Various Red Sox Thoughts

[DarrylStingley]

1. Sox better make a move for another OF in a waiver deal. With Lowrie and Hall on the team, and Pedroia coming back, they don't need Patterson for 2b insurance and he is awful as an OFer. That he is starting in Ells' absence is a bad joke.

2. Beckett and Lackey...your 4th and 5th starters...for the next four years. Ummmmmm.

3. Please make this Wake's last year.

4. Can a team lose two totally winnable games in a row and still make up 4 on a good Tampa team? I think not.

5. Monday is the deadline to sign drafted players or they go back into the pool. The Sox have a bunch of high profile guys, with the biggest one being Anthony Ranaudo. Their future will be heavily impacted by what happens between now and Monday and I don't mean today's Dice K start.

6. At this point, I view Lester and Buck starts as must wins, Dice starts as toss ups and Lackey and Beckett starts as probable losses (unless the opponent is one of the truly lousy offenses in the AL). Not good.

7. The bigger problem? The incredibly thin pen. Who didn't puke a little when Lester came out of the game last night? He probably really needed to come out but when a journey man like Atchison trots in to a save situation, Theo can't view that as a crowing moment.

8. Too bad Lowrie is so fragile. The guy looks great when he plays.

9. Billy Hall has given the Sox so much more than most of us expected. I wish he was starting in LF and Lowrie as at 2B today.

10. With Dmat going and Monday being a day off, we're going to see a lot of the Sox pen today....

 

[captain insano]

stick a fork in them. they have been cooked for awhile now.

 

[ausbacker]

The story of the 2010 Red Sox is missed opportunities.

 

[Run DMC]

"This is a "bridge" year". Har-har. :bricks:

 

[DarrylStingley]

Huge night for the Sox last night...Anthony Ranaudo has a lot of promise. And the Sox signed most of their other picks.

This will probably end up being a quiet October but the Sox at least have some very good young players headed our way.

 

[ausbacker]

Geez Lackey is average. He's a lucky Lackey that the bats fired up.

 

[Nikolai]

The story of the 2010 Red Sox is missed opportunities.

Agreed. This isn't like 2008 or 2009 when the Rays and Yankees respectively were playing consistently good ball throughout the year. Both teams have struggled, but the Sox haven't been able to make up the ground.

The problem for all three teams next year is that Toronto might be good enough to throw a real wrench into the works.

 

[DarrylStingley]

The story of this season is three-fold.

1. Injuries. They've been epic. Name any other team in recent memory that has lost it's 1, 2, 3 and 4 hitters for huge parts of the same season, if you can.

2. Terrible pen. The Sox have blown an extraordinary amount of winnable games.

3. Missed opportunities. When all is said and done, things like losing the game last Thursday (up 5-2 in the 9th) and the game last Friday (up 8-2 with their supposed ace on the mound) will be a lot of the reason why the Sox are watching the playoffs from their living rooms.

I think there's a 4th item, too....not going out and getting some external help in early July, when the MFYs and Rays separated themselves from the Sox. But that's easier said than done so I'll not list it with the big 3 I noted above.

 

[MWPatsFan]

stick a fork in them. they have been cooked for awhile now.

This.

I get killed at work for saying this. But I don't think the Sox have any shot. Besides all the injuries, the two teams ahead of them could win 100 games. THAT is alot to overcome, even for a healthy team.

And I wish Lackey would stop getting a free pass. (Or does it just seem that way?)

 

[bigcountry75]

The story of this season is three-fold.

1. Injuries. They've been epic. Name any other team in recent memory that has lost it's 1, 2, 3 and 4 hitters for huge parts of the same season, if you can.

2. Terrible pen. The Sox have blown an extraordinary amount of winnable games.

3. Missed opportunities. When all is said and done, things like losing the game last Thursday (up 5-2 in the 9th) and the game last Friday (up 8-2 with their supposed ace on the mound) will be a lot of the reason why the Sox are watching the playoffs from their living rooms.

