Implosion in Beantown- Aceves melts down

[Outlaw]

12 unaswered in the last 3 innings by Yankees after trailing 9-1. It is both painful and fun to watch Bobby V in the dugout...lol Aceves 5 batters, no outs... and the bullpen is pretty much empty... how long before they try Bard? or make a trade? Bobby V gettign big time Boos walking out to get each pitcher.... But Marlon is on the way to save the day, he of .073 avg
2 more yankee runs, another trip to the mound - wow- another pitcher yanked, more boos and to top it off, Bobby V is laughing on this trip, thats going to go over well in Beantown...

[DOUGHBOYS]

Sorry.... same time thread starter's

[Outlaw]

Sorry.... same time thread starter's

all good Dough! got a gut feeling, if red sox keep reeling, Bobby V will be out and Francona back.... shades of George and Billy days

[headhunters]

just what have these boy geniuses in chi- town and boston done? i mean most of the moves they made- from bailey to crawford really haven't worked out. valentine is an a$$ - but he can't pitch. gotta give the yanks credit- you must throw strikes- must. loved the ump in the white sox game- he was NOT going to be joyce. did not look like a swing to me- but he was taking no chances and was not going to wimp out and deferr to 1st base ump.

[kgrady]

Sorry.... same time thread starter's

all good Dough! got a gut feeling, if red sox keep reeling, Bobby V will be out and Francona back.... shades of George and Billy days

As a long-time Red Sox fan, this strikes me as the worst loss this club has suffered since 19-8 in game 3 of the 2004 ALCS. The Idiots rebounded in historical fashion from that debacle, but it's hard for me to see this edition doing anything of the sort. This club is poorly constructed. Thin starting pitching. Shaky bullpen made even worse by force-feeding your best reliever into the starting rotation. It would be one thing if there was good reason to believe that Daniel Bard can be a quality starter. The Yankees took a lot of criticism for trying Joba Chamberlain as a starter, but at least in Joba's case he had 4 legitimate pitches in his arsenal. Trying him as a starter made sense, but they went about it all wrong. The Yankees screwed up with Joba by going to ridiculous extremes to limit his innings and pitch counts. In Bard's case, I just don't see where he's starting pitching material. The offense can be good if they get Ellsbury and Crawford back, and order enough masking tape to keep Kevin Youkilis in one piece. Mike Aviles is not really a shortstop. Makes me wonder why Marco Scutaro is playing secondbase in Colorado.

Bobby V? I was non-committal when the team signed him. I thought it could be anywhere ranging from a big success to an ugly failure. At this point, 'big success' has fallen quite a few furlongs behind. Valentine is an abrasive personality who relishes the spotlight. He's the smartest guy the room. The closest thing to Valentine's personality that I can think of in recent Red Sox history is Dan Duquette. Duquette made far more good decisions than bad during his stint in Boston, but he rubbed people the wrong way and was villified for the moves that didn't work out. Boston is a very tough city to be a manager or GM, especially in baseball. At this point, it's hard to see things working out well for Bobby V. He's replacing a genuinely liked and respected skipper in Terry Francona. Valentine needed to get the team off to a good start; instead they look inept. Furthermore, Valentine looks clueless when it comes to handling his pitching staff. Case in point. Season opener. Sox rally for 2 runs against Jose Valverde to tie the game 2-2. Mark Melancon starts the bottom of the ninth. Melancon has a reputation for being soft when it comes to pressure spots. With Andrew Bailey out and Daniel Bard starting, Melancon was being counted on as the set-up man for Alfredo Aceves. Melancon gets into a little trouble in the last of the ninth and Bobby V. pulls him to bring in Aceves. So much for Melancon's confidence. Granted, a manager can't hold his players' hands, but you need to keep things in perspective. If Melancon is one of your key guys, you have to show some faith in him. The season is too long not to. Of course, Aceves allowed the inherited run to score. Melancon took the loss, got hammered in his next few outings and he is now working out his issues in the minor leagues. Swell!

Kevin

[mlbbug]

Kevin, as a lifelong Yankee fan who suffered through the awful years when CBS owned the team(mid 60's-early 70's), I can understand how you feel. But then again, on the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the hated BoSox unravel after blowing a 9-0 lead going to the 7th inning . Aceves does not appear to have the stuff to close and ,so far, Bard looks to be misplaced as an SP. Unless somebody in Beantown wakes up very quickly and switches the roles for Bard and Aceves it could be a very,long,lean year up at Fenway.

Rich McCormick
Astoria,NY

[The Franchise]

Sorry.... same time thread starter's

all good Dough! got a gut feeling, if red sox keep reeling, Bobby V will be out and Francona back.... shades of George and Billy days

As a long-time Red Sox fan, this strikes me as the worst loss this club has suffered since 19-8 in game 3 of the 2004 ALCS. The Idiots rebounded in historical fashion from that debacle, but it's hard for me to see this edition doing anything of the sort. This club is poorly constructed. Thin starting pitching. Shaky bullpen made even worse by force-feeding your best reliever into the starting rotation. It would be one thing if there was good reason to believe that Daniel Bard can be a quality starter. The Yankees took a lot of criticism for trying Joba Chamberlain as a starter, but at least in Joba's case he had 4 legitimate pitches in his arsenal. Trying him as a starter made sense, but they went about it all wrong. The Yankees screwed up with Joba by going to ridiculous extremes to limit his innings and pitch counts. In Bard's case, I just don't see where he's starting pitching material. The offense can be good if they get Ellsbury and Crawford back, and order enough masking tape to keep Kevin Youkilis in one piece. Mike Aviles is not really a shortstop. Makes me wonder why Marco Scutaro is playing secondbase in Colorado.

