S5Dewey

Ya. I remember Zac. What a shame. @ MikeNagy, since your PM's are blocked... Did you get that word from the J-Bay who posted on BDC? If so would you be comfortable sharing his contact info with me? He and Upperco & Jete & Slash & I were mainstays in the old Chatzy room and we lost track of one another after BDC closed down.

Eccch. Myself, I like the NFL's "PUP List".

"I don't know but I've been told, if you don't slow down you'll never grow old".

yeti !!

As long as we're off on this tangent.... I know I keep hearing that plastic isn't being recycled now, but I also have heard that one of the components in Polarfleece is plastic. Is Polarfleece still being manufactured?

All..but all of that plastic is returnable (in my state) and recyclable everywhere... if they want to.

Hey, I've taken my kids and my grandkids to the ballpark, and I was speaking only for what I'll do for MYSELF! And besides, I know better than to try to feed a teenage boy!

Speaking entirely for myself (who else?) there are several things I take into account when I'm going to a game and one of them is whether I feel the organization is taking advantage of the situation. IMO MLB has taken advantage of their fans to an art form. Whenever possible I try to NOT buy food (or even beer) at the stadium. It's not because $8 for a beer, $5 for a hot dog and $4 for a bottle of water would break the bank for me, it's a matter of principle. It's because I refuse to be taken advantage of like that. If they'd charge $5 for a beer, $2.50 for a hot dog, and $2 for that bottle of water I'd buy them there.. .and they'd still make money off me. As it is they get nothing. I know deep down that my little protest doesn't accomplish much but I feel better about myself for doing it.

.but only two more days until Truck Day!

This is what I see him doing if he decides he can't play. He's not going to walk away from baseball. It's his life. He's going to want a place where he's respected and can contribute, and there's no better place for that than in Boston. He's also got a big ego and he'd be a hero here if he'd agree to that. Restructuring his contract makes the most sense for everyone. Oh.. and also he gets to keep making money,

It's very significant that Kimbrel hasn't signed yet. It tells me that the Sox aren't the only team thinking that K's expectations are too high. A good many things influence those expectations; MONEY, length of contract, the city, the other players on the team, a chance at a ring, how management is perceived, they all come into play (but notice that MONEY is capitalized). Sooner or later K's expectations will meet the offer of a GM someplace and he'll sign. My best guess is that DD has an open line to K's agent and the Sox will get a shot at him yet. The only question is whether they'll get together on a price.

No. Just no. Every year we see someone have a great ST and he becomes our "can't miss now" player of the spring. Then on those occasions when he actually gets playing time in the regular season we learn that the player is what he is... or rather, what he was. If think we're going to base the decision as to what to do with Swihart on what he does in ST we may as well make the decision now and avoid the angst. Something we should have learned by now is that what a player does playing part-time in 20-30 games against players you've never heard of before and probably never will hear of again has no bearing on what he will do against real major leaguers. Don't get me wrong - I've long thought that Swihart wants/needs/deserves another chance. It's just that there is no upside for Swihart in that situation. Putting him in ST to make his case is a lose/lose situation for him. If he performs well we'll say that it's just ST numbers and they don't mean much. If he performs poorly we'll say that's just what we expected from him.

Buch has a higher ceiling than nearly any pitcher left. I'd sign him for short money and lots of incentives in a heartbeat.

I'm fully on board with this. Offer him a contract with as little as the Sox can get away with paying him and load it with incentives. Low risk, high reward.

5:23 That's an absolute joke for the Red Sox and a slap in the face to fans. You just won a World Series! This is the last year of Sale+Xander+JDM+Mookie all on the same team ... and you're going to go cheap in the 'pen because you don't want your pick in next year's draft to drop 10 spots? Give me a break. That's the story as I see it. That window is going to slam shut in the very near future and it'll be a few years before we have even a sniff at another WSC. How much worse are the Red Sox going to be in 2020 or 2021 with that draft pick that's 10 spots lower in 2019? We're probably not going to be winning big in 2020/2021 anyway so give it a shot in 2019. Unfortunately that ship may now have sailed with the cream of the crop of FA relievers already having been signed. I just keep thinking that about one year ago we were all stressing about not having a power hitter in the order and shortly thereafter DD signed JDM. Maybe DD knows what he's doing. I dunno, it doesn't look that way, but still....

Here's a novel approach to concessions. Treat people like customers. http://www.aol.com/article/finance/2019/01/23/atlanta-host-to-sell-dollar5-beers-dollar2-hot-dogs-at-super-bowl/23650874/ This BTW is in direct comparison to the large DD iced tea I bought at Fenway last season for $6.00. The surly attitude from the lady serving it was free.

I don't think this is germane to the question you asked but I remember reading that the reason there are so many concerts, etc. at Fenway now is because the money raised from concerts isn't considered "baseball money" and is therefore separate from any baseball revenue.

This brings up two questions. Is JH trying to tell us that he's losing money? And if so, do you believe him?

I keep hearing about what's "good for the game" and I don't understand what's being said. "The game" is prospering, with more money coming in than can be spent. The players are making millions and salaries are escalating. The owners are swimming in cash, and that's without considering the escalating value of the franchises when/if the owners sell those franchises. So who's it not "good for"? Answer: The fans, who now have to tie up $1000 for a family of four to visit Boston for a couple of weekend games. It's great for everyone else! But, as a local politician friend of mine would say, "We must like it. We put up with it".

Color me old-fashioned if you must but I'm of the opinion that when players are getting played millions of dollars to play baseball (to be playing BASEBALL, for God's sake!) that their focus should be on baseball and not be thinking about whether they should order "regular" or "extra crispy". As to the 2011 collapse, I'll always believe that it's because Tito lost the clubhouse. The chicken and beer was more of a symbol of the problem than being the problem itself. The clubhouse broke into two factions, the pro-Tito faction and the anti-Tito faction, mostly because a certain pitcher struggled and had to blame someone other than himself so he went after Tito. This "certain pitcher" was seen as a team leader and when many of the Sox players followed him the fracture occurred. The rest of the season is history. Then in the off season the FO decided to bring in a disciplinarian named Bobby Valentine in 2012 to bring the clubhouse back together again - and we all know how that worked out. It's JMO and as I like to say, What do I know? I have no inside information from the clubhouse and it's just my opinion based on my personal experience and what I saw and heard. That's my opinion. I welcome yours. - *Fred Nutter Nutter is a local broadcaster who used to editorialize on the local news shows & always finished his segment with those words.

That sounds fair.

Clutch and choke are as much a part of a person's emotions as are happiness and unhappiness. I fail to see how anyone can distinguish between them when all of them are emotion-driven.

Bingo!!

The whole Bobby Valentine thing does give credence to the thought that a player's emotional state has a lot to do with his production. Choke, clutch, happiness, unhappiness, etc..

That post should be a tag line.