The Red Sox Thread

[NerfBall55]

Awesome offseason so far. Hire a 5th place manager that made his pitchers worse to take over a 4th place team. And then push to sign an always broken whiny DH to a 2 year contract. 5th place is right there, you can do it.

[Mr Coffee]

Awesome offseason so far. Hire a 5th place manager that made his pitchers worse to take over a 4th place team. And then push to sign an always broken whiny DH to a 2 year contract. 5th place is right there, you can do it.

Actually, they hired a fourth place manager to run a fifth place team.

Baby steps.

[NerfBall55]

Actually, they hired a fourth place manager to run a fifth place team.

Baby steps.

That shows how much I paid attention to them at the end of the season.

[ieddyi]

"Peter Gammons ‏@pgammo
Dodgers' Crawford regrets waiting on surgery http:// why did agents put him in market he couldn't handle. Ignorance , or $142M fraud?"

This is the real Gammons, not the fake

Blaming the agent for the sawx historical blunder

What a tool

[teknetic]

It wouldn't surprise me if Gammons, LL, and Henry have a lemon party of their own every weekend.

[Chacon]

It wouldn't surprise me if Gammons, LL, and Henry have a lemon party of their own every weekend.

Ok who here has photoshop and the stomach to handle that....

[awy]

there has to be a law against that

[snapple]

Ok who here has photoshop and the stomach to handle that....

tried to do that. my computer is now broken

[Mr Coffee]

Someone needs to go check on Gammo:

[flymick24]

Someone needs to go check on Gammo:

that might be the most insightful thing he's written in a while

[freebubba]

According to reports (Rosenthal), the Rangers will be in on David Ortiz should he not resign by tomorrow morning. Interesting....

[pleasepassthesoup]

that might be the most insightful thing he's written in a while

His best ever was the always memorable tweet of "Plops"

[nhyankeefan]

I'm not sure how much strong the state's case is here, but this could get interesting...

Rhode Island's economic development agency on Thursday sued former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and some of its former officials, saying they committed fraud and other acts that misled the state into approving a $75 million loan guarantee to his failed video game company.

The suit was filed in Rhode Island Superior Court four months after 38 Studios filed for bankruptcy following a spectacular collapse that has likely left the state on the hook for as much as $100 million.

Among other things, the lawsuit claims that executives at 38 Studios, as well as former Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Keith Stokes and others, knew the company would run out of money by 2012, but concealed that from the EDC board, which made the final decision on whether to back the deal.

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/...loan-guarantee

[Eldee5]

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/...nt-source-says

BOSTON -- David Ortiz may get his wish to retire with the Boston Red Sox.

The veteran designated hitter -- and face of the storied franchise -- agreed Friday night on a two-year deal worth at least $26 million, a source said. Incentives could bring the deal to as much as $30 million.

[4bronxbombers]

Ex-teammate Curt Shilling, who is being sued by the state of Rhode Island over the $$75 million loan guarantee that was given to his failed video game company, Schilling called the lawsuit "political," and called Gov. Lincoln Chaffee a "buffoon" and a "dunce of epic proportions."

Look in the mirror lately Schilling?

[ArodEra]

Look in the mirror lately Schilling?

[ieddyi]

Ex-teammate Curt Shilling, who is being sued by the state of Rhode Island over the $$75 million loan guarantee that was given to his failed video game company, Schilling called the lawsuit "political," and called Gov. Lincoln Chaffee a "buffoon" and a "dunce of epic proportions."

Look in the mirror lately Schilling?

Gotta admit, Kurt has a point, he did give RedLight $75M w/o collateral

[NerfBall55]

Good move from Boston on Ortiz. Given it's an obvious bridge year (or two), this will get a few more fans to the park.

[SubwayFanatic]

Good move from Boston on Ortiz. Given it's an obvious bridge year (or two), this will get a few more fans to the park.

I am not sure it is an obvious bridge year or two for the Sox though. The league is so watered down now, especially with the extra wild cards. Look at the rosters of playoff teams this year like the A's and Orioles -- do they look like they are anything special? The Giants just won the World Series without a single guy on their team hitting 30 home runs during the regular season. Their second-highest homer guy was Pablo Sandoval with 12 home runs. 12 home runs.

Boston definitely has a lot of "what ifs," but the potential to be in the playoff mix, if nothing else, is probably there. But they absolutely need guys like Ellsbury and Lester to return to some semblance of good/very good players again.

