Rotation

[redsoxfan3]

The only two other FA starters I would be even remotely interested in are Lohse and Jackson. Adding one of those two would be good, but who knows if that will even happen? We havent been linked to Jackson, but have been interested in Lohse.

[Palodios]

The only two other FA starters I would be even remotely interested in are Lohse and Jackson. Adding one of those two would be good, but who knows if that will even happen? We havent been linked to Jackson, but have been interested in Lohse.

 

Marcum, Marcum, Marcum.

[BSN07]

Marcum, Marcum, Marcum.

 

That only works for Beetlejuice dude...

[Palodios]

That only works for Beetlejuice dude...

 

Err... Hi Shaun. I know it is weird that you're in my apartment, but I'm a mile from Fenway. Can you go over and talk to Ben please?

[BSN07]

Err... Hi Shaun. I know it is weird that you're in my apartment, but I'm a mile from Fenway. Can you go over and talk to Ben please?

 

 

Ben: "What makes you qualified to pitch in Boston?"

 

Shaun: "Ah. Well... I attended Juilliard... I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT... NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO A DEAD GUY... NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK? You think I'm qualified?"

[redsoxfan3]

Marcum, Marcum, Marcum.

 

I overlooked Marcum. I would be okay with him as well. I think a Lohse, Marcum, or Jackson acquisition would be a good thing. We cannot have too much depth. We need to stay far away from Liriano.

 

I just don't know how much I like Doubront as the #4 and Lackey as the #5. I would be okay with them battling for the #5 if we sign a guy like Marcum, Lohse, or Jackson. Doubront could be used in a trade. I wonder what a trade involving Salty, Ellsbury, and Doubront could fetch.

[a700hitter]

I could live with Marcum. Just give him a thorough physical by doctors that don't work for the Sox.

[NZSox]

Red Sox Rotation vs. Blue Jays Rotation, 2013 Season:

 

Lester vs. Dickey

Buchholz vs. Josh Johnson

Dempster vs. Buehrle

Doubront vs. Morrow

Lackey vs. Romero

 

Yikes...

[Bellhorn04]

Red Sox Rotation vs. Blue Jays Rotation, 2013 Season:

 

Lester vs. Dickey

Buchholz vs. Josh Johnson

Dempster vs. Buehrle

Doubront vs. Morrow

Lackey vs. Romero

 

Yikes...

 

They would certainly have the edge on paper. But none of those Toronto pitchers are what people here call an 'ace', a guy who has been a consistently dominating pitcher over a few years.

[a700hitter]

Red Sox Rotation vs. Blue Jays Rotation, 2013 Season:

 

Lester vs. Dickey

Buchholz vs. Josh Johnson

Dempster vs. Buehrle

Doubront vs. Morrow

Lackey vs. Romero

 

Yikes...

Plus, they have Drabeck and Happ for depth.

[NZSox]

They would certainly have the edge on paper. But none of those Toronto pitchers are what people here call an 'ace', a guy who has been a consistently dominating pitcher over a few years.

 

Dickey is a reigning Cy Young and a healthy Josh Johnson can resemble an ace. They almost have two, in my opinion. People's definitions of 'ace' differ though.

 

Serious question, are we better in any of those 5 match ups I listed?

[Station 13]

Plus, they have Drabeck and Happ for depth.

 

Drabek is out with TJS. Happ sucks.

[NZSox]

Can anyone suggest to me a somewhat-within-the-realms-of-possibility SP for the Sox to acquire that improves us significantly?

[Station 13]

Can anyone suggest to me a somewhat-within-the-realms-of-possibility SP for the Sox to acquire that improves us significantly?

 

Garza. Maybe we'll do an Ellsbury as a centerpiece.

[Dojji]

How much of an improvement are we talking here?

 

I mean Bruce Chen is technically an upgrade, and certainly should be available.

[a700hitter]

Drabek is out with TJS. Happ sucks.

