dupree

We shoulda of just kept Middlebrooks.

The starting pitching has been a problem for years now. And we have all read that the FO was going in a different direction and not signing big contracts on pitchers on the wrong side of 30 and that the propects they have in the system would fill the voids. Well that being said and this rotation from top to bottom struggling why not bring up Johnson & Owens now and say here let's see what ya got. I hate the idea of a pitcher needing more seasoning when in this Tommy John Era putting more innings on a young kids arm is playing with fire. Let's see what the kids have got before teams are willing to trade at the deadline. I know the idea of no they have more trade values in the minors, well f*** that if they are legit pitching prospects let's see what they got in a big league red sox uniform instead of as a trade chip and pitching against up in years to come.

I agree that HRam will probably be a 1st baseman in the future as soon as maybe next year. Napoli has yet to hit with consistency and his contract being up I'd say they move on from him. But my thinking is Pablo would be the better fit at 1st base next year and leave HRam in LF I think once he gets a year under his belt in front of the green monster then he will be just fine. I know he is a defensive liability right now but he will get better, hell Manny Ramirez and Johnny Gomes did. If he can hang on and hold the position for one or two more seasons until Ortiz retires and let's him be the everyday DH I think we are golden.

The closer and closer it gets to the All Star break the higher and higher Amaro's asking price for Hamels will be. His no trade clause will probably f*** the highest bidder because Cole won't want to go there. Any reports on what exactly is the dollar amount the Phillies are willing to pay?

A little off topic But did anyone else smile when they saw that Salty was DFA by the Marlins after he came back from paternity leave?

Tomorow is the game in the series that I'm most interested to see. I hope Clay can be the pitcher of game one and go deep into tomorrow's ballgame. Someone call Curt Shilling and tell him to talk s*** about him again so he can pitch lights out again. Just win.

I'm gonna make the prediction that Buch is in a Sox uniform next year. He got lit up last night but he will finish the season with more wins than loses. I'll also go has far to say he will be the #2 next year in front of Porcello and behind whoever they obtain via trade this year or wait until free agency next year. I could see if they keep playing like they are now they hold fast until then and wait until next year to make a flash in free agency and get their ace. But if the price drops on Hamels they will make the move before the deadline in the next few weeks before more teams get in on him.

Oh and the Padres get Devon Merrero to be the shortstop they need. I forgot to put him in there.

Id say Amaro is getting desperate to make some moves since he didn't do much to rebuild in the offseason. I think that if the Red Sox do make a move for Hamels it will take a third team to get the deal done. That's why I think a team like the Padres still come involved even in that scenario. That's due to the fact they are willing to make moves this time of year. My projected trade would be. Red Sox get Cole Hamels Padres get Barnes Phillies pitching prospect Phillies get Andrew Cashner Brian Johnson Garin Cervelli This trade would help all teams. Red Sox get their ace caliber pitcher Padres get the infield player they need plus a pitching prospect to add depth in the minors. Phillies get a MLB caliber pitcher to fill straight in for Cole Hamels. Cashner is on a 1 year deal and with Hamels off the books they can go out and have money to spend next offseason on another pitcher to start the rebuild. Plus they get two high tier prospects to start adding depth to the minors to get the ball rolling and maybe will start the idea that Amaro is working for the future and can keep his job.

I was just reading on MLB trade rumors while the delay in New York was going on that Ken Rosenthal says the Phillies should revamp talks with the Red Sox on dealing Cole Hamels. He stats that the Phillies should ask for lesser prospects than Swihart and Betts and go after guys like Owens, Rodriguez, Johnson, and some others that I can't recall. 2 points on the statement: 1st. I think at some point the Red Sox will trade for Hamels. But I don't think his opening day outing showed him well for other AL teams to drive up his price of hugh ceiling prospects. Who's to say that he won't get shelled by AL teams when he has a DH to contend with game in and game out. He had the advantage of pitching against us in a NL park and still got shelled. But I still say he will be in a Red Sox before this year is out. I know it's early in the year but if the Sox start to struggle to keep the runs lower than what the offense will handle I'd say they make a move. 2nd. I think the Padres are a dark horse to obtain Cole if any other team other than the Sox were to make a move this early in the year. With their current moves to revamp the roster they could put Cole as ace 1a beside of James Shields and they would in my opinion be as good if not better to come out of the NL west and smoak the Yankees of the West Dodgers. In conclusion: I think Rosenthal is just drumming up talk because the Phillies are telling him inside info that they want to move him after they filled seats on Opening Day.