In a baseball landscape where the Orioles can have a +7 run differential, win 93 games and get into the playoffs, and where 85-88 wins can get you into a wild card, I would not be counting any team completely out nowadays.

[NerfBall55]

I am not sure it is an obvious bridge year or two for the Sox though. The league is so watered down now, especially with the extra wild cards. Look at the rosters of playoff teams this year like the A's and Orioles -- do they look like they are anything special? The Giants just won the World Series without a single guy on their team hitting 30 home runs during the regular season. Their second-highest homer guy was Pablo Sandoval with 12 home runs. 12 home runs.

Boston definitely has a lot of "what ifs," but the potential to be in the playoff mix, if nothing else, is probably there. But they absolutely need guys like Ellsbury and Lester to return to some semblance of good/very good players again.

In a baseball landscape where the Orioles can have a +7 run differential, win 93 games and get into the playoffs, and where 85-88 wins can get you into a wild card, I would not be counting any team completely out nowadays.

Of course anomalies can happen and the new playoff structure can let some teams squeak in, but that's always the case, and doesn't take away that Boston is a complete unmitigated disaster of a club that's in a big state of flux right now.

They're other teams in the division aren't getting any worse. The sox can't feast on teams like Baltimore, run differential or not. I won't consider them anything more than an amusing ball of yarn for the AL East casts to play with until there's reason do to so, and I'm can't even get into their "what ifs". The whole team is a bunch of what ifs.

Of course I re-evaluate after we see what the roster looks like, but I feel they're not in win now mode.

[Zimmer's Helmet]

Of course anomalies can happen and the new playoff structure can let some teams squeak in, but that's always the case, and doesn't take away that Boston is a complete unmitigated disaster of a club that's in a big state of flux right now.

They're other teams in the division aren't getting any worse. The sox can't feast on teams like Baltimore, run differential or not. I won't consider them anything more than an amusing ball of yarn for the AL East casts to play with until there's reason do to so, and I'm can't even get into their "what ifs". The whole team is a bunch of what ifs.

Of course I re-evaluate after we see what the roster looks like, but I feel they're not in win now mode.

As much as I hate to admit it, Boston isn't as far off as you'd think. It's hard for me to believe that Lester, Bard and Ellsbury will not show significant improvement over their 2012 levels of performance (or lack thereof).

Realistically, the Sox are only a starter away from being contenders again - whether that be an off-season acquisition, or a comeback from Lackey.

[False1]

As much as I hate to admit it, Boston isn't as far off as you'd think. It's hard for me to believe that Lester, Bard and Ellsbury will not show significant improvement over their 2012 levels of performance (or lack thereof).

Realistically, the Sox are only a starter away from being contenders again - whether that be an off-season acquisition, or a comeback from Lackey.

But they'll be missing what Gonzalez contributed before being traded , and even if the guys you mention bounce back some there's going to be guys that likely regress a bit to offset. Adding 1 starter to this team isn't nearly enough IMHO.

[teknetic]

Boston is pretty much a lock to miss the playoffs next year. Ellsbury's 2011 was fairly flukey; he isn't nearly as bad as he was this year, but the chances of him repeating 2011 are slim. The lineup is headlined by Pedroia, which is pretty bad (he's pretty damn good, but there's about 25-30 other guys I'd take ahead of him). The pitching is probably just as awful.

[flymick24]

As much as I hate to admit it, Boston isn't as far off as you'd think. It's hard for me to believe that Lester, Bard and Ellsbury will not show significant improvement over their 2012 levels of performance (or lack thereof).

Realistically, the Sox are only a starter away from being contenders again - whether that be an off-season acquisition, or a comeback from Lackey.

They don't have a full infield and last time I checked, their rotation was only 3/5 full

Not saying they're going to be as horrible as this year, but they need to make a lot of moves this winter to even be relevant again

[NerfBall55]

As much as I hate to admit it, Boston isn't as far off as you'd think. It's hard for me to believe that Lester, Bard and Ellsbury will not show significant improvement over their 2012 levels of performance (or lack thereof).

Realistically, the Sox are only a starter away from being contenders again - whether that be an off-season acquisition, or a comeback from Lackey.

Sorry, I completely disagree. One additional starter + having the planets align doesn't make them a contender.

Even with this unkown acquisition or Lackey improvement, their lineup and bullpen are dreck.