I though Drabeck had the TJS in June last year, so he would be a depth option after the ASB. No one said Happ was good, but he is probably better than our depth options. Doubront is not much better and he is in our rotation.

[Bellhorn04]

Serious question, are we better in any of those 5 match ups I listed?

 

Romero was pretty bad last year. But the Jays have a big edge on paper, no question.

[Station 13]

I though Drabeck had the TJS in June last year, so he would be a depth option after the ASB. No one said Happ was good, but he is probably better than our depth options. Doubront is not much better and he is in our rotation.

 

Doubront is quite easily better than them. He might be our #3 starter if Buchholz doesn't finally leap forward to give them 33 starts and 200IP. I'm tired of waiting. Doubront has a swing and miss fastball (unlike Lester/Buchholz), and excellent curveball. I expect him to be a breakout player.

 

As for depth, De La Rosa is pretty solid.

[BSN07]

Can anyone suggest to me a somewhat-within-the-realms-of-possibility SP for the Sox to acquire that improves us significantly?

 

Garza in an Ellsbury package(doubtful as CHC were trying to add SP with Sanchez) or Floyd in a deal for a C, presumably Salty.

[jung]

Felix may be able to step up this year. Unless he finds a way to get guys out without striking them out he will have a hard time improving on his innings pitched. Seems to have to set everybody up for the K and that turns out to be a lotta' pitches.

 

Felix does not impress me as the kind of guy that is strong enough to pull that off season after season. Several more ground ball outs per game would help him immensely.

[a700hitter]

Doubront is quite easily better than them. He might be our #3 starter if Buchholz doesn't finally leap forward to give them 33 starts and 200IP. I'm tired of waiting. Doubront has a swing and miss fastball (unlike Lester/Buchholz), and excellent curveball. I expect him to be a breakout player.

 

As for depth, De La Rosa is pretty solid.

And his WHIP is atrocious. He really isn't that much better than Happ at this point. He could be better, but he is yet to prove it. De La Rosa is good depth? Based on what track record. Throwing hard is not enough.

[rjortiz]

And his WHIP is atrocious. He really isn't that much better than Happ at this point. He could be better, but he is yet to prove it. De La Rosa is good depth? Based on what track record. Throwing hard is not enough.

 

Any rotation with Doubrount and Lackey is in serious trouble.

[mvp 78]

De La Rosa is a reliever at the moment. He won't be starting anytime soon, I hope.

[Station 13]

And his WHIP is atrocious. He really isn't that much better than Happ at this point. He could be better, but he is yet to prove it. De La Rosa is good depth? Based on what track record. Throwing hard is not enough.

 

Lester had a similar start to his career like Doubront posting a high WHIP. Doubront did K a batter an inning, something Lester did not do until his 4th year in the majors. He needs to walk less to get that WHIP down and go deeper into games.

 

Happs/Drabek are just fillers for the Jays while Doubront is expected to be one of the guys that will pitch around 200 innings.

 

Obviously De La Rosa is not enough to fallback on. The teams will need to come up with at least 2 other options. If we want our own Happs, trade Bailey for Rick Porcello, both could use a change of scenery. The Dodgers have a few extra starters available as well.

[Station 13]

Any rotation with Doubrount and Lackey is in serious trouble.

 

If they were counted on as 1-2 yeah the team's in bad shape. Lester/Buchholz need to get back on track for this team to go anywhere.

[jung]

Right you are rjortiz.

 

It might be time to look at what the Sox have done here so far.

 

We have an outfield made up of Ells if they don't trade him and the Sox amazing combination of #4 outfielders. We have once again cornered the market on something nobody really would normally care about as we now have more #4 outfielders than anybody else ever thought of having.

 

In the infield we have new SS, S Drew, who might be fine defensively depending on what he has left in his legs, might be fine at the plate but is a LH hitter in a park that is pretty deep in RF.... but hey on the new look Boston Mid-Packs, he should fit right in. We have WMB still learning how to throw across the infield from 3rd and possibly Mike Napoli trying to figure out how to catch those throws across the diamond from WMB and we have Pedey, the one true standout on this team of to old, to infirm, to often injured and recovering from injury ballplayers.

