FenwayWest

Send Lester to Pawtucket. This is business, he needs to get his act together, and we can't let him have games like today. We'd be better off using AAA guys the rest of the year!

This thread was struck dead after the second post... Unfortunately, the media, in an effort to drive traffic through sexy storylines, created this with no real merit. Crawford isn't going anywhere, and to trade him right now would be a horrible mistake. He had a bad year last year, and he had a rough go of it with injuries this year. Compound that with the fact that he's gonna miss some time eventually, whether it be later this year or next spring with TJ surgery. His value isn't very high right now. It would be better to hang on to him for at least a few more years and see if he bounces back... Would hate to see him go somewhere and tear it up while we're still eating his payrol!

Do we have any ace-level pitching prospects?!

Nah guys, Lester and Beckett are Aces... They're not playing like it, but they are career ace's on any squad. I agree though, they need to get their s*** together.

I think we're too close to contention to be sellers... Odds of us winning a championship this year? Eh... But I think we could make a run into Oct... Not the way we're playing, but we seem to be hanging in there just enough to make things interesting... Right now, we're 1.5 games out of Second place in the AL East (I don't see us catching the yanks) and 1.5 games out of securing a wildcard spot. Once you're in, its a new season. It comes down to pitching though.... Lester, Buch, Beckett, we need at least 2 of these guys to pull it together... And maybe secure another solid starter...

I think Salty and Ross deserve a little more credit... They've been doing their part. They were never meant to carry the team... The interesting thing here, sans ortiz, we're getting a lot of production from "fill-in" guys. Side note, I agree, Scott Atchison has been great. He has that look of a bewildered old guy who doesn't really fit. He's not flashy... But for more than just this season, he's been that solid guy who has been able to save the bullpen after a shaky start.... I'm really glad we've got him.

BTW - I just have to say again, I don't think anyone was complaining when we signed Crawford and A-gon.... Hindsight is 20/20... But at the time, it was a good move... These guys don't have a crystal ball...

Glad to hear a hitter coming off TJ has a shorter time-table... I kind of suspected that but wasn't sure. Either way, look at our OF'ers CF - Ellsbury RF - Ross LF - You can choose from Nava, Posednick, Sweeney or Kalish. The likelihood of seeing Crawford of the Rays the rest of the season is not happening, in fact, with nursing this injury, its possible he could be WORSE than last season. So why would you even want this guy on the squad when you've got 4 guys on the roster who are more than capable of filling in for the rest of 2012... I'd rather see him take the surgery now, be healed up by Jan/Feb, and be well ready to train and be ready for Spring Training in 2013. Hey, I admire him wanting to come back, but its better for him and the team for him to just take time to get healthy and come back in 2013 to show us what he can do.

Woulda liked to see a brawl... at least something to lighten the pain on this weekend

Starting to look better after today's Crawford news, eh?

Take the surgery now. Honestly, Sweeney and Nava can manage LF w/ Kalish around too. We don't need a 50% crawford taking up a roster spot, especially if he ends up completely blowing it out in Aug/Sept Take the surgery now. We'll talk to ya next yr... What a waste of money, but hey, if any of you saw this coming, I'd like to talk to you about my investment portfolio!

Hmmm... Ya know, after reading and hearing everyone's thoughts, I think I agree that Ortiz needs to shut up and just play... Like mentioned, out of touch with reality.... When us, the "Common folk" have to work every day to make ends meet, and buy these over-priced tickets to see these guys play... Only to have them complain that $14M isn't enough... Frustrating...

Crawford - $20M/yr Gonzalez - $22M/yr Lackey - $16M/yr Beckett - $17M/yr There's four players in the clubhouse making more than him and contributing less than him. So yeah, I think he has a legit gripe.

