cp176

He was a throwback pitcher of the finest variety. Possibly the greatest changeup that I ever saw. Watching him took me back to a time when all I wanted to do was play ball. If you weren't playing, you were watching. He owned the plate- the whole plate. In his absolute prime, he was as good as I ever saw. I would put him into a very special class - Koufax, Gibson, Martinez . I also go back to Warren Spahn - not bad. To those who never saw Koufax and Gibson, youtube away and watch 2 of the best 3 that ever picked up a baseball.

We are all frustrated by the way things are going. I would feel better about the franchise in general if they told Kelly he was going to the pen where he can actually do us some good. Actually I still think Masterson has a limited chance if he is used exclusively in a bullpen role. How about just telling Ramirez that he is going to be playing first base for the rest of the season just to see if he actually can. What the hell? I just see these as being logical moves. Regardless of what anybody thinks about JBJ, bring him up and stick him in the outfield and leave him there for the rest of this season. It is going to take a little different approach and maybe even some nuts to get them back on track. They may not be too far away and that is what is particularly frustrating. Grab 2 good arms - a few interior moves - might be enough and certainly would be better.

Everyone is aware of how much time he missed. It is just sad to see. A player with actual talent who could help going to a decent team with a chance . In return, we pay most of his salary and get someone who might help Pawtucket. If this is the direction they are going, I would prefer to see them make more of them as opposed to fewer. I feel just as badly about Napoli but kind of looks like his time has come. I also can't say that my excitement meter jumped to 10 when I saw Nava replace him last night. While we are at, maybe somebody would be willing to pay a little of Kelly's contract so we don't have to watch him any more as well. to address your first statement - once again, I thought that we might see some sort of package created to try to get something back in return. Maybe that is not realistic enough but letting them go the way they let Victorino go isn't doing any good for us. I realize that in this case Castillo gets his chance. I hope that he is better than we have seen so far. As for Victorino - He might be a little sad right now but if he is able to play at all I think that he will be a lot happier than he would be in Boston this year.

It was a sad ending for him for sure but i agree that the purpose he served just wasn't there for him anymore. Actually I don't care what they do with their money either but if it was a move to cut payroll, didn't really help out to much. If he could have been packaged in a trade maybe it would have made a little more sense but Rutledge coming to boston or wherever really means next to nothing. The philosophy of stockpiling players of marginal talent hasn't worked and isn't likely to .

I agree with you about Rodriguez for sure SK. He is just 22. Long term if he stays healthy and matures mentally, I don't think that it will be a stretch for him to be a number 1 at the least a solid number 2. His name should be eliminated from any trade discussion. His rawness and the occasional one bad inning have not kept him from being atop our food chain of starting pitchers.

Good to know - I was concerned about who was going to be replacing Weeks. When you have one of the top ranked farm systems in the game, can't afford to let things slip.

No one said that that was hard to figure out. A fairly obvious move. Like I said - thanks go out to Victorino for the years he gave us.

Heres to Victorino - He was great for us and we were great for him. Sorry to see him leave but it was inevitable. Now -, if it was a "salary dump", it looks like we got screwed again. As for what we got in return, we would have been just as well off letting him finish his contract year on the bench or playing every third day. We have lots of guys who are already filling the role of utility player. We don't need anymore.

No doubt about that. The only but would be that things would look one helluva lot more depressing than they do right now if people's expectations for these kids wasn't what it was. If you look how they are currently performing and have performed this year, JBJ should be called up right now and based on overall performance this year, Hernandez would be getting a look as well. Margot is showing some good signs of life at Portland but other than those 3 guys (travis would be 4) there isn't a whole bunch happening to make me very excited.

The majority of professional athletes take it as a matter of personal pride to work on their physical fitness. He doesn't seem to. that bothers me as much as anything. That's is not saying that he might be better than he is now. It is just troubling. A lot of money should lead to a little more in return.

