Manager - Dave Martinez

 

Lineup

Jacoby Ellsbury

Dustin Pedroia

Will Middlebrooks

David Ortiz

Cody Ross

Jarrod Saltalmacchia

Grady Sizemore

James Loney

Jose Iglesias

 

Rotation

 

Clay Buchholz

Jon Lester

Dan Haren

Felix Doubront

Rubby de la Rosa

the red sox should give sizemore a chance and see if he could prove to stay healthy

I don't think the Sox need another injury prone player.

And I'ld like to think the Sox could do better than Loney at first base.

And Iglesius isn't ready to hit in the majors. He's only 22. Have some patience and let the kid develop. It's OK if he doesn't come up until he's 24.

In response to redsoxfan28's comment:

Loney at first base?  Sorry but you just made your roster totally a waste with that.  If we can't improve upon Loney and Iglesias you can forget about the 2013 season.  Iggy is not hitting 111; he cannot hit PERIOD!!!!!!!  I have doubts if he ever will.  The rest isn't too bad, but ditch Loney.

 

With all that freed up money, this is the best lineup you could put forth. Certainly it has to get better than this. Sizemore would be a huge waste. No way, no how. So the only new addition are Haren and Dela Rosa. I think the Sox can and will field a much better lineup

In response to redsoxfan28's comment:

did u mean to have 4 automatic outs at the bottom of the order?

im dissapointed saltalmacchia has only been striking out a couple times a game lately.  hes usually good for about 3

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I'm sorry as soon as I saw Loney---I gave up. Cut the cord: Loney and Iggy need to be released--let someone else take on the reclammation projects.

Trade for two catchers--Iannetta and one of the Molina's--move our two current guys or have Salty platoon with Gomez at 1 B. FA--Napoli--made for Fenway.

You have three SS's better than Iggy--Boggie, Ciriaco and Marrero, to say nothing about Aviles.

Lava might be a trade candidate with a few years of control for a team rebuilding.

Jettison Ells to fill a need before arb--I can just see it now--Ells get's a 15 % increase to $10 M and the Sox wind up paying to get a trade partner to move him. Sign BJ for CF.

Please not another injury prone guy.

BJ Upton

Pedroia

Ortiz

Napoli

Middlebrooks

Gomez

Ross( nice guy but must be platooned)

Brentz

Ciriaco

 

Pitchers someone help me---I would trade everone in our starting rotation and start over. Dice, Bard, Melancon,  and Cook should not be brought back---that's definite!

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I like Sizemore, too, and he's basically either going to be good enough to contribute, or too injured to take up a roster slot - nobody doubts his talent.  He's only 30 years old - eventually he's going to have another healthy season, and it would be nice to be the team to reap the rewards of that season.  I don't imagine any team will give him more than $2M.  Where's the risk - lord knows we have plenty of money.

 

We shall see how the FO handles all the extra money this winter and know how serious they are about putting a contender back on the field next year.

OK.....LET THE BASHING BEGIN, BUT I WOULD GO INTO TOTAL

                                           RE BUILD MODE

 KALISH    CF  

 NAVA       RF

 PEDEY     2B

 PAPI       DH   (1 MORE YR @ 13M )

 MIDDLEBROOKS    3B

 SALTY      C/1B

 ROSS      LF    ( 2 YR 15M )

 LAVA     C/1B

 IGGY      SS       ( LETS HOPE HE HITS 220 AND WINS A GOLD GLOVE SO WE CAN TRADE HIM)

 

ROTATION

BUCH

DOUBRONT  ( IMPROVES ERA TO 4.18, BB/9 TO 3.1, AND WHIP TP 1.34 )

LACKEY     ( BOUNCES BACK FROM TJ NICELY AND GOES 12-9  4.36 ERA )

DE LA ROSA  ( GETS ROUGHED UP BUT GETS IN HIS 150 INN AND SHOWS FLASHES OF BRILLANCE)

TAZAWA  ( AFTER STARTING AT PAWT COMES UP AND QUICKLY SHOWS WITH HIS MID 90,S FB, AND LOW BB RATIO THAT HE CAN BECOME A SOLID NUMBER 3 IN 2014 )

 

  LESTER GETS TRADED TO PITTS FOR ONE OF THEIR TOP 3 PITCHING PROSPECTS

  ELLS GETS MOVED TO SEA FOR ANOTHER PITCHING PROSPECT AND WE TAKE ON SHONE FIGGINS FINAL YR OF HIS CONTRACT

 BOGAERTS GETS ANOTHER FULL YR UNDER HIS BELT AT SS BETWEEN PORTLAND AND PAWT AND SHOWS GREAT IMPROVEMENT. WINS 2014 ROOKIE OF YR

 RED SOX DRAFT JONATHON STEWART, U FL WITH 8TH PICK IN DRAFT. WITH HIM, MATT BARNES, ALAN WEBSTER, JAMES PAXTON ( ELLS TRADE), STETSON ALLIE AND LOUIS HEREDIA (LESTER TRADE) HENRY OWENS ALL DOWN IN AA OR AAA CLOSE TO JOINING DOUBRONT, DE LA ROSA AND TAZAWA IN 2014 THE FUTURE WILL BE VERY BRIGHT

 

  MY TWO CENTS......LETS FULLY RELOAD AND REBUILD WITH YOUNG POWER ARMS

In response to redsoxfan28's comment:

I wouldn't mind giving him a minor league deal, but he's had only 832 ABs in 4 years, and only had a .728 OPS.  This is not like taking a smallish chance on Beltre with huge upside.

Here's my crazy idday for the day,  anyone think Sizemore can DH if Papi walks?  He would cost little and may be able to stay healthy not playing the field.

