Nick

Bingo.....I hate all these Monday morning quarterbacks....you play to win the big one. Farm System exists for the Parent Team to use it as they see fit.

But again, you are being a Monday morning quaterback.....Pom was an All Star with team control. He is not a rental. He gave us 13 starts. DD did what he thought was best for the organization at the time. Now if you want to blame anyone, it has to be Buchholtz who pitched like s*** before the trade deadline. Maybe we also blame JF and Wright for getting hurt by the second base bag that just happened to be in his way. It was a good trade and I do it again.

Now you are just being a smart ass..... We have a young core group going foward. I don't want to trade Moncada, Beni nor Swihart, unless it's for someone like Sales. We needed a starting pitcher. I trust DD more than anyone on this board. You may disagree but he did what he needed to do. Many here thought DD was going to trade the entire farm system last winter and this year. It did not happen. He has shown restraint, maturity and efficiency. WE ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS CONTENDING FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. You of course would rather have kept Espy and not participate in this year's playoffs. I got it. Hey, maybe you will be proven right. This may rival the Babe Ruth giveaway.

I COMPLETELY DISAGREE. We live in present. Tell me how YOU can go into the Sox club house and face 25 men and tell them "sorry, I'm not going to give up a kid that may or may not be good until 2019. If we lose this year, so be it. f*** you guys and all your best seasons. Nope, I'm protecting my top 3 prospect. Go with what we got' If I'm one of the players, I would deck you in a heartbeat.

We actually have 3 CF's

The significance is that they can play in a 6' and under basketball league without any controversy.

At this point, I think it's often a mistake to simply look at the season averages... I'm more interested in team to team matchups, pitchers vs hitters. PGA professionals are usually tied to the golf courses. Successful golfers at Augusta usually will play well there regardless of how they may have played the month before. Cleveland hitters with previous success against Porcello, Price, etc will pose problems in the playoffs, and vice versa.

We play Cleveland in best of five. In reality, what has transpired becomes meaningless. We've all seen players step up big time and fail likewise in the past. The canvas is clean. It just remains to be seen which players and which teams will paint the masterpiece beginning Thursday.

We get 3 days off, no?

Nothing like sending out Owens and have Pedey, Betts, Sandy and Hanley sit out a game at the same time telling the media we're trying to garner home field advantage. Sure, John, whatever you say. Chicago Cubs don't appear tired.

Ziegler is going back to Arizona. His family is more important than few more dollars, which is refreshing. I agree with you on Uehara and Tazawa, but I have sneaky suspicion that JF will want them both back. He's just that kinda of a guy and I don't like that quality about him. He lives in comfort zone. Hanley takes care of either 1B or DH role but that leaves open 2 spots to address. Now that Sandy has returned to 'norm', we can't afford to have 3 line up spots take regressive steps, DH, 3B and C. (well it can't get much worse at 3B) I would expect Xander to have a better year next year. He's been mediocre for better part of three months, and that's being generous. Full year of Beni in LF will be improvement over Holt and Bryce experiment. I'm concerned about Pedey being able to go another year without an injury. I think DD will take care of bullpen via trades. I go back and forth but I'm okay with getting Sales as long as it doesn't involve Moncada and Beni. Obviously current major leaguers are off limits and as you've pointed out, White Sox would want someone that will be major league ready in couple of more years. There's no point of acquiring say Bradley and have to deal with Boras in couple of years. I wonder if more teams will wait to sign free agents after the new CBA is finalized.

He's headed to Arizona....

I agree....he had lost his mojo.

Jesus, will ever quit whining about Kimbrel trade? He has pitched pretty well this season. We did win the Division with Kimbrel as the closer. Or maybe I should say we did win the Division DESPITE Kimbrel as the closer.

What would make you happy? Re-sign Tazawa who has been ineffective for last two years? Ziegler basically replaced Kimbrel when he went down. He only pitches against right handed hitters. Name names.Who is out there that you want? You already told me no closers would come to Boston.

Kelly was not in the equation for most of the year. To me, he qualifies as an 'addition'. It's really not difficult to acquire 'number' of relievers. Teams have to do it all the time, partially due to uncertainty when it comes to ALL relievers.

You make too much sense...our starting rotation is fine, sign Clay B. Our bullpen needs one addition. There are cheap options. See Moon's current list in our bullpen. Our OF is solid, having full year out of Beni. Young and Holt can provide depth. 3B needs tweaking. Worst case, pick up another right handed bat to go with Shaw. 3B can be mediocre if we have a legit bat at DH, EE. We have enough money.

I have a feeling that Sox FO believes DH is a specialty skill, something not every position player can do. It's almost like pinch hitting 4 times during a game. I'd think some position players won't like it.

Moon Knowing all what we know about DD, what do you think will be his approach? He's very methodical. He identifies needs, then goes about resolving them (within reason of course). IF we win it all, will there be a grace period to be patient and wait as we solve internally some of our shortcomings? Acquiring a Ziegler type reliever(s) should not be a big issue. Picking up Clay B's option will be the easiest way to assure some depth for next year. I suppose he may chose to wait and see for trade deadline and react to what we need. I always attempt to look through management's perspective. I'm just not sure what the limits are with player payroll. I did read something to the effect, for the Yankees anyway, it was additional $30M or so when they make the playoffs versus not making it. And most of it hits the bottom line because player salaries are fixed.

+1 DH by committee sounds too much like Ace by committee approach of two years ago....how did that work out?

I had a high school teach back in 1972 that would give us extra credit if we found certain words in the course of our reading outside of our classroom......believe it or not I came across it in a Sporting News Article.....anyone remember when it was only 25 cents? My weekly ritual.....riding bike to drug store to purchase baseball cards and weekly Sporting News.

I have Bradley Jr behind Mookie and ahead of Xander. No trade.

no doubt, Kelly's approach as a closer is much different than his pusillanimous approach as a starter.

Secondary needs 1. Upgrade front line pitching....can we acquire Chris Sales without giving up the farm? Or are we willing to part with say both Gomes and Kopech? Or is that even enough? I would not give up neither Beni nor Moncada. 2. Top of line closer caliber reliever (but who is not actually a closer)....who and what would it take? 3. Top DH....Encarnacion....how much and how long? Are we willing to go over cap? Will FO listen to Ortiz? He will play a role similar to Martinez, no? If we love Ortiz so much why do we all think it's a stupid idea? Primary needs 1. Relievers..Koji, Tazawa, Ziegler replaced by C. Smith, J.Kelly and ??????. Basically Ziegler acquisition was to mitigate the loss of C Smith. (although it was perfectly timed as Kimbrel went down at the same time) Emergence of Joe Kelly may have reduced the 'need' number to 1 reliever. Very doable. 2. Hanley has proven more than adequate at 1B. We still need DH and 3B. Do you platoon say Shaw and Young at DH? Are there cheaper solutions to acquire 2 players for short term without blocking Moncada? Can we live with Shaw in the lineup knowing offensive contribution from catching spot will surely go down and big bat of Big Papi will be gone. Three black holes? We have some work to do.

I just don't see Beni going on a sustained slump that lasts over a month, something both Xander and Bradley Jr have done. I think he'll become better hitter than both of them.