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The Official 2012 Boston Red Sox Thread

Discussion in 'Other Sports Forum' started by Ray Finkle, Feb 17, 2012.

  1. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Finally..... The Official 2012 Boston Red Sox Thread has come to ThePhins.com. After months of consist begging from our favorite non Sox fan, FinYank13, the day is here (even a day early).

    Pitchers and catchers officially report tomorrow so let’s take a look at the current 2012 roster.

    Here are the pitching spot locks:

    Rotation:
    Jon Lester - RHP
    Josh Beckett - RHP
    Clay Buchholz - RHP

    Bullpen:
    Andrew Bailey - RHP
    Mark Melancon -RHP
    Franklin Morales – LHP

    Also locks but roles are undetermined as they can either be SP or RP:
    Daniel Bard – RHP
    Alfredo Aceves – RHP

    Players competing for a spot in the rotation/bullpen:
    Matt Albers – RHP*
    Michael Bowden – RHP*
    Felix Doubront – LHP*
    Andrew Miller – LHP*
    Junichi Tazawa – RHP
    Scott Atchison – RHP
    Jesse Carlson – LHP
    Aaron Cook – RHP
    Vicente Padilla – RHP
    Ross Ohlendorf – RHP
    Carlos Silva – RHP

    * are pitchers out of options so if they don’t make the MLB team out of ST they have to go through waivers before they can be sent back to the minors

    Pitchers that are injuried to start the year but expected back at some point (probably June or July the earliest if at all):
    Rich Hill – LHP
    Daisuke Matsuzaka – RHP
    Bobby Jenks – RHP
    John Lackey – RHP (out for the year)

    So there are 8 locks and 4 spots opened. If I were to guess (obviously things will change between now and April) but I’d say the remaining 4 spots will go to Doubront, Albers, Miller and Padilla with roles to be determined as to whether they start or are in the pen, except for Albers who’s in the pen.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to see RHP Alex Wilson up at some point this year as he’s pretty much the only Sox pitching prospect close enough to the big leagues. He’s been a starter in the minors but most experts figure he’ll be a RP.

    The offense side of things is pretty locked up with:

    Jarrod Saltalamacchia – C
    Kelly Shoppach – C
    Adrian Gonzalez – 1B
    Dustin Pedroia – 2B
    Kevin Youkilis – 3B
    Mike Aviles – INF
    Nick Punto – INF
    Carl Crawford – LF
    Jacoby Ellsbury – CF
    Ryan Sweeney – OF
    Cody Ross – OF
    Darnell McDonald – OF
    David Ortiz – DH

    Players that will start the year in the minors that can come up to help the MLB club if need be:
    Ryan Lavarnway – C
    Ryan Kalish – OF
    Will Middlebrooks – 3B
    Jose Iglesias – SS
    Juan Carlos Linares – OF (sleeper)

    Overall, I think right now the Sox have a good MLB club. I think there are question marks in the rotation but I still expect them to be a competitive ball club fighting for a playoff spot. A lot depends on health, luck and whether or not guys step up and play to their abilities. I’m pretty excited about seeing how the Bobby Valentine Era starts, although I will always love Terry Francona, I think it was time for a change. If I were a betting man, I’d say right now the Sox are a 3rd place team in the AL East but I don’t think the gap between them and Tampa Bay and New York is that far. I can easily see any combination of the Yankees, Rays and Sox rounding out the AL East and if the second wild card team is added I think you’ll see the 3 AL East teams in the playoffs.

    But of course they have to play the game on the field and not on paper, so I welcome any Red Sox fan and fans of any other team to come on in and discuss the Red Sox or whatever else is a popular topic of debate in this thread this year. I hope this is a good season and can’t wait for the real games to begin.

    Go Sox!
     
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  2. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    You and I both know, that would NOT hold up in a court of law...we all sense the truth!! :lol:


    the missing names of Drew, Wakefield, Varitek, and Colonel Sanders make me sad.....well, Colonel Sanders may be back! :tongue2:
     
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  3. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Finally...Kill the OFFSEASON thread!!!
     
  4. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Anytime Drew, Wakefield or Varitek want to come to Fenway Park to throw out a 1st pitch and wave to the crowd, they'll be more than welcome. But it's definitely time for all 3 to hang up the uniform. All 3 are important parts of the 2004 and 2007 championships.
     
  5. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Tim Wakefield is retiring. He's going to announce it at a press conference today at 5pm in Ft. Myers.

    Thanks for the memories 49!
     
  6. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    good guy, class act....

    thanks for the flat knuckler in 2003 in Game 7....
     
  7. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Co-signed Florida Marlin fans.