I think there's a 4th item, too....not going out and getting some external help in early July, when the MFYs and Rays separated themselves from the Sox. But that's easier said than done so I'll not list it with the big 3 I noted above.

Agreed....But this is all the more reason to be amazed at them only being 5.5 games back with 41 left to play.....They could reasonably win 95 games this season.....I know that won't get them into the playoffs but to win 95 games is a great season and the adversity they have overcome to have that chance is insane.....

 

[Nikolai]

The story of this season is three-fold.

1. Injuries. They've been epic. Name any other team in recent memory that has lost it's 1, 2, 3 and 4 hitters for huge parts of the same season, if you can.

The 2009 Mets come to mind. Reyes, Delgado, Wright, Beltran, etc. Look what happened to them. It could be worse.

 

[ausbacker]

This.

I get killed at work for saying this. But I don't think the Sox have any shot. Besides all the injuries, the two teams ahead of them could win 100 games. THAT is alot to overcome, even for a healthy team.

And I wish Lackey would stop getting a free pass. (Or does it just seem that way?)

Lackey and Beckett have been ****. There's no other way around it.

 

[DarrylStingley]

The 2009 Mets come to mind. Reyes, Delgado, Wright, Beltran, etc. Look what happened to them. It could be worse.

The 2009 Mets are indeed a decent comp. That said, the Sox injuries go well beyond 1-4. The only guys on the team who are key players and have not been on the DL are Lester, Lackey (too bad), Paps, Bard, Ortiz and Beltre. That's it.

I hope they give serious consideration to shutting Pedroia down for the season. I'm not doctor but when a player says that he should have been smarter and not tried to steal a base, I don't think that he should be playing for a team whose odds of making the playoffs are slim.

 

[captain insano]

josh beckett is just awful.

 

[captain insano]

Not yet. Still plenty of games to play.

They have 6 ea. with Yankees and Rays.

If they can stay anywhere within 2-4 games of either, then there is still hope, and the fat lady hasn't warmed up yet.

I still think Beckett is good for a couple of wins, but Francona needs to yank him a hell of a lot sooner than he has done. He has to stop being Mister nice guy , trying to get these guys past the 5th inning so they can get a win chalked up.

I would steal Wakefields uniforms and tell him the cleaners forgot to send them back.

They ant toast yet.

i want some of whatever your smoking.

 

[MWPatsFan]

josh beckett is just awful.

I think someone here had mentioned Beckett & Lackey as the 4th and 5th starters. That pretty much sums it up.

 

[Real World]

Agreed. This isn't like 2008 or 2009 when the Rays and Yankees respectively were playing consistently good ball throughout the year. Both teams have struggled, but the Sox haven't been able to make up the ground.

The problem for all three teams next year is that Toronto might be good enough to throw a real wrench into the works.

That GM in Toronto, who's name I will not even attempt to spell, is really piling up some nice talent. Their 6 games over .500 right now, and are likely to bring most of the team back next year. They have some good looking kids in minors too. The one move he made that had me scratchign my head, was Gose for Wallace. Aside from that though, they are building a talented base to work with. Too bad they have Wells' horrible deal going for another 4 years I think. Wow was that contract terrible.

 

[MWPatsFan]

That GM in Toronto, who's name I will not even attempt to spell, is really piling up some nice talent. Their 6 games over .500 right now, and are likely to bring most of the team back next year. They have some good looking kids in minors too. The one move he made that had me scratchign my head, was Gose for Wallace. Aside from that though, they are building a talented base to work with. Too bad they have Wells' horrible deal going for another 4 years I think. Wow was that contract terrible.

Makes one wonder where they would be if they still had Doc Holladay.

 

[ausbacker]

I'm a fairly optimistic type of person but the Red Sox are making post-season baseball an incredibly impossible task now.

 

[MWPatsFan]

I'm a fairly optimistic type of person but the Red Sox are making post-season baseball an incredibly impossible task now.

And now Pedey is back on the DL to boot.