FredLynn

SFF, I admire your optimism, I really do. But to say "its only June" is a joke. Next month are you going to say "its only July"? This team has been in last place or close to it every day of this season so far. They are a MESS, and they are far less talented than a lot of people think. Thats WHY they are in last place. If they were a highly talented club, they would be in the hunt for a playoff position. The Jays won today; they Yankees are about to win too. If we lose tonite and go 9 games behind the Yankees its time for everyone to wrap their arms around the fact that we are not going to make the playoffs this year. This is a team on the precipice. One more false step and they jump into the abyss. Sorry, but thats the way it is.

Thats a little off. Hamels vs Shields: Hamels, but not by much. His ERA is lower, but he also pitches in the NL. Lester vs Price: Price. Not even close. Price career ERA is 3.33; Lester at 3.61-and he is five years older than Price. Price any day. Beckett vs Hellickson: Hellickson. Not really that close either. Beckett has a career ERA of 3.85, but 4.05 (very very mediocre) with the Red Sox; Hellickson has a career ERA of 3.14 in the ALE-and he is 7 years younger. Moore will be very good very soon; he and Buchholz right now: CB. Soon it will likely be a tossup. Doubront is an unknown quantity still, and has an ERA in his first 2 1/2 months as a SP of 4.39; Niemann: 4.11. Lower ERA, more experience. I take Niemann. In summary, if you look at the actual statistics, the Sox have a better top pitcher, are losers at the #2, 3, and 5 spots even if we get Hamels. Thats looking at it objectively rather than overestimating the value of a player simply because he plays for the Red Sox. That has been done too much and has lead to the current level of expectations of this team over the past few years. They simply are not as talented as many people think; thats why they are a last place club.

The statute of limitations on complaining about Epstein will expire when the team fully extricates itself from the mess he left it in, and that will be defined as after we win the next World Series. Until then, Epstein is fair game.

And the Red Sox are about average for a baseball team. Is that sufficient? We need above average players at as many positions as possible. If Aviles cannot hit the baseball better than he is hitting now, he can be jettisoned along with all the other deadwood on this team, and we can bring up Iglesias or Ciriaco. If we are not going to make the playoffs and if we are going to be a .500 team this year, I would much rather watch the kids than the overpaid spoiled veterans who still think this is a country club.

Welcome back. Not everyone here is an apologist Just to comment on a previous post of yours, the team really doesn't suck. It infuriating, for sure, but its more of a mediocre team than a sucky team. The Twins suck. So do the Royals and the Cubs. When you hover around .500 all year your team is ordinary and mediocre. As I recall, you are the mod of TalkPats, right? They are loaded this year. Should be a very good season for the NE Patriots.

The Yankees found a way to beat Gio Gonzalez. We didn't. We didn't even get a single run off Dempster. We just took the day off. These are the Cubs; we should be beating them like a rug.....if we had a good team, that is.

My advice is not to buy tickets at all. Why support John Henry's money machine? Until he is hurt in the only way he can be hurt he will continue to ignore the Red Sox and allow his team to be mismanaged. Boycott the team in every way you can. Don't support Henry until substantive change is made. Watch them on TV.

OK. Its an excuse. Dempster is not that good. Even if he is a decent pitcher we ought to be able to match up with him. Thats the problem: we can't match up with decent starting pitching. If we aren't hitting then the pitching has to pick up the team. But they aren't good enough to do that this year....or last year.....or the year before that. See the trend?

Don't you know that Youkilis is being "showcased" to prospective trade partners? I heard that the "Titleist" company has made an offer for him and that the Boston Disposal Service is considering doing the same.

More bad news: all the other ALE teams but the Orioles are winning, and they are just down a run. Getting close to time to throw in the towel for this season. Probably one or two more games behind the leaders and thats it for me for this season.

Lester is a serviceable #3 SP. I would not trade him either unless he is part of a package to get a better pitcher because pitching is our Achilles heel. The idea is to get a good #1 and 2 SP ahead of him. And those kinds of pitchers will become available at the end of this season.

With all due respect, those two guys are idiots. Who the hell are they anyway? Youkilis coming into this game (he went 0 for 4 today) was at .219/.655, which is similar to what he hit after the ASB last year. He is FINISHED; and he is owed a lot of money. The idea that we will haul in a ML ready player who can contribute in a trade for Youkilis can only be made with a moron of a GM. Its not going to happen. Period.

There is an entire forum to discuss the Patriots. Even if the team stays at .500 there are still things to discuss and argue about.

Truth is, its getting close to the time to admit that, as Bob Ryan said, the Red Sox are not very good this year. Thats just looking at it objectively. So planning for next year and the year after is in order. And that does not involve surrendering any of our prospects; it involves obtaining more prospects because the more we have the more likely it is that one of them will pan out. Also, its nearing time to think about dumping the deadwood on the team as quickly as possible. We all know who that is. We won't get much in return, but at least we get rid of the leeches on the roster. Not quite there yet (giving up on the season), but its close. Getting close to July and we are still in last place two games under .500 and our pitching, overall, stinks. Lose Beckett for a couple of months=season over. Get 10 games behind the leaders=season over. Fail to make a move in the next couple of weeks=season over. This team is on the precipice and our FO has its version of baseball ops constipation.

:lol: Its a f'ing joke. The more other teams see of Youkilis the less they are going to want him. Same about Morales. Its probably time to dump these two for whatever we can get for them because the longer we wait the less we get in return-and its already close to zero.

Right. Lavarnway, a prospect who has proven nothing, Youkilis, an expensive washed up 3B/1B, and Matsusaka who has already proven that he sucks. I doubt the Cubs would take two of those guys for free.