Kimmi

If you're going to tell Pal to stop with the name calling, then you should also tell those who agree with your opinion to stop with the name calling.

My thinking is, what else is there to talk about? The purpose of a baseball forum is to discuss/debate baseball. I know this topic and some others have been beaten to death, but people who don't want to participate in the discussion don't have to. If there were something else to discuss/debate, I'm sure the posts would tend in that direction. It's not like other threads or topics of discussion are being hijacked.

That's interesting, because between Thursday evening from approximately 6:30 until this post of yours, there are roughly 40 reponses on the topic, and not one of them was "Originially Posted by Kimmi".

If nothing else, look at the our team's top 4 prospects (and the rest of the farm system) that everyone regards so highly. Ben was not nearly as incompetent as many believe.

Price's #1 reason for coming to Boston was the money. No one is arguing that. However, there was a reason why Price asked about the Sox' farm system, and the response that Price received from the FO put the Red Sox clearly on the his radar as one of the teams he'd be interested in playing for. This discussion took place before the Sox offerered any contract and before there was any opt out. Who cares is Cherington was only following Theo's lead? They both have the same philosophy when it comes to building teams. Theo put the plan in motion when he was hired, and Cherington continued it. It's a great plan.

I agree that the others have to step up and pitch well, but I think you are de-emphasizing the value of good leadership. No, there's magic dust to be sprinkled, but having a good leader and role model can get others to raise the level of their work habits and the level of their game.

Buchholz is our #2, until he shows otherwise.

I honestly have never followed his story very closely so I don't know all the details of what he was betting on and when, but my feeling is, let the dude back into baseball. Seriously.

He can still be a very good pitcher, when healthy. An incentive laden deal makes sense. Or a $13 mil, one year deal. That would make a lot of sense too, depending on exactly what the reason for the failed physical was.

It is unprecedented. That it happened is an enigma.

It is more far more difficult to build a pitching staff when you can't throw $217 million at a 30 year old pitcher.

This may be true, but was Ben not Theo's right hand man during that time? I'm sure he had a large input into those decisions. Also, Ben was wise enough not to trade those players despite many people wanting them traded, especially Bogaerts after 2014. How many people wanted us to trade our youngsters for Hamels?

It would be one thing if Ben put together such horrible teams that everyone predicted and expected them to finish in last place. That's not the case. Both years, the Red Sox were projected to be a contending team. Last year, they were projected to win the division. You can't fault Ben for the level of underperformance/injuries that both teams had. If Price and Kimbrel absolutely stink this year, will that be Dombrowski's fault? Lastly, I have always felt, and now my opinion is supported by "several baseball executives", that most of the "mistakes" that Ben made were the result of directives from higher up.

No kidding. And seriously, how hard is it to spend $30 + million more than the next highest offer to land a player?

No, but good minor league players often graduate to become good major league players.

And then there's this.

A big reason why ownership OK'd the Price contract was because of the young, cost-controlled players already on the team, with several more 2-3 years away. So no, it's not nonsense. Dombrowski's two biggest moves, Price and Kimbrel, were possible because of the state of the farm system.

Ben deserves a lot more credit and a lot less criticism than he is getting. All of the moves that Dombrowski made this offseason were only possible because of the state of the farm system that Ben left the team with.

Personally, I have always felt that Cashman is great GM and that if Levine would let him do his job, things in Yankeeland would be a lot better.

You saying that Ben was fired as the result of his performance and nothing else is oversimplification. What would have happened if Dombrowski had not been fired by the Tigers? Would Ben still be here? I think that's a good possibility. I know that Ben's performance in the short term (the past two years) is part of the reason why Dombrowski was brought in. Part of the reason was fan impatience. You can argue all you want that fans did not lose interest in the team, but that is simply not true. Sox fans just do not tolerate a "rebuild", and many don't understand what a great job Ben did in rebuilding this team and winning a WS Championship in the process. I just read something very similar with what the Yankees are going through. And so they are trying to somehow remain competitive while "rebuilding". The George Steinbrenner way of throwing the most money and/or the most prospects at the "superstar" players is not the way to build a franchise. It starts with the farm and the cost controlled players.

I'm with CP on this one. I would go with choice B everyday.

I'm like you. Even when the Sox are out of it, I can find something to enjoy in watching them play. Besides that, what else am I going to do?

My statement was a bit of an overstatement and oversimplification, but I think there is some truth to it. Ownership has to know how unsatisfied the fans have been with the past two seasons, and I think that their decisions are made in part to put and keep fans in the seats. I think the "firing" of Ben had more to do with the opportunity to hire Dombrowski, whom they knew would make a bold splash, than it did with the desire to get rid of Ben. It leads me to wonder if Ben would still have his job if Dombrowski had not been let go by Detroit.

I think (I have no proof) that many of the fans that are filling up Fenway recently are more of the "touristy" type of fans, not your life long hardcore fans. Regardless, tv ratings were down the second half of the season, and I'm guessing merchandise sales were also down. Seriously, all you have to do is read a lot of the posts on this and other forums. A good percentage of posters made comments about not watching as many games or having better things to do, etc. It's no secret that many fans lose interest when the team does not perform well.

You can start with these links to Fangraphs, which give an overview of DRS and catcher defense. There are hyperlinks within the first article that will take you to The Fielding Bible. http://www.fangraphs.com/library/defense/drs/ http://www.fangraphs.com/library/defense/catcher-defense/