cp176

Not going to argue Tito at the top. Good list. Dick Williams is a must ahead of all others though.

If the Marlins decide to try to move Stanton in an effort to shed payroll, they are going to want a great return. If the Marlins decide to keep Stanton and not to shed payroll, good for them, they are screwed for a while. It would be nice to have a player like Stanton but only a handful of teams are going to be in the running to acquire a player as costly as he may be. if the Marlins decide that financially it is worth it to them to shed that contract, they really might just have to be satisfied with less in return than they would like to have. Regardless of what some here think our beloved Red Sox are one of the teams that can afford to go out and get Stanton. Luxury taxes, cliff existence be damned. I don't think that the Marlins are going to get the haul in players that they might like. I still don't see him coming our way although I like most would like to see it happen.

I don't think that Scwarber is the guy the Sox will go after if it means giving up anything. Wouldn't make any sense.

Raise your hand if you take these comments seriously? Joke!

I think that you are right and I hope that you are right.

I'm with you!!!

wow

One thing that I have learned here Spud, is that you can't argue with some here and get anything out of it. They think that they are right no matter how f***ed up wrong they can possibly be. I was at last night's game. It wasn't really as close for the most part as the score indicated. This is pretty good defensive team. There were no more than 2 or 3 uncontested shots. Lots of challenged shots, lots of solid box outs. IMO - they are better than last year's team right now and they look better with respect to the little things that have to be done if you are going to win. Baynes makes a huge difference for them. I liked everything that Thomas gave them last year, but Irving is a legit star. More importantly, we just had a blast. Everything about Celtic's bb has always worked for me.

I'm beginning to think that I liked this great game a lot more before all of the innovative thinking which includes the over use of replay in an effort to get things right! To me - all of these great aspects of the game exist and do not to need to be proven. If the subjective existence of these types of things ever are actually proven to not exist, think I will just stick with my golf game. Same goes for any introduction of robotics to help more clearly define the strike zone. I do not share the belief that this game is better today due to the intro of all of the supposed technological advancements. My type of baseball does not involve a sterile approach. I'm really not old, just old fashioned i guess.

I didn't hear any of the things that you said that you heard but I hope that they were accurate.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you Moon - I just can't help but wonder why anyone would think that we would sign someone with somewhat of a history of having some attitude issues and then expecting him to play a position that he didn't want to play to begin with with a smile on his face. Nice way to start off with a new club don't you think. Obviously he didn't want to play left field. Once again, i don't think the Red Sox ever even considered putting him in any position that he didn't want to be in. If that was the plan, then it was a bad one regardless of what type of hitter he was.

So prior to coming to Boston, wasn't there quite the controversy with Hanley not being willing or certainly not wanting to play third base in Florida? Boston signed a player who was traded away initially because of attitude concerns certainly not ability. Signing him, then trying to force him to play in a position that he didn't really want to play - I don't think that that had even a remote chance of happening. To his credit, he appears to have grown up. He may still prove to be valuable to us.

Whoops forgot about Holt (some would tell me to forget about Holt) - imagine that!

Up the middle defense is one of the most important aspects of the game. Few teams win without solid up the middle defense. Light hitting second baseman are really not all that uncommon to the game. Even if Chavis was a decent fielder, he would not have time enough to learn how to get it done around the second base bag over the course of one winter and one spring. Doesn't matter where he has played in the past. A healthy Hernandez is the guy I put my money on for getting the first shot at taking over that job. Marrero next followed possibly by Lin. All solid defenders who have real second base experience.

I'm taking this one back because I'm loving Aaron Baynes's game a great deal right now. With him and Smart on the floor, getting to the rim without getting hit is a tough task. Baynes looks like one of those guys that every team would just love to have.

We'll see. They are a better team right now then the were last year even without Hayward.

I remember him being a damned good fielder as well. You suppose it was our eyes fooling us again?

That gd DD - he must have had something to do with Hanley's move to the outfield.

A solid big league hitting first baseman with a healthy Hanley as dh could be formidable. A lot of doom and gloom an woe is me on here these days. I'm thinking that the Yankess path to the American League East title next season still won't be just a simple walk in the park.

borderline stupidity to think that anyone is going to take a chance on Hanley in a trade that works out in any posiitve way for us. Hanley has had some cleanup surgery. if he recovers well from it, his bat in our lineup can still be very valuable. Unless someone can convince him to tear up his contract and retire, i think that we better hope for a strong comeback. it could happen.

You dare be sensible with Larry around! lol - I agree with you and if anyone thinks that it was the players that we traded to improve our team that made made our farm the best in baseball (which i highly doubt it was) they are number than the proverbial club. Most of those guys were destined to be in the pile of Merreros, Hernandez's, Lins, etc.

Eddie Popowski ??? - Come on!

I am very well aware of most positions that you seem to take. Let me get this straight though, you aren't opposed to trading prospects as long as they get traded for the guys you think we should get. I choose to let the GM and the owners make these decisions for me. Just a fan here. The players that we received in return for those that we gave up have been tremendous. It is entirely possible and maybe even likely that none of the guys traded would ever have played for us.

Moon - You can probably refresh my memory. There is such great talk of this mythical cliff, as well as our having traded away our incredibly strong farm while sacrificing our future. I don't believe in the cliff theory and I am kind of confused about the players that we traded away in an effort to strengthen our current team. Maybe eventually, some day, one or two of the future super stars that got away will prove to be something other then depth options but to date, i don't think so. Losing Shaw of course hurt, but if I'm not mistaken, he was already playing for us. I'm pretty well convinced that many of the people who constantly beat the cliff and farm issues to death, just don't like DD. That is their opinion which I'm ok with. Who are these guys that are going to make us wish that we never traded for Pomeranz, Sale, and Kimbrel? Moncada? Kopech? ok - maybe some day. Margot may be the only one who could help us a little now. Overall, I am just really pleased with an ownership and General Manager who sees the value in trying to stay competitive year in and year out.

Since we are all guessing - that's what we do - here is mine. Between Hernandez, Marrero, Lin, and Holt. second base is going to be taken care of. Nothing too dramatic to be done there until someone really knows - not just guesses - what the outcome will be for Pedroia.