Well, I'd like to say I'm always right. But while I'm still not a fan of the trade ...
* I agree with Steve. I can't count out the Sox entirely. This is a weak division. Toronto has bulked up, but they're bullpen is weak. And their starters (Johnson, Dickey) aren't guarantees. I concede they're the early favorites, but I wouldn't be surprised if they faltered. Same goes for the Orioles, Rays and Yanks. * I still need to see what sort of pitchers Webster and Ruby turn out to be. Both are far from locks, but if they turn into bona fide major league pitchers - good MLB pitchers - I need to reexamine the trade. * Carl Crawford, who I've defended vigorously, disappointed me with his statements about how rough things were in Boston. He got the royal treatment here. He never got creamed by anyone, so the fact that he walked away from this experience feeling beaten and battered forces me to reconsider his likelihood of succeeded. (I still can't stomach the, "the Sox learned only certain players can play here" sentiments. That's always been a factor. No new lessons to learn here.) * It will all depend upon Lester and Buccholz. Papi's injury is a pretty big deal in my book, but perhaps Jackie Bradley's surprising surge can help offset the lost of offense. Napoli, I don' t know what to make of him. I put the over-under on games played at 110. We overpaid for Vittorino and Dempster. I worry about Dempster getting shelled. * I'm going to give Lackey the benefit of the doubt. So, if Middlebrooks and Salty cream the ball; Pedroia comes back, Bradley and Ellsbury do what we hope they can do, and the pitchers pitch well, tihs could be an interesting season. I put them at 85-88 wins. On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 6:42 PM, Steve Ouellette <[email protected]>wrote: > It's not clear to me that the Sox won't contend this year. They're not > going to win 100 games, but I wouldn't be surprised to win 90 (or 75 for > that matter). Yes, I'd rather have the Rays or the Jays rosters, but I > don't see either as dominant, and I would bet cash money on the Sox being > better than the Yankees and Orioles. > > They should score runs just fine and the bullpen should be very good. The > whole season comes down to whether the starting pitching holds up -- namely > Lester and Buchholz. They've both been very good in the not so distant > past, and they've both been excellent in spring training. If that carries > over to the regular season, they'll be a playoff team. If it doesn't, > they're screwed. > > I'm still not buying the John Lackey rebirth though. The quicker we can > run him out of town and bring up Allen Webster, the better. > > Steve O > > > On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 2:39 PM, Ray Salemi <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Question for the assembled. >> >> It's clear that the Red Sox are not going to contend this year. While I >> doubt they will win only 77 games, I don't think they'll break 81 by much. >> >> They have no proven rotation. They have no one in the lineup who hit >> over 30 home runs last year. They are strong up the middle (Salty, Petey, >> Inglasias, Elsbury) but not overly so. They have problems at both corners, >> and at DH. >> >> So here's my question. Was Tom right to complain that the Sox had tossed >> away their talent with no chance of replacing them? Or, was the chemistry >> of that talent so toxic that it wouldn't have made a difference. >> >> I read an article this week in SI about the Rays and their systematic way >> of growing a team. Then I think about the Sox hiring a crazy old Grandpa >> like Bobby Valentine to run their team. I suspect that the Sox would be >> in a similar spot whether or not the did the trade because the trade was >> not the problem. >> >> So was Tom Right? >> >> Ray >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Red Sox Citizens" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Red Sox Citizens" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Red Sox Citizens" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
