that can be measured. Qualities like the ability to lead, mental toughness, and character in general most often outweigh measurable statistics in my mind. I'm a fan for life but I want a team that I like as opposed to one I don't like. I really am and have always been a believer that good things generally happen more often to good people. Character counts in other words. Wins and losses just take care of themselves but I think good people tend to win more than people of questionable character. Once again, I don't think that we have one dink on this team. We have some nasty tough players but good people can certainly be nasty and tough. Obviously as I have stated before I would like to see some better leadership and fewer of what I consider to be mental mistakes but I am really looking forward to this year. One reason is because I do expect Price to be more like what we have all wanted to see and with Sale and Price leading the way, life in Boston could be very good.

no!

With a full year of Nunez, Devers, and possibly Martinez we could have an offense that finally looks pretty good.