cp176

If you are saying what I think you are saying here, I agree and I think that it is a good point. What types of fans can afford to go Fenway these days on a regular basis?

I actually do have a fairly decent grasp of the business of business. We all know that they are not running a charitable organization. They are in it to make as much as they possibly can and they are hitting financial home runs. If you want to feel that they have budget restrictions that might alter their attempts to sign anyone that they want to for whatever it takes, that is your opinion. I don't think that we should argue about this one. I really do not share your beliefs on this subject. None of us really knows how they plan to operate. I am guessing that none of us knows.

Hey - I kind of liked Sonny to be honest with you - don't forget Ray Culp

Wiggle room? Do you know something we don't know? The organization is making huge profits year in and year out regardless of where we finish in the standings. I don't care much if they have a break even year. I don't think that they need to save their money at our expense.

I agree with you there. We were fairly competitive just the same for the most part but it sure didn't feel very good. When the "rocket" appeared on the scene, do you remember how you felt? I know I do very well. It is unbelievable how that one big gun at the top can calm everything else down. Lonborg - Clemens - Pedro, Schilling and I would include Lester.. We have had some other good ones but they represented something very special. I think that there is a real need to have that go to guy for a lot of reasons not just their start every fifth day.

That is what I have tried to do.

Cyclical as to winning it all or being competitive year in year out?

You are correct here and once again I will say that we are in the middle of one of the worst runs we have had since the late 50's all the way to 67. With minor blips we have been consistently competitive year after year. I do not believe that it is a cyclical thing at all.

Sandoval - ? might be better this year - Ramirez - ? might be better this year - Porcello - ? might be better this year - could be a mid rotation guy Buchholtz -? potential forever - might be good might not be Kelly - ? potential - might be good - might flop owens -? should improve - might be mid rotation Johnson - ? - might be mid rotation someday, might not Price or Grienke - What are the odds that they won't be good to outstanding once again? We just have too many question marks for me in places where we need to have some strength. The signing of Kimbrel at whatever the expense gives us someone in our bullpen that we can feel confident about. More than we can say about any of the rest of our guys. We hope that they will all bounce back. We hope that they will all be heathy. Took some risks last year and they just didn't work out. That is a fact and there really is no other way to spin it. I really hope that DD can bring in a few more guys that have a real history of success and health. A top of the rotation pitcher would be a start. You have to have pitchers and you have to have role players and inning eaters but when I look at all of the questions that come with much of our pitching staff I can't help but liken it to constipation. As for spending the money, the more that gets saved through an imaginary philosophy is really just going back into the pockets of the people running the show. Ticket prices have risen year after year. The product needs to improve. As to a budget - all good stuff right but we are the ones who are literally paying the price. I think and hope that DD gets it and has passed some of his knowledge on. Hope they listen. Solid deals and fewer risks even though they might be a liltle more costly works for me.

I can live with that. He still has time to make a solid contribution.

You paint a good picture here for Porcello. Do you think that the majority of GM's see Zimmerman and Porcello as having equal ability and value?

Who wouldn't?

Looks to be a similar amount of money to what we will be paying Porcello. Porcello is younger maybe we could pull a switcheroo with them.LOL - I could understand an overpay for Price but not Porcello.

If they aren't able to get that number 1 somehow, we are in trouble. An interesting pattern has been created in 3 out of the last 4 years. You have to go back to the 60's to find a similar pattern for this team. I don't want to see this pattern develop again and I don't think ownership does either. I think the GM change was made with this in mind. Farrell's leadership will be under scrutiny as well. It would have been a big time negative PR move to let him go at the end of last season but he still represents 2 of those last place finishes. I am glad that we won our WS even though I still don't quite understand how it was done - some magic involved there.

like a I said - You add them all up to create one pitcher and they might be equal to signing another middle of the road arm. Might doesn't mean would. Signing another middle of the roader makes no sense. Have to improve on what we have.

A combination of Buchholz, Kelly, Owens, and Johnson might equal the signing of anyone available after the 3 best. No need to add more help to the pile we already have.

There are so many different ways to look at things. Will we be ok in a few years with Moncada as our new second baseman? very possibly. How about Benintendi? Is it possible that he might become a better player than Betts? Deevers? No one has the magic crystal ball to the future. In or 4 or 5 years we get rid of the contracts of both Ramirez and Sandoval. IMO - Signing Price as a free agent alone will only affect the future of our team positively. Using your approach- if Betts chooses to follow the big money out of town and he is covered by a very good cost controlled young player, I will be fine.

265 million invested in Ramirez, Sandoval, and Porcello. Not sure I like that direction much. We have an experienced GM leading the way. I am willing to accept the direction he takes us for a little while. It was time for a change.

I agree with you but I have to say that fans of most teams feel exactly the same way.

I like this post in a lot of ways. You have to go back just about 20 years to find a time in Red Sox history where they have finished like they have in 3 out of the past 4 years. There were some blips on the radar screen but honestly you have to go back to the late 50's up to the 1966 season, to actually see a pattern like we are currently in. Since that time, we have expected them to compete and for the most part they have. Throughout the history of the franchise, it is safe to say that we are not known for producing an abundance of great pitching prospects. We have acquired pitching though every means possible. bought, traded and grown. Done what we had to do. I really hope that with some new leadership in place, that we will see a return to a time that we can expect to compete year in and year out. I'm not fussy as to how it gets done. it was time for a change.

Agree - to a lesser extent maybe, but I think they still have to see a catching progression at least defensively. Also, as good as the outfield looks to be defensively, will Castillo and JBJ produce the types of offensive numbers that we hope they will. They could certainly have the potential to keep us watching throughout the course of the summer.

Way to early to say that it appears that there is a philisophical change at this point in time.

I really hoped that they would sign Lester but I gave them credit for having some sort of plan to replace him. Anyone who knew anything knew that signing Porcello and Miley did not and would not make up for his loss. I really can't recall anyone here thinking that they were done. We all had a pretty good idea that we needed top of the rotation pitching. If there ever was a plan, it was the wrong one. We will see what DD does but I like his experience and his overall track record.

I really do applaud your loyalty but where is this idea of winning at all cost even coming from? Would you agree that it is a little early and a little unlikely that that is going to become the scenario? Positive approach for me. The plans if that is what we should call them, did not work out for last year. We have a new GM. He gets the same chance to prove that his way works from me that Ben did. His big move to date sends no shock wave through my spine that he is going to give away the players that we really might need going forward. Can we make more trades without that happening? - of course. I am betting on the fact that DD is not a numbskull who just doesn't get it.

I also suggested that it might have been possible that the Red Sox were not all in on signing Lester. I still believe that to be true. I'm also not sure that it was a horrible decision to not resign him. It hurt us for sure last year but if we are able to sign Price, it will become nothing but a memory. They could have ponied up the cash for him I just don't think they felt that spending what the Cubs spent for him was the way to go. At the time it all went down, most of us felt that they allowed this to happen with intentions of trying to actually go out and get a true number one either before or during last year's season. Personally, I gave them too much credit for actually having a good plan going forward. They might have thought that they did, but obviously they didn't.