QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 10:17 AM)
This is an argument that will live for years on soxtalk, but didn't I hear recently that the Sox were second in runs scored since the All-Star break? How much better would Thome have made this team? He could not have helped the bullpen, he could not have helped Floyd or Peavy in the first 2 months and I sincerely do not know if he would have helped Beckham, Ramirez, Quentin, etc. who sucked so badly at the start of the season.
Thome, Ozzie, and KW are the popular scapegoats because its easy point a finger at one person and a say, "That's why our season was disappointing", but we had the horses to run this race, they just didn't run their best.
Our team was in it primarily because of an outstanding run against NL teams, where the DH was not part of the equation. Notice how mediocre we were prior to and after the NL stretch. Just look at out record against the AL and AL Central.