I think that it might come down to tying to find another place for the biggest boy. Japan, Cuba, Alaska?

That makes sense. That is part of the problem though. That would be a common sense move and I'm not sure how high up on the old common sense scale our boys rate.

I think that when you have a top defender at short, it is a good idea to leave him there. Sandoval+Ramirez- All the possible solutions still don't seem to make any sense. ramirez is dh who won't be dhing for a while. Sandoval at third and Ramirez at first might make our infield defense about as weak as it could get. same goes for Ramirez at third and sandoval at first. glad I don't have to solve those problems.

A solid free agent sign (Price maybe) and a solid trade to go along with Rodriguez and they have the makings of a very good pitching staff. Moves they should have made a long time ago. We all thought that Porcello and Miley were good pieces to have in place at the 3 4 or 5 slots. You can't count on Bucholtz but he is still in the picture.

I don't see trading Rodriguez as making any sense. A power arm who is a middle of rotation guy at the worst. No one knows what his ceiling might be.

Pedro didn't exactly lay over the field of the greats that I saw but I would put him close to the top when at his best. I saw no one better than Koufax when he was at his best though.

This is what frightens me the most I think. The problems are pretty recognizable . They might not be easily fixable but they are fixable and you have to start somewhere sometime. I hope they make moves for the franchise that make sense and aren't just examples of window dressing.

I think that we will know fairly soon which direction the franchise is heading in.

It is conceivable that any bullpen issues they have could be solved from within. The 5 best start. best = what they have currently done and not what someone thinks that they could do. The rest get moved one way or the other. bullpen or trade.

Common sense would seem to indicate this but based on our most recent deals, anything could happen. I'm leaning 700s way on this one. i want to know who these young cost controlled aces are. If they didn't cost much in terms of dollars and cents, it would take a boatload of prospects to get them. If they are out there and available, be surprised if we got one .

You might just as well keep him anyway. A beat up 32 year old second baseman no matter how good when healthy is not likely to bring back what we want in return.

I do agree with you about the moves for PR sake of which this team is notorious. They lost me when they jacked up the ticket prices, increased spending and have created argueably the worst team in the American League. They won't see my butt in a seat at Fenway anytime soon and I am sure that they will find somebody elses to replace it with.

As long as you have Holt to back him up, I think trading Pedroia won't be a priority. Now - if an overhaul is what you are after and Betts moves back to second with Holt backing everybody up along with multiple other moves than go for it. I hope that you are right with respect to this group being closer to winning than I think that they are but Pedroia and his health is not much of a concern. Helps when he is in and doesn't hurt much when he isn't. After the pitching, I do see a third base, first base, dh issue coming up. The quick fix looks like a Ramirez move back to the infield. I don't think that he is a good enough fielder to do anything but hurt us defensively. If that is the case, it creates more problems as in the dh position. I don't think that they can figure out how to solve these issues. What happens to Margot, and what they decide to do with Moncada will create issues of their own.

Pretty much telling it like it is. An overhaul is going to include trading some prospects as well as getting people into positions that they can help the team out in. We do have some signs of potential talent in the current system but they all can't play second base and centerfield.

This is kind of depressing but probably quite true. Pitching, hitting, fielding - all areas that they are deficient in. We all want to see them bounce back quickly but realistically there has been no sign that they will in any of these areas anytime soon. When you look at it that way, a Cole Hamels signing would be foolish and just another move to try to put people in the seats. When and if they do start to take steps toward becoming a better baseball team, I hope that they don't paint themselves into a corner by issuing proclamations about not signing players over the age of thirty to long term contracts. An exception to every rule always exists. Their stance makes sense but sometimes you do what it takes to win. They have lots of issues to deal with first in addition to pitching. Will Sandoval literally eat his way out of the game? Can they convince Ramirez to lose all of his fielding gloves? Will the front office make good baseball decisions regardless of how it might affect attendance?