FredLynn

I would have no problem with trying him one more time, but his ERA is over 5 and his WHIP this year in Boston is 2.108, which is awful. At the very least, Rodriguez needs to be sent down to get his act together. This version of him is not going to cut it. Still.....Owens??

To be replaced by......??? Owens? O'Sullivan?. Thats the issue: there is no one else.

He is apparently their top prospect. Must be nice to have a top prospect who is a pitcher. We have who-Owens? Uggh.

Yes. But its still not good enough. We still need another great SP.

Farrell made two pretty clear blunders tonight. First, with the score 2-0 and runners on first and second in the third inning, he didn't force Marrero to bunt until he had two strikes on him. Marrero is a terrible hitter. No one was out; a successful bunt could have resulted in runners on second and third with one out with Betts up. Second, in the 8th inning with runners on first and second and no one out, a tough RHP on the mound, and Hanley Ramirez (whose OPS over the past over 100 ABs is well under .600) up, he failed to PH Ortiz when it really mattered, instead saving him for a two out, no one on base, in the ninth scenario. Ramirez struck out. I don't much care that it might have hurt Hanley's feelings. Farrell is not putting his team in the best possible position to win games.

You don't build a championship team with a group of players who "don't have to improve that much to get to average". I realize you cannot have a team full of above average players, but that should certainly be the goal.

He has been "scorching the ball" to the tune of .221/.567 for the year and .212/.455 over the last 10 games. With that kind of scorching we sure need to break out the fire extinguisher. Sure he has the potential to hit the ball; so does Castillo. I want performance, not potential. He is good defensively, to be sure, but with those offensive numbers I want a backup plan too. Good thing we have Swihart in the wings.

First, we don't need an ace. It would be nice, but what we need is a solid #2. Its not going to cost Betts/Bradley/Bogaerts to get that pitcher. We have the parts to obtain Fernandez (if the Marlins are willing to trade him, which I doubt as he still has another year after this year of team control) or another solid #2. Second, Owens-Elias-Johnson-Sullivan are useless appendages. Elias might have a little value; the others guys do not. But Benintendi and a few others could catch the eye of other GMs. Remember: no added pitching=no playoffs. Dombrowski knows this too.

If I am Rodriguez and I am aware I am tipping my pitches, why not kind of "reverse tip"? In other words, sometimes let the hitter see the thumb of his glove but instead of throwing a fastball, throw an offspeed pitch-especially when you really need a K. Eventually he will need to be less revealing. I don't think its much of a problem though. Remy said as much during his last start. Now that Remy is with O'Brien he is focusing on sharing his great knowledge of the game.

He is going to get more time. There is no one else better than him right now. What I am saying is that when (if) Swihart returns this year, he should be a catcher, not a LF. Just in case. Atom bombs or not, unless Vasquez produces with the bat he will eventually be sitting a lot more often.

Stephen Wright. Without him anchoring our top three SPs no amount of offense would have put us where we are right now.

Swihart needs to be a catcher again when he returns. It is looking more and more like Vasquez is going to remain insipid with a bat in his hands. I am not convinced that Vas is the answer at that position.

His velocity reached 95 during his last outing. Its not velocity. Its location. And that could be fixed with some changes in his delivery. Remy pointed out four things that are different this year than last year in his delivery, and they have been working with him to get him back to how he threw the ball last year. Furthermore, ERod is not equivocating when asked about how his knee feels: he says its not an issue. I am sure that if its not a physical issue (and I don't think it is), it could well be a mental issue. That will take time to get over. Its too early to judge him. We gave Buchholz 10 starts; ERod deserves the same.

I think the question is with so many bad pitchers on the team, is this season even salvageable? I posted this on the game thread too: Elias's ERA is now 15.88. Sean O' Sullivan is at 7.94. ERod is at 6.97. Kelly: 8.46. And Buchholz as a starter: 6.35. Those are your #4-5 SPs. They are more like #7 SPs. Should we empty the farm (and thats probably what it would take) to get TWO (not one) very good SPs and a bullpen arm. Mid-level SPs are not going to solve our problem. Its a difficult decision. This team's pitching is very full of holes.

