cp176

in all honesty with respect to the large deals and trades made by DD, I was and still would be on board with most. My only question might possibly be with respect to the number of years given to some. I think that going out and acquiring high end fairly young talent with very good potential is a great idea. It obviously takes something to get something. i think that looking back at the deals made simply based on hindsight is ridiculous. When i hear that constant wail about the way DD depleted our farm, i tend to get perplexed because I can't recall any of the guys traded other then Moncada who really have to date accomplished much in the way of great things. really my only complaint this year was and would continue to be that more effort should have been spent on strenghthening the bullpen. i think that he had too much faith in the guys we had out there. In Dombrowski's case, his firing has allowed his detractors to take some fairly good shots at him. If any of the players he traded should blossom into front line players (Moncada not included), maybe I'll reconsider my opinion. As for now, i'm pretty sure that trading less for a whole lot more is ever a bad idea.

a great post - this is what we see too often in today's world. Notin's opinion is no better nor is it any worse than anyone elses. i don't agree at all with him with respect to the way John Henry does business. Since it is a guess, i'm going with the concept that he is very much in tune with what goes on with respect to any major contract given to any player on any team that he owns.

if you believe everything that you wrote here Slasher, don't you think that there is just a little bit of hindsight gawking required?

Since we really don't know, this is an area where I guess it is ok to speculate. In an interesting way it seems, you might be suggesting that the billionaire principal owner of the Red Sox doesn't seem to be fully up on the status of contracts that he is paying for. Are you just trying to be funny again notin? If you aren't, then i guess our owner just isn't very bright. I'm thinking that he is fully involved in any contract that pays out millions of dollars to any of his employees.

I'm with you here! Too much blathering about DD and not enough aimed at the players and coaches that nearly everyone here felt would repeat. They have played poorly and have shown limited amounts of enthusiasm. The blame falls directly on them.

So let me get this - you are implying that Dombrowski is responsible for a group of highly plaid talented athletes not playing as a team? what role do you think that Cora and his coaching staff plays in all of this?

I understand why people disagree with many of the decisions that DD made. I don't necessarily disagree with many of his decisions at all but i think i get it. he doesn't do things the way some of you want to see them done. I'm much more concerned with the overall performance of the existing team than I am with any of DD's decisions. They have not gotten the job done and on many occasions they have looked disinterested. This has nothing to do with DD. i could live with a .500 team if I felt that they left what they had on the field game in and game out. I don't think that they do. It is on the players and the coaches working with them. At some point in time, you just have to accept that it isn't the ownership nor is it the GM who does the job on the field. if you give the players and coaches a free pass, good for you. i don't. they have screwed up my summer. And oh yes, I would sign Chris Sale over and over again. he was paid far less than he deserved for way to long. You can criticize his performance all you want, at least when he is out there, he owns it and really seems to care.

heading down the wrong path I'm afraid.

...and there you go again. I see what you are doing.

Interesting - not sneaking this one by me.

Agree here - DD is getting punched around pretty well here for sure but John Henry gets no free pass from me. he controls the $. To assume that DD didn't have henry's good blessing with respect to every contract that so many of our resident professionals think were just terrible, is to be absolutely blind. It is absolute ******** to try to paint this GM as some sort of culprit for doing the job that he was hired to do.

What I find very interesting is that Betts is referred to as a once in a generation player thus he should be signed. He is very very good we all know that. I consider Chris Sale a once in a generation pitcher. He gets injured and all of sudden people are ready to trade him away if possible. I'm glad that he was locked up long term. We got our moneys worth from him before and we will get our moneys worth from him again.

Thanks go out to dd and now it's on to the next GM.. Where's Cherington when you need him? Let all of you condescending jackasses who know so much about the way it works and that would include the jackson ass from NY fame. I will do my thing as a fan for the next guy up.

Better yet possibly since whether people agree or disagree with the pre-season strategy this is a massive witch hunt once again, have him pressed to death in Salem!

hey - you little bugger. Don't you go bringing up my fav the pom pom. And for the record yup - still a big Kimbrel fan.

Since you are responding to me, I will just say that when he had the job, I was his fan. I didn't agree with some of the things that he did but i appreciated his hard work. In reality though, my comments have nothing to do with Ben Cherington at all.

There will always be good and bad moves made by any GM. I'm sure that there are a couple of folks here who honestly think that they could do his job. That really is my opinion. I do find it humorous that so many tend to hindsight to death anyone who makes decisions that they do not agree with. You will have a tough time getting me to board the I don't like DD train I'm afraid.

lol - I like that. Could possibly add that a quick consult with the best "hind sight" strategists in the country (obviously talksoxers) might be necessary. it's what every general manager needs . Help from the peanut gallery.

I do understand what you are saying and agree. I am a fan of the game. I think that I understand when players are playing poorly and when ridiculous decisions are made. Personally being a fan to me means supporting players, coaches and general managers unless I see something that truly stands out as poor. Other than poor pitching and some poor play, i don't see the things that make me want to get rid of the GM.

he needs to go based on next season - really. I'm going with the premise that even though a number of folks here are research specialists who can obviously prove all of the things that DD cannot do and has not done, his longevity , respect, record, and results speak for themselves.

Somewhat typical of this board. Things go well all is good for the most part. Things go poorly, pile on searching for someone to blame. DD is used to it for sure. Last year, Cora in some eyes represented the best manager in Sox history, not so much this year i guess.

I agree with you very much. Giving up regardless of the current or future impact has never been in my DNA. I don't have any of the answers with respect to how we go about acquiring the pitching that it takes to compete once again at the highest level but I have always chosen to support the people in charge. They know more than I do.

had to read this. you sure that you didn't copy this from our resident president of the Ben Cherington fan club?

Don't have time to read this yet notin but thanks for the response. I bet I'm going to like what you wrote! later my friend.

hmmm - who was it that brought up Bennie's name just recently? I had all but forgotten about him too. Some people just can't seem to let the past go. I'm a history guy also though.