Felger's big thing seems to be that the focus on pitching and defense was plan B this offseason. That the Red Sox went after Jason Bay and Matt Holliday first, and then when those didn't pan out they switched to trying to get guys that are good defenders. This is shortsighted for three reasons. First, it ignores the fact that (and admittedly I'm taking the front office's word on this) the Red Sox weren't interested in Lackey initially because they didn't think he would want to come to the Red Sox for a reasonable price. When this turned out to be the case, they signed him, which obviously influenced their flexibility in signing the other free agents.
Second, it refuses to look at the fact that defense does in fact influence the outcome of baseball games. I know, crazy right? Looking at an extreme example, if you had a guy who hit like Babe Ruth but literally was unable to field the ball, so that every ball hit to him became an extra base hit, you wouldn't sign him (this is an overly simplistic argument that ignores the DH, but you get the idea). Some of Jason Bay's contributions to the team offensively are canceled out by his defensive shortcomings. As such, you have to pay him accordingly, looking at his overall production, which takes both factors into account. They put a number on that, and when it wasn't enough they moved on. It's not as if they were saying we have to sign Jason Bay no matter what, he is the big bat we need to be a successful team. So to say that going for offense was there plan A is a little disingenuous. Matt Holliday is a slightly different story because he isn't as bad defensively, but I never got the sense that the Red Sox were really truly in the bidding for him.
Finally, it doesn't look at the big picture. No sports radio does this, and it drives me crazy. It's always now now now, and gives absolutely no thought to the future. Between the fact that there is a lot of payroll coming off the books after next year, combined with a much better free agent class, it doesn't make sense for the Red Sox to hamstring themselves with a lot of long-term financial commitments, which is what a Jason Bay would have done to some extent. There have been arguments about whether signing Matt Holliday to a long term deal would have helped out the Red Sox both short and long term, but to not even acknowledge that these things play a role in the decision making is just lazy.
Also, every time I hear CHB mention any sort of non-traditional stat like UZR in his smarmy condescending tone of voice I want to punch him in the face. And Mazz will never get over the Red Sox not signing Teixeira
