Show of Hands

And if we are, the whole AL must have collapsed.

Wake will be back and Dice-K is re doing spring training to build up his arm to what it should have been if he didn’t play the WBC. I would say that Beckett and Lester do a pretty damned good job at trying single handedly to win games, they can’t because it does in fact take an entire team to win a game, not just a superstar. You can’t look at less than a whole season of a short stop and say he isn’t the answer. I think you are overlooking that pretty much ALL pitching staffs in baseball have 2 or 3 starters that can get chased pretty easily. The Yankees have several starters that are pretty “chaseable” Joba, Pettite, Mitre, Gaudin or Hughes. The fact that we have 2 pitchers right now we can trust day in and day out is something you aren’t appreciating at all.

I think you are also over estimating the size of our payroll, as you have every post where you say we need to overhaul the team. We have a lot of young players we are going to want to hold onto that are going to cost us a lot of money over the next few years, as well as the fact that there aren’t going to be many good players hitting free agency this year. There isn’t a single 3B on the list that I would take over Lowell except maybe Chone Figgins and he doesn’t get on base enough for this team. There aren’t any decent catchers available either (there may be one next year though). Nick Johnson might be available but I don’t really see him as a starter for us at 1B. Matt Holiday might become a free agent but if I were the Cards I would never let him go and he even isn’t the OMG SUPERSTAR type of player either. Abreu becomes available and is really the only intriguing positional player I see becoming available unless the Padres lower their demands for AGonz. There are also a couple decent starting pitchers available but none that would probably meet your stringent standards for starters.

It isn’t helpful to say we should get rid of Tek, Drew and Lowell. That’s like me saying I think we should get rid of 75bandwagon from the Sox fan base. It feels good to say it but then it just leaves a black hole of nothingness to be annoyed at. Who do YOU want to replace those veteran players? Other crappy veterans? OR do you want us to trade the farm and become the Yankees circa mid 2000s with a bunch of over paid vets who have bigger egos than bats?

I don’t have to bother checking the score. I can tell if the Sox have won or lost based on whether or not 75bandwagon has posted or not.

Don O: “And that’s the third out, and the Red Sox have lost.”
75-B: “WHERE’S MY COMPUTER??? Honey, get off the phone! I needs to use the Internets!”

Penny and Smoltz were supposed to be fighting Buchholz, Bowden, and Tazawa for the 5th spot in the rotation, not filling the #3-4 spots – give them (and the Front Office) a break there.
Also, “Clemmons” and “Lowerie”? Aside from the spelling issues, we don’t have a “superstar” because MOST of the team would be superstars on any other team.
Lowrie was almost exactly an average SS last year, both offensively and defensively, with a broken wrist. I’m not sure how you can think he’s not going to be good. And asking for a better bat than what Lowrie projects to be is just plain unrealistic – we’re not getting Hanley without giving up a HUGE package of prospects. Hardy might be available, but I’m not willing to fight other teams’ offers for him this offseason.

Texas has an insane road trip ahead, Seattle, Rays, and NY on the road, not to mention the Angels again.

Wake will be back as will Dice-K, but the most important stat is that the Sox have like 28 of their last 41 at home where they dominate.

Its not yet time to call it a season.

P.S. Once the playoffs start, we still have Josh Beckett and everyone else does not. Yankees cannot be our ALDS opponent so its either the Angels or the Tigers or White Sox. You guys really believe the Red Sox cant beat the Angels, Tigers and White Sox in a short series with Josh Beckett on the hill?

Come ON!!! Rally up people, its just a slump….

They need a big bat in the lineup. I was thinking get rid or Ortiz and Lowell and some minor leaguers and go after Adrian Gonzalez, They’re missing that big home-run that Papi used to give them late in the games in ‘04. They are going to win the wild card but other than that, we can’t say what’s going to happen in post season. I’ve been waiting all season for A.J. Burnett to get injured and it hasn’t happened. As soon as that were to happen, the Yankees would fall apart and that would be it for them. It hasn’t happened but who knows…there’s still some time left.