The Official 2011 Boston Red Sox Thread (1 Viewer)

[Raider Nation]

Pretty shocking.

WEEI in Boston is MUST-LISTEN RADIO with every loss. The natives are suicidal. Check it out online.

I mean, what are they saying? Spend more money? The team is stacked, really nothing you can do.

Some highlights from Glen Ordway's show today (2-6pm).* Cut Dice-K immediately. Eat his salary.

* Kill Dice-K immediately.

(Ordway asks "Who replaces him?" Callers: ANYONE!!! Bring up guys from Pawtucket!")

* Varitek should be catching full-time. He handles the staff better than Salty.

* Francona needs to take responsibility for the losses.

* Francona needs to be a more fiery leader.

* Crawford is a total bust. Can't handle the bright lights.

* Youk needs to swing at more first-pitches. (He's leading the majors in walks, BTW).

* Lackey blows.

Etc.

 

[Premier]

Pretty shocking.

WEEI in Boston is MUST-LISTEN RADIO with every loss. The natives are suicidal. Check it out online.

I mean, what are they saying? Spend more money? The team is stacked, really nothing you can do.

Some highlights from Glen Ordway's show today (2-6pm).* Cut Dice-K immediately. Eat his salary.* Kill Dice-K immediately.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

 

[Giantseasonticketholder]

Just one game away from not having the worst record in baseball.

 

[gump]

I am disappointed to see CC playing this way...but not surprised. He was a clubhouse leader in Tampa...but he's such an introvert to the public and press that no one ever knew it. The contract put pressure on him that he's never felt...in and out of the clubhouse....and now with the mounting pressure from the outside, things will be tough to turn around.

 

[The_Man]

I am disappointed to see CC playing this way...but not surprised. He was a clubhouse leader in Tampa...but he's such an introvert to the public and press that no one ever knew it. The contract put pressure on him that he's never felt...in and out of the clubhouse....and now with the mounting pressure from the outside, things will be tough to turn around.

I heard Adrian Gonzalez saying that there's no reason to panic, and if guys are preparing the best they can and giving every game their best effort, then that's all anyone can ask, and nobody should get down on a team trying its hardest.Welcome to Boston, noob! I anticipate that attitude being driven out of him well before the All-Star Break.

 

[Finless]

Who wants to lay odds the Sox miss the playoffs?

 

[cheese]

Who wants to lay odds the Sox miss the playoffs?

According to Icon's link it's still 70% that they make it.Common sense puts it at about 25%

 

[[icon]]

I presume all the yankees fans in here are cashing out their 401ks and loading up on NYY +160 for the east?

Baltimore Orioles

+1200

Boston Red Sox

-125

New York Yankees

+160

Tampa Bay Rays

+1800

Toronto Blue Jays

+1200

 

[shadyridr]

Sox two day non-losing streak

 

[Northern Voice]

How about lining up the foul pole with the foul line in your ####hole stadium? TIA.

 

[Raider Nation]

OOF?

 

[Limp Ditka]

Bobby Jenks' ERA now sitting at a robust 8.31

But he's just a minor component of this bullpen, so I wouldn't read too much into it.

 

[shadyridr]

Is this the best bullpen ever assembled?

It's not even the best bullpen in the division.

Yes it is

Is this the best bullpen ever assembled?

It's not even the best bullpen in the division.

Easily the best bullpen in baseball.

Is this the best bullpen ever assembled?

With Bobby Jenks as a component? I think not.

Riiiiight....guys with >10 K/9 and >3.3 K/BB just grow on treesOR there were only 5 relief pitchers in the AL to accomplish this last year.People seem to forget / ignore / not realize that he had the second worst BABIP of all pitchers last year. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=rel&lg=al&qual=y&type=2&season=2010&month=0&season1=2010&ind=0

 

[the moops]

Bobby Jenks' ERA now sitting at a robust 8.31But he's just a minor component of this bullpen, so I wouldn't read too much into it.

Rafael Soriano's is at 7.71. Just sayin.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

 

[Balco]

Time to look to 2012 (I kid)

Glad to see the Six sign Gonzalez long term.

 

[Thunderlips]

Time to blow it up?

What viable trade pieces does this team have? Obviously they want to keep Gonzo, Pedroia the Destroya and I guess Crawford....but Cameron, Ells and Drew aren't going to fetch anything. Lackey and Dice-K are worthless...as is Salty. Youks and Papi are on the wrong side of 30 but have some value. As does Becks. All three of those guys could fetch decent level prospects. I'm fine with keeping Lowrie and moving Scoots as well.

