FredLynn

Just responding to this: You're actually being an incredibly annoying idiot right now Two can play the name-calling game, right? I NEVER start that game, but sometimes I play it when invited.

Then we will disagree about how good a GM Epstein was for this team. The fact of the matter is that he had relatively little to do with assembling the 04 championship team. He added a few key pieces; the rest were already there. His list of failures is extensive: Lugo, Renteria, Cameron, Clement, Smoltz, Penny, Gagne, Lackey, Matsusaka, Jenks, Pena, Kim, and so forth. He did well to get us Ortiz, Mueller, and Foulke, a trio who made 2004 possible. Thats just too many failures to be classified as a great GM-and it doesn't even count Crawford, who is being overpaid but may still perform decently one day. Look at the state he left us in: hamstrung by a series of long term contract in which we overpaid underperforming players and unable to spend the money on quality guys as he exited through the back door in shame. Instead we sign guys like Silva, Padilla, Germano, and Cooke to pitch for us because he bankrupted the budget. No, Theo Epstein is no Hall of Fame GM. He was a mediocre GM for a high budget team, and he was very fortunate to have the amount of money he had to spend. He was able to make mistakes and still win games because of his large budget. Showalter was right: he would likely fail in a small market area.

Epstein was regarded by some as a "talented baseball professional". Look how he left this franchise-laden with overpaid spoiled ineffective bums, to a large extent. The list of his failures is overwhelming; the list of his successes, slim. Yet he is one of those "experts". You too should learn to question anyone who calls himself an "expert". They are often wrong.

Forsythe said that "expert talent evaluators" are comparing him to Ozzie Smith. The discussion was not about his suitability for this year's roster. It was about comparing him to a Hall of Fame player. Sorry you cannot grasp that fact. There is NO comparison other than both players rely/relied on defense to make their contribution. So far Iglesias hasn't even done that. It is correct to say that he has POTENTIAL defensively because that is what he has showed us so far. He has NOT showed us that he is any kind of Ozzie Smith facsimile whatsoever. To compare the two is absurd.

Why should I do you any favors? You have a hard time differentiating Hall of Famers from rookies. With that kind of disability its hard to explain things logically. I never claimed to be an expert at baseball. But neither am I stupid. With proper training and access to data I could probably do just as good a job as some of these talent evaluators that you worship. All I am willing to grant Iglesias so far is that he shows some promise defensively. Thats it. Any more accolades represent hyperbole.

Coming from a moron such as yourself, I guess I could just disregard much of what you have to say. As usual, you are missing the point. If those marvelous talent evaluators are so gosh darn good, how come they are wrong so often? You have FAR too much blind respect for "professionals". What they do is not rocket science. They make educated guesses about who will succeed, based on numbers and observation-the same thing many of US could do if we had access to the same data and time to do it. Oh-and since you haven't been paying attention, I will say again, assuming you can read, that I think that the team is on the right track, overall. They have fired an incompetent manager and got rid of an incompetent GM. They jettisoned Wakefield and most likely Varitek. They hired a disciplinarian to fix the clubhouse. And while it will take a few years to fix what Epstein did to us, they are at least starting. I hope your expectations are not too high this year...oh wait...I couldn't care less about your expectations.

I agree with everything you wrote except the part about Varitek. I think that even if he didn't or couldn't stop the nonsense in the clubhouse last year, he should certainly have been first in line to apologize to RSN. I still haven't heard from him.

Your butt kissing of talent evaluators is sickening. They are often wrong, as Theo Epstein proved over and over again. As for Iglesias, there is really no need for him to play another game. We should elect him to the Hall of Fame right now, eh? After all, all the adulated talent evaluators have already proclaimed him to be the reincarnation of Ozzie Smith, right? Its nonsense, of course. Iglesias and Smith are/were all defense, no offense. Its plain stupidity to assume that some minor leaguer will become as good as Smith. Thats a long shot. Maybe we could wait and see him play for a small fraction of the 19 seasons Smith played (and, incidentally, won 13 GGs in those 19 years). Incidentally, while Smith had no power, he did finish with a career BA of .262. Iglesias in over 387 PAs in AAA hit just .235. Long Live King Jose!