Bobby V? I was non-committal when the team signed him. I thought it could be anywhere ranging from a big success to an ugly failure. At this point, 'big success' has fallen quite a few furlongs behind. Valentine is an abrasive personality who relishes the spotlight. He's the smartest guy the room. The closest thing to Valentine's personality that I can think of in recent Red Sox history is Dan Duquette. Duquette made far more good decisions than bad during his stint in Boston, but he rubbed people the wrong way and was villified for the moves that didn't work out. Boston is a very tough city to be a manager or GM, especially in baseball. At this point, it's hard to see things working out well for Bobby V. He's replacing a genuinely liked and respected skipper in Terry Francona. Valentine needed to get the team off to a good start; instead they look inept. Furthermore, Valentine looks clueless when it comes to handling his pitching staff. Case in point. Season opener. Sox rally for 2 runs against Jose Valverde to tie the game 2-2. Mark Melancon starts the bottom of the ninth. Melancon has a reputation for being soft when it comes to pressure spots. With Andrew Bailey out and Daniel Bard starting, Melancon was being counted on as the set-up man for Alfredo Aceves. Melancon gets into a little trouble in the last of the ninth and Bobby V. pulls him to bring in Aceves. So much for Melancon's confidence. Granted, a manager can't hold his players' hands, but you need to keep things in perspective. If Melancon is one of your key guys, you have to show some faith in him. The season is too long not to. Of course, Aceves allowed the inherited run to score. Melancon took the loss, got hammered in his next few outings and he is now working out his issues in the minor leagues. Swell!

Kevin

I'm also a Red Sox fan since the day I was born, but I look at it differently.I actually liked the move from Francona to Bobby. I thought things got a little too loosey goosey last year and thought a change was needed. First in Bobby V's defense, it's easy to look like an idiot manager when your pitching staff sucks a$$. Lester (staff ace) looks lost on the mound right now and Buchholz is throwing batting practice up there. You lose your closer to start the year in an already thin bullpen and I could see things might get ugly and they have. Bard I think will/would be just fine as a starter, but you need him in the bullpen at this point followed by a call to Oswalt. You could still save the season. Other than that if you leave things as is they will sink like the titanic. Oh, it would also help if you had Ellsbury and Crawford were in the lineup too.

We'll see what happens, but it could be a .500 year with a roster blow up in the off season. The roster just seems poorly constructed.







Beckett and Dubrount are your 2 best pitchers right now.

[Bronx Yankees]

Picked up Andrew Bailey for $5 on Week 3 FAAB. Was not sure about tying up roster spot for 2+ months, but I am light on saves and not prepared to spend $200 on the closer du jour. Of course, if he is out well past the all-star break and/or doesn't get closer's job back, it will have been a dumb move. But, from what I've seen so far, he (currently) has no competition for the job. A little concerned about Bard getting the job or a closer from another team. We'll see.

[mlbbug]

Picking up Bailey for a five spot is not a bad move. If he gets back mid-year he could give your squad a huge boost. If you wait for him to get close to returning then you'd have to spend most ,if not all,of your FAAB to acquire him. With much lesser skilled closer du jours going for $400+ FAAB bids,just imagine how much it would cost for a healthy Bailey!

[Ando]

Picking up Bailey for a five spot is not a bad move. If he gets back mid-year he could give your squad a huge boost. If you wait for him to get close to returning then you'd have to spend most ,if not all,of your FAAB to acquire him. With much lesser skilled closer du jours going for $400+ FAAB bids,just imagine how much it would cost for a healthy Bailey!

I think that is the first time I have ever read the two words healthy and Bailey consecutively in a sentence. Nice work, 'bug!

[Ryan C]

Amazed how many people not only dropped aceves this week but went and benched him as well. 7 game slate against Min and ChW - Those are tasty matchups that to this owner were worth the risk. At least I was rewarded tonight.

[Raskol]

I'm one of the lucky (stupid?) ones who benched Aceves for week one, activated him for week two and benched him for week three. I think he's personally added at least one run to my team's ERA while contributing zero saves. Oh, the joys.....

[Ryan C]

Yikes - that was more interesting than Aceves needs to make these things. A walk, a hit, a HBP. Loads em up. But survives. Hey a save is a save.

[Winston's Empire]

Yikes - that was more interesting than Aceves needs to make these things. A walk, a hit, a HBP. Loads em up. But survives. Hey a save is a save.

I was laughing and crying during that performance! Man, that guy looks shaky back there, but I will take the save since I own him in 50% of my leagues!

[Edwards Kings]

From RotoWorld:

Mark Melancon hasn't given up a run in three appearances with Triple-A Pawtucket.
Melancon worked around a double to get three swinging strikeouts on Tuesday night and now owns an impressive 6/0 K/BB ratio over 3 1/3 innings. He was demoted to the minors last week after being blasted for 11 runs and five homers over just two innings (49.50 ERA), but he should find his way back to the Red Sox bullpen before long.

Mr. Melancon....call for Mr. Melancon!