95 wins is not going to get it done.  We need to Revamp the entire team or the Yankees are going to be our Daddy for the next 86 years.  Seriously though, we are fine and just got flat at the wrong time.  We are paying for not just giving Texiera 200 mil and getting that deal done.  Now we are just going to have to pay Mauer 30 mil. after next year.   And all the move Youk to third and get a power firstbaseman, I say that is nonsense.  If anything, get a Figgins at third and move Lowell to DH.  Who would you rather see at bat with a runner on second? No one can honestly say Ortiz.  Lowell is a RBI machine and clutch.  Papi is in severe decline. We will get Mauer after next season and there is your rotation at 1st,3rd and catcher.  If you get Figgins, then the DH spot would be in the rotation for Mauer, Martinez, and Youk.  Great versatility, and better speed.  And if Wake doesn't want to come back then we need to sign Lackey so the MFY don't.  A poor time to have a few bad games is all that happened and I say we are going to be fine.  Resign Bay, Wagner and Saito- get Figgins and let Lowrie have his shot ( he will hit at least .235 for less money than gonzo) and hope we are hot at playoff time next year.  Anyone who is so doom and gloom, sell me your season tickets, throw away your pink Boston hat and be a Yankee fan, You won't be missed.

Also, If not Bay then who?  Abreu would be a great option for 2 years and cheap.  Less HR but obp and deep counts plus a rocket for an arm in the outfield. Or how about .......  I can't even type his name, but the beard and Jesus look would be fun to see. Not many options and Bay is solid fit in the clubhouse already so why mess with it? I am glad I am not Theo.... He now officially has the toughest Job in New England.

I say unload the farm system now while the proven players are available.  We have the money to pay big salaries and the pieces to trade.  Get Halladay before the Yanks sweep in.  Get Gonzalez or Martinez. Empty the farm because with that pitching and Us paying Mauer 25 million in 2011 who is going to make the club?  Think it over...  Beckett, Lester, Halladay, Dice and whoever - then you have ells, pedy, youk, and vmart (in my scenario)plus going to have mauer, probably jbay. what spots are available for the guys coming up?  I say trade Paps before Bard and keep reddick and bowden and trade the rest to get halladay and vmart(or agon). Why wait for potential, get what is proven.  Plus we can rebuild the farm quick with our resources and scouting.  I believe Paps in a three team deal is a very valuable piece to the upcoming puzzle.  Am I the only one who thinks this?  Also Scutero could be a great piece with Halladay.

A sign that our front office is great is the fact that at 20-12 we feel like our team stinks.  We have such high expectations that anything short of 26- 5 is failure!  All of us would have taken 20-12 at the beginning of year, The fact that Ortiz has no HR's and our Starters have been lackluster (don't get me on Lugo!) we cannot get discouraged. We should rejoice that we are on a 100 win pace despite these things!  Ortiz may not hit 30, but he will get his average up and hit some homeruns.  Our starting pitching will get better and Lowrie will be back and Drew will get better(he always starts slow). So at 20-12 we should be happy and keep our concerns low and not blow them out into full fledged panic. Relax......until Paps comes in and then prepare for a stessful rollercoaster ride called the 9th inning. And to think, I did'nt mention injuries.

What the dodgers should do is get Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn for less than the 25 million on Manny.  Those Guys will generate ticket sales and more importantly, wins.  Dunn can play first and Abreu in the outfield.  they will generate the same  offensive numbers for you as well with the added benefit of two guys a pitcher has to worry about.  If you have discussed this already, forgive me.  But how is this a bad plan?

Do you trade pitching prospects for catching prospects?  Or do you hold on to them and sign a few short term deals with has-beens (how about Pudge?) until our catching prospects arrive?

