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And they won a WS with Calos Beltran (OPS .666) at DH and Nori Aoki (OPS .694) in LF. Not Bradley-esque, but certainly not "threats" in the lineup...

How many teams have 8 guys in the lineup who are threats?

You're going to want Cherington back in 2 or 3 years if this farm system doesn't get any better. #thecliffisreal

Hanigan was a prototypical backup catcher. If the Sox had any faith in Vazquez - and reportedly they did - the catching staff was never going to be both of them. At one point, the Sox were getting significant trade interest in Vazquez, yet they elected to keep him. So I must assume on some level they did like Vazquez as well. Of course, that might have been more about Cherington, who was a wee bit reluctant to deal any minor league talent.

Good thing. Because there aren't 5 Sales out there. Sale leads all pitches in fWAR since 2015. Ahead of Scherzer. Ahead of Kershaw. Ahead of everyone...

Plus they had a guy named Coke. They weren't even trying to hide their drug usage...

There's no magic formula to win a title. For a long time, I kept seeing people say "You need an ace to win a title." But then KC won a World Series without an ace. When this was pointed out, the ace-supportes invariably sad "That's different. They had a killer bullpen." Well that's the entire point. If you don't excel in one area, you can make up for it with better play in others. Pitching, defense, etc. And really, weak hitting from the 8 and 9 spots in the lineup is fairly commonplace. How many championship teams had solid hitters in spots 1 through 9? The only team in MLB history with a .300 hitter at every position was the 1930 Cardinals. And they didn't win the World Series...

Why not? I've seen a lot of comments on this like it's a fact. But the Sox are 30-14 overall and 23-10 (.696) with 2 black holes in the starting lineup...

Dare you hint there might be a cliff? Blasphemer!!!

Also true. He was there before Epstein and there after Epstein left.

Trading a good starting pitcher for a reliever seems like a rasonable blanket statement. But if you take into account the financials, it can make sense, especially long term. For example, would you deal David Price and his remaining 4 years $120+ mill for someone from that killer Milwaukee bullpen? And then there are times with pending free agency that it makes sense, too. Trading an All Star position player for a pitcher can also have its time and place, especially if you take into account years of control. but if the point is position players are more valuable than pitchers, there are plenty of GMs who appear to take that stance at its core...

To expand on the drafting expectations, what pitchers did Cherington miss out on? 2012 - Lance McCullers. But McCullers was a signability case and Houston took the cheapest of the #1 overall pick candidates (Carlos Correa) to save money to get him. The Sox did draft Casron Fullmer in that draft, but he did not sign and went to college. 2013 - The Sox did pass on plenty of pitchers better than Trey Ball including Corey Knebel, oft-injured Marco Gonzalez, Nick Pivetta, Matt Boyd and Zack Godley. None of these guys reminds me of Clemens. This was really one of the weakest draft classes in recent memory, especially for pitching. 2014 - The Sox did draft Kopech. They did pass on Justus Sheffield and Luke Weaver, but so did a lot of teams. Ditto for Mitch Keller, Jordan Montogomery, and JackFlaherty. There are a lot of guys still undetermined in this draft, including some I mentioned. 2015 - The Sox did pass on Carson Fullmer and Walker Buehler, but did so to take Andrew Benintendi. What Clemens/Hurst type did he miss out on? Maybe McCullers, but that's really about it...

Swihart was also drafted by Theo. If Swihart's lack of development is the fault of Cherington, then shouldn't the development of Betts, Bogaerts, Bradley, Shaw, Benintendi, Moncada, Kopech, Devers, Vazquez, etc. be to his credit to the same degree? Or do we only hold GMs accountable for their failures? Cherington only lead 4 drafts for the Sox. While he did draft a few ancillary relievers (Johnson, Poyner, Maddox and Buttrey), he did not get much pitching. But he did acquire ERod. Most of the young ace type pitchers that fans want to see come up through the system have been an issue for Boston because they have been picking later in most drafts. And they haven't really picked early often enough to avoid normal attrition of prospects. Really, they took one shot and it didn't work out. Whil their drafting of pitchers has not been good, your expectations might be too high. You expected a Roger Clemens? Clemens is one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history. Those guys don't come along every year.

Do we really know he is telling the truth? I wouldn't trust anyone with a mustache reminiscent of a cartoon super villain...

Given the Sox depth at starting pitcher, E-Rod is hardly a trade chip. Relievers can be had for very little and still turn out to be effective, as has been noted already (Ziegler, Reed). Of course, it is only May 18, and very few teams are looking to make moves just yet. Even the teams who realize they are hopelessly out of it are going to wait for more bidders in order to get the best offer. The best think Dombrowski can do is maybe look at the relievers who have not signed anywhere yet, and there still are a few available. The problem is, many of them are way, way behind in getting ready for the season and won't be available to step right in...

The Sox had a pretty amazing run of successful prospect development under Cherington, and having one prospect who never made it for a variety of reasons doesn't change this. If you look at the Sox starting lineup, everyone but JD Martinez came up through the Sox system (when Pedroia returns to 2B), and only Pedroia and Hanley made MLB before Cherington became the Sox GM. Even elite prospects don't make it all the time for every team. The only real issue seems to be unrealistic fan expectations that ignore this history...

I think he will have a decent enough career as a major leaguer, most likely just as a bench player or reserve. He just won't have one in Boston, but he will still make more money than I will ever see...

Or maybe it was when he jumped into Boston harbor to save those two women. Beyond media and fan speculation, was Nomar ever definitively linked to PED usage? He never failed a test and was not named by any sources, wasn't in the Mitchell Report, and was not invovled with BALCO or Biogenesis.

Baseball in general had a massive cocaine problem in the 1980's, headlined by Steve Howe and his seven or so lifetime suspensions, as well as the 4 members of the KC Royals (Willie Wilson, Willie Aikens, Vida Blue and Jerry Martin) spending their off-season in prison on possession charges. The decade ended with famous Pittsburgh Drug Trials, where numerous players testified about their on-field and in-game use of cocaine,most memeorable of whom was Tim Raines, who testified in court that he used to slide into second base head first so as not to break vials of cocaine he had in his back pocket. It was after this that baseball started instituting their drug policies, which were to root out cocaine originally, but included all illegal drugs. And that was what evolved into today's steroid policies...

The Boston media, especially the Herald and most definitely especially Steve Buckley, had a very bad habit of proliferating that type of negativity about Sox players and over blowing any story whenever they had the chance. Remember when Buckley ripped Clemens for throwing a package of hot dog rolls at a reporter, like it was comparable to Joey/Albert Belle throwing baseballs at photographers? Hot dog rolls? That crew the Herald had, with Buckley and Tony Massarotti and Gerry Callahan, had to be the worst crew I've ever come across when it came to covering sports.

Swihart may have picked the right week to demand a trade. Both Jason Castro and Matt Wieters went down this week and both are likely to be out for a long time, if not all season...

This always struck me as another of those situations where fans thought they knew the whole story...

Did you see what Addison Reed was acquired for last year? 3 no name prospects not even ranked in a weak farm system, at most one of whom will ever see an MLB game without buying a ticket...

And then the fans ripped them for it...

I updated that already. But really they have not wanted him behind the plate through 2 managers now...