the good news

[idseer]

while all news of the sox progression as a team has to be tempered by the fact we're still stuck with a clown for a manager ... there are some good things:

i'm really liking gillaspie! a completely unexpected development. why in the world did san francisco trade this former 1st round pick for soptic, who is bad? what a steal!

sale and abreu of course. more needn't be said.

garcia who is still just a hopeful but head and shoulders above viciedo or danks or whatever crap player we've been using in the meantime.

eaton who if he can figure out how to stop killing himself will be a very good cf'r.

ramirez looks like he still has some good life in him and has been very steady this year.

quintana ... if he can figure out how to stay in a game past the 6th inning so he's not always relying on the bp.

that's 7 solid players! with beckham gone that's like worth a player right there. sanchez is looking very good right now tho i believe the position will belong to johnson next year and he looks like a good bet. if so, we have a pretty solid infield.

we're still without a left fielder, a catcher and a dh. looks like wilkins will get a shot at the latter and phegley MIGHT be ready to take over behind the plate. a left fielder should be one of the acquisitions this off season.

pitching is still a problem but it looks like they want to go with rodon in '15. noesi and danks fill out the starters but i doubt it'll stay that way. danks should go and we need a righty for his spot.
we still don't have a closer but a few good looking arms in petricka, putnam and webb. the rest need to go unless carroll could be effective in long relief.

needs then are left field, 1 rh starter and a closer. with the money that will be available that shouldn't be too hard to do. does hahn have it in him? we shall see.

 

[msgkings322]

Pretty much agree with this entire post. Danks isn't going anywhere but if he's your 5th starter he's fine. Yes he's overpaid but he's the only bad contract left after Dunn is gone.

Bullpen revamp, 1 more starter, and maybe a catcher or LF. DH can be a rotating position to let guys like Abreu, Garcia, Eaton, Gillaspie, pretty much everyone have a rest. Problem with that is trusting Ventura to handle that rotation so maybe they will get some all hit no field masher (not sure who's out there).

Love to see Ventura gone but that ain't happening. The good news there is the manager isn't that important if you have the right team. Look at 2005 with Ozzie. Look at the Dodgers today. It would be nice to have a good field manager but at least it's not necessary.

Gotta admit, idseer, Hahn has been pretty great so far. The guy had an actual plan to use this year as the transition to 2015, and I'm sure the money will get spent then. They also got lucky with Abreu (probably no one expected him to be MVP level good), but you have to take a gamble if you don't have unlimited funds. They did and it worked. Let's see Hahn capitalize next year. I'm excited about it.

 

[Center Ice]

the good news?

I was seriously expecting religious pamphlets being posted.

Thank you for shattering that fear!!!!!

 

[podsox]

keep losing and rack up another high draft pick at this point. I really hope de aza, viciedo, and flowers are not in sox uniforms next yr. I have a feeling 2 of them will be though. I know sabermetrics don't care about k's but I cant stand them. there is nothing worse than seeing a guy come up with runners in scoring position and looking completely overmatched at bat after at bat.