LiferYank

"Ray Finkle wrote:

Geez I have no idea how any Cubs or Indians fan survived last night, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack and/or throw up. I thought being a Sox fan in 2003 and 2004 was bad but that 1 game was intense.

Congrats to you Unlucky (might want to change your user name now?) and the other Cub fans. They were the best team in baseball all year.

I feel bad for Cleveland fans, they had a hell of a team and one can only imagine how far they would have gotten if they had Salazar and Carasco starting some of these WS games instead of Bauer and Tomlin.

Bring on the off season! Free agency officially starts on Monday night at 11:59 pm. Winter meetings are in 33 days and pitchers and catchers report in 104 days.

Both teams should be better next year that is the scary thing!

"MikeHoncho wrote:

Nobody is more adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory quite like this team has been.

Yep.. If we ever want to contend we have to beat the teams we should.. I know that sounds beyond simplistic but for some reason the Dolphins have done the opposite for far to long.

I give him credit.

"Bumrush wrote:

Clearly, anyone voting for Trump IS a racist. Why are people so hesitant to call a spade a spade?

:escape:

Thanks for proving my point....

It was just an excuse for a small group of posters to call everyone else racist... No thanks.

Reports are Indians might go with Ryan Merritt for game four... Who is Ryan Merritt? Well even Ryan Merritt doesnt know ;)

How is a team with so many pitching question marks doing so well? Talk about "gritt"!

"dWreck wrote:

That's the narrative now. the new one. No one was saying this in the offseason. a TON of people here were banging the table to get rid of him and said he wouldnt play at a high level again. Go read the board. This was directed at them.

I'd also like to point out that getting rid of him because the team blows is ****ing stupid. Especially considering Wake wants to be here

We are going no where if this team is rebuilding and the cuts show that is the goal. Wake does nothing towards the rebuild again outside of being great to watch.

"dWreck wrote:

To all people here who say we need to get rid of wake, watch him get that sack while being held on replay a few times. Then proceed to slap yourself

Outside of being great to watch its wasting his talent to be on this team.

Miko Grimes got in his head ;)

"Bumrush wrote:

Greg Bedard with Sports Illustrated with an article focusing on Ryan.

http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/10/13/ryan-tannehill-adam-gase-dolphins

Some snippits:

Deer in Headlights syndrome.

"Vertical Limit wrote:

I think itll be cleveland vs chicago.. one team will break the curse

That would truly rock.

"CrunchTime wrote:

Upside.They couldnt be any worse than the two that were overdue to be cut

I dont know man i have heard that line time and time again and it seems that in most cases yes they can be worse.

"Vertical Limit wrote:

Who will DH for Boston next season? Lots are saying Hanley but I think you have to try to get your moneys worth in sandoval..

Hanley/Pablo/Shaw to start.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

I love Koji but I'd let him walk unless he signs a super team friendly 1 year deal. He's going to be 42 in April and has trouble pitching back to back days or going multiple innings. Watching him pitch every day he wasn't the same guy he was in back in 2013, his splitter was pretty flat most of the year until he got hurt, although he was lights out when he came back. But you're probably only going to count on him for 40ish innings.

Yep i meant on a one year deal.. 40 innings of Koji is well worth it. He is the perfect compliment to any BP nowadays as he is a trickster amongst those pitching 95+

"Ray Finkle wrote:

The Sox could have/should have won both Games 1 and 3. Game 2 they totally got out played and didn't have a shot. I hate to say it because it sounds like I'm not giving Cleveland credit but the Sox had no luck in the series, of course they did also play flat and had terrible at bats most of the time too. Heading into Game 3 the Sox were 2 for 19 when hitting the ball less than 94 MPH which is a .105 average, the average for the postseason was .194. Cleveland was 10 for 19, .529 hitting balls less than 94 mph. A lot of balls they hit found holes. In the 8th inning alone the Sox scored 1 run while hitting the ball 109, 113, 115 and 99 mph. Betts' 113 mph ball was the second hardest hit ball of his career and Ramirez made an unreal play. Bogaerts hit his ball right on the nose just right at Kipnis.

Again not taking anything away from Cleveland, they earned it. Sox were unlucky but also never played well enough to win.

I'd love a Cleveland/Cubs WS.

Regarding the Sox going forward, I think the rotation is fine. Price, Porcello, Rodriguez, Pomeranz, and Buchholz/Wright is a fine 5 man rotation. Price wasn't the normal "David Price" but he was still a top SPers, Porcello looks like he turned the corner and hopefully can build off this year, a full year of a healthy Rodriguez is an upgrade, and the 4th and 5th spots will be between Pomeranz, Buchholz and Wright. There's literally zero FA SPers out there so if the Sox are going to upgrade it will be via trades but I don't think that will happen. They absolutely have to do something about the pen, they can't count on Smith coming back from TJ surgery and I'm assuming they're going to let both Koji and Tazawa walk.

Koji can still pitch it would be a mistake to let him go.. I'd love for the Yankees to nab him.

"PhiNomina wrote:

Thanks, man. Super classy post. Agree completely on October. It's frustrating to watch 162 games and then know the outcomes are mostly random. And with all the injuries the Tribe has suffered, I don't think there's any question the Red Sox have the better roster right now.

Tribe has a fun team - hope they are just getting hot at the right time. Boston was the scariest team in the AL - so it'll be frustrating if they can't beat Toronto, now.

Indians will actually be better next year. Returning everyone but Napoli and Davis i can see them both resigning. Crisp option wont be picked up but he isnt a big loss. Zimmer will be called up in June more then likely and maybe Bradley if Nap doesnt return...

Interesting team for sure.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

Congrats PhiNomina and to Cleveland, really a good and likable roster. Cleveland just flat out out played the Sox. I truly believe that to win it all in October not only takes talent but good luck too which the Sox just didn't have. I'm going to be rooting very hard for Cleveland going forward. It's a shame that Salazar and Carcasco went down with injuries because damn they would that much better. I also admit part of me was also happy to see Francona get to celebrate at Fenway Park last night after all the BS that happened on his way out. Love Tito.

Should be another interesting offseason for the Sox. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a new manager for the 2017 season, which would have nothing to do with how the playoffs ended but Farrell has regressed every single year since 2013 and I'm not sure he's the right guy for the job anymore. All Dombrowski has to do is sign Encarnacion and get a few RPers and the Sox will be in good shape moving forward.

Sad to see the Ortiz Era end in Boston but it was a hell of a ride and he really gave Sox fans a ton to be thankful for.

Miller,Shaw and Allen looked nervous and couldnt throw strikes.. Red Sox had chances.

Doesnt have to be said that an Indians, Cubs WS would be damn interesting!

Red Sox BP does need some tweaking ( most teams do on a yearly basis) but its the Starting pitching you have to worry about.

Time to take advantage of Jerry Jones's man crush on Romo.

"Ray Finkle wrote:

So you'll take Sanchez being a border line HOFer? Got it haha. That's some big expectations, Posada was pretty underrated.

I have high expectations for him yes.. Posada was great but at times made me grind my teeth with his defense and game calling. You will also notice i said IF ;)

"hazed819 wrote:

I mean terrible front office decisions lead to this ****show... letting Lamar Miller go and no one to replace him with.
Replacing Grimes with Maxwell, Grimes was atleast a 50/50 player... Maxwell is on the bench
Replacing OV with Mario Williams, still looking like a loss on our end.
and last but not least we STILL cant sign quality linemen to block a goddamn body. Its sad when you best player on that line is a rookie that is scared ****less of messing up and still learning the ropes.

Strangely enough you did not mention contracts.. You do know the NFL has a cap right?