FredLynn

Before the 2011 season began, Theo discussed that he thought the team needed more SP depth, and that was one of their biggest weaknesses. If you don't think he attempted every possible angle at addressing that need, you're wrong The bottom line is that he failed to correct the problem. Thats on him. Period. His only downfall was FA signings, and regardless of those, his other attributes more than made up for the bad signings. Interesting opinion. I would not call wasting nearly a third of a billion dollars on FA busts acceptable in any way, regardless of what other areas he did well in. I would grade him a "C" overall as a GM. Sure he brought us two rings (which we would not have won without Manny Ramirez and Josh Beckett, two guys he had little or nothing to do with obtaining), but his waste of money that could have been spent far more wisely outweighs any success he had in other areas....IMO.

Exactly which position was available within this organization for Epstein to move up in a way he moved up when he joined the Cubs? Isn't Lucchino blocking further advancement by being the club President? Just trying to understand the corporate structure. I think that Henry loved Epstein for whatever reason. If there is a smear campaign when he leaves I will change my mind, but I have read nothing that says otherwise. On the other hand, if someone wasted a third of a billion of my dollars on FA busts, I would be pretty pissed at him.

If we can get someone who will help us in the future, especially a young SP with promise, I trade Beckett in a heartbeat. He is front and center in the clubhouse chaos. I don't really care who our SP are for 2012. We are not going to win a ring next year. Before we can construct a winner we have to demolish a large part of the current team. Fortunately, that is well under way with the departure of Francona and Epstein. That had to happen before any of the players could be changed. Now we can move forward and get rid of the deadwood on this team.

Glad to know who I am keeping company with. You can add IPOT, Muggah, and Brennan to that list...and maybe Elktonnic.

Who would want to accept Lackey, the worst starting pitcher in baseball statistically, for anybody? Whoever takes that trade is taking a step down in talent level. I think that he is going to have to be released eventually. I am more worried about Beckett next year than Lester. I think Lester is still capable of having a good year. This year was not great for him, for sure, but he will be back. Beckett, on the other hand, is a punk with a crappy attitude who is likely to react to all the bad publicity he is receiving. I expect a poor season from him. We should plan to get rid of him after this season in preparation for the 2013 team, the next year that we will be relevant IMO.

Hey IPOT...you found us. Regarding Ortiz: he should be offered a one year deal with a club option IMO. He did produce this year; he could produce next year too. If he cannot accept that, let him walk-anywhere he wants to go. The team is in rebuilding mode now and should be looking to get younger anyway. A DH who can also play in the field and not embarass himself seems like a good idea to me.

First, I appreciate your analysis of the home grown talent Epstein has provided us with over the years (in a previous post). However, that was not my point. I never disputed the fact that he is one of the most successful GMs around in drafting and developing young talent, and that is a valuable cog in the function of a GM. I would give him an A- in that regard (he did, after all, pick Bowden in round 1 and Lars Anderson and some other lemons). My point is that Epstein was given a HUGE bank roll with which to fortify the franchise with high priced proven FAs and he has failed miserably in that regard. For every dollar spent on a "find", he has spent $8.22 on a bust. That is simply unacceptable; its not even close to acceptable. In this area I would give him an "F". For this reason I think he has proven that he has fallen off the cliff as far as being the right GM for this job. And it would be a mistake IMO to replace him with someone who is his clone from within the organization. It doesn't matter to me whether he was forced out or opted out of his own volition, as long as he is OUT. Now the team can move forward and begin to become relevant again.

Seems that if Fred is going to be posting here (he is away at the beach this week) he is going to have to have a thick outer skin about that kind of ribbing. He is strictly a Sox fan now, despite his heterogeneous past.

If we can get him and he keeps his ERA under 4 or so, he can fill up the damn spitoon for all I care. Function over form.......... But there is no way he is included in the Epstein deal; no way.

Fred and I took in a Sox-Giants game last year. I live up here in No Cal, and came up for the whole series. Trust me: he is not a Dodgers fan, though I think he was at one time. I expect Fred to be here more frequently along with others from the board we were posting on.

Garza has a career ERA of 3.83; Beckett has a career ERA of 3.84. He is in the same category as Beckett performance-wise. If we could get him and add him to the SR along with Beckett, Lester, and CB we would have a good top four.

It is Seabeachfred. Do you know him? As for Muggah, he is a man who speaks his mind. He is a good guy though. I have met him in person. We took in a Sox-Yankees game at the end of September at Remy's place in Boston when I was there visiting.

It is. At some point we should consider moving over here permanently IMO, and bring the rest of the gang over too. Elk, IPOT, Orwell, and Muggah are here so far. My guess is that Fred will come over too as soon as he gets back from the beach. As for the rest of those guys, its only a matter of time.

And the medical staff and the conditioning staff............and several players. Two years, maybe three. This is why it was so important for the Rays to beat us out this year. I doubt we would be discussing these changes if we had made the playoffs.

Is that legal according to the collective bargaining agreement (the fines)? If so, its a great idea. The players need not respect anyone but the GM. Its the GM that can trade them to Kansas City or Pittsburgh. I am not saying that they should not respect each other, the manager etc, but its the GM that can hurt them. We need a strong GM not afraid to lay down the law.

I would say that we are floating between the two right now. I have been here for a while, actually, and I like it here. The people are generally knowledgable and respectful and willing to engage in good debates without all the nonsense, without all the cute pictures. For my part, I will mostly be here, but will not abandon home yet.

I think that they are BOTH valuable. Epstein wasted nearly a THIRD OF A BILLION DOLLARS in bad FA signings. Thats just too big a number to ignore. Yes, he did a good job with drafting guys, I admit that. And that IS valuable. But its not the ONLY THING that is involved in judging the performance of a GM.

FREE AGENTS Finds DH David Ortiz (2003, 1 year, $1.2 million) INF Bill Mueller (2002, 2 years, $4.5 million) RHP Keith Foulke (2004, 3 years, $20.2 million) LHP Hideki Okajima (2006, 2 years, $2.5 million) RHP Takashi Saito (2009, 1 year, $1.5 million) 3B Adrian Beltre (2010, 1 year, $9 million) RHP Alfredo Aceves (2011, I year, $650,000) Busts SS Edgar Renteria (2004, 4 years, $40 million) RHP Matt Clement (2004, 3 years, $25.8 million) SS Julio Lugo (2006, 4 years, $36 million) RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (2006, 6 years, $52 million plus $51 million posting fee) RHP Brad Penny (2008, 1 year, $5 million) RHP John Smoltz (2009, 1 year, $5.5 million) RHP John Lackey (2009, 5 years, $82.5 million) OF Mike Cameron (2009, 2 years, $15.5 million) RHP Bobby Jenks (2 years, $12 million) I ran a quick raw dollar figure by adding up all the successes and failures of Epstein during his tenure. Successes cost his bosses: $39.55M Failures cost his bosses: $325.30M That is exactly why I think he was less than adequate for this organization. He WASTED nearly a third of a billion dollars, money that could have been spent on better players. His failures to successes ratio was nearly 10:1 in raw dollars. I could live with even a 50-50 ratio, but 10:1? Come on. There must be a guy who can use the budget a little better than that.

The smear campaign was launched because Francona had the cajones to say that he wasn't sure that the management had his back, that they were fully supportive. Later he admitted that the was never asked back and was, in essence, fired. That makes the ownership look bad. They struck back with the personal garbage that should never have been revealed. If Epstein leaves without issueing disparaging remarks about the ownership to the media, I think he will get away clean.