This is a team that collapsed last year because it lacked starting pitching.

Spring training is six weeks away, and what have they done to strengthen it? Nothing.

Payroll ….. Really?? This organization has more money than God!! These guys make millions like we make 200 bucks for passing go … What a joke! 

release Ortiz and trade Marco S., Bobby Jenks, Darnell McDonald and prospects for Hanley Ramirez and get Oswalt or Edwin Jackson AND Prince Fielder

That Jenks deal looks pretty good now, huh? 12-13 million down the bloody drain. They really do not have much flexibility here.Dice K 8 plus, 31 plus for Lackey and Josh B, Youk at 12 mill, Scutoro at 6 plus……Youk may have to go, I would rather Oswalt than him, it is a tough call but i do not see anywhere else they can shed payroll.

Gibba 1924 I agree, they have plenty of dough because fools pay a fortune to go, or even better fans go just to say they went.Every game on cable(NESN) tickets way out of reach for the peasants, 50 parking, 8 for a beer, your right, what a joke…..

Trade Scutaro for prospect(s), suffer with no offense from Iglesias and use the $ toward Oswalt. Where’s Ike Delock? 

All talk and no action!  Another ‘headline’ report, amongst others, that goes from a ‘positive’
and turn intos into a ‘negative’ in real short order.  Supposedly Roy Oswalt’s ‘one year’ deal
at a very low pricewas a perfect scenario, but now they say a roster move would have to be
made to free up the payroll.  Are they really in  such dire straits?  If so, then just make the
roster move.  Another ‘proven’ starting pitcher is sorely needed. Don’t just ‘Talk the talk’, it’s
time to ‘Walk the walk’ !      

They better do something and fast! The Skankees now have Sabathia,Burnett,Garcia,Kuroda, and Penada from the Mariners via a trade? Our rotation Lester,Beckett,Buckholtz,Bard, and Silva,Cook,Padilla,Miller,and Dubront! Its looking like we’ll be fighting for 3rd place

This post has to be a joke right? Prince? Where would you put him donkey?

Now we’re back to the 90′s where they were constatnly whining about money…can’t spend with the Yankees…blah-blah-blah…

Maybe the new re-alignment will come thru and they can move to the AL West…they better figure out a way to get more $$ to compete with the Yankees, or start developing players like the Rays, or they will be the new Baltimore Orioles…

…Oops, The Duke will probably find a way re-vitalize those guys, and we’ll be the 4th place team.

Ben is a compaany man carrying out money bags John Henry’s instructions. Tired of hearing this money thrift BS with this team with his soccer team, racing team and all that.

Sell the Liverpool soccer team and sign Oswalt.Silva,Padilla,and Cook are inadequate and
Boston has no guarantees that Clay B is healthy.

I wonder if the Sox could move Jenks and an upper level prospect to Theo to reduce payroll. Cubs have cash and need prospects.

I don’t share your pessimism.  I would say they are pretty evenly matched starting rotations.  Kuroda and Pineda are good additions but they are no guarantees in the AL and especially in the AL East.  Burnett is a hit and miss.  Garcia is decent.  I would give the Yanks a slight edge in the bottom part of the rotation but whoever from Lester, Beckett, Buchholz and Bard are your top three starters, assuming all healthy, are slightly better than what the Yankees have.

The lineups are more or less evenly matched too if you look at one through nine.  Yankees obviously have an edge in the bullpen with the departure of Papelbon and Bard (to the starting rotation) and arrival of relative unknown question marks of Melancon and Bailey.

My favorite quote of the article “at least one scout was impressed with the way he finished the season”. Are you kidding me? Each team has at least one so those odds are not worth noting. Oswalt would be a pricey #4 or #5 in the rotation but they took a chance on Smoltz a few years ago for $5 million. I say do it! You can’t have enough arms, what’s 8 million anyway?

Beckett, Lester, Bucholz, Bard is a really good top 4

wow you clearly know nothing about how baseball works

are you kidding me you are such an idiot. your asking for hanley oswalt or jackson and fielder we arnt getting any of them except oswalt or jackson. one question were does gonzalez go after we get fielder none of them want to be DH

The question is Bard…he’s being asked to move up considerably in innings pitched…they’ll have to get this kid stretched out in Florida….but regardless, there will be injuries and we need more arms…Padilla is OK and can fill in…maybe….I’d still like to see them work something out for Roy or make a deal for Garza…which would be harder to do because Theo knows what we have…speaking of Theo, if he had any remorse, he’d take Jenks…and his salary…but that won’t happen….

Here we go, poor cash-strapped red sox.  HEY JOHN HENRY !! SELL YOUR GAY NASCAR TEAM, NO ONE CARES

Matsuzaka GONE!!!  There you go!  Problem solved!!

Padilla just signed I guess that means no Oswalt.

Another bridge year?  Another 3rd place finish.

To those that say that the money paid out in bad deals does not matter (DICE K, JENKS, LACKLUSTER) I could go on…..this is WHY IT DOES MATTER.

Wowww! YOU IDIOTS! Did you watch last September? 

I think you forgot one of there best pitcher’s Nova who won more games then anybody on the sox, Beckett is always hurt, Buchotlz is coming off a injury and missed more then 2 months, Lester has taken a step backwards and can’t even beat Baltimore in  a must win game the last week of the season. Yankees have improved and are the east champions the Sox are worst then last year and have missed the playoffs the last two years

If the Sox can get either Oswalt or Jackson they need to get it done.The penny pinching was great with great upside but now we are the Red Sox with huge financial backing so get one of these stars.

