Amen.

merloni, u coulndt have said it any better, but i think the reason why the sox did not sign him is because A GON is coming to town, they got a couple draft picks including a mid first rounder in letting Vic walk, the sox are going to have to give up 2-3 mid-top prospects and a major league ready bat, thats what i would want in return for a guy like A GON if i was jed hoyer over in san diego, because of how cheap he is and because of his production batting and fielding wise

I hope you don’t mean the guy from SD, are the Sox going to give up Bard, Bucholtz, and another player because that’s what they want. And if they do get him he will want 20 million a year, not a chance

I was really disappointed they let V-Mart walk. HUGE mistake. Only time will tell.

Don’t look for the Red Sox to make any big trades or signings this winter. They may actually believe their own hype that Kalish, McDonald, Salty, Anderson, Bowden, and a few others are actually Major League caliber players. Salty is the next Red Sox catcher. And maybe Varitek will back him up if they don’t wait too long. Other than that look to them to rebuild the bullpen with retreads and maybe Doubront, move Lowrie to third and hope to sign a free agent next winter. It’s going to be a long summer in Boston in 2011. But hey the fans will buy tickets anyways and in John Henry’s world that’s all that matters.

Martinez was far and away my biggest priority for the Sox this year. Not Theo’s. We won’t know Theo’s plan until February. It’s not my money but with Papi’s and Drew’s money coming off the books next year, I’m not seeing the reason to skimp on paying a catcher. Theo must really believe that Salty is the guy and is banking on it. Taking Martinez out of the lineup and out of the clubhouse has left a big void in each.

This is nuts. Even if Theo gets Upton or Crawford, it’s a “wash” offensively—and leaves the Sox with basically a rookie behind the plate. Either he pulls a few rabbits out of his *^# or Boy Blunder needs to go. I’m hearing 6 for $140 for Lee, but he wants more? Absolutely ridiculous.

Nice to read some true sports reporting rather than some of the lazy stories we see from the more well known newspaper “writers.” You need a plan to rebuild a team and Theo doesn’t seem to have one. I was always worried that it was easier to add one or two parts to a team another GM built than rebuild much of a team and now my worries are becoming reality. Sox will be competitive based on their pitching but could be great with a stronger GM in place.

Lou I can understand you trying to stir up the pot abit but you made the same comments when the Sox traded Manny for Bay you thought that this was totally foolish that Bay would not help that much and he certainly did.I would like to hear something positive from you who should the Sox sign.Enjoy
Thanksgiving.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Ortiz vs LH Pitching
AB HR RBI AVG
185 2 24 .222

VMart vs LH Pitching
AB HR RBI AVG
155 12 39 .400

Stupid is as stupid does. Every year we go through this. Letting marquee players go and signing has beens, never were’s or combacking players. Every year the sox have to rebuild and fill spots based on who’s available rather than what’s the best player available. They are going to lose 2 huge RH bats and not matter what the spins is, they will not be replaced. Isn’t singing Vmart for 50 mil better than crawford/worth for 100mil? Isn’t Vmart and Beltre for 110 mil for both of them better than Agon for 180 mil? This team will not make the playoffs no matter who Theo decides is going to be the catcher, play 3b and LF. What a joke this organization has become. Every player that leaves here is doing so with a bad taste in their mouths. The boy genius has grown up and I don’t like what I see.

Well said Lou

Lou,
These are your words”defensively is he great?.no but who is?”…..exactly my point about Napoli….26 homers last year,and as I say not that bad defensively!….that would fill in the void left by Victor..
Forget about Varitek….he is not as great a game caller as everyone thinks..when they lose 13-2,did he call a good game?…..

Lou,
I don’t understand how you can blame the Red Sox for letting an elite hitter (on his position…) go while you then say that pitching wins, and not powerful lineups, championships (TB, SF…).
Not saying I would have let Victor go, just that post doesn’t make sense to me.

http://www.stevedakota.com/2010/11/red-sox-cliff-lee-i-say-yes/

Babe Ruth made NO sense either. For fan popularity Sox kept Big Papi, why because they are the owners. I’d take VMart over Papi anyday. Cheer up anyway, Christmas is coming!!! Team must have a vision, without a vision everything becomes unclear, time will tell. Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone and Praise God for all His Goodness and Grace. He Loves Us All !!!

