Do The Red Sox Make The Playoffs?

[love_that_reefer]

I think the Red Sox still make the playoffs. Manny had completely quit on his team and sucked the life out of that team so it was addition by subtraction after that. Bay's production numbers are right with Manny's and Jason was on the weaker team. Bay will now be with a better team so I expect more production out of him. Bay is a good ballplayer and Boston still has a very good team. Manny wasn't the only reason the Red Sox won titles. The Red Sox will keep marching forward behind good pitching and a great offense. Not much has changed.

[perforatededge54]

I don't know the answer but if they keep playing the way played last night against the Angels, they're screwed.

[love_that_reefer]

No doubt! I'm sure Manny's BS wasn't helping plus the Yankees taking 2 of 3 never helps.

[cjkalt]

Reefer, I'm with you 100% Bay with a legit team makes me really excited, this trade reminds me of the nomar deal in 04, i expect to see a spark and the teams pitching turn it around...

As for the bullpen there is help in the minors with Bard potentally coming up, the Yankees did improve their lineup but they still have Sidney Ponson in their rotation, and the bullpen has younger players that could hit a wall

Also the Rays have a ton of road games left and the Sox have a ton of home ones... the Sox will make it!

[BuckFoston]

Yeah, I think the Sox will still make the playoffs, but they won't win the AL East. Like you said Reef, the Sox still have great talent on that team. Things will definitely be weird at first for the Sox and it might take some time for them to adjust having Bay instead of Manny but they will still make the playoffs. I don't think the Rays will make the playoffs. They're good, but, I just don't see them beating out the Yankees and the Red Sox. Yankees will win the AL East and the Red Sox will take the WC.

[Lance324]

I don't think they will make it. But my reasoning has nothing to do with Manny. The did nothing to address their biggest issue... Middle Relief. Manny had to go, but they basically paid someone to take him.

[cjkalt]

Lance you are 100% wrong the bullpen help is coming from the minors in the name of Daniel Bard, he's a great arm that will help us win the AL East

[realmofotalk]

I find the possibility of the defending champs getting beaten by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for a playoff spot to be hilarious.

[Lance324]

Originally Posted by cjkalt Lance you are 100% wrong the bullpen help is coming from the minors in the name of Daniel Bard, he's a great arm that will help us win the AL East

Unfortunately one arm isn't going to solve the problem, as the Sox don't have a single consistent arm in the pen aside from Papelbon. Also there's no telling what Bard will do when he gets to the majors. Remember how Craig Hansen was gonna be the greatest reliever the Sox had ever seen. Yeah, he and his 5.00 + ERA went packing today. He was consistently lousy in the majors. I hope you are right, but I doubt it. They had to trade Manny though, they had no chance with him, he was such a distraction.

[ljshorty89]

Not only will one arm not change anything...but you can't guarantee that Bard will be any more consistently successful than the other Sox relievers have been.

[cjkalt]

This coming from the Mets fan, whose team doesn't even have one good arm in the pen, 2 decent starters... they are a playoff team for sure but not the team with 1 elite arm and a couple other okay ones, the team with 5 or 6 starters that are good (with Lester and Dice-K being very good), and Ortiz will not make it...

As for the bullpen you can pick up another arm or 2 in WW deals so if u think the sox won't make it cause of the pen there is still time to fix that

[ljshorty89]

You have absolutely no clue what you're talking about with the Mets.

Schoeneweis has been excellent this year, Heilman has been MUCH better lately, Duaner is still working his way back from 2 shoulder surgeries and is still looking to get back to where he was, but it seems like he will. Wagner is good. Feliciano is a pretty good lefty specialist. Joe Smith has struggled, but his runs come on broken bat singles and slow rollers that infielders have no play on.

So, if you want to start talking crap, at least know something about the team you're bashing. The Mets pen is inconsistent, yes. But it is NOT a poor bullpen

[ljshorty89]

And also, I'd take Santana(the most dominant pitcher today), Maine and Perez(2 upcoming STUDS in the rotation), Pedro(a proven winner), and Pelfrey(a soon to be star, who just won pitcher of the month).

as opposed to Beckett(a stud), Dice-K(pretty good, but walks WAY too many batters), Lester is darn good, but Buchholz, Masterson, and Wakefield are just ok.