reYoukilis

Angels? I dont think they are a good example. Cardinals sure but not Angels. Also weve won three titles since the Angels won theirs and are up on the Cards by one in recent times. Also the Angels paid for Pujols for ten years of his decline. When will that Plantar Fasci.... spring up again? We're basically the best MLB team in the last ten years counting championships. One of which we are still the holder of.

This doesnt make any sense. They would rather him be terrible in front of the whole USA and TV watching Bostonians than the minors where he'll be forgotten about? No they want him to do good badly because hes good at D. Its a crucial part of their plan. They dont just want good players, they want a specific type of player. However if JBJ doesnt overcome....

Before we start dealing away all of our players, lets look at who we already dealt away. Sizemore seems like hes found his form again, Peavey nearly had a perfect game, AJP is hitting 320 avg, Lester is one of the best pitchers in the league... Maybe patience is whats required. Maybe we should chill out and stop demanding production yesterday.

I think hes worth it. You take a chance no matter what you do so why not take a chance on someone whose won the whole thing, 3 times, with the same team? Age I know but hes young enough to make a difference in the window weve got going on. Dont waste Papi's and Pedroias years always getting young. Sure the Red Sox may have to eat the last couple of seasons of a long contracts because hes getting up there in age but not necessarily. Even if hes less effective, with some solid younger arms in the mix he could put it together for some important games in the playoffs.

Well Im hoping they knew about the injury before they got him and hes more about next season. Me too but am hoping its all apart of some brilliant master plan. I think everything leads back to getting rid of Lester. Because Lester leaves Lackey wants out, something they didnt factor and had to take what they could get. Cards may have smelled desperation and knew they had the upper hand. Hopefully our gamble pays off but again it all leads back to the head scratcher of getting rid of Lester. I agree with not paying too much for people over thirty, its a good rule....except if hes a part of the core of the team. Hopefully it will all be for not and he'll be back with us next season.

Well we got him that way and it may be the reason for the dropoff in production so we SHOULD let him rest.

Personally I think JBJ is better when games and at bats are more meaningful (which they definitely arent now). At least thats the way it seems, whether it was coincidence or not I dont know but for his bad average etc., he had pretty good run and RBI numbers. He seemed to be alot more in the mix during the winning streaks. This is why I hope we are patient because we are/were supposed to be a pitching, defense team where we wear down the opponent, out last them and come through in the end. JBJ's skill set, if effective figures prominently in that. My thinking is we shouldnt have come into the season banking on JBJ to be great, we shouldve either platooned him or made it up with another pitcher.

I dont think we should just give him the rest of THIS season even if it is a wash. The prospects maybe but not Buchholz. Losing is demoralizing and we cant just count on our good players to automatically not take it to heart, all the losing. Theyre not going to say, "we wouldve won if the pitching wouldntve gave it all away, so Im ok".

I agree. Im ranting but I really feel bad for him. It must be lonely on that mound.

It is what it is, weve got no one else. I thought last year showed we were a pitching first team what with John Farrell being an ex-pitcher. Thats the team I want. Defense and pitching first. I hope beyond hope that this latest free agency isnt a change in that philosophy and I hope that they arent putting as much trust in Buchholz as it seems they are putting.

Well lets see if hes got a start left in him. I thought Buchholz was like AJP, a drag on the team. When they got rid of AJP, good things happened, until Buchholz. Therefore Buchholz is the next branch to prune. What Buchholz is doing affects much more than one game, it affects the entire team and starts losing streaks, stops momentum, makes playing less fun, injects doubt etc.. To be solely responsible for losing a rubber match against the Yankees and in the manner it was done is bad, bad, bad, bad. We keep on going back to square one. Contrast that with Lester who was a losing streak killer who bought time for the offense to get its s*** together. Guess which person is still with us? Same w/Lackey.

Sure wasnt, I remember him saying the same thing. And also, why no mention of Buchholz? Seven runs should be plenty and all I hear is Bradley this and Xander that. They shouldntve had to score. And frankly am worried again about the moves made at the trade deadline. Pitching is more important than offense and now Buchholz is our leader? I mean the manner in which he is giving up these leads and killing any and all momentum is startling to say the least.

f*** that f***ing ********!!!

Scary.

Every year should stand on its own and if criticism is all that comes of it then fine but many of Cheringtons decisions are understandable though they failed. Some of them arent Ill grant you, the late acquisition of Drew being one, but giving JBJ a good chance to succeed was worth a try considering his D. When you are trying to rebuild a team through the farm system patience is required. You have to give some time to see if they are going to be good or not and a couple weeks may not be enough time, thats just true. And yes maybe you ruin a whole season but hopefully it works out in the end.

Meh, the season is a loss, cant hurt to give him a few more starts.

People forget that one of those seasons was a WS win! I dont say that for people to live off the past but to remember that you cant just trip over that thing to get it, youve got to be good enough. It seems to me that people look at this season as the more telling season and that last season was a fluke. Why is that? It seems to me that people should look at the dichotemy between the two seasons as clues in how to right the ship. I get tired of these cranky Red Sox fans that make it such a "tough town to play in", personally I think you do more harm than good. First its demanding Tito get fired and whod we get? Bobby Valentine. Now there doesnt seem to be any memory of last years WS win. People on here think theyre geniuses because they look at stats and say whose doing badly, wow good job. What you dont do is offer a solution and/or if you do, theres no evidence that it would work so just gloat at your stat watching skills. Some of us believe in the process and want to see it through before the "tough Fenway crowd" want heads on the chopping block.

Crossed my mind. Let Lester take a vacation from this crap season.

I agree but thats coming from a person whose not in the meeting rooms. My positive side says that the rest of this season will be a tryout for all the young arms so that when the offseason comes we'll have a clearer indication of who's going to work and who isnt. Then we fill the rest of the roster up with some elite talent.

Theres no proof that it isnt either but I daresay that Jeter is more clutch than A-Rod even though A-Rod is considered more talented. And yes, maybe some guys do loaf when its not as meaningful, isnt that what they said about Reggie Jackson? Why it could be like that is hard to know, it could just be confidence, or it could be that a guy works the count to his favor better, or he is a better guesser.

The worse part of free agency is that Buchholz is now "leading" our pitching staff. What in the hell is the thinking there? One big signing in the offseason is not going to do it. Two might not either. If two or more of these prospects dont take off we're in deep kimchi. If Buchholz doesnt improve...wow. Also, if we went this far, how come we didnt deal Uehara? Hes definitely only for the here and now, much more than Miller.

If we were to get him we should have gotten him in the beginning of the year. I was for that and dont think I was proven wrong. To get him after XB had already gotten used to the position seemed like bad mojo. Another count against him was that he wasnt warmed up enough, however once he got goin he WAS hitting.

True but then again we need someone to drive in all these high OBP guys.

I agree with this though if hes a free agent next season I dont see him being much in the way of being trade bait. I think its a low risk tryout or to give ticket buyers something to oooh and aaaah about the rest of this season.

Sounds like Cespedes is only here to appease the demanding Red Sox fans. The real change is coming in the offseason.