(Untitled)

[annalisa]

from msn sports

Boston Red Sox

(The Curse: Act II)

So the Sox spend more than $120 million and still might wind up in third place. Pitching has been the problem, but if they'd resisted the off-season temptations, then they'd still have Bronson Arroyo, Anibal Sanchez and Cla Meredith still in the fold. Wicked stupid, as they say.

i completely agree,

Comments

[boston1100]

I think this off-season is going to be one of the busiest in Red Sox history. (For the record, it wasn't Crisp for Bronson, it was WILLYMO. I love Willymo.) Nixon will most likely be shipped out, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

This year was shitty. We had GREAT potential, let's face it -- Schilling, Wake, Wells, Clement, Beckett in the rotation, etc.. We had pitching coming out the ass. Papelbon, Foulke, and Timlin at the back of the bullpen -- adding a couple of historically solid arms like Tavarez, and having phenoms like Hansen and solid rookies like Delcarmen made the bullpen solid. But who needs long relief when you have that rotation? Damn, we were solid in pitching, but we fucking collapsed with injury. Everybody hit the carpet except for Beckett, and he was a disappointment.

We had amazing potential in the field and at the plate, too. Ortiz, Ramirez, Nixon, Crisp, Varitek, and Yuke leading the charge offensively. We looked to come out smelling like a rose, especially when Crisp was a fucking monster in spring training. Again, injuries.... Varitek disappointed bigtime. Lowell payed off huge, though I wouldn't count on it again in 07. Offensively, we balanced out fine. Defensively, we were a force.

But pitching wins it.

Next season, Nixon is gone. Yuke is a rock at first, Loretta is gone in favor of a bigger name. Gonzalez stays or goes -- haven't decided. If he goes, he goes in a big-name trade. Lowell goes, in anticipation of a disappointing follow-up year.

Crisp - CF
Vidro - 2B
Ortiz - DH
Ramirez - LF
Pena - RF
Huff - 3B
Varitek - C
Youkilis - 1B
Gonzalez - SS

Yuke provides on-base percentage and pop to the bottom of the order while the top of the order is a fucking run-factory. Question-marks surround Pena and Huff. RF and 3B are huge questions next year. We know what to expect from everybody else. We know the kind of player we want at 2B. I think we need a speedier Todd Walker. We need a Bill Mueller with speed at second.

Rotation: Beckett, Schilling, Wake.
Look for a name like Zito entering the mix. Papelbon, if we snag a big-name closer, or if Foulke decides to stop being a pussy, should be back in the rotation.

Bullpen: Biggest question mark, and will need the largest check. Look for young arms to shoulder the load. Hansen should be good to go. Look for Lester, maybe, to move to long relief, if he comes back next year. Timlin is fucking gone. He's washed up, though he had a great start to 06. I want Baez on this fucking team. He's wasting his arm pitching for Tampa Bay. They never get into a save-situation. They're always blown out by Toronto every time I check.

Hinsek smells like trade. Lowell has very high trade value this year, with a slim chance of throwing egg on our face. He's not going to do better than he did in 06. That was his last gasp, the last shot in the arm. We can't lose in keeping Foulke. If we trade him, he will probably rebound phenomenally for a team like Seattle, and become a Baez, running his arm into the ground.

We started 06 with sooo many starting pitches. And look what happened. We finished the season throwing Tavarez out there on a prayer. Even Schilling was out for a month. Beckett sucked ass. Lester has fucking CANCER. What the HELL? Clement was the biggest suckjob of a starter I've seen in a LONG time, this year, and ended up hurting himself. Moron. Wells pitched 4 fucking innings all year. Papelbon had to rescue the closer-roll, and we ended up fatiguing his arm. He could have won 20 games this year. He let up LESS THAN A RUN PER NINE INNINGS. That is, essentially, if the offense scored a mere RUN, we win every start he makes. At least we didn't eat shit when we gave up Pedro. He turned out to be the problem we thought he'd become. Maybe we're fucking learning. Once he heads to the Yankees, we're fucked. The Mets is Martinez's Toronto. He'll go to the Yankees. They all do.

[annalisa]

lol mike, first of all, thank you for making a comment longer than the entry itself.

second, my mistake about the arroyo trade! i love wily mo pena, but i feel like he doesn't get to play as much as he really does, and ugh! bronson arroyo! i'm still really upset lol.

but yes basically, this year was like upupupup.. CRASHANDBURN. the off season is going to be insane, definitely, but i don't think i'll be going into the 07 season optimistically.