baloojayz

Could have acquired Saunders for CF though not LF, packaged Pompey for something nice/ not rush him into an everyday starting role so fast.

You don't think Navarro Melky and Saunders add up to 5 WAR? 2016 is a new yr, could have signed any other FA including a pitcher esp with Buehrle off the books.

Navarro=free Melky-14M or less Saunders

It's true though, this is direct consequence of AA upgrading what we already have and ignoring what we don't.

What we gave up on b/c of Martin signing: Melky Happ Chance to upgrade 2b Chance to upgrade the pen Chance to upgrade the starting rotation Not saying we would have been able to address it all in absence of Martin. Oh yeah and we're paying Navarro 5M to do nothing. Atm u might as well just add his salary to Martin's for this yr.

Maybe if he was a FA signing and had no injury history/was already an everyday LF. Definitely not with his history and us having to give up Happ.

Well that's why I was against the Martin signing. Its all a huge mess now just so that we could add Martin. We ignored our holes, didn't care a s*** about depth and now it is showing.

Plz...if you think this was a freak injury...

Lmao the guy turned out to be MORE fragile than originally overestimated. Atleast it's not 1B going down, Lind can't quite jubilate just yet.

Rofl one day after I said he was one of the keys to the season. Lol @ our soln to left being Saunders right after we got rid of injury plagued Lawrie for being out for too many games. Still pick Saunders over Melky? Being cheap never pays. Kinda glad this happened. AA is in s***, Melky's prolly feeling great, and Pillar gets a shot. Win win win

Baseball is not and will never be a game for casual fans, just like golf. You can go through an entire game without a hr, about the only thing that would appeal to a casual fan. Also one of the most spectacular history making events in baseball is when a pitcher throws a no hitter. A no hitter would bore the crap out of casual fans. They are risking losing their current fans and players and just ruining the game in general.

lol wut? Travis Muni and Goins are already penciled in at 2b and are inadequate as is. You think having no leadoff and both Muni and Goins in the batting order will be no big deal? Remember that Saunders is replacing Melky. If he goes down we have Pillar (Dirks?) to cover both LF and CF/RF depending on how Pompey plays, injuries etc. Health of our studs is moot really. Can't plan around that (same for any team in the league). If our big guys go down unexpectedly we're hooped, just like all other teams in the league, except maybe Boston.

We are weakest at 2B, CF, and the pen. 1B should be fine worst case in a platoon. I think if we rolled with the exact same BP of last year we could be looking at a bounce back yr without making any changes. I feel the bullpen identity is better defined this year compared to last which should help out a bunch. Could still use a proven closer to solidify it, but I can't see it happening anymore. That is exactly why I felt Reyes and Saunders staying healthy were absolutely key, along with Norris winning the 5th spot. AA said that the reason they signed Martin was because they couldn't see themselves signing any big name closer or starter and that Martin would hopefully improve the whole staff. If Norris can win the 5th atleast the rotation will look half decent and allow Sanchez and Estrada to strengthen the pen. All we can do to address 2B and CF is hope Travis and Pompey shine. After that, Reyes and Saunders are the next biggest question marks. If they go down to injuries, this ship will just have too many holes to patch. If they have solid campaigns, hitting should carry us through.

As good as Boston is projected to be, I feel like what was once a strength could be a weakness this yr in clubhouse environment. Could really see our gang getting along well this year. Boston seems like they could have the same problems as us after that huge Marlins trade offseason. IMO the keys to the season: Reyes and Saunders stay reasonably healthy and Norris claims the 5th starting spot.

True, my only criticism of AA this offseason is he had a few problem areas to resolve, the bullpen being the biggest of them. Instead our bullpen has gotten worse.

lol k this season is over, Stroman, Cecil, and Bautista are all due for BIG season ending injuries.

Forgot Norris, Estrada, and Matt West-could be the three right there

What do you think Ricky Ro is up to right now?

Yeah those stingy shits Rogers only want to spend 130 mil, absolutely deplorable, just pisses me right off. Am I spending more? No...Are a lot of other teams spending more? Nope...But still let it be know that I am pissed. Screw budgets.

Yeah just like everyone else with a different opinion than yours. Any way you can make life less troublesome I guess...

Thanks. I agree its a bad idea cuz it changes the game too much. I just felt like the other possible rule changes like RP limitations would not accomplish much overall.

What the hell man, who would I be trolling? I have no say on rule changes. You post some lazy bs response and I'm the troll? The only point of your post was to piss me off.

Bit of both highlights and at bats. Give them 1 foul ball at 2 strikes then. So they can miss once/ still have some incentive for not bunting.

Yeah it would change the game, but that has to be what slows the game down the most and keeps casual sports fans from becoming baseball fans

Not really, I watched a bunch of Bautista's homers and a good chunk were with less than two strikes or on two strikes exactly. Less scoring, but not by much. Could go one step further and limit foul balls at 2 strikes to maybe 1 or 2. Then they are strikes. Watching a guy foul off 5 straight pitches, you can literally see the point their objective went from getting a fair pitch to hit to exhausting the pitcher/ drawing a walk.