 

[shadyridr]

IMO the main reason the Sox are 2-10 is Salty. He may be the worst catcher in baseball. Horrible defensively, cant call a game, and cant hit. Any chance they trade for a catcher? Wonder what SD would take for Hundley

 

[Balco]

IMO the main reason the Sox are 2-10 is Salty. He may be the worst catcher in baseball. Horrible defensively, cant call a game, and cant hit. Any chance they trade for a catcher? Wonder what SD would take for Hundley

With that offense, I want a very good defensive catcher. Salty can't hit, and he can't catch. I would rather have a no hit, good defensive/game caller behind the plate. I am not worried about the offense at all.

 

[the moops]

IMO the main reason the Sox are 2-10 is Salty.

Carl Crawford has a lower OPS than Salty.I think I will go with the fact that the entire team has an OPS of .669 and the entire pitching staff has an ERA of 6.79 as the two main reasons.

 

[pollardsvision]

Anytime you can sign Juan Pierre plus 3 HRs/month for $20 mill. per and render your rising star CF virtually useless, you gotta do it, right?

Is that how Simmons would put it?

 

[pollardsvision]

Speaking of Ellsbury, when will he become a FA?

I can't imagine there's any chance in hell he'd ever re-sign with BOS and he'd look awfully good patrolling CF and leading off in Atlanta.

 

[shadyridr]

IMO the main reason the Sox are 2-10 is Salty.

Carl Crawford has a lower OPS than Salty.I think I will go with the fact that the entire team has an OPS of .669 and the entire pitching staff has an ERA of 6.79 as the two main reasons.

Did you read my post or stop at the first sentence? Its not all about hitting. As a matter of fact I said Salty's offense was third on the priority list. He cant throw anyone out and you gotta believe the high staff ERA may have something to do with him.

 

[shadyridr]

Anytime you can sign Juan Pierre plus 3 HRs/month for $20 mill. per and render your rising star CF virtually useless, you gotta do it, right?Is that how Simmons would put it?

rising star? Havent we been waiting for his breakout 3 yrs in a row now? He is what he is at this point.

 

[Thunderlips]

Anytime you can sign Juan Pierre plus 3 HRs/month for $20 mill. per and render your rising star CF virtually useless, you gotta do it, right?Is that how Simmons would put it?

rising star? Havent we been waiting for his breakout 3 yrs in a row now? He is what he is at this point.

He's certainly no Brett Gardner.

 

[pollardsvision]

Anytime you can sign Juan Pierre plus 3 HRs/month for $20 mill. per and render your rising star CF virtually useless, you gotta do it, right?Is that how Simmons would put it?

rising star? Havent we been waiting for his breakout 3 yrs in a row now? He is what he is at this point.

Didn't mean to imply that he was far away from his ceiling. I don't think there's a huge breakout coming.Point is, he doesn't need one to be a very good lead-off man. He's had 2 full seasons of MLB baseball. His OBP and SLG both rose 20 points from the 1st to the 2nd. If he keeps making minor improvements, he's Crawford with a bit less power. He also has the added advantages (over Crawford) of knowing he can handle Boston and actually seeing himself as a lead-off man.Probably won't see a very good season this year though. He'll be dealing with the disappointment and loss of ABs, as the team he helped win a WS relegates him to the 9-hole for the rest of his tenure.Anyway, just wondering when he might be available. He's exactly what ATL needs.

 

[the moops]

Anytime you can sign Juan Pierre plus 3 HRs/month for $20 mill. per and render your rising star CF virtually useless, you gotta do it, right?Is that how Simmons would put it?

rising star? Havent we been waiting for his breakout 3 yrs in a row now? He is what he is at this point.

Didn't mean to imply that he was far away from his ceiling. I don't think there's a huge breakout coming.Point is, he doesn't need one to be a very good lead-off man. He's had 2 full seasons of MLB baseball. His OBP and SLG both rose 20 points from the 1st to the 2nd. If he keeps making minor improvements, he's Crawford with a bit less power. He also has the added advantages (over Crawford) of knowing he can handle Boston and actually seeing himself as a lead-off man.Probably won't see a very good season this year though. He'll be dealing with the disappointment and loss of ABs, as the team he helped win a WS relegates him to the 9-hole for the rest of his tenure.Anyway, just wondering when he might be available. He's exactly what ATL needs.

He has batted leadoff in half the games this year. He's only batted 9th twice.

 

[Premier]

I'm enjoying this now.

