The sky is falling in Boston...

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

That article was stupid to begin with. The Phillies were always more stacked than Boston is.

[TIMMYtoZO]

BoSox bats are good when they're healthy...of course they never are. Neither is Beckett by the way. Lester is solid, but he's looked really human lately. So has the back end of their bullpen. I get that the Rays bats aren't nearly as scary, but their pitching staff (which is something to lose sleep over no matter what you say) will always put them in a position to win.

As for the payroll, I'm not complaining. I'm saying the Rays have done a great job in spite of a limited payroll. It'd be interesting to see what the Phillies, Yankees or Red Sox would do with the Rays payroll, but I know that'll never happen.

Also, you're an idiot if you think ticket sales (attendance) are the biggest generator of revenues. And if a team can only make so much, I doubt billionaires will be clamoring to buy the team and intentionally lose money to field a winning team...they wouldn't be rich in the first place if they were that stupid.

Btw, the only reason I'm even bothering to debate with you is because you're an arrogant ass and you use emoticons like my 15yr old nephew.

@ this Rays fan.

[TIMMYtoZO]

Tampa should not be slept on. Their top 3 starting pitchers might not be as good as Halladay/Lee/Hamels, but especially for pitching in the DH league, they're not that far off. Shields would be right in the middle of the AL CY conversation if not for a couple inexplicable games against Seattle and Oakland. David Price is a top 10 left handed starter, arguably top 5. And ickson is a very impressive young starter. Their offense is just really bad. Longoria with a down year although he's still provided power and has come on in the second half, Upton continues to underachieve. Their best all around hitter might be Zobrist. But Jennings looks really good. They needed more consistency from Joyce after his hot start. And they needed one of the other younger kids to come up with a surprisingly good season. But their starting pitching can hold their own with any team, especially any team in the AL.

[AFBlue]

@ this Rays fan.

Half of the Rangers runs in the series were scored in one game...a bad outing from a very reliable pitcher. But you should know something about that as a Phillies fan watching Lee lose his lead.

The rest of the games were pitched well. Nothing I said or you highlighted was incorrect. Keep the emoticons up though...they really solidify and validate your arguments.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Tbh firing Francona was a good move that needed to happen, it'll be interesting to see what happens with Epstein. I don't think nearly as much of him as most Boston fans do.

[Mel_13]

Half of the Rangers runs in the series were scored in one game...a bad outing from a very reliable pitcher. But you should know something about that as a Phillies fan watching Lee lose his lead.

The rest of the games were pitched well. Nothing I said or you highlighted was incorrect. Keep the emoticons up though...they really solidify and validate your arguments.

To your point:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/...1/seasontype/3

[lefty]

I like Francona (fromer Expo )

[Mel_13]

Papelbon to Philly. 4yrs/50M

http://www.csnphilly.com/baseball-ph...376&feedID=704

[LnGrrrR]

Sucks to lose Papelbon, but at that price, I can see why they didn't sign him. Bard has a lot of potential.

[TIMMYtoZO]

Fantastic pickup by the Phillies along with landing Thome. As long as Ryan Howard can stay injured, the Phillies will win it all. I hope and pray that this ends his career. He is such a cancer to this team.

[LnGrrrR]

Fantastic pickup by the Phillies along with landing Thome. As long as Ryan Howard can stay injured, the Phillies will win it all. I hope and pray that this ends his career. He is such a cancer to this team.

What's so bad about Ryan Howard? I don't pay as much attention to the NL as I do the AL.

And definitely a good pickup, if overpriced. But if you can afford it, who cares?

[TIMMYtoZO]

What's so bad about Ryan Howard? I don't pay as much attention to the NL as I do the AL.

And definitely a good pickup, if overpriced. But if you can afford it, who cares?

Ryan Howard is a home run or bust type of player. He has been HORRIBLE in the postseason. He is a weak link in this lineup, and he is very overpaid.

[crc21209]

BIG loss for the Sox....

[Fabbs]

Ryan Howard is a home run or bust type of player. He has been HORRIBLE in the postseason. He is a weak link in this lineup, and he is very overpaid.

Yep. He's fast becoming -if not already there- ARod Jr for playoffs.

Bostons choice of Valentine. Bad decision.

[BanditHiro]

at least john lackey is gone for the year

[JamStone]

Bostons choice of Valentine. Bad decision.

I don't know if Valentine will be good or not. But to me, a manager in major league baseball is all about relating to and commanding respect from the players and motivating players to get the best out of them. Even if a manager isn't all that smart, not all that well spoken, and has no idea about sabermetrics, if he's a great leader, he can have success with talent. Major league baseball more than basketball and football is about the talent on the roster imo.

Joe Torre didn't have a great managerial resume before getting hired by the Yankees. Terry Francona had little experience and didn't do all that well in Philly before Boston, and he won his first season with the Red Sox. Talent.

There are no elaborate offensive schemes or defensive sets like basketball and football. Baseball is so individualized. It's all about individual plays, individual talent. And every major league baseball team has hitting coaches, pitching coaches, fielding coaches anyway. And every MLB team now employs statisticians to do all that sabermetric geek anyway to give the manager that information. And even at the end of the day, managers often use hunches when managing. Especially in the AL, where you don't really worry about double switching and how to micro-manage the bullpen day in and day out, pretty much all a manager needs to worry about is when his starting pitcher is done, whether he wants to play small ball with bunts and steals, and defensive alignments late in games. Out of the 4 major American sports, the MLB manager (head coach) is the least important to me.

Boston has talent on its roster. Bobby will succeed if he can get through his players and properly motivate them.

[JMarkJohns]

Grumbling Boston players better not screw up this hire, as I was thrilled to see that I wouldn't be subjected to Bobby V's commentary on ESPN baseball anymore!