moonslav59

Oh, Mythbusters is absolutely factual in every sense. I said baseball "In general", not the hardest position in every sport. Man, you guys like to nit-pick. Hitting is a very difficult skill to master, but that's not the same as saying it is "physically demanding". I've said I erred in the wording of my initial statement, but if you want to roast me alive for that, then have fun.

Now, who is talking in absolutes?

I should have been clearer when I said "easiest sport in the world", that I meant major 4 sports, but just to be clear, are you saying major league baseball, in general, is a more physically demanding sport than the NFL, NBA and NHL?

Sorry. Newbie mistake.

How quickly he fell.

So, what you're saying is that Erik Johnson can throw stirkes? And I'm unrealistic to think 2 from Owens, Johnson or Kopech is so wildly worse than Erik J? Have you looked at Erik's numbers? Here, I'll do the legwork for you: 4.5 BB/9 rate career in 98 IP (3.4 in AAA) 1.57 WHIP career (1.34 AAA) Owens: 4.4 BB/9 in 75 IP (4.3 in AAA/3.7 AA) 1.49 WHIP (1.207 in AAA/ 1.12 AA) Maybe 2 of these guys are not equal to Erik, but it's got to be close. In 2014, Erik had a 6.98 ERA in AAA. He pitched much better in 2015, but this guy is not clearly better than 2 from Owens, Johnson and Kopech.

I didn't say baseball was the easiest to be good at or master. It's the easiest to play, in terms of physical demands, especially in the context of foot injuries and being a DH. Would Papi fair better in skates playing in the NHL? How about any position, excpet kicker in the NFL? NBA? I think speaking in absolutes here is not being ignorant.

Then why not take your chances on 10+ years of control with both Owens and Johnson or maybe even Kopech instead of one?

I do recall the steep decline of Jim Rice, but in no way do I define him by his last year or two. Does anyone define Schilling by his 2008 season? I don't. He got paid $8M to not even play. Yes, it would be sad to see Papi bat .225 with 10 HRs in 450 PAs next season, but I seriously doubt anyone would look at his career and see that as a significant event. Besides, it's all about his choice, and if he's firm about the choice he made last winter, I'm not going to argue with that choice. My position is that the Sox should go out of their way to make him feel welcome to come back, if HE CHOOSES to. If the first overtures are rebuffed, then of course we respect his choice and go out of our way to plan the best send-off any Boston athlete has ever experienced.

Yeah, and I'm the "ignoarnt" one. I hope you're being sarcastic, but a significant percentage of injuries are from guys running to 1B in a straight line. It's really not even close. Football, Basketball and Hockey are much more physically demanding and in many cases involve violent collisions on a regular basis- not once every 5-10 games.

It would be his choice to weigh the risks vs the possible massive enjoyment of having a similar year to this one so far. The fact is, people here have said "I want him to retire". I'm wondering if BILL805 is on this site.

I played baseball, football, basketball and hockey maybe about 300 days a year until I was in my late 20's (mostly baseball and basketball after 21). I played some soccer, raquetball and volleyball as well, but I was talking about the 4 major sports when I said baseball was the "easiest". I guess I was assuming that was implied. Golf, car racing and other mentions are games or hobbies to me- not really sports, but I don't want to get into semantics or arguments about what we should call a sport or not. It's not even close: baseball is by far the easiest sport. Okay, maybe a couple positions are demanding and might be harder than being a placekicker in footb, and if you want to go down that road to prove I was wrong, feel free to go there. Overall, baseball is a cakewalk over any other major sport, especially physically, and that's what we were discussing with Papi and his feet. I never claimed MLB wasn't a mental grind. As much as I played baseball over my life, I never became a very good hitter. Hitting a round ball going 80+ mph with a rounded bat is an exercise in futility. I marvel at the skills of guys like Papi. I realize it takes work, but the work is not as physically demanding as being great at other major sports. Papi is not a pitcher or a catcher. When he does play in the field, he plays 1B- the second most easy position next to DH. I don't say this to try and minimize the pain Papi might feel just walking to the plate. It was meant to put his situation in perspective. Only Papi and his doctors know just how bad his feet are. Like I've said all along, if they are in that bad of shape, then the argument is essentially over, unless Papi chooses to continue to play through pain due to feeling the enjoyment of the game outweighs the pain. If his pain is as bad as many of you seem to think it is, then I guess he should have retired last year or the year before. This season is evidence that Papi enjoys the game enough to play one more season- at least. I don't understand why my position of wanting us to just offer him a tremendous offer and let him decide has been met with such ferocious opposition.

