drewski6

You mean tonight or next year?

You just cant have Cedanne and Durbin.

And Id pack Durbin up

Id start him at 3b.

I think he was just making a joke that Mead will strike out like everyone else, but at least in Meads case - its a new person striking out. He wasnt suggesting dont play Mead. The problem with Mead is his weird hippity hoppity batting stance. But if hes good to go , yeah, absolutely play him.

I agree. I dont think the budget is set in stone like that. I think every FA signing is case by case. I agree that Roman and Alonso have little to do with each other. The mistakes were Bregman and Alonso. Then we would have been able to weather some injuries or downturns in production. But the ships have sailed, and I think we are in a bit of a bind going forward - because I dont think the FA class this year is as good of a fit. And they probably think they are fine with a couple of mediocre players who would get squeezed out if we really wanted to win....Like Durbin. We'll see if they hit tonight. The funny thing is that the people who told us we didnt need hitters last offseason are already working on their excuses why we wont need hitters this offseason , and its not because they expect us to hit. They are saying, playoff hitting is a crapshoot, and I dont think we will hit this series, but also - heres why we dont need hitters. If we score less than 4 runs tonight. we will have noodlebatted our way out of the playoffs 2 years running. Everyone knew these offenses would struggle, and with our best hitter aging, and people talking about getting rid of Story (our best playoff hitter last 4 years) - Im not sure that we are even going to stay 23rd in hitting. Could fall to 28.

Correct. We cant just be fine with average or this will keep happening.

Im waiting for someone to say injuries, like we were the team with a first ballot hall of fame hitter hurt ....Oh wait, that was a team that made us look like we were AA - who had a hall of fame hitter hurt. How about when the game was 3-0 and they werent using their best setup men. They were not scared of us one bit. Even without their best hitter/player.

And we married Breslow. My only hope is that Breslow is not who the "slap-hands we didnt get Bregman, Alonso, Devers" coalition makes him out to be. Like how when AJ Pierz reported and Buster Olney confirmed that we lost Bregman because Breslow accused the Cubs offer of being fake and Bregman walked out shaking his head.....The "slap hands brigade" told us that "Im so glad that we have a GM who draws a line in the sand, and wont overspend....I mean thats what I want to pretend happened, so thats what Im going with" But I think Breslow would tell you himself that he has made mistakes with communication and plans on working on him. I dont know why the "slap hands committee" has decided that Breslow can do no wrong when even Breslow knows he needed to improve. And I think he is improving. Problem is (for Breslow), we dont know the next opportunity when a perfect FA lines up. Problem with the slap hands club is that they still think they are/were right, and are here to tell you the same thing theyve been telling you: our positional player mix is so good, we dont have anywhere we can add anyone.

Never forget the one rule about sports forums, everyone, no matter how wrong they were, will re-emerge and take a victory lap. This team could not score in the playoffs last year Was criticized in spring for not doing enough to fix the offense Was 23rd in runs this year Was hopeless at the plate last night And the guys who fived over not having Alonso, Bregman, and Devers are here to take a victory lap, proclaim Breslow exec of the year, are acting like we Sox fans are spoiled for wanting more than 0 playoff series wins in Breslows tenure, and telling us there is no where to fit a bat because we are so awesome on the positional side.

Breslow himself at the conclusion of last year was saying that he needed bats, and then at some point he acknowledged a pivot to a pitching and D approach. At the onset of the season, all those neutral party power ranking sports media/websites came out as they usually do. They all had around 18 in offense, and said not enough to be a true championship threat. This team couldnt hit in last playoffs, was predicted by all neutral sources to have trouble scoring runs this year, had trouble scoring runs this year, and now we cant hit in these playoffs. I dont think its accurate to point to anomalies.

If you like not being able to hit in the playoffs, like at all, and finishing 23rd in offense in a year, by all means....you are free to ask for more of the same.

I remember the day the Orioles signed Alonso, you were disappointed. You were happier when we got Contreras, but you werent team "high five that we didnt get Alonso"

I fault them for not getting Bregman and Alonso.

This is the point I was trying to make yesterday. I never said that I didnt think we had a chance. All I said was win, lose but show some offense despite losing, or realize we need to get hitters. And people immediately started planting excuses for why even if we dont hit, we dont need hitters. Or have nowhere to put them. And Im just like come on. Everyone on the ground was like we are set up perfect for B-b-b-b-bregman and Alonso. But the same people who told us noooooo, we dont want them. The same ones who fived that Bregman, Alonso, and Devers are all on other teams - the ones who told us we didnt need those guys....Are back, and they will go to any lengths necessary to convince us they were right and we are dumb and spoiled. Like how they are telling us that Crochets injury is the reason why we couldnt hit in the playoffs last year, finished 23rd in offense this year, and cant hit in the playoffs this year. And they are also telling us that from a positional player standpoint, we are historically set up.....And that our needs this offseason is starting pitching and relief pitching....And as long as we are 15th in OBP next year, it doesnt matter if we are 25th in runs.....

Dont assume hes your superstar until he proves you otherwise. Hes lost that.

Anyways the reason we are in the dubious position that we are in, is NOT because we didnt draft Schlittler in the sixth. Its .....are you ready.......B-b-b-b-bbregman and alonso.

Yeah, I dont think its fair to consider this a huge miss by RS for not grabbing this kid. The Yankees also passed on him 6x if they took him in the 7th round. It just makes it sting a little more, that hes local. If there is one thing that should have looked at him closely for (and maybe we did, and maybe we were even targeting him in the 8th round) is his height, not where he is from. But you also cant get every kid who is over 6'4 and pass everyone under. Its just an asset not a guarantee for success.

Ben Rice from Mass too.

If we dont win the series - here are the changes we should demand: major ones.

All im saying. all this talk about nowhere to put anyone is managing expectations and premature excuse planting. Here is why 1) we didnt hit in playoffs last year, 2) we fell to 23rd this year, 3) i dont expect us to hit this playoffs, and 4) why i dont think we need to add any hitters. By Joe Brady.

Hit or get hitters.

The team that absolutely couldnt hit in the playoffs last year, and was the 23rd best hitting team in baseball this year...You are salivating about who we can phase out. How about - who we can add? Or hit tonight.

Here is what I am reading : dont expect us hit tonight. Expect to noodlebat out of the playoffs, second year in a row. Dont expect offensive additions. We have nowhere to put anyone. Pay no attention to the fact that we have noodlebatted out of the playoffs 2 years in a row. We might have a league average offense next year - be fine with it. Im not saying that we arent going to hit. Ive been more than reasonable. Im jsut saying why are we already creating excuses to not get bats while simultaneously telling me we dont have that bats.

Top 10 isnt good enough. And if anything, i think we go down next year , in O, if we return the same guys because we were carried by a soon to be 35 yr old this year and I dont think we can count on that again.