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I don't know enough about him to give a scouting report, other than probably the same things that you have read. You're right that we don't hear a lot about him but that is because the Red Sox really have great pitching depth. You can include Stephen Fife and Casey Kelly in your list of players who may be clouding a true assessment of Weiland, pushing him more toward the middle of the pack. That said, nobody can deny that the Sox have produced some worth pitching prospects recently. Your list of course doesn't include Brian Pryce, Nick Hagadone or Justin Masterson, who were all good prospects but were traded for V-Mart.

I agree with Pedroia, Drew and Youkilis. I would add Baldelli, Lugo (when here), Lowrie, and Nick Green. Bay's speed wasn't a plus tool.

Huh? Really, second fastest?

Interesting interview on Dale and Holley on WEEI yesterday with John Farrell. He talked about the splitter and about Papelbon's release point. Basically it got to the point where hitters were able to notice that his release point indicated an "other' pitch (other than FB) and were taking it consistently, thus reducing the effectiveness of the splitter. In the past Papelbon didn't have that problem, but for whatever reason that changed. Farrell indicated that they hoped the slider would maybe get to that point and that it was at times last year. The larger point was that for a guy who throws so many FBs any change in the release point meant "take" to the batter and he loses his effectiveness. I'm sure this level-headed discussion was just an attempt to throw Papelbon under the bus.

I don't see how concerns about injury are a taboo topic, nor Manny's *******ishness. If they believed that Bay's knee was only worth 2 years of investment that's their perrogative. What isn't mentioned with the report are the implications of him having bad knees. It isn't just that he wouldn't produce like he does now, or that his injury might cause him to miss games over 4 years, it's also that his defense would get considerably worse and it was bad to begin with. I don't see any reason for a topic like his knees to be withheld after he's signed with someone else. I don't know if it was the FO releasing this info, but if it was (and if it is true) then the only people to whom it appears conspiratorial are those who disagree that Bay can be replaced. It seems to me that the same was true of Damon, Pedro, etc., and many of the people who questioned letting go of Pedro, Damon, Cabrera, etc., snatched onto any explanation of "why" as some sort of FO plot to tarnish players that they didn't even really want for the asking price on their way out of town. Why would this team do that? What interest do they have in getting a reputation as a team that kicks FA stars away in disgust? I don't think that's the reputation they have in the league. I can personally make arguments about each of the players you laid out above and why it was in the Sox best interest to let them go. Whether or not the reasons were infered on my own or through propaganda doesn't really matter; if they're right, they're right. If they're telling the truth about things then I don't much care who is presenting it. Was Manny a douchebag who had to go? Yes. He wanted to leave for years, his contract was going to be up soon so he could be moved, and he quit on the team according to the players, near the end, and he got in a confrontation with a Sox staff member. He had to go and the stories are going to follow him.

With Rivera's 15m/yr as the ceiling I imagine Papelbon will just want to make more than Lidge (at #2) makes. So a 3 year/39m, or 4 year, 52m deal would do the trick. That is a big investment, but he's an elite pitcher who, although he regressed a bit last year, was still one of the best in the game and could be the best closer in game once Rivera retires. 2009 will be his age 29 season. I think that's young enough for a 4 year deal at 13m/yr. It would make him the highest paid closer not named Mariano Rivera. That's setting some precident. He will be an interesting example because he's the first internally developed Red Sox regular to face this situation. Do they pay him a little more than FