Battle for top 10 (protected) draft picks in 2016 draft

Tank for Boldt!

Is it possible that this has been the plan all along? they aren't allowed to go over 300,00this year for International free agents so to tank this year will give them a protected pick this year in MLB draft. seems far fetched but who knows what runs in the minds of the upper echelon.

Suggestion--watch less political commentary on cable channels--it can short-circuit your brain synapses.

Think of all the international money the FA will not use next year. It is looking good for us in the draft next year.

Half game out of the #2 spot.

At this point we can't fire Farrell til after the season. Don't want to risk improvement.

Not sure we need one of those. Farrell has seemingly got that one figured out all by himself.

I mean with the way this team plays in the first 3 innings...

I could have sworn I saw Miami won.

Shows how much the Red Sox are making me pay attention.

that is why I don't waste my time watching that baloney. I want to save my sanity. watch nothing but sports.

Really? Cause that seems like an even more ridiculous comment. With the exception of 2013, Farrell has failed to get anything close to the expected production out of the talent on this team, and Cherington, even if you hated every move he's made from the get go (which I doubt, cause if you did, you'd probably be working in an MLB front office somewhere and not posting here) you have to admit that he's gotten us a stacked farm system which is starting to pay some serious dividends.

If you really think a Manager doesn't make difference then the Sox could hire you, correct?

Madden all those years in Tampa and look what he has done in Chicago. Bochy, Matheny, Hurdle took Col to a series and now Pitt a playoff team..

Did you forget Cherington has been in player development with the Sox since 99, with 3 championships and numerous playoff appearances?

Yes talent does help, no question. I think much has to do with this team not being mentally prepared to play given the circus of events we have seen play out on the field.
All the talk about strike zone and such is an excuse. Hasn't affected Trout or Cabrera.
And that my friend is on the Manager.

Folks, it's not a zero-sum game. Maybe BOTH Cherington and Farrell are bad at their jobs.

This is a far out idea, but (don't laugh)...maybe this is mostly about the players. You need to look at the personnel decisions at the time of the acquisitions. Injuries, Pablo Sandoval gaining a great deal of weight (when he was already out of shape), pitchers failing to produce at former levels during prime years, injuries...GM's are not all knowing regarding the future.

I did not like the Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval signings. The length of Sandoval's contract concerned me greatly. However, if 90% of the other players on the roster had performed at their career averages, this disaster would not be happening.

I question why the Sox did not sit Sandoval down in spring training and tell him that he was going to have a shadow from the club, night and day, until he lost at least 25 pounds. When he began looking like a hot air balloon, I would have put him on the DL and had a fitness trainer work the fat off of him while games were being played. Wire his jaw shut (well, that is probably extreme). Have a nutritionist explain that he can eat all he wants of the right foods, but that eating a whole pig in one sitting is a little overboard.

David Ortiz was supposed to be Hanley's second father and straighten him out. That has worked out well...or not.

The best way to project a player is to look at past performance. That did not bode well when Sandoval was signed. However, almost all of the other signings and trades that did not work out surprised most of us. Hindsight is easy. Foresight is extraordinarily difficult.