 I see the Sox coming in 3rd place, at best. Pitching is the name of the game and the Sox haven’t any “sure things” on the staff. The Yanks improved themselves greatly and the Rays have good pitching.

Third Place if everything falls favorably for Boston.  I’m not expecting much this season, third place might be a stretch.

Just sign him

I am so tired of this crap. Please Rob, find something to write about other than what the Sox can’t do. The Sox DON’T have to make a corresponding roster move if they really want to compete. How about this, get rid of Lucino, that will free up some salary. What does the guy do anyway?

The Sox have not made the playoffs the past 2 years. The irony is this; one more wild card will be added for the 2012 season making 5 playoff spots and the Sox still won’t make the playoffs. Yanks, Tampa, Rangers, Angels, are much stronger than the Sox and add the AL Central Div. winner and that will round out the 5 playoff teams.

Agree with your assessment. After last Sept. the Red Sox should concentrate on winning and going far into the playoffs, not worrying about the luxury tax and limiting their acquisitions of reliable starting pitchers. They have money, but where is the will to go for it this year? Not a happy fan, who will not buy any book or brick. 

Sorry this team has just four quality players if Ellsbury repeats. Gonzo Pedy Ortiz and Ells. Youk is a physical wreck. Pitch around these three and you win. Crawford cannot handle bigtime pressure.

Pitching is a joke as verified in september collapse. Interleague you lose Ortiz.

Could finish fourth after Toronto unless MGT decides to get agressive and add some real offense and quality pitching.

It could get real ugly by July.

What happened to Dice-K? Is he not going to be ready by ST?

So isn’t Sabbathia, Pineda, Kiroda, Nova, Hughes.  Garcia is long man/spot starter . We trade Burnett for either a DH or hitting prospects.

Good luck trying to beat the Angels or Rangers for second wild card.

That, for once, is a lucid response. These wankers have more money than the Rolling Stones. Let Lucchino (sp?) eat cake? Then we can publicly behead him….

Sorry, the ? was only supposed to be in the parenthesis….

Don’t you just hate it when money gets tight around the house and Daddy says we just have to get by on $178 –ya know what that’s like right—ya miss out on the Beef Tenderloin and you go to the Pork Tenderloin and the HOTTTTTTT sausage or the KFC instead of ordering out  Hilltop’s winggggggggs.

Or when you have to go to Filene’s to get that #4 or #5 guy for the rotattion or wait for the sale at Macy’s for that RH hittiing power rightfielder or when Billy Beane calls after he has picked over all the FA’s in Northern Cal. and spent his $30–he tells you where you can go to find that little used lefty stopper that can get Cano out with the bases juiced and you tell him I have to find a taker for Beckett first.

Life isn’t fair!!!!!

Give away Matsuzaka and Lackey even if u have to pay a few million of their salary.

“Maintain active dialogue” Isn’t that rich? They must be doing “due dilligence” too,while “kicking the tires”. I hope they remember to “discuss parameters” while they’re at it. Why don’t they just come out and say it. We are done. What you see is what you get. Now,how many tickets would you like?

Try telling that to the Jamesians over at OTM. They are very concerned about Mr. Henry financial security,and would do anything to keep the payroll down.  They will insult you,too, if you disagree.

They are running the team as if it were a small market,this Winter. Is everybody ready for another third place finish?

We can thank the former genius for this mess. The only thing this ownership did right was to dump T @ T

It’s all about priorities. The man is a billionaire,plus. The Sox are not number one. Why this management wouldnt  up the payroll enough to get one quality starter and some thump in RF is beyond me. Stranger still, there are stat geeks out there who think that not crying poor mouth is perfectly okay.

If we had a commisioner with some stones,owners wouldn’t be allowed to own more then one team.

I’m sure Jenks is not on Theo’s wish list.

Wish I could agree,but unless certain things happen, the Sox are done before the first pitch
1: Beckert must match last years season. 2 Lester has to get over the hump and be a better pitcher.3: Buckholtz must be healthy all season and win 15 to 18 games.4: Bard must shine as a starter. I’m talking about 200 innings,15 wins and an ERA below .300 If all that happened, and if one of the bottom feeders are at least,league average, they might have a chance.On the field, Crawford must return to form and Sweeney should only hit against rhders. Gonzalez needs to step it up. If he can hit 40 HR’s in San Diego, he should be able to do it here.

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES just freaking sign him figure out payroll later u need 6 starters to get it done an oswalt would be #3 here bucholtz wood be 4 and padilla and  bard  5th  dont want to hear about money already cant take my family to a game cause cant afford to pay parking tix and food 300 -400 $$$$$ easy just tix and parking  the are getting ins payments for lackeyandmatsuzaka so bulls@#t to the money issue

How about Eddie Bresoud?

They needed a top flight starting pitcher and all they did was have”active dialogue” while “discussing parameters” What a joke.

They are two players away from having a great chance. They did nothing. They may as well sell of the stars and and start all over.

Isn’t that a shame? They know they are close, but not good enough, and won’t do anything about it..Cheap Cheap Cheap.

Luchino is in charge, as Henry has lost interest.. Luchino is cheap.

Good for you.

Oh please..their payroll is high, but not high enough. They need to spend more to have a chance. They know it and you know it.

If you own the Red Sox and worry about payroll,get out of the game!