2012 MLB Season

[evanmaldonado]

I didn't realize you could trade basically your entire team, but kudos to the Red Sox for admitting they suck and their signings were all busts

[RedSox44]

Yeah, the Sox are definitely gunning for Farrell for 2014. Valentine will probably be the manager next season (much to everyone's chagrin).

[jrodsep]

Yeah, the Sox are definitely gunning for Farrell for 2014. Valentine will probably be the manager next season (much to everyone's chagrin).

Forget about Valentine or Farrell. How about giving Joe Torre a call?

[RedSox44]

Yeah, the Sox are definitely gunning for Farrell for 2014. Valentine will probably be the manager next season (much to everyone's chagrin).

Forget about Valentine or Farrell. How about giving Joe Torre a call?

Nah. I'm skeptical about Torre's actual managerial skills considering the talent he had on his Yankees rosters.

[Dexter Morgan]

Like clockwork, continuing a Boston tradition of crapping on players and coaches on the way out:

Gonzalez had become a whiner who seemed to be involved in starting a group to complain about Valentine. He seemed to have an opinion on everything, and rubbed his managers the wrong way. Gonzalez was never the guy we thought he was supposed to be, no leadership skills whatsoever.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2012/08/25/red-sox-verge-trading-beckett-gonzalez-crawford/S0ZiybrrzbshA92QDWupQO/story.html

[Lights Out]

If you are Farrell, why sign an extension with TOR when you are fighting for AL East 2nd place at best?

On the flipside, if you are Farrell, why go to Boston and work for Henry and Lucchino, who will ignore all your suggestions and throw you under the bus in a nanosecond?

[NJTank]

I am sitting in one of the lounges at Citi field, it is nice in here and very good with how muggy it is. However what I just saw while entering the stadium embarrassed me. Weeds four feet high. Total disgrace and they are hosting the all star game next year. Shameful. It would be terrible not to maintain it better next year.

[RedSox44]

If you are Farrell, why sign an extension with TOR when you are fighting for AL East 2nd place at best?

On the flipside, if you are Farrell, why go to Boston and work for Henry and Lucchino, who will ignore all your suggestions and throw you under the bus in a nanosecond?

Who says Lucchino and Henry (the latter is really more enamored with running Liverpool in the first place) ignored Valentine's suggestions? According to all reports, Valentine was Lucchino's man, Cherington was opposed to his signing. I think EVERYONE in the front office wants Farrell, though, and most saw him as the successor to Francona while Farrell was in Boston.

[Dexter Morgan]

Can't get over how dumb this trade is for the Dodgers and how good it is for the Red Sox.

The Dodgers traded two good prospects (Webster, DelaRosa) and took on two of the worst contracts in the game (Crawford, Beckett) to get Adrian Gonazalez (who's having his worst season of his career, since leaving Texas in '05)

[Fox]

Like clockwork, continuing a Boston tradition of crapping on players and coaches on the way out:

Gonzalez had become a whiner who seemed to be involved in starting a group to complain about Valentine. He seemed to have an opinion on everything, and rubbed his managers the wrong way. Gonzalez was never the guy we thought he was supposed to be, no leadership skills whatsoever.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2012/08/25/red-sox-verge-trading-beckett-gonzalez-crawford/S0ZiybrrzbshA92QDWupQO/story.html

the boston media... I read a quote yesterday from someone in the Red Sox front office saying that they had no problem with Gonzalez on or off the field, but wanted to capitalize on any opportunity to get better.

[speedy]

Back to the Dodgers-Red Sox deal.... What's the goddamn point of having a trade deadline when stuff like THIS is (possibly) allowed to go down one month before the playoffs begin?

C'mon, how often does a blockbuster like this happen after July, 31? Answer, almost never. It's a totally fair trade, 14 teams could've blocked it, but they didn't. Maybe there was a gentlemen's agreement not to claim any of them, or maybe the contract's were so flippin' ridiculous no one wanted to touch them with a 10 foot pole. Either way, I don't get the sour grapes here, unless you're a Giants fan?

So the Red Sox could potentially cut $80-90 million off their payroll... this should give the Red Sox a ton financial flexibility down the road.

Which brings up a hypothetical question I posed to some fellow Red Sox fans that I was having dinner with this evening: Might the Red Sox reduced payroll and financial flexibility soon be of benefit to someone else? In other words, what's the possibility that this blockbuster trade is being entered into by the current Sox ownership group in order to dump enough salary and long-term contracts to make the team more attractive to potential buyers?

John Henry-and-Company saw the Sox win 93 games the year they bought the team, take the Yankees to Game 7 of the AL Championship Series the following season, and capture the ultimate victory - the franchise's first World Series win in 86 years - in just their third season owning the club. They'd add a second World Series title three seasons after that. Pretty heady stuff right out of the ownership blocks. That said, not every year is going to see overachieving, role-playing, fan-favorite "Idiots" rallying around a "Cowboy up!" battle cry on their way to post-season glory. Additionally, Boston is one of the tougher towns in which to own a pro sports franchise when things aren't going well for the hometown team.

So, might it be that the powers-that-be on Yawkey Way - particularly, John Henry - have grown less-enamored of being in the Sox ownership spotlight since the team's post-season fortunes started to take a nose-dive and the notoriously vociferous Beantown boo-birds have begun to squawk with renewed vigor? Further, Henry - 62 years old, with a 33-year-old wife and a toddler daughter - doesn't strike me as the type of guy who is going to want to preside over an involved rebuilding process.

Again... purely hypothetical, but stranger things have happened.