I have always said to trade prospects for proven players, but this has not proven to be so wise in hindsight. while Santana would have been nice, the prospects are all parts of our club. So I am not sure. Now add the fact that what we would be trading for is a Catcher prospect.  Salty or Teagarden (the better of the two) are as major league tested as Buch.  So do you make the trade?  I am inclined to say yes for two reasons:

1: everyday player for fifth day player

2: Catching talent is scarcer than pitching.

Plus really skinny guys never last.

Congratulations to Barack Obama and all who voted for him.  And to the county as a whole, the peaceful (and ease of)  transfering power has always amazed me.  With that being said, is George W. Bush the next commissioner of MLB? Or do you think Bob Costas or George Mitchell is the guy?  Since Bush is now an ex-president ,  I thought I would start this debate. He did say on Larry King that he was not looking for the job and Selig may never leave.  On a side note, my daughter said Selig looks like Slugworth from Willy Wonka.......

With all the talk on Varitek now and his "handling the staff" as a major plus and also his "clubhouse presence" as another, I often wonder what is the most important and/or overlooked intangible for Baseball.  Some would argue handling the staff is tangible, but it is not a stat we can firmly stand on.  The Red Sox in the past have had teams with great players but had the "25 cabs for 25 players club house". We never won the World Series.  So My opinion is that the clubhouse presence is the most valuable intangible (MVI). What say you?

[Note by Randy Booth, 01/19/09 3:17 PM EST ] Figured I'd add this to the front page for a little more exposure.

What a bunch of bad fans we at Red Sox Nation are.  We all talk about loyalty and that players should take less "for the team". Fine, but we then cannot turn on them. Jason Varitek Has been our captain and we now want to throw him overboard.  Where is our loyalty?  Does he not deserve it? Should we be asking him to please come back?  Shouldn't he get the 20 mil for two years as a thank you and out of the Teams loyalty? We love Pedroia's loyalty, but it has to go both ways or we are just MFY Fans.  Maybe the guy was going through a divorce and that impacted his offensive stats.  Maybe he comes back and hits .255 with 17 HR's.  The clubhouse will be better with him, and it is a big factor. Ask the Yankees about "on paper" teams and how it has worked for them.  But that is what we do, plug in a guys potential .280 and say how much better we will be.  It may be true, but we should be better than that.  I am not happy with Tek's numbers, but I am more unhappy with Sox fans lack of loyalty and double standards.  I know the Boris thing clouds this, and we need to get a young guy for the future. But Jason was in the trenches with us, and we cannot turn on him.  We can, but then we are as classless as the New York Fans.

Lugo - excellent (first time with him in the same vicinity)

Baldeli - Excellent (if healthy of course)

How many teams have this quality ready to fill in?

Now, why is Dusty Brown not a candidate? Or even Mentioned ever? 84 games at AAA and .290 and 12 Knocks? can't do worse than Tek!

And Carter or Bailey are adequate as that third option.  I believe that trading Bowden or Buchholz for a catcher prospect (salty or teagarden) is not the way to go.  Surviveat that position for 2 years and either our prospects pan out or Mauer is a free agent.

Spend some money and create a buzz.  That is what the yankees do and in fact needed to do( season tickets and luxury suites).  But as for on the field, did they really improve over 2008? I say the got better defensively and that's it.  All you stat guys can respond with the details, I am a macro guy.  The bottom line is Tex replaces Abreu and Giambi and in my head those 2 guys killed us.  Also Giambi always got big, clutch hits.  His HR's always counted unlike A-rods 9-1 game solo shots.  CC and AJ replace Moose and Pettite.  Again, for 2009 are the newbies going to put up more wins?  Long term it may work for the yanks, but they did not get better than 2008.  They have as many questions as we do with health and age, and they are in no way as deep as we are.  Furthermore, What is their bullpen consist of?  With this being said, I really don't think the Yanks are the team to beat.  If I know this, so does Cash, so I am predicting they will slide in at the end (ala Tex) and sign Manny.  And with that they will slug their way to the WS.  Although Chemistry may be the X factor. Am i wrong here?