Elias's ERA is now 15.88. Sean O' Sullivan is at 7.94. ERod is at 6.97. Kelly: 8.46. And Buchholz as a starter: 6.35. Those are your #4-5 starting pitchers. I personally do not expect much of an improvement in the current group. What this means is that in their starts in order to have much of a chance to win games we need to score about 8-9 runs. There are two choices in my opinion: either trade away a lot of our farm system prospects for pitching or understand that this is no better than a .500 team that is likely to finish 3rd or 4th this year (I think we might be better than the Rays) and miss the playoffs-again. I am pretty sure Dombrowski knows this. If he comes out with a statement something like "The current group of pitchers has to begin to perform" then we should all understand what choice he has made. When the game is essentially lost halfway through its really not very interesting to watch this team. That is evidenced by the fact that there are only three pages of posts on the game thread tonight.

It is not the uncertainty about that group of pitchers; rather, its the certainty that none of them are any good. And by "looking long and hard" that means sooner rather than later. Right now this team is the third best team in the AL East.

I agree with you that getting overly excited about drafting (not even signing, although I don't think that will be as tough to do as if say, Seattle had drafted him) a 17 year old child represents irrational exuberance. There have been way too many failures...draftees who just didn't work out. Lets see where he is in 3-4 years.

Owens has neither control of location nor even passable velocity. Without one or the other he is toast.

There was a recent article, I think on ESPN, where a SF Giants source (I think)was cited as saying that Sandoval didn't want to sign with the Giants because he knew he would be on a dietary restriction for five years if he did. Sandoval was quoted as saying that he didn't want to be in a place where he "couldn't be himself". I guess we all know what that means: eat til you can't even walk onto the field. Sandoval's lack of professionalism never ceases to amaze me.

He is 6-2 with an ERA of 4.62. And he can be ours for $3m for one year. Thats a huge improvement over Buchholz or Kelly. Grab him!

The Twins are awful. They are last in pitching and last in hitting in the league. So they will probably only win two of the three games against us.

Well, to be honest, the visual of him with a balloon nose, a clown's suit, and oversized shoes with that ludicrous hairdoo would be incredibly amusing should it ever become a reality.

From about five pages ago. It is a great surprise the way JBJ has come into his own as a hitter. He isn't likely to remain a .961 OPS hitter, but its looking like he will be more than passable, and that he will be a GG caliber CF for years to come. He and Bogaerts are the kind of players you can build a team around. Just look at the improvement that Bogaerts has made defensively...pretty amazing. And Papi should be in the lineup in the ASG as well, not just for nostalgic reasons, but because he is having a monster year. I would also nominate Buchholz as well.....just for comic relief.

Our offense is absurdly efficient right now, but our SP is four deep. When (not if) one of those four gets injured its three deep. Buchholz and Kelly don't even register as ML starting pitchers any more. As of this morning our SP ERA is tied for 11th in the league. That is the obvious need on this team. We NEED another very good SP so that we are likely to remain four deep well into the season. To obtain such a player its going to be painful, no doubt. We will likely need to sacrifice some of that offense to repair the pitching. Unfortunately, while Cherington left the franchise with many good position player prospects, there seems to be no one anywhere near ready to step up and help the Red Sox pitching situation. In a word, Cherington left the minor league pitching in shambles. Dustin Pedroia as of this morning has an OPS that is 55 points higher than his career average; he will soon be 33; and he tends to be injury prone. I love Pedroia as a player, but this is a business. If trading him with some prospects can deliver us a very good starting pitcher, then I am all for it. Its either Pedroia or some other good player on the current 25 man roster.... or Moncada plus Benintendi....or more. Its not going to be a painless process. I just hope our GM is up to the task.

It would also speed up the game somewhat. No more arguing balls and strikes or sulking by stepping out of the box.