Great game for Bucholtz. We need to have Curt Schilling talk s*** about him before every start. And I like the Porcello extension. I'd say if Buch pitches good for his first couple of starts he will sign an extension as well.

I'm glad to see Victorino is back to switch hitting. I'd say he will start in RF and until he gets hurt then Nava and Craig will be the lefty/righty matchups until mid season when Castillo is ready and takes over. Then one of Vic, Craig, or Nava gets traded. Vic has more value as a switch hitter instead of just hitting right handed. I see all these reports about one of the outfielders being traded fade away as soon as someone on the team gets hurt. That way Cafardo won't have to speculate trades to get a story out there.

Amaro has to be wanting a ton of top tier talent to add to the Swihart deal for Hamels. If Swihart is the only snag I think the Sox FO is wrong on not pulling the trigger. Slow playing this situation and saying they are happy with the current rotation is BS and will come back to bite them when he gets traded and he is off the market and they are stuck with the mediocre to slightly above average rotation they have currently.

I just read that the Padres made a very aggressive offer for Hamels and Amaro shot it down. Ken Rosenthal has reported that Amaro would rather deal deal Boston as a trade partner instead, with a deal for Blake Swihart. I think Boston is in the drivers seat on this one in my opinion. Do we need an "Ace"? I think most fans would like to have a guy to start game one of a series that we know we are coming away with a win because that pitcher can hold the opposition to a low amount to let this high powered offense win game in and game out... Yes I think we as a collective whole of posters most would say "Yes give me an Ace". I've looked at Fangraphs and seen Hamels stats vs AL teams and given they are not great. But I do like he's age, contract $s, and him being a lefty pitcher. I know Ben has said he will go to spring training as we are and most posters have seemed to come to the thinking we are fine. I fall into that same thinking as well and hope the rotation can hold leads and give the ball to the bullpen which I think will be a strength. I like Porcello and Miley a lot and think those were great additions but I'm not as confident in Masterson bounceing back and having no struggles. But I think they made a great contract for him if he sucks. Joe Kelly is a wild card, he does good first couple times thru the lineup then he gets shelled third time thru, maybe his glasses gets fogged up the more he sweats I don't know, I wished he'd get Lasik surgery so he can throw the G specs away they look ridiculous. I think by next year he will be a bullpen arm anyways unless he is used in a trade before that. Then there's Clay. I think he takes the ball on Opening Day and I honestly think he stays healthy and shows he has Ace stuff and signs an extension during the season along with Porcello. Also I see the trade for Hamels going down. I think Ben has told Amaro that he won't put Swihart in a trade but ends up doing it during the spring or first couple months of the season. I have no clue as to what other propects or major leaguers go to Philly in the deal. One of the starting five will go down with an injury in the first couple months and Ben pushed by Larry will make the deal for Hamels. The reason I think it happens before the deadline is because by then too many teams will be in on him and the pieces to add him will be higher then in the first couple months. I also think Owens comes up when the rosters expand as throws lights out. Then he will be slotted into the rotation in 2016. So I'll go ahead and say the rotation in 2016 looks like... Hamels, Bucholtz, Porcello, Owens, Miley. I'm just spitballing and maybe none are in the rotation next year but maybe who knows we will have to wait and see.

Phillies still want Blake Swihart as the big piece to land Hamels. At first I was thinking no we don't need to trade him for any reason. But if we can keep our high end pitching prospects and get Hamels back in return I hope the FO makes that trade. We have Vazquez and his defense will make up for his low batting average. If a position prospect can get to an Ace you make that trade in my opinion.

