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They will hit. Something is up with Drew, he's hitting the ball on the ground to the second baseman every time I look and he has been hitting the ball on the ground MUCH more this season than his career shows. I think something if physically not right with him.

Lugo, eh, I don't know. I was never a fan of bringing him in to begin with. If he's not hitting by June, I want him dropped to the bottom of the order and Youkilis leading off with Pedroia second. That way when Drew heats up, that's a fearsome fivesome with Lowell batting sixth, the offense will hit much better. mahalo
~Chach~

Looking at what Theo has done since the W.S, the bad outweigh the good:

Bad:
Matt Clement Signing
Not Keeping Orlando Caberera
Signing Renteria, then trading him too soon a year later
Not re-signing Gonzalez
Signing Lugo
Arroyo-Pena Trade
JD Drew
2005, 2006 Bullpens
Signing Coco Crisp
Doug Mirabelli Trade

Good:
Becket/Lowell Trade
2007 Bullpen
Okijima

Theo didn't do the Beckett/Lowell trade... that happened when he was away from the Red Sox FO.

I would include not signing Pedro and Damon to the good columns too. Lowe looks bad right now but he was pitching like crap all of three playoff series and on a downward slide. I don't think anyone really could have predicted him pitching like this.

Gonzo was a short term fix. If we had someone like Hanley in the system to take his place in a year or two, then he would have been smart. But nobody predicted that Jed Lowrie would hit like this and he still has a lot to prove if he wants to make it. So Lugo was a better long term investment that is not panning out. mahalo
~Chach~

Renteria had one bad year, I don't know why he gave up on Edgar so quickly. And we had to pay Edgar's salary last year while he was an All-Star. Theo could have avoided that by just brining back Caberera. OR: Gonzalez was a gold glove calibur SS, and is hitting better than Lugo this year (.270/10 homers compared to .225/3 homers for Lugo) Lugo isn't a great lead off hitter, .270 career average is crap for a leadoff guy. There was really no need to bring in Drew, he gets hurt all the time and he has only really had two great years. We trade Pena for Arroyo, might as well use Pena to make one of the worst trades in history somewhat respectable for the Sox. Crisp and Damon are both good fielders, but Damon has a waaaay better bat. Mirabeli sucks, Bard hits cleanup in San Diego with a .300+ average and Meredith was the best setup man in the NL last year.

Matt Clement signing looked great till he took the Crawford ball to the head.

HeelSox wrote:Matt Clement signing looked great till he took the Crawford ball to the head.

I disagree with the shot he took to the head caused his troubles. He actually pitched quite well the first two or three starts after the hit to the head. His issue was he reverted back to his sucky second half trend.

Look at Clement in 05. He had a horrible July with a 8.88 era, came back(after shot to head) in August going 2-0 with a 3.86 era. Then back to his terrible pitching in September with a 6.00 ERA.

It seems that everybody falls in love with the stuff that Clement had. And I guess Theo thought he would be able to put it all together in Boston. On a positive side it could have been worse, we could have signed Carl Pavano.

True, at least we got the all-Star first half out of Clement.

Theo has done alot more good then what you posted.

Re-signing david ortiz
Keeping manny happy, year in and year out.
Drafting many of the young stars we have coming up.
re-signing tek.
Daisuke
And like chach mentioned, letting the players go at the right time. Such as pedro, and damon.

and there are many others. What I am trying to say is, you could do alot worse then Theo Epstein as your GM.

Celtics_champs wrote:Theo has done alot more good then what you posted.

Re-signing david ortiz
Keeping manny happy, year in and year out.
Drafting many of the young stars we have coming up.
re-signing tek.
Daisuke
And like chach mentioned, letting the players go at the right time. Such as pedro, and damon.

and there are many others. What I am trying to say is, you could do alot worse then Theo Epstein as your GM.

Keeping Manny happy?
Tek's production has dropped a lot since signing that deal
Daisuke, only time will tell, right now its a mixed bag
Damon had a great first year in NY, by comparsion Crisp has sucked both years, so you would have to consider it a mistake.

Varitek is in the third year of a four year deal. His production each year has been:
2005:.288/.366/.489
2006:Was injured and had atrocious stats. Won't even bother typing them.
2007:.267/.357/.453
When the deal was signed, the worry was that he would be good the first two years of the deal and the last two would suck. Well, right now, it's shaping up to be Year 1 and 3 be the good year with an injury thrown in the middle. He is declining, of course, but he is still an offensive threat and he handles the pitching staff well. Certainly overpaid but hardly a mistake. Theo's mistake was making a rash decision in trading for Mirabelli again and giving up Bard, who is not only productive but was needed last year when Tek went down.

Damon did have a great first year in New York and Crisp was injured. Hardly something that can be blamed on Theo. So far, in Year 2 of both players, both have sucked something fierce. We know Coco's line, Johnny's is .264/.358/.363 and with bad legs that have limited his already questionable defense. Coco has at least been a force playing defense, even if he can't bat.

The thing with Damon is that his value is tied into the fact that he had speed and his offensive production is good for CF. You move him off of CF and his value immediately drops. His leg injuries are hurting his value now and this downward slide is only going to continue. His running into walls act, while admirable, wears on players and I can't see him being terribly productive in CF next year or the year after. He would have to switch positions, either to LF or 1st or DH, at which point his offense would be marginalized. Theo saw this projection and make the correct choice in letting him walk. Just like Pedro, you lose a year or two of good play but avoid an injury and an albatross in a position that you can easily find a replacement for. mahalo
~Chach~

BS007 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Keeping Manny happy?
Tek's production has dropped a lot since signing that deal
Daisuke, only time will tell, right now its a mixed bag
Damon had a great first year in NY, by comparsion Crisp has sucked both years, so you would have to consider it a mistake.

Manny isnt exactly thrilled. But whenever I look in the dugout. He is there. and he is smiling.

I would take tek anyday over anybody that was out there at the FA time.

Was getting Crisp a mistake? Maybe in hindsight, but if Crisp never gets into that freak accident maybe he's hitting .300/.350/.450 with great (the best I've ever seen in Boston at least) CF defense right now.

Of course he broke his finger and he can't OPS .600 now, but yeah. Looking at Crisp's Cleveland years, and advancing him a couple years there is no way he hits this poorly without something catastrophic happening.

I'm OK with Crisp being a blackhole on offense because his defense is just so god damn good. I think he'll eventually get his stroke back.

Unfortunately for Crisp he will become the odd man out. There is no real viable option to replace Lugo, there are options to replace him though.

For Lugo, Cora could come in and give him a day off from time to time, but like i said (or did I?) Cora isn't an everyday option. If this team was hitting i could live with Crisp, but right now this team isn't and i can't stand Crisp, even with his defense