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A pretty reasonable assessment. I have a similar assessment of the Sox, actually. 3 close games. Clearly they weren't outmatched by the Yankees. I think the teams are pretty even overall and will probably have a lot of close games this year. My assessment: -Ellsbury looks awful at the plate -The Sox are vulnerable in the bullpen. I'm not sure how this is possible given how good they were last year, but they didn't put the same effort into bolstering it this offseason so it seems logical. Hopefully someone will prove themselves soon. -Their SP is awesome. It is hard to be overwhelmed by ANY pitching against the Yankees, but over the course of the season I think it will be obvious. -Their defense is as good as advertized. Beltre and Cameron are already paying dividends and Scutaro--despite his error the other night--is a good combination with Pedroia up the middle and will be a much more potent 9 hitter than they've had recently. -All 3 of the new acquisitions are on short contracts and offer Theo a lot of flexibility to make a move for an OF, 3B/1B/DH or SS with more pop. -Victor Martinez is a more valuable player than Jason Bay and should be resigned. Yes, they lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees, but there are 159 games left and this team should be fun to watch.

The question isn't whether Ortiz can be the Ortiz of old. He just needs to have good ABs, a decent OBP and the ability to hurt bad pitches. So far we've seen him hitting against CC (arguably the best LHP in the league), AJ Burnett (someone Ortiz should hit decently, but who is still potentially overpowering) and some RPs, including situational lefties. If he continues to struggle when the Sox run into the rest of the AL then we will probably have a problem on our hands. Until then he deserves the short-sample-size defense.

Yep. A good start. Not to mention that Ellsbury's routine grab in the 9th could have been a double if Bay were in LF.

Bummer for him.

I think if a deal makes sense financially they would be wise to spend regardless of the ownership situation. Would they rather have an ownership debacle and make the playoffs, or have an ownership debacle and not make the playoffs? They have a good enough team, in a bad enough division, that one or two key moves could make or break a profit. I don't think they will spend Manny-money again, but neither Cliff Lee or Josh Beckett will represent that kind of "dumb" (my quotes) spending. As for the Sox, I think that letting Beckett go would put this team roughly where they were last offseason, which isn't ideal. I think that adding one offensive piece to the current team virtually makes them favorites moving forward. This team without Beckett (but with Lackey) is basically the same as last year's team without Jason Bay. They will be a good team but in need of something substantial. I'm excited to see where they end up spending, but I think 2010-2011 are enormously important seasons for this club moving forward personnel wise. Beckett should be a part of that club--he's good, he's young enough and he's a proven winner/leader. What more could they want?

This just isn't true. He wasn't called a generational talent or a can't miss player. He was called a young kid with a huge frame and tremendous upside if his talent matched his frame. Please Jacko.

Good stuff. Congrats to Joe and to the Twins.

You are overestimating the difference between Halladay and Beckett/Lester/Lackey. The difference is there but marginal. It is closer to the difference between Adrian Gonzalez and Albert Pujols... both are great, one is the best in the game, the other is just one of the best in the game. Both could certainly guide a very good team to a WS. You don't believe OBP is a really important offensive measure, so I take your assessment of the offense with a grain of salt. I too believe that they need more offensive punch before they fully reach their potential, but I think you come to that conclusion based on the wrong premise (i.e., that a team needs 40 HR hitters to be great) so I'm not willing to give you credit for it.

The problem with this team is not having too few 'ace' caliber starting pitchers. Yes, there are better pitchers out there, but only a handful. This discussion should be had using some sort of regular metric that applies to all players, not some poster's subjective assessment of whether Cliff Lee is better than Josh Beckett or Jon Lester.

I disagree with the premise of the poll. Defense is important at 3B, but most 3B at the MLB level make most of the plays. You can't stick a slugging 1B who can't field over there without disasterous results. At the same time, the average defensive abilities of mlb-caliber 3B is high enough that teams can rightly want a good hitting 3B who can field well. It isn't the same as C, SS, 2B or, I would argue, CF.

If he's been overhyped I would think you would have seen his name enough to realize there's no 't' in it. :dunno:

Yes it would. Great idea.

You guys are using a lot of finger-energy to explain things to this PWNdroia fellow. He doesn't get it, as evidenced by his very weak arguments. PWNdroia, why should we suppose that you know more than the Sox FO or people who study this game full time?

Bad news. My assumption is that this is something one can recover from if the surgery goes well and if the growth is, as Jacko says, superficial. It really, really sucks though. Here's hoping they will get it taken care of and that he can go on to have a full life.

Like a700 I didn't notice his curve. Unlike a700, I was quite impressed. He was hitting 93 pretty consistently and seemed to have good command low in the strike zone. The catcher didn't seem to have to move his glove very much and he has an easy, very repeatable motion. He looked remarkably polished and poised for a 20 year old. He clearly needs to push himself against better competition because he hasn't really experienced a tough stretch yet and hasn't faced competition that can handle him. FWIW, he made a tremendous play on a hard hit GB up the middle. Frame/stuff/athleticism-wise I feel like Zack Greinke and young Mike Mussina might be useful comparisons. His FB isn't overpowering but it is definitely something that will make hitters defensive, especially if he's hitting 93 at 20 y.o.

Jacko you're absolutely right. Except for the "arbitration" thing (it's an option, as you pointed out later). My point was more that because they have an option for him, they would work it so they can keep him longer (like you say, probably under a better contract) and the option is one way they can do that. If he hits .310/.405/.610 with 35 HR/135 RBI then I anticipate the option may be picked up, or they will offer him something close to that. But you are right about them having real negotiating power over him given the economic climate in baseball.

I think Prince Fielder stands a good chance of ending up in Boston. Scott Boras is his agent. Boston will have an opening at DH so his defensive skills won't hurt them as much. Yes, a slick fielding, slick hitting 1B or 3B would be preferrable, but Fielder appears to be a better hitter than Gonzalez and he's younger.

Boston... where the GM will go on the radio and strongly assert how valuable he sees his player when a lot of other people won't. I'd want to stick around too. As much as there are things about Drew that I don't love, I have to admit that he would be a pain to replace, even in a good FA class. Good corner outfielders don't come cheap.

I will go with Ellsbury first, then Buchholz.

Yeah, I've always liked Martinez, even when he was with CLE. He sounds like he might be open to a reasonable deal for a number of years and I think the Sox ought to take advantage. I would be just fine with them making a 4 year/$50m offer. If he really wants to avoid FA that's a nice deal. If not then they might get him for less at the end of the season, or he could end up elsewhere.

I think the same question would be asked if they signed Jason Bay or Matt Holliday to a big multi-year deal.

Just because one source said he hit 97 doesn't mean that people expect him to hit 97 or that the Red Sox expected him to hit 97. Tazawa's not going to be the next big thing, but he had a pretty good MiLB season last year in his introduction to American baseball, living in the United States, speaking English, etc., so I'm willing to give him a little bit of time before declaring that he can't be effective in the bigs.