If Porcello, Masterson, & Buch come out of the gate pitching well I see the FO trying to extend them during the season before they come close to free agency. With previous experiences of pitchers' contracts and them losing out on them I see them starting talks early. So come May this team may have 3 pitchers in fold for years to come.

Thank you User

Agreed if we had gotten Lester people would still we needed Sheilds and then the payroll would hurt us to resign top tier FA in years to come. I was a big fan of resigning Lester and still time they should of signed him in a different manner than the process went. That being said reports of the situation are reports and that's all we have to go on. Maybe in a couple years we can look back and say that we were glad that we didn't sign any of this year's big 3 pitchers. The one we coulda signed coulda turned into another John Lackey. I see us positioned to sign a young arm longterm either during the season or next offseason and have us as contenders for years to come and not plague us with payroll like the Phillies and not being able to dump huge contracts for old wrinkled up vets. So in the long run this could be a win for us. Just the anticipation to find out if Ben and company are smarter than we all think they are comes true is nerve racking to say the least.

I see it the same as you Kimmi. I think this rotation has more question marks than previous rotations. I also see that we are very well positioned to add if a legit pitcher becomes available. I also like the talent we have in the minors. Not to say I think we should do like the Oakland A's and throw the boys in there, but I do think we will see Owens at some point. Aces were prospects at one time and I think he is our next legit prospect to see significant time on the 2015 club. If that be due to injury or due to preformance. I hope it is due to Ownes pushing the issue and him making a case he belongs into the rotation. Also if the club is positioned to make a run then I see Ben making a trade as soon as a legit pitcher becomes available to add to the core. If we could have 2 out of the 5 guys to pitch a level above their projection then the other 3 to pitch to their projection I think we will walk all over the AL east with our offense and our bullpen to be strong. I have seen reports where the Sox are already projected as the favorites to have the biggest turnaround in the league this year and win the AL east. I hope that holds true.

Agreed.

I just looked on soxprospects.com and Henry Ownes is ranked 2nd and Rodriguez is 5th. I can count and read so I don't see why everyone is bitching at User Name when it's clear in that the Sox scouts have Owens ranked higher between the two. Just to add I'm not trying to come to UN's aid I'm just saying people are lashing out when to say the least he is right.

http://nesn.com/2014/09/red-sox-notes-rusney-castillo-already-looking-like-five-tool-threat/

I think you have many good points here Fred. The biggest of all being the playing time in the outfield. I think teams need to see Craig and Vic before any team would make a trade for either. I would rather keep Craig than Vic. If Craig is healthy he has more power and controlled longer and Vic has chosen to only be a RHH which I think hurts his value. Holt and Nava will be on the bench for lefty bats for matchups and you can play them pretty much everywhere. Then Hanigan will have a spot as the back up catcher. So one question I have is what kind of range does Castillo have in CF? Will he have Mike Trout range and have similar stats? Maybe not as much power but still be classified as a 5 tool player. If not then you will have to have a guy in RF to cover a lot of ground. So alot of pressure will be on Castillo if he has hanley in left and Nava or Craig in right. I honestly don't think Betts has the arm for right field. So does Castillo have good enough arm for RF ? Then Betts would play CF. Injuries do happen and may sort everything out, but if all are healthy atleast one has to be moved.

I honestly think Ben is a liar. If something happens he will say at the time of that statement the opportunity to make a move on a rotation upgrade was not in front of them then things changed so they added another starting pitcher. That's how that goes. You pay attention to the right and don't see what the left is doing. Classic GM statement. With Shields being not on the radar because he is a flyball pitcher, out of Zimmerman, Strasburg, & Hamels which is more of a ground ball low in the zone thrower?

BBQ is fine. Sweet Baby Rays. It's just gonna have to be a wait and see with Betts. I'd rather have to eat crow and apologize and be totally wrong about him and the Sox do well than him sucking and be able to say i told you so. Let me just be the 1st to clarify that.