    But yes Wakefield was a complete class act and good for the organization and filled in every role possible from starter to long relief, to mop up, to set up, to even closer. And if it wasn't for Wakefield, the Red Sox wouldn't have even gotten to that Game 7 in 2003. Really though I will remember him mostly for the 2003 playoffs (not Game 7 but he's very good pitching that post season) and the 3 innings he pitched in Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS.
     
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  8. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    I ran into him and Henry Winkler after a Red Sox game one time last year in a hotel lobby....it was the WEIRDEST thing....
     
  9. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    There has to be a better punch line than that....
     
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  10. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Sadly there isnt Fink....Winkler was in a rush, Wake stayed around and signed autographs....cool as a cumcuber...on any other day you would think that dude is like your Uncle....just a noraml dude....

    Ohh look Fink, BREAKING NEW FROM CARFARDO!!!!!!

     
  11. GreenMonster

    GreenMonster New Member

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    Ray thanks for kicking this thread off every year, good times with the rest of the great Sox fans we have here.

    Just read that the Sox will most likely get a pitcher from the Cubs 40 man roster, didn't see this coming when the news went down Theo was leaving but everything I have read says they will land a decent player.

    I am very interested in seeing how Bard and Crawford fit in this year.
     
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  12. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    The Red Sox got RHP Chris Carpenter and a PTBNL from the Cubs. Carpenter is a 26 year old bullpen arm, throws 98 mph. He does have some control problems. But it's a decent get by the Sox. Rated 12 to 14 in terms of Cub prospects depending on which site you visit (Baseball America, BP, etc).

    EDIT: Red Sox reporters are reporting that their sources say the PTBNL isn't anything special.
     
  13. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Red Sox placed Bobby Jenks and John Lackey on the 60 Day DL to open up 40 man roster spots for Chris Carpenter and Rich Hill. Very interesting and telling that they added Hill so quickly to the 40 man. He had an opt out at the end of March and is recovering from TJ surgery in June/July but reports have been very positive with his throwing sessions. I thought it was a big blow to the team when Hill went down last year.
     
  14. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    So, new reports are that it will be a swap of PTBNL's???

    The inclusion of two players to be named later means this saga has not quite reached its conclusion, but an April 15th deadline will take care of that.
     
  15. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    holy crap......

    http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/wilbur/2012/02/francona_clearl.html

    [video=youtube;hfeB7tjnbQ8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfeB7tjnbQ8[/video]

    Look at Drinkwater hahahahah he is out quick...

    this is the best "manny" though....I remember I saw this one night at my buddies house, and just lost it....

    [video=youtube;U5nuY1X8GBY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5nuY1X8GBY[/video]
     
  16. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    I've heard conflicting reports on why the PTBNL are involved but either way sources say neither of the two players switching teams are on the 40 man roster nor are they prospects so in other words don't worry about it.
     
  17. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Jason Varitek is retiring on Thursday. He wasn't that bad as a back up last year but its obvious his skills at the plate and behind it were declining and Kelly Shoppach is just a better back up option at this point. Thanks for the memories Captain.

    Hopefully the Sox can get Tim Wakefield to throw out the first pitch to Jason Varitek on opening day, that would be a nice moment for both of those players. My only fear is Varitek won't be able to catch it if Wake throws him a knuckleball.
     
  18. GreenMonster

    GreenMonster New Member

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    Wake and Tek have been nothing but class for this organization.

    That is a great idea about opening day, although both guys will take the field thinking they should be on the team.
     
  19. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    hmmm? I thought this was done already...
     
  20. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Apparently not....

    I hope it doesn't happen but it's going to.
     
  21. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    y? just curious.....
     
  22. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    my two cents......the adding of the two extra playoff teams (The Wilder Wild Cards) is silly.....

    take last year for example.....the end of season collapse of both BoSox, and Braves.....all that would have produced is one more game (a one game play-in) of BoSox vs Rays, and Braves vs. STL.

    What's the point really? To me, the 1 team WC is fine....adding a single Wilder WC to each league is silly season for 1 more game....its pointless to the exercise in my mind.

    Granted, both leagues should have equal teams (15 in each which is why HOU is moving to AL next year) - that needs to be fixed (then again if MIL never moved to NL we would not have had that issue to begin with..but thats spilt milk). So, having 3 divisions is part of the issue, which is why an 4th WC team was added to playoffs (with no bye-week for a given team, etc).

    The "experts" say the 3 divisions (theoretically made up of 5 teams each) lets each city feel like they are in the hunt longer with the goal of winning the individual division or getting a WC for best record not to win the division.

    The other argument is 4 Division with 4 teams each and thus no WC (however, MLB would have to add two EXPANSION CLUBS for that to get to 16 in each league)...so thats not likely right now.

