WTF is this? Selling the team to the current owner of the Marlins and the old owner of the Padres? Neither successful owners, neither from New England.
Oh wait. They're friends with Selig and he wants the Expos owner to have the Marlins and the only way that will happen is if Henry gets the Red Sox? Makes perfect sense now.
At least we got Pokey Reese, Johnny Damon and John Burkett. And rid of Carl. And Nomo signed in LA for less than Boston offered him. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
.me. "i asked you onlooker, 'do you think my plot is just?' to stop would be the death of me, go on I must. i asked you onlooker 'do you think my pain is small?' i look back on the problems now, they weren't even there at all"
Larry Lucchino, who would be president and chief executive officer, said the priority is to renovate and expand Fenway, but if that doesn't work, "obviously we will have to make adjustments."
Henry had little comment about possible changes to the front office, particularly the fate of general manager Dan Duquette, saying it was too early to discuss reshuffling the organization. But Lucchino said to expect new faces.
Man, I am amped to hear Lucchino is involved in the Red Sox. This guy gets things done if he's the one I'm thinking of... I always get Kevin Towers and Larry Lucchino confused because they both came to town at the same time here.
Isn't Lucchino the guy who got the stadium built in Baltimore, and helped get San Diego in a position in 98 to put a stadium to a vote?
Heads will Roll. If they get the team, (still pending approval of 75% of the owners) I bet we see massive change in the Sox organization.
I wonder if Larry will try to steal away KT from San Diego...
I highly doubt Dan Duquette is going anywhere. He made brilliant decisions like signing Manny Ramirez and trading for Pedro Martinez. Obviously he is a true genius and understands that spending lots of money on a few good players is the key to winning championships.
I hate to trample on Red Sox fans' hopes, but you know, Johnny Damon's really not that great. He had a great season in 2000, but his 2001 was the worst of his career. And John Burkett is 37 years old.
And trading Carl Everett, that's good, but for Darren Oliver? Why not just sell the sumbitch to a Japanese team, you'll get better value with a bag full of yen than you will from Oliver.
Dustin Hermanson is also pretty overrated and always has been.
Get comfortable in second place and out of the playoffs is what I guess I'm saying.
I would guess that with the number of pitchers the Sox have, that Darren Oliver will never get into a game. At least, not a gmae that isn't already 17-1.
He's Rolie Polie Olie - and in his world of curves and curls, he's the swellest kid around.
Damn the XFL! If that wasn't sauch a massive failure, Vince would have bought the Sox by now. Just imagine how great that would have been. Better yet, just read this, http://www.oursocalledsport.com/funredsox.html, and let OSCS do all the imagining for you!
Actually, at one point during the sale, Vince's apartly did express interest in buying the team and there were discussions, but no formal offer was made.
"You can see a million miles tonight, but you can't get very far." - Adam Duritz
Oh man, that's too bad. He shoulda put more effort into it, but with lower than usual ratings and a botched Invasion angle, I guess he had more important things to worry about. It's too bad that they were officially sold or at least approved to be sold yesterday because Vince as the owner of the BoSox would have been pretty damn cool. Maybe in a few years. let's just hope the new owners don't hold onto the Sox as long as the Yawkey family did...
By the by, anyone know when tix go onsale for next season? Crooked owners or no, I'd still love to go down to Fenway at some point this year. I didn't got at all last summer and i gotta make up for it. Probably try and get tix for the Yankees vs. Sox at Fenway before they sell out.
As I understand it, since contraction won't happen this year at all, and might not next year eitherm, and since the Expos don't have an owner and will be run by MLB, they are likely to be moved to DC at the end of this season. But then, it's baseball, and there's no labor agreement, so you never know what is actually going to happen, or even if they will be playing baseball at the end of next year.
"You can see a million miles tonight, but you can't get very far." - Adam Duritz
The Red Sox are screwed. They have no pitching outside of Pedro and weak hitting, plus one of the highest paid rosters in baseball. The only way things will EVER turn around is if Dan Duquette gets the pink slip he has earned.
Well, how different are the Sox from last year? From the rotation, we've lost Nomo, Cone and Saberhagen. Am I leaving anyone out? Nomo was good. Racked up a lot of Ks, but wasn't really *terrific*. Cone was awright. Saberhagen... did Saberhagen even pitch? Blink and you missed him. The only pitching loss that's really going to hurt us, I think, is Nomo. But Lowe, remarkably, did an OK job as a starter towards the end of last year. Castillo isn't terrible, and neither is Hermanson. So, while a starting rotation of Pedro-Castillo-Hermanson-Lowe-(Wakefield, Fossum?) isn't awe-inspiring, it's not too much worse than last year. And we've got Urbina signed on for another season, and we've still got El Guapo (Rich Garces) in the bullpen. I'm more afraid that we'll deplete our bullpen by converting relievers than I am afraid that our starting rotation will be dismal. I don't think our starters will work any miracles, but I'm not anticipating a total meltdown. But, this being Boston, I should expect to be proven wrong.
And offensively, things can only get better. If Johnny Damon performs at KC levels, then we've significantly upgraded our leadoff hitter. If not, we're no worse than where we started with Offerman. And if we can sign Pokey, maybe we won't have to deal with Awfulman's mediocre defensive capabilities. Nixon's back. Nomar and Varitek, by all accounts, should be ready for Spring training. We'll be without Hatteberg this season, which means that we might actually throw some opposing baserunners out. And, lastly, with a little luck the front office will be cleaned out, giving a little motivation to (debatable) prima-donnas Manny Ramirez and Pedro Martinez. Granted, Pedro has some legitimate beef with Duquette for the terrible way he handled the injury, both with Pedro and with the press.
In any event, I don't think the Sox are doomed next season. I think they'll contend for first place right up until late June, when they will begin their annual Descent Into Hell.
[Edited, because I didn't feel complete]
Our starting nine last year, in no particular order, was:
Offerman Trot Nixon Carl Everett Manny Ramirez Some combination of Mike Lansing/Lou Merloni Brian Daubach Troy O'Leary/Dante Bichette Shea Hillenbrand Scott Hatteberg/Doug Mirabelli
Out of all those people, the most consistent hitters were Trot Nixon and (maybe) Manny Ramirez and (maybe) Dante Bichette, though Bichette saw only intermittent playing time. Next season, at least Nixon and Ramirez will be back. We'll also have Tony Clark, who could easily fill the Dante Bichette DH role, and platoon with Daubach when neccessary. We've ditched Hatteberg, who was offensively and defensively mediocre. We SHOULD have Nomar at short. We MIGHT have Pokey Reese at second, which adds even more speed to the team, and the Sox have shown signs, if the end of last season was any indication, that they will run more next season.
It would be nice to see a team that will run.... i mean is there any team in baseball that even runs consistently anymore?
Nope. No one runs anymore because it doesn't make any sense to run anymore. With the way homers fly out of the park, why risk an out? You've got a better shot of scoring off of a homer than manufacturing a run.
Besides, running in Fenway?? Jiminy! That's...just...odd.
Here, have another cup and forget about the dime Keep it as a souvenir, from Big Joe and Phantom 309!