I really don't think we should be comparing any minor leaguer to Ozzie Smith. Ozzie was the best ever. It's just crazy to be mentioning this kid in the same sentence as Ozzie. This is the essence of it. When Jose wins as many gold gloves in the majors as Ozzie then we can start comparing the two. Until then, its absurd to do so. Their playing styles are similar: all defense, no offense. No one is debating the POTENTIAL of Iglesias with the glove, but before we elect him to the Hall of Fame, lets see him play for a few seasons.

This? "To me, he's a wizard with the glove (think Ozzie Smith)," added the scout. "That, alone, makes him a fascinating player." The evaluator didn't say his is going to be as good as Smith. The writer included it in parentheses. No reputable talent evaluator is going to say the a guy who doesn't even start for his team is going to be as good as a hall of famer.

Iglesias is not Smith and likely never will be close to him. All kinds of useless comparisons get made about some minor league players that wind up being totally wrong. Iglesias hasn't even won the starting job on a team; Smith is a hall of fame SS. Its idiotic to make the comparison at this point. Frankly, my guess is that Iglesias will have a hard time just making into the major leagues.

Great. Then YOU show me a quote from any talent evaluator who thinks that Iglesias will one day be as good as Smith. You underestimate the value of the opinions here. Talent evaluators are just guessing..just like we are. They just get paid for it.

Yes, starting pitching is the key to the season, and we have three SP right now. That is the source of the pessimism about the season. Our pitching stunk last year and it has not improved this year, what with the accumulation of the various dung heaps our GM has stashed. One of the dung heaps will be our #5 SP; another will be first out of the minors as soon as the inevitable injuries begin to mount up. You cannot seriously begin to compare Iglesias to Ozzie Smith, a hall of fame SS, right? We cannot afford another player like him BECAUSE our SP is so weak (our bullpen is nothing great either). If we are going to make the playoffs we will need to BASH our way in. Iglesias is incompetent with a bat. He should be in Pawtucket until he either proves he can hit or our pitching greatly improves so we can withstand a black hole at SS.

I realize that some players aren't going to apologize. Lester did it today. He took "full reponsibility" for his role in the behavior that took place last year. Those who cannot do the same should be marginalized or traded, including Beckett. Until everyone is on the same attitude page this team will have a very hard time being successful.

Good thing Cafardo isn't the GM. I don't want to see a hair on Iglesias' head until he can prove that he can hit the baseball. So far he has been an abject failure in that regard. We do not need another black hole in our lineup.

This is not the Burnett that ANYONE would be willing to pay ANYTHING to. That was the Burnett of five years ago (or thereabouts). This Burnett would have a hard time making the minor leagues. Hell, the Yankees paid the Pirates to take the bum off their hands. They were STUCK with him and did the smart thing by getting rid of him, just like we did with Wakefield when we didn't offer him another one year contract.

He can always unretire.

Since you appear to equate less than giddy optimism as a view that we should just pack the season in I am going to assume that your position is that they are a shoe in for the WS since that is the other end of the "world is black or white" argument HAHAHAHA Exactly right. Who is this guy who cannot distinguish the middle ground between winning the World Series and forfeiting the season? As long as you enter this season with a healthy dose of skepticism you won't be disappointed. Everyone knows what the problems are, and they are significant. Since its been announced that we won't be adding any players of quality, I think that its time to make a prediction: we will win around 90 games, give or take a game or two. If that gets us into the playoffs, then we make the playoffs. If not, we watch the Yankees and Rays in October-again.

Congratulations on a good (not great) career; thanks for all you contributed to the Red Sox. Too bad you turned a bit selfish at the end though. Here's your coat.