    Or the other, other argument, is go back to 15 team SINGLE AL and NL divisions...and take top 6 teams (or more if you want BYE weeks, etc, like football) however, again, most experts hate that approach since CITIES and FANS lose interest when they know they cant LEAPFROG all those teams if they are in the bottom of the list come AS Break, etc......its a mindset that Butts wont go into seats on single list....again, thats why more divisions with smaller number of teams were created to give CITIES hope, etc.

    I also dont think Baseball and the BYE-WEEK concept works or is needed....more harm than good to keep a team (arms and bats) hot, and ready vs taking a FULL series off.

    I also dont know why expanding playoffs under the mindset of this 2nd WC team and really make it a 1 game play-in to a 5 game series (or 7 game series) really adds DRAMA....I guess a CITY feels hope via the 1game...but its manufactured in my mind.

    To me, the best thing about ATL and SOX collapses last year, was that they were finite once the last game of the 162game regular season proved the end result.....historic collapse, etc.

    Take the same collapse, add this one game play-in, and if Sox beat TB, and or ATL beat STL, the "collapse" experience goes out the window....all because of a 1 game play-in after 162 games didnt decide it (unlike a TIE scenario).

    At the end of the day, MLB (really the Commish only) is simply talking about adding the 2nd best, 2nd best record not to win a division into playoff contention. Why?
     
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  23. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Because the regular season in baseball actually matters, unlike most of the other sports. And I don't like having a lot of teams in the playoffs, if they expanded it to 5 teams in each league that means a third of the teams in baseball would make the playoffs, thus cheapening the regular season. The baseball season is so long as it is, you should reward the teams that played the best. It would cheapen the regular season and possibly water down the playoffs for 2 extra games.

    Also I just don't like 1 game playoffs, sure it's exiciting for the fans but like I said it would cheapen the regular season. Everyone pointed out how the last day of the season was just so great with the Braves and Sox losing and St. Louis and Tampa winning but if you had expanded playoffs we wouldn't have gotten that. Instead we would have seen no sense of urgency from the Braves or Red Sox and instead of having exciting games at the end of the season you would have seen the scrubs playing while all 4 of those teams set up their pitching for that 1 game playoff. Plus that doesn't even consider the travel and scheduling nightmares for teams.

    What MLB should do instead is make two divisions for each league (East and West or simply just get rid of divisions and just have leagues), get rid of interleague and have balanced schedules so each team in each league plays the same number of games against the same opponents. Then take the top 2 teams from each division and have a 7 game LDS series, 7 game LCS series and a 7 game WS. That way it actually makes the regular season and playoff rounds as fair as possible. Of course with this idea it would also be adding 2 new teams to balance the leagues out to 16 for each to keep the schedules and leagues even.
     
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  24. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Jorge and Tek were one and the same....gamers....passionate...

     
  25. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Really? Varitek once took himself out of a game after throwing a hissy fit because the manager had him batting 9th? :taunt:
     
  26. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    Negative Fredo, that was Posada......

    and you know what I mean..... :tongue2:
     
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  27. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    and so it begins......(I hear Beer and Chicken Fat do wonders for sprained wrists - too bad about that new rule)

    Carl Crawford was not able to swing a bat today and has resumed taking medication after experiencing a setback in his recovery from left wrist surgery.

    Crawford told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that the setback occurred when he was practicing bunting Wednesday and the medication is for inflammation in the wrist.

    As recently as last week Crawford was hopeful about making a speedy enough recovery to be in the Opening Day lineup, but those odds now seem pretty long. Initially when Crawford went under the knife in January the expectation was that he’d miss at least the first few weeks of the season, leaving Cody Ross and Ryan Sweeney as the Red Sox’s starting corner outfielders.
     
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  28. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    douche...
     
  29. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    Yawn....
     
  30. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    Glad we can almost put this to bed...stellar compensation: :wink2:

     
  31. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    ...
     
  32. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    No big surprise or shock there. It's the right move.
     
  33. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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  34. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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  35. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    Agreed.....


    in other fun news...

    Christopher L. Gasper of the Boston Globe suggests that a power struggle could already be emerging in regard to key roster decisions between Valentine and Cherington. Oh Joy!:tongue2:

     
  36. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    and the saga finally ends...
     
  37. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    Doubront with 4th spot, and Bard given 5th spot.....

    looking forward to watching Doubront.
     
  38. Ray Finkle

    Ray Finkle Member

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    So much for the "rift" between Cherrington and Valentine and that Valentine had more control over the GM.
     
  39. finyank13

    finyank13 Reality Check

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    what am I missing, havent really been paying attention much, except for the Yankees just traded for a 23 year old noodle arm...
     
  40. BigDogsHunt

    BigDogsHunt Enough talk...prove it!

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    First its Bailey with right thumb, and now Beckett....?

    http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120402&content_id=27833718&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

    Gotta ask, what exactly are these boys doing in the clubhouse without beer and fried chicken to entertain them? :shifty:

     

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