I like Vmart myself, but facts are facts.

1. He has trouble throwing out runners.
2. The team’s ERA when he is catching is higher.
3. He is an excellent hitter as a catcher. But as a first baseman (which we
already have in Youk, who is a better hitter than Vmart) he isn’t one of the top hitters at that position. And hopefully, Youk will be the third baseman and Gonzalez at first.

4. As a DH, he would be grossly overpaid. As you see around the league, having a single DH is less and less utilized and the pay scale is much less.

Overall, I think we need to see the final product before making any judgements and not just in April. It very well may be that a Gonzlez deal won’t happen to July.

Great Post, Lou.

I couldn’t agree more. I remember so many fabulous at bats where VM wore down pitchers with very long at bats, ultimately getting a hit, and then the flood gates would open, as the pitcher was tired out by VM. He was often a very difficult out. Think about Drew, Salty, and even Elsbury, who so often swing and miss and look bad, VM was a class act, and I agree that the Red Sox should have paid him what he wanted to keep him.

This was a huge mistake in my opinion, too.

Nathan

This all moot…The Giants may have won the World Series with pitching, but outside of Lincecum it was bats that got them there. And so what if Adrian Gonzalez comes to town…all he does is replaces Beltre’s bat (you know there is no way Beltre stays). That still leaves us with no one to replace V-Mart’s. And when was the last time Salty actually played a whole season? He gets sick or hurt every other week.

Gary already has got the Red Sox spin. does anybody really think Adrian Gonzalez is coming here? He will want 20 million a year, does anybody think these owners will spring for that contract? Now people are saying he is not a good catcher and to pay that money for a DH is crazy. They had no problem giving Ortiz 12.5 million dollars, or over pay for Drew for 4 years 14 million, And signing Slackey for 85 million and he sucks, these fans talk out of both sides of there mouth. As far as starting pitching goes Beckett and Lackey are average at best, they are both horrible so lets not compare them to SF. How does everybody feel about Ortiz and Drew who can’t hit against left handed pitchers. This team has taken a huge step backwards

John Henry has a soccer team to pay for now, Sox are a after thought.

Right on the money Ace

I would of been happy if they resigned v mart but then I remembered how teams would run wild on the sox and then it wasn’t so bad idk if salty is better defensively then v mart but then again who isnt right? With that said I think theo is too sprung on salty. Upton sounds like the better option at outfielder but he’s not a free agent is he?

I am sorry, but I am not surprised at all by this. THEO has struck out over and over again for 3 years running. Sorry, he’s no boy wonder. When they do pay out the dough they pay it out to the wrong guys…and they cheap out over and over again at the wrong time and with the wrong guys. The bad decisions continue to mount.

Lou is absolutly right!
This is a horror show.
First Beltre…………now Victor!
And PappelBum is still here???

“They had no problem giving Ortiz 12.5 million dollars, or over pay for Drew for 4 years 14 million”

I’m getting a little tired of idiot Red Sox fans. These are the same idiot fans fans by the way who posted in May that they didn’t want Victor Martinez to be behind the plate. Forget being a catcher for the life of the contract, he’s not an every day catcher right now!. He likely won’t catch a quarter of the Tigers games during the four year deal.

Oh yes….the value earned by Drew with the Red Sox according to fangraphs?

$57.6M, what was he paid during this time? $52M. So how is J.D. Drew an overpay?

David Ortiz’s value in 2010? $13.5M, 2011 salary? $12.5M.

we here in Ddddetroit thanku very much are two catchers are wack….

