greg775

Then, Balta, I ask you: What teams would consider acquiring Rios? A lot of people on here have a high opinion of him. If we could deal Rios we'd be better equipped to acquire some other guys. Do you see any team that might have an interest in acquiring Rios for scraps?

Rude, you are assuming he'd have woken up in a Sox uniform and played some ball for us. He wouldn't have. It was a bad fit. He was a total out machine in Chicago, do you not agree?

This could be the smallest game thread ever unless I come on and we argue about "do we want to lose so we get a better draft pick?"

Would the Yankees or Mets go for Rios for scraps? Then we could make a significant trade for Granderson. I want Grandy. Any way we could trade for Bartlett and move Lexi to second? What an offensive infield that'd be with Gordon, Bartlett, Lexi and Mr. Scoop, Paulie.

Oz needed something to rant about and he picked the TV thing. It's early in college football season; AJ probably was checking on the Florida game. Big deal. AJ batted in the No. 3 hole the next day. If Oz said it was a veteran, it probably was AJ. Big deal. We all know modern ballplayers care a lot less about winning than the old days. It's all about how much money you can make and forever more will be. It's one of the reasons, along with the s*** bullpen, that we underachieved this year. No killer instinct in games against s***ty teams. Until we take the Orioles seriously and the Indians and Royals, we're gonna continue to be .500 at best. Got to bring it every night and we don't. That and the fact our relievers suck big time.

Bolt, I don't understand why you are on this Swisher kick. Swisher wouldn't have made a difference this year. If anything we may have been out of it earlier. You have to look at the whole picture. He was an ass. And as far as onfield performance, he was an out machine in a Sox uniform. I get on tangents, but you are really on one with Swisher. You might consider dumping the repeat thoughts on Swish as I finally did on Rios. Swisher was a bad fit and is not a great baseball player. I don't even think he is a good baseball player. You do.

That's a good way to put it. He looked pretty good and he worked very fast. Hope he's copying Mark in that regard. He walked five, but all five were in 2 innings. Hopefully that was just some mechanical thing as a kid. I admit he's a better option than Fred next year provided he is a quick starter. Can he pitch well out of the gate?

Badger thanks for the explanation of the incident. It's a reasonable argument you have that Oz was big-time pissed and distracted. But after the game he did lament that his bullpen is worn (it's also awful) and he wanted seven out of Freddy. I'm surprised some don't think Freddy had a good start. I thought he pitched very well. How many hits and runs did he give up in his final inning after he was toast? At this point I would prefer Hudson as our No. 5. for next year . He looked damn good today and is younger. He worked very fast which I love. He had a fluid delivery. Does he remind anybody of Peavy?

Why lol southsider? You disagree when I say we have a lot to fix? We did win today, however, finally with somebody besides Peavy starting. We ended the year at home finally winning a home series as well. A positive.

Since you keep bringing up Swisher, whom I think is a stiff, let me put in a plug for Rowand. Until Rios (maybe) we haven't had a good option in cf since Rowand. He was (is) a stud.

Another good test for Thornton today as our future closer.

If you guys like to follow the draft, fine. But there are a ton of good players out there in the top 10, 15, 20. I don't root for my team to lose ever ... not over some unknown like the draft.

He said it better than me!!! How can you argue with this? This is my position on the draft. It's a f***ing crapshoot. I could give a s*** about the f***ing draft. Thank you Dick Allen. And I still don't know what a f***ing troll is. I'm as good a Sox fan as any of you.

I'll say this at least. Pena doesn't sicken me as much as Dotel. Hopefully Pena will use that fastball next year. He should copy Soria and develop a nasty pitch in the dirt to go with the fastball.

The walks were bad, but weren't two in one inning and three in another? It seems like he lost it for whatever reason. He'll correct the problem in the future as he did today. Now it's in the s***ty bullpen's hands. You may get your wish on the better draft pick. Who cares about the draft? There are tons of good players available in round one, most who don't pan out.

Very nice play by Gordon. Somewhat routine but not bad.

OMG, Pena is in.

Dye can still hit; he's just had a horrible second half. I think he used to be a pretty average to decent right fielder but this year he's definitely regressed out there. He'll help the Rangers next year at DH.

Good inning, but Lexi was due and couldn't get us another run. With our bullpen, it's good to score as many as you can from the sixth inning on.

I'm surprised he didn't throw Dye a curve in the dirt. He's been waving at those. He can still rifle a fastball up the middle.

Producers should immediately tell announcers like Huff to not say "I'll tell ya what" before leading into their comments. It's annoying.

Nice pair of hits. We finally score off a starter in the sixth/seventh as they often do on us.

I think so. Oz said last night his bullpen is thin. I'd like to see Hudson start the inning and get a quick hook if one gets on base. Wouldn't you agree?

Hudson gets a B plus for his six innings. If I was Oz, I'd let him start the second but have the relievers ready in case he walks the leadoff hitter or gives up ONE hit. That's unless he has some wildly high pitch count. I don't see how he can put in Pena/Liney. Those guys will make all the fans puke, except the Tiger fans.

This game is familiar to yesterday. Our starter will get hit in sixth, seventh and no offense. Trouble is brewing. How can you pitch such a fine game and walk the bases loaded suddenly? Youth.