I totally get this sentiment, but I think even Papi might be surprised at having his best career OPS year (by 100 points!) at this point in his career. My guess is he probably expected some decline this year, and maybe that played a part in his decision to say he wanted to retire after this year. My point is that even Papi might be looking at his numbers, looking at how much fun it is to be playing this great, and thinking one more year might be more enjoyable than whatever pain he will go through physically. I just want the Sox to make him a fantastic offer and then respect his final decision. Worst case scenario: he says yes and has an awful season or a serious injury. That would be unofrtunate, but it would be up to Papi to weigh the risk of that ending vs the chance of having another season like this or even 75% of this.

I'm not sure why the Padres would need a replacement now, since they are toast, but if that's true, what about Kelly?

Right. It's not even close to ignorant.

Baseball is the easiest physical game in the world. DH'ing is the easiest position in the easiest physical game in the world. I never said there wasn't a mental grind, so assuming I meant that and am ignorant is a miscalculation on your part. I also mentioned that being a DH involved serious batting practice, but even that is not a big physical activity. I have no idea how much pain Papi is in, and how much going to bat and running the bases from time to time affects his feet. I have said if the pain is too great, then it's obvious what he would probably choose to do. We all know many players love the game so much, the enjoyment outweighs the pain of injury. That's Papi's call no doubt, but I see no harm or disrespect in asking, if he'd consider another year. In fact, I see it more as a sign of deep respect, if the offer is presented in the right way, and the dollar amount shows tremendous respect. Papi has said in the past that dollar offers relate to respect, so $25M for a 41 year old DH, is just about the ultimate show of respect. It's always been his call, and I'm not trying to say it isn't or shouldn't be, but again, I see no harm in asking.

I don't think management going to Papi and saying something like this as not respecting his decision, "We know you have stated you want to retire, and we respect your choice, but we'd just like to know, if you might be interested in playing one more year. We could offer you $20M, and we're willing to give you 2-3 days off a week, if you feel you need to allow your feet to rest as needed. If you say no, we totally understand and there will never be any hard feeling.

Totally agree. $10M a year is nice.

Think they would have taken Owens, Johnson and Dubon?

Didn't Vazquez and Swihart get some time with Wright in the minors? I'm not sure why they keep Hanigan with Wright.

Wow, the CWS only have to pay $27M out of $56M left! They gave uo 26 y/o Johnson- no biggie and 17 y/p SS prospect Fernando Tatis. He could be a great one, but he's a long way from the bigs. Gotta think DD just wasn't that interested. I trust our scouts know more than we do.

I think Rodney has yet to let up a run all year in over 20 IP.

Not sure how BJ and Rodney came to the table but both are having a solid season as far I recall. Kind of like how we had to give up AGon to dump CC and Beckett. The Padres are toast this year. They'd like to cut salary this year and going forward. Dumping Shields and Melvin and their big contracts without taking back Castillo would certainly lessen the return prospect cost, so maybe that's the route to take, but we also don't want to tie our hands financially next year as we lose Papi, Koji and Taz. I added Rodney, since we really need pen help, and we have the prospects any team drools over. I agree that Swihart and Devers is too steep. I do think we can find the right package to land these three. The reason I added Melvin was to replace Swihart in LF and provide salary relief to the Padres. Paying $25M next year for Upton and Young seems hideous, especially when you figure we have Moncada and/or Benintendi near ML ready, but maybe we can find a way to deal them next winter.

It's not about them wanting Castillo. The rumors have the Padres willing to pay part of Shields' contract. They'd probably pay part of Upton's contract as well to get rid of him and his $16.5M 2017 contract. I'm sure the Padres would rather take Castillo than just pay $40M to someone to take these two guys. Castillo still has upside potential. Then, adding Swihart is a great get for the Padres. Adding Devers to get Rodney might be too steep, so maybe we could downgrade my offer to Swihart, Owens AND Johnson plus throw in someone like TBall or Stanki for the three of them.

True. Maybe pitching's a grind to the arm. SS's do a lot of running, even on balls not hit right to them. Even if you look at standing at a position waiting for a ball to be hit to you as a grind, the DH doesn't even have that to deal with. He has batting practice, batting 4-5 times a night, and occasional running or jogging of the bases. I'm not trying to downplay the position to a point where I'm arguing no matter how much pain Papi is in, he should not retire because the job is too easy. I have said over and over, it's up to him, but it seems like some here are implying that I am calling him a wuss for retiring from a cush job. I'm not. I'll totally respect any choice Papi makes, but as a Sox fan, I'm never going to "hope he retires" until he shows me he looks like he can't do it anymore. Could he drop off a cliff and look like an embarrassment next year? Perhaps, but I think that's highly unlikely. Is Curt Schillings 2008 season making $8M to never play the defining moment of his career? Does anyone really think any less of him for thinking he had one more year in him after his nice 2007 season at age 40? He went 3-0 in the playoffs, and all the memories are still good. BTW, Curt had serious foot issues (bloody sock and all) as well and played a much more demanding position for the feet. He was also a big man.