My thoughts... He makes a really good point. The sox don't hesitate to throw long term deals to other players. If I were him, and I'm looking around my clubhouse, and I'm seeing half these guys on the DL, the other half not producing, and they're secured with long term deal... yeah, I'd have a little resentment. He had a couple rough years there, and it got to the edge a couple yrs back, but he's really bounced back. He shows up in spring, he's healthy, in shape. He's taken on a leadership role with the team. This guy is doing everything you could hope him to do, and is the sole representative for the sox at the ASB. He needs to retire a Red Sox. Lets make sure that happens... I'd offer him a 3yr deal worth up to $36M... He's earned it. I might even break the rules and talk to him mid-season on this... With all this drama he's causing and complaining, its not good for the club. He's not happy, and you need your star to be happy. At the VERY least... have the front office call him in, sit him down, and verbally tell him how much he's appreciated and that he WILL be taken care of this winter.

Ah ok, that makes sense then...

We certainly have lost to the yankees... Twice! In Fenway!.... The fact is, we actually haven't WON a game against them yet this year... In other news... I think its unlikely... but we're still in it... Teams can get hot late, look at St Louis last year, the Rockies in 2007.... Right now, I'd be happy to make the playoffs, and I think its possible. The team isn't playing to its potential. The talent is there, they're just not playing up to it.

I'm sorry... He's had a neck issue for the past couple days... We've got enough pitchers not the roster that we could have scratched him.... He says he couldn't throw a bullpen sesh, but he thinks he's ok to go out and pitch a real game?! One of two possible issues here... A) He didn't tell anyone, and that's a big problem, he has a responsibility to keep the training staff and everyone else informed, its not just him out there... The training/pitching staff knew and let him go out there, in which case, still very irresponsible! For the past 4 yrs its been like an abusive spouse... you always thing it will be better next time, and he goes and does it again... Time to cut the cord...

Inning plus? Wonder what his deal was...

He'll be in.

The 6-man rotations are only happening during long stretches... They've done it when they can, and when you're working with 16 days and no days off, so in reality, there's no change in conditioning... With that said, this whole "oh it changes the conditioning" thing to me is ********. You're a professional player making millions of dollars. You're telling me you can't figure out what to do with an extra day off? At this point, there's no consistency from anyone at the top half of the order, so they don't really get to decide right now. If Lester Beckett and Buch step up and start acting like leaders, then we can talk about maybe shifting the lower guys to the pen, AAA, or trade bait... But when these guys are A) going to the DL every other month and Not dependable, then you don't have many options left. There should be at least 1 or 2 guys in the rotation that you should pencil in as a Win for that night.

Agreed... Living in LA, I can get out of work, hit the gym, be back in time to pour a Sam Summer, sit back, and enjoy! Tell ya what, East Coast... We'll start our games at 6pm PST, you start yours at 8pm EST.... Everyone wins!

Winning will solve much of these issues.... I was hoping they'd come out of the gate strong w/ a chip on their shoulder to move on from Sept 2011. But they've been playing good ball as of late. The hitting has been good. You really can't ask for much more. Even w/ Outfield injuries, the guys filling in have really stepped it up. The bullpen has been solid as of late too, and when we get Bard back up and Baily, it should be pretty impressive. Starting rotation has been spotty, and its hard to really zero in on the issue. But I'm looking at our run differential and it doesn't align with our current W-L standing. I think Papi will be back. I think they'll work something out. He continues to play like this, he'll get a 2 maybe even 3 yr deal. I think all these guys are over paid, but look at it from his perspective... He's looking at a guy like Lackey, or a guy like Crawford, both of which haven't contributed anything this year, or really at all in their boston career, and they're making much more than him.

Hey guys, Just joined. Looking forward to meeting everyone... I moved out to LA from Boston 5 yrs ago... Love everything about it here other than being so far from the games... But I've done my best to recreate it with the MLB pack on Directv and keeping the Kegerator stocked with Sam Summer Ale! Love talking sox, reminiscing on Boston, and getting together to watch games.

Hey - Where in SoCal are ya? I just joined as well...