Sam Fuld > Carl Crawford

 

[Thunderlips]

When are Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen coming up?

 

[pollardsvision]

Anytime you can sign Juan Pierre plus 3 HRs/month for $20 mill. per and render your rising star CF virtually useless, you gotta do it, right?Is that how Simmons would put it?

rising star? Havent we been waiting for his breakout 3 yrs in a row now? He is what he is at this point.

Didn't mean to imply that he was far away from his ceiling. I don't think there's a huge breakout coming.Point is, he doesn't need one to be a very good lead-off man. He's had 2 full seasons of MLB baseball. His OBP and SLG both rose 20 points from the 1st to the 2nd. If he keeps making minor improvements, he's Crawford with a bit less power. He also has the added advantages (over Crawford) of knowing he can handle Boston and actually seeing himself as a lead-off man.Probably won't see a very good season this year though. He'll be dealing with the disappointment and loss of ABs, as the team he helped win a WS relegates him to the 9-hole for the rest of his tenure.Anyway, just wondering when he might be available. He's exactly what ATL needs.

He has batted leadoff in half the games this year. He's only batted 9th twice.

The 8-hole and the bench are equally unexciting, which is where he's been since being taken out of the lead-off spot.Mostly, I'm talking about the rest of the season and beyond.What are the Sox options (when Ellsbury, Crawford, and Pedroia are healthy)?:I see a few:1-Lead-off with Crawford (the most logical choice, other than Crawford not loving it and it wasting Ellsbury)2-Bat a guy who's never hit 20 HRs in a season in a big RBI spot (an odd choice for a team with a $160M+ payroll and many better RBI men)3-Put a guy making $20M at the bottom of the lineup (not gonna happen)I could see maybe hitting 5th or 6th. Is that something the Sox are considering?He started in 3rd then 2nd, which seems crazy to me. If you have A-Gonz and Youk, they should absolutely be 3 and 4 (and it seems to me that Pedroia was made for the 2-hole on a good team).The Sox tried Ellsbury leading-off, sure, and that looked good for a couple of games to start, but they rather quickly ditched it, in part, to get their $140M man going. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see how this ends any other way than Ellsbury getting relegated to the bottom of the lineup, which is a huge waste is his ability.

 

[Thunderlips]

Anytime you can sign Juan Pierre plus 3 HRs/month for $20 mill. per and render your rising star CF virtually useless, you gotta do it, right?Is that how Simmons would put it?

rising star? Havent we been waiting for his breakout 3 yrs in a row now? He is what he is at this point.

Didn't mean to imply that he was far away from his ceiling. I don't think there's a huge breakout coming.Point is, he doesn't need one to be a very good lead-off man. He's had 2 full seasons of MLB baseball. His OBP and SLG both rose 20 points from the 1st to the 2nd. If he keeps making minor improvements, he's Crawford with a bit less power. He also has the added advantages (over Crawford) of knowing he can handle Boston and actually seeing himself as a lead-off man.Probably won't see a very good season this year though. He'll be dealing with the disappointment and loss of ABs, as the team he helped win a WS relegates him to the 9-hole for the rest of his tenure.Anyway, just wondering when he might be available. He's exactly what ATL needs.

He has batted leadoff in half the games this year. He's only batted 9th twice.

The 8-hole and the bench are equally unexciting, which is where he's been since being taken out of the lead-off spot.Mostly, I'm talking about the rest of the season and beyond.What are the Sox options (when Ellsbury, Crawford, and Pedroia are healthy)?:I see a few:1-Lead-off with Crawford (the most logical choice, other than Crawford not loving it and it wasting Ellsbury)2-Bat a guy who's never hit 20 HRs in a season in a big RBI spot (an odd choice for a team with a $160M+ payroll and many better RBI men)3-Put a guy making $20M at the bottom of the lineup (not gonna happen)I could see maybe hitting 5th or 6th. Is that something the Sox are considering?He started in 3rd then 2nd, which seems crazy to me. If you have A-Gonz and Youk, they should absolutely be 3 and 4 (and it seems to me that Pedroia was made for the 2-hole on a good team).The Sox tried Ellsbury leading-off, sure, and that looked good for a couple of games to start, but they rather quickly ditched it, in part, to get their $140M man going. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see how this ends any other way than Ellsbury getting relegated to the bottom of the lineup, which is a huge waste is his ability.

Batting him ninth isn't that bad. I think there are more than a couple of AL teams who see the 9th hole as another lead off spot.