 

Behind the plate things are either as confusing or as simple as they would appear. Salty, quite possibly the worse combination of handling pitchers and basic fielding from behind the plate in MLB for a supposed everyday catcher. We have Ross, a legitimate defensive Catcher. We have Napoli if he is signed who will occasionally play behind the plate but will only look good back there when compared to Salty and we have Lavs who if the Sox had any sense should probably just be given the job for most nights considering the chances for this team actually going anywhere in 2013.

 

At DH we have the last legit, really good dedicated DH in baseball all be it, getting up there in age with no assurance at this point that the achilles will hold up. All and all a roster of everyday players that should score some runs but is not daunting by any means. I really do not think this offense will scare anybody when paired with the Sox pitching.

 

As for the Sox pitching, who is going to be where? We have posters that believe that Dempster will be the Sox opening day SP. I don't know which is scarier...that or Lackey being depended on in the rotation anywhere. We have Lester who might slot in anywhere from 1 (highly unlikely) to 3...who knows. We have Buch who must deliver at least 180 innings and 30 starts if he is either the 2 or the 3. Then again maybe he is the 1???? Finally we have Felix who must figure out how to get batters out without striking them out if he is to become a more significant member of a ML rotation.

 

That brings us to the heart and soul of this team...the bullpen. This will make three years running that the strength of the team will be the bullpen....need I say more. Unfortunately we have already had two years running where the bullpen has been driven to exhaustion by the end of the season cuz' the SP can't pitch enough innings to keep them off the mound. You expect your 4 and 5 to leave innings out there but our 1, 2 and 3 have regularly left to many innings out there and that is the dif that matters. I just don't see Dempster as making enough of a dent in that and he might not make any dent in it, pitching in the AL East.

 

All in, a team that does not have enough hitting to make up for its likely weak pitching. I would pick them today for 4th in the division with a shot at 3rd and likely no shot at the post season as I do not think that 3rd in the AL East whoever it turns out being will end up the 2nd WC this year. The chemistry should be good though so they should all have a good time getting to 3rd or 4th in the AL East.

[redsoxfan3]

Any rotation with Doubrount and Lackey is in serious trouble.

 

That is true. It could be a positive if they have solid seasons, but that is something that we CANNOT count on. I think it is essential to sign or trade for another solid arm.

 

De La Rosa is a reliever at the moment. He won't be starting anytime soon, I hope.

 

I don't think he is a reliever. He needs to be a starter in AAA and establish himself. I could see him as a decent back of the rotation guy next year if he has a solid season. I don't consider him depth at this point, but if he has a decent half a year in AAA, he could be a depth option if needed. He has a lot to prove. I think he has more value as a starter than a reliever, especially with all of our current bullpen options and with starting pitching being a weakness.

[Dojji]

De La Rosa is a reliever at the moment. He won't be starting anytime soon, I hope.

 

That's overstating it. But I wouldn't be surprised if Plan A is to give RDLR the entire 2013 season and at least half of 2014 in the minors to recover his durability (/add durability he's never had).

[BSN07]

I'm gong out on a limb here, but I think IF healthy Doubront is going to be the biggest surprise in the rotation this season. I'll be sure to put it in the "Bold Predictions" thread as soon as one pops up

[onlybereaved]

I'm gong out on a limb here, but I think IF healthy Doubront is going to be the biggest surprise in the rotation this season. I'll be sure to put it in the "Bold Predictions" thread as soon as one pops up

 

I personally back this, hard. No joke. Guy is going to do serious work this season.

 

on a side note...no disrespect to anyone on this board, but there are a large percentage of folks here who are super negative. Understandably, to a point given the recent terrible seasons etc. But come on people, lol.