The Official 2012 Boston Red Sox Thread

"Ray Finkle wrote:

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).!

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:

Finally...Kill the OFFSEASON thread!!!

"BigDogsHunt wrote:

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:

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.

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!

"Ray Finkle wrote:

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!

good guy, class act....

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

"finyank13 wrote:

good guy, class act....

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

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.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

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.

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....

"finyank13 wrote:

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....

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

"Ray Finkle wrote:

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

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!!!!!!

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe was told by a friend of Jason Varitek that the veteran catcher is leaning toward retirement.

Cafardo was told during Tim Wakefield's retirement press conference Friday. Varitek's agent, Scott Boras, said Friday that his client had yet to make a decision on his future, but given that Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington doesn't expect to make any additions before the start of camp, it's beginning to feel inevitable. If Varitek hangs up his shin guards for good, he could accept a non-playing role within the organization.

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.

"GreenMonster wrote:

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.

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.

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.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

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.

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

The Red Sox received 26-year-old righty reliever Chris Carpenter and a player to be named later from the Cubs as compensation for Theo Epstein and a player to be named later from the Red Sox, announced the teams today.

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.

holy crap......

Ramirez, who will be 40 by the time he can play again, is a ghostly reminder of a tainted era with a long history of roguish behavior. Terry Francona, his nice-guy manager in Boston, once said this to Peter Gammons, "Manny Ramirez is the worst human being I've ever met." That might say it all.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfeB7tjnbQ8

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....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5nuY1X8GBY

"BigDogsHunt wrote:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jon Morosi ‏ @jonmorosi
Source says decision is expected in the "next few days" on whether fifth playoff team will be added for '12.

hmmm? I thought this was done already...

"finyank13 wrote:

hmmm? I thought this was done already...

Apparently not....

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

"Ray Finkle wrote:

Apparently not....

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

y? just curious.....

"finyank13 wrote:

y? just curious.....

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?

"finyank13 wrote:

y? just curious.....

"BigDogsHunt wrote:

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

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.

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

Even Varitek’s old rivals paid their respects.“I’ve always admired the way Jason played the game,” Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. “He was a big part of the reason they had so much success as a team.”
Said longtime Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, who also retired this offseason, “Jason was one of those players that made the rivalry between our two teams so special. Regardless of the color of his uniform, I will always have a great deal of respect for the way he went about his business.”

"finyank13 wrote:

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

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