In response to MadMc44's comment:

BJ Upton? No, not him or Justin...Gomez is a AAAA player. Brentz will spend at least the first half of the season in AAA. Ciriaco is no more than a UI. I like Napoli and the rest of the lineup is Ok...But trade ALL their starting pitchers? A little extreme dont you think? Melancon has looked pretty good his last few appearences IMO and isnt even scheduled for his 1st arb year til 2014. Nobody will take Bard right now and honestly, Id like to see if he can regain his velocity next year.

In response to ctredsoxfanhugh's comment:

If Siezmore will accept a minor league deal with an invite to ST, then Id do it. But I wouldnt sign him to be the DH...

Southpaw--there is currently 0 pressure on Mel--other than Taz who is pitching well? you could make a case for Buch. No one is getting any run support.

In the off season I would explore the following FA starters:

Sanchez, Marcum, Villanueva, Jackson, Floyd, Dempster.

 

I would look at these two FA catchers: Iannetta and Napoli.

Sox need pitching and hitting.  Youk then AGon provided a very good bat at 1B, so the Sox need to fine someone comparable.  Theoretically, if Bogaerts keeps going at his current rate, he could become the 3B, moving Middlebrooks to 1B, but not in 2013. 

Whatever, it's clear the Sox need one good arm for the rotation and one good bat for the lineup.  AGon was a big loss. 

  Ellesbury is hitting a strong 273 ????    Trotter/Softy is right, we need to move this guy over the winter !!!!!

I don't like any of FA pitchers this winter.  Greinke will end with the Angels and there are alot of concerns he can't handle the pressure of big market team and that's not a good sign for a pitcher whether that's true r not.  Sox have to be creative and get a top of rotation pitcher from a trade this winter.  My candidates are Lincecum, Cliff Lee, Yovani Gallardo, Josh Johnson, or our dream pitcher "King Felix".  Realistically, we would have to go for either Lince or Johnson. 

My wishful starting Rotation for 2013

Lincecum, Lester, Bucholz, Doubront, Lackey (Rubby as immediate replacement and should be pitching at AAA until gets callup)

Sizemore can be ideal candidate for our LF but only as platoon and he has to come cheap I mean even cheaper than Ross when he signed with us in 2012.  Until Grady proves himself he can stay healthy, he's only a platoon guy at best.  I don't mind Sox giving him a chance for similar contract for Cody Ross. 

I would love to see Sox going after Mauer as our 1B this winter.  He looks healthy and now he's battling for batting champion this year like he used to every year.  Power numbers will be up with playing at 1B instead of catching behind the plate.  He might have to backup Salty because Lava have to be shipped out to the Twins if Mauer comes to the Red Sox.

My unrealistic lineup will be

Grady Sizemore CF

Dustin Pedroia 2B

Joe Mauer 1B/C

David Ortiz DH

Will Middlebrooks 3B

Cody Ross RF

Jarrod Saltalamacchia C

Jerry Sands LF

Jose Iglesias SS

Bench: Ciriaco, Sweeney, Gomez, Lin

 

Pitchers someone help me---I would trade everone in our starting rotation and start over. Dice, Bard, Melancon,  and Cook should not be brought back---that's definite!

[/QUOTE]

No one could disagree with Dice and Cook....and I have to agree with Melancon also, but let's give Bard a break....he went from one of the top setup men in baseball to a bad experiment to a guy who lost all his confidence in his stuff.....this happened to him on his way up also and he turned it around....new year....new attitude....he needs to be given a shot to get back to his role.

In response to MadMc44's comment:

I understand theres no pressure on Melancon, but hes only getting .5 mm for next year. Its worth it to keep him and see how he does. cant have too many arms in the pen, especially at league minimum.

Honestly, none of these names get me to excited, but if I had to choose....
Out of the starters i like Sanchez. Nothing more than a 3 maybe 4yr deal though. Not high on Jackson. Dempster only a 1yr deal IMO.If we get one of those catchers, who both are RHH, whats your plan with lavarnway? Another year in AAA?

I can only hope that Ben Cherington is not listening to most of this...other than adding Napoli to serve a 1B/DH/C role there has not been anything worth listening to here.

With their 1st draft pick protected, they can go and sign a top tier free agent, like Hamilton (which I do NOT advocate) if they desire, but I'd prefer they settle for just good hardnosed, non-superstar, type players and build a line-up with those.

Here are some names I'd be happy to see make it to Boston although none of them may be available:

• Mike Napoli
• Alex Gordon
• Carlos Gonzalez
• Andre Ethier (they should have targeted him instead of Loney in the big trade)
• Shin-Soo Choo
• Corey Hart
• Michael Morse
• Dan Haren
• Brandon McCarthy
• Josh Johnson

One or more batters and a starting pitcher from these added to the core group of:

1. CF - Ellsbury (if not traded)
2. 2B - Pedroia
3. DH - Ortiz
4. LF/RF - Ross (if signed)
5. 3B - Middlebrooks
6. SS- Iglesias (give the kid a full year and sacrifice offense from SS)
   *NOTE: If they could get an Andrus from Texas I'd be ok with that too.
7. C - Salty/Lavarnway
8. New 1B
9. New LF/RF

Starters:

1. Lester
2. Buchholz
3. Lackey (lets hope he returns strong)
4. Doubront
5. New Starter

Bullpen (from this group):

1. Bailey
2. Tazawa
3. Miller
4. Hill
5. Breslow
6. Melanson
7. Padilla
8. Bard (Lets not totally give up on him just yet)
9. Achison
10. Mortenson

Bench

1. Ciriaco
2. Backup Catcher (from above)
3. Loney (backup 1B and Defense)
4. Left Handed hitting OF - Podsednik or Nava possibly.

 

No Sizemore, No Kalish. No Dice K.

Why not Jerry Sands at first base.

Glad this season is almost over and we can start thinking about 2013.