 

[pollardsvision]

I don't think batting Ellsbury 9th is a bad move for the team, Thunderlips. It's probably the most logical thing.

My original question was just when is Ellsbury going to be a free-agent, so the Braves can snap him up?

It may be great for the team, but I can't imagine Ellsbury would be very happy about batting 9th (or 8th) for the rest of his tenure.

 

[Limp Ditka]

Is today the start of the Jed era?

 

[shadyridr]

It should be, Scutaro is awful

 

[Raider Nation]

They should give Beckett a $100M raise and start him every day.

 

[igbomb]

Time to blow it up?What viable trade pieces does this team have? Obviously they want to keep Gonzo, Pedroia the Destroya and I guess Crawford....but Cameron, Ells and Drew aren't going to fetch anything. Lackey and Dice-K are worthless...as is Salty. Youks and Papi are on the wrong side of 30 but have some value. As does Becks. All three of those guys could fetch decent level prospects. I'm fine with keeping Lowrie and moving Scoots as well.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

The season is still somewhat young but Beckett is looking like the guy we saw in Miami. I'm shocked not just at Boston's horrible start but Beckett's great start.

 

[Balco]

The season is still somewhat young but Beckett is looking like the guy we saw in Miami. I'm shocked not just at Boston's horrible start but Beckett's great start.

Becket's start has been extremely encouraging, and Lester will be fine as well. Its the rest of the rotation that worries me. Lackey has looked horrible. Not unlucky. Just horrible. Not sure what is up with Bucholz. No way is he going to have the year he had last year, but I didn't figure he would start out this poor. Hopefully he rights the ship.

 

[Raider Nation]

WTF has gotten into Lowrie?

 

[the moops]

WTF has gotten into Lowrie?

What has gotten into Dice-K. Only 88 pitches through 7 innings? That's a typical 4 inning outing for him.

 

[Guest]

WTF has gotten into Lowrie?

He doesn't have a broken wrist.ETA: He did have an OPS over .900 last year, 2nd highest among SSs after Tulo, in about 1/3 of a season of ABs. Kinda small SS but not that small. The kid can legitimately rake, even if he won't hit .500 over the course of a season.

 

[shadyridr]

WTF has gotten into Lowrie?

Some of us sharks saw this coming a mile awayhttp://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=586564&view=findpost&p=12979882I sound like Finless lol

 

[rascal]

So is he still a platoon player or has Lowrie taken the job? Thinking about dropping pedro alvarez for him. Especially with Jeter turning into a bum.

 

[Guest]

So is he still a platoon player or has Lowrie taken the job? Thinking about dropping pedro alvarez for him. Especially with Jeter turning into a bum.

I'd say still officially a platoon player. I wouldn't expect him to officially take the job until May at the earliest. I would pick him up now, though, if he's available.

 

[rascal]

So is he still a platoon player or has Lowrie taken the job? Thinking about dropping pedro alvarez for him. Especially with Jeter turning into a bum.

I'd say still officially a platoon player. I wouldn't expect him to officially take the job until May at the earliest. I would pick him up now, though, if he's available.

So you would drop Alvarez for him? Sandoval is my regular 3B.

 

[[icon]]

PREDICTION: Sox record on May 1st will be 12-14.

 

[Guest]

So is he still a platoon player or has Lowrie taken the job? Thinking about dropping pedro alvarez for him. Especially with Jeter turning into a bum.

I'd say still officially a platoon player. I wouldn't expect him to officially take the job until May at the earliest. I would pick him up now, though, if he's available.

So you would drop Alvarez for him? Sandoval is my regular 3B.

Absolutely.

 

[the moops]

So is he still a platoon player or has Lowrie taken the job? Thinking about dropping pedro alvarez for him. Especially with Jeter turning into a bum.

I'd say still officially a platoon player. I wouldn't expect him to officially take the job until May at the earliest. I would pick him up now, though, if he's available.

So you would drop Alvarez for him? Sandoval is my regular 3B.

Absolutely.

There is a good chance Lowrie will also have 3B eligibility by the all-star break.

 

[Limp Ditka]

So is he still a platoon player or has Lowrie taken the job? Thinking about dropping pedro alvarez for him. Especially with Jeter turning into a bum.

I'd say still officially a platoon player. I wouldn't expect him to officially take the job until May at the earliest. I would pick him up now, though, if he's available.

So you would drop Alvarez for him? Sandoval is my regular 3B.

Absolutely.

There is a good chance Lowrie will also have 3B eligibility by the all-star break.

What makes you say this?