It’s true that this organization has become a joke. When one remembers the great players who have played here and then imagine a total 20 HR outfield of Darnell McDonald, Ellsbury or Cameron, and Drew, it’s sickening. And Rod Barajas behind the plate? If you want to clean house like Florida has done after it’s world championships, why not just trade the veterans like the pitching staff, Pedroia, and Youk and bring up the minor leaguers and let them play? The reason why is because Henry wants to screw the Boston fans and let them believe he’s building a winner so he can fill seats while the rebuilding goes on. The Sox aren’t going anywhere for the next 3-4 years. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Orioles and Blue Jays pass them at some point. Remember the years pre 1967? They’re back.

So What your saying is Drew is worth the money? From 2007 to 2010 Drew had 76 homers 264 RBI’s in 525 games in 4 years for 14 million. Nick Swisher had 104 homers and 318 RBI’s in 4 years for 5 million a year. You can spin stats anyway you want, There isn’t anybody in baseball that would pay Drew anywhere near that salary. As a matter of fact anybody outside the Red Sox NATION would even say he is a good player. His batting average against left handed pitching is one of the worst in baseball. This is why this ownership can do whatever they want to there fans because they don’t care about there fans

Well I can’t imagine the Sox bringing Beltre back, and I feel like they are going to lose out on Crawford. So that leaves the red sox Jayson Werth, who I really think is not worth 5 yrs 100+ mil. Its to bad really, cause I was looking forward to the offseason before this happened. Hopefully the red sox can surprise me.

Now the word on the street is we are interested in Rod Barajas??????Does this make sense to anyone. He is going to be 36 and looks like he should be a bowler. YOU DON’T LET V-Mart GO! I think people who say he isn’t a good catcher read to much into the media. The first part of the season he had trouble throwing people out. He finished at 21%. Which still is below league average for MLB catchers. But he started the season at 3% or something. So he improved with Tuck helping him out. Secondly, the guy fractured a finger and was back in a month, and right away he started pounding the ball. Salty who we see as our future, lost 5 games he caught to start, than went on the DL for infection in knee, 2 games later done for the year torn tendon. He is 25. Earlier in the year Salty was DL because he couldn’t throw it back to the pitcher accurately. How do you think his pickoffs will play out????? Not saying he can’t turn it on, but to this point he has been Lars Anderson, a bust of great proportion. Not to mention, VMart hit .400 against lefties, guess who has 3 lefties(assumed), the Yankees, Sabathia,Lee,Petite. Good luck getting Napoli, Barajas and Salty to combine for .400 against lefties.

And you don’t have to find someone to catch Wake, which we aren’t sure Salty can do, let alone if Tek comes back!

Lastly in reply to Jason Bay, Drew has actually been about as consistent as we can get. Every year, people hate him, not saying I like him, but he always is has an OBP. of .380 or better, good for like 5th in the AL and he actually played quite a few good games for us in that strange right field. I don’t think he is worth 14 million but I don’t think he is terrible. He has no fire about him…watch the play when Jacoby stole home in 2009. Drew is at bat and it’s hilarious. Zero expression on his face, not even a smirk.

Your right he has been consistently bad. Batting under 200 against left handed pitching is a joke, he has never played more then 150 in his career. He hits with no power, drivers in no runs, and his batting average is not very good. OBP of 380 is good that’s because he doesn’t hit and lets the next guy drive in runs, that’s not what a 14 million dollar a year player is supposed to do. His contract is up after this year lets see what he gets paid then.

More pointless crap from the riviting Jason Bay. Wooooohoooooo, the jackass jason bay is here to bring all of our iq’s lower. What a bum you are, you f@gg0t!!

Lou, you make a very good argument except while the Sox let V-Mart go for a relatively microscopic $8 million over 4 years, you fail to mention that V-Mart walked away from the Sox for that same $8 million over 4 years. It’s a two-way street. I really like how management holds the line on what they feel is the value of a player. Look ay Jason Bay. There was a reason they wouldn’t budge on their offer, and Bay bolted for around the same difference in money that Victor did. Playing for the Sox is special. If Victor want’s to go to Detroit–DETROIT, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!–see ya. Let’s see how the off-season plays out and decide how we feel about the team in March, the summer, and in October.

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