Y'know Brian, this makes a lot of sense. I've read somewhere that the Henry group would be willing to sell the team in 3-5 years and this was never a lifetime investment. All the points you just mentioned are spot on as a precursor to a deal. Could this be the winter? I hope so. This group has too many ventures and they're becoming very disillusioned with owning a baseball team in this town. They've done some really great things for this city and the team, and I think they could continue to do good things if someone took Lucchino out back and shot him - but that'll never happen, so our next best option is selling.

This has all the makings of the best off-season since 2003.

Like clockwork, continuing a Boston tradition of crapping on players and coaches on the way out:

Gonzalez had become a whiner who seemed to be involved in starting a group to complain about Valentine. He seemed to have an opinion on everything, and rubbed his managers the wrong way. Gonzalez was never the guy we thought he was supposed to be, no leadership skills whatsoever.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2012/08/25/red-sox-verge-trading-beckett-gonzalez-crawford/S0ZiybrrzbshA92QDWupQO/story.html

To be fair, those reports were floating around since June. I tend to believe them. After all, Gonzalez gave Kelly Shoppach permission to use his cell phone to text the front office of the team's displeasure with Valentine. What? Can't speak for yourself Gonzalez? That rubbed me the wrong way a little bit, as well as his quote after last season's collapse that was something along the lines of "eh, it's what God wanted." C'mon, where's the accountability? Don't get me wrong, he is a helluva player and I'm going to miss his bat, but he didn't strike me as a good leader either.

[RedSox44]

The Herald isn't pulling any punches.

~~~~

Like clockwork, continuing a Boston tradition of crapping on players and coaches on the way out:

Gonzalez had become a whiner who seemed to be involved in starting a group to complain about Valentine. He seemed to have an opinion on everything, and rubbed his managers the wrong way. Gonzalez was never the guy we thought he was supposed to be, no leadership skills whatsoever.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2012/08/25/red-sox-verge-trading-beckett-gonzalez-crawford/S0ZiybrrzbshA92QDWupQO/story.html

the boston media... I read a quote yesterday from someone in the Red Sox front office saying that they had no problem with Gonzalez on or off the field, but wanted to capitalize on any opportunity to get better.

Are you :censored:ting me? Why report the facts when there's sensationalism to make up! That's the Boston media. See the cover I posted above.

[speedy]

The Herald isn't pulling any punches.

~~~~

Nobody reads The Herald.

[RedSox44]

The Herald isn't pulling any punches.

~~~~

Nobody reads The Herald.

Touche.

[pmoehrin]

Le's say Gonzalez did in fact have beef with management and didn't particularly like it in Boston. So what? Last time I checked liking your boss was not a prerequisite for being a Major League player. And if you want to look at it historically, no team had more beef with management then the early 70's A's and they won three straight World Series rings.

If that's the worst thing that could be said about Adrian Gonzalez then the Red Sox just lost a very quality player that's going to be very difficult to replace.

My own theory is he wasn't that liked more is because while he was as good if not better then David Ortiz, he didn't have the dynamic personality of Ortiz. And that's the guy Gonzalez was going to be compared against for as long as he was in Boston. Whether or not that's true, I don't know but it wouldn't be the first time that was the case if were/is true.

[Dexter Morgan]

Red Sox don't get the benefit of the doubt with these things, this is a team that leaked to the media after he was fired, that Francona had a problem with popping pills. It doesn't get lower than that.

[patsox]

Can't get over how dumb this trade is for the Dodgers and how good it is for the Red Sox.

The Dodgers traded two good prospects (Webster, DelaRosa) and took on two of the worst contracts in the game (Crawford, Beckett) to get Adrian Gonazalez (who's having his worst season of his career, since leaving Texas in '05)

QFT

Also, I am ELATED about this

[speedy]

The Sox are paying the Dodgers $12 million... TOTAL. LOL!

[bigbean24]

Wow, the Dodgers will be stacked next year. (If everyone plays to their potential)

The top of their lineup will look something like this, excuse me if you think its wrong, I don't care.

SS-Dee Gordon

3B- Hanley Ramirez

OF-Carl Crawford

OF-Matt Kemp

1B- Adrian Gonzalez

OF-Andre Ethier

Plus they have some pretty good pitchers.

[pmoehrin]

Wow, the Dodgers will be stacked next year. (If everyone plays to their potential)

The top of their lineup will look something like this, excuse me if you think its wrong, I don't care.

SS-Dee Gordon

3B- Hanley Ramirez

OF-Carl Crawford

OF-Matt Kemp

1B- Adrian Gonzalez

OF-Andre Ethier

Plus they have some pretty good pitchers.

As long as the Dodgers can afford to take on that type of money, it may not be that bad of a deal for them.

Gonzalez turns what was their biggest weakness into a strength. The addition of Crawford gives the Dodgers potentially the best outfield in the National League for next year, certainly one of the best if he's healthy and producing anywhere near what he did in Tampa. Hanley gives them an established bat on the left side of the infield. Both the bullpen and starting staff are solid as well. Only glaring weakness I see in that team is they don't have much up the middle of the infield. Gordon might develop into a solid major league shortstop but right now he's only out there because the Dodgers have no other option and they don't really have a second baseman. Mark Ellils should be a backup not an everyday starter.

If this is what the new ownership will be doing, the Dodgers are going to go back to being a scary team year in and year out, which is something they haven't been since the late 70's and early 80's. Its also going to make those Giant/Dodger games really fun to watch. You have to go back to the 60's to find the last time both teams were consistently at the top of the standings year in and year out at the same time. They've had years sprinkled in where both have been good ('04, '97, '71), but never anything prolonged. That could change.