Get Ready
The Boston Herald reports today that Theo's going to shake things up with the Red Sox. Sure, we've all had our laughs at the Yankees' recent foibles, most recently Joe Torre's "vote of confidence" from George Steinbrenner (which probably means he'll be fired). But while the Sox are still within striking distance of the Orioles, they haven't exactly torn up the AL East either.
So get out your tea leaves. Here are Epstein's quotes:
This is difficult to fix, to be honest with you... So many people are performing below our expectations and below our projections that this isn't easy to fix. If this is the best that this pitching staff can pitch, then I really miscalculated and it's time for changes.This is my fault. The guys have to play better or we've got to make some changes. I think we've allowed something like (77) runs in our last 10 losses. We're out of games. It's time for changes. Soon.
...
We take [trades] very, very seriously... But what we have right now isn't working. It's clear. It's my fault and we have to fix it. The status quo is not really acceptable.
...
[Schilling]'s making some progress, but we can't count on him as a savior... If he comes back and has a dominating second half, great. But we can't count on that. He can't fix everything.
...
I think we're reluctant to give up on some guys who've performed for us and who have a track record... But it reaches a point where what you have isn't working and you've got to make some changes. It's a pain tolerance.
I know that's a lot of quote, but it's interesting stuff. Who could he be referring to here? The article mentions releasing bullpen guys like Mantei, Halama or even Alan Embree. I don't know, though: 12eight, the blog I ripped this off from, also mentions Millar and Bellhorn might find themselves out of Boston soon. I'm not sure what teams will be in "sell" mode this season, so I'm not sure who we'd pick up. (Iis it true the Royals want to keep Mike Sweeney?
I'll tell you, though, I keep looking at "give up on some guys who've performed for us and who have a track record" and I think Tim Wakefield. He's 38 and he's got an ERA of 5.13. Releasing Wakefield would be worse than Dumbledore dying in Half-Blood Prince, but as we learned in Moneyball, sentimentality is one of the big impediments to efficiency. Let's hope getting rid of Wakefield isn't an option, because if it is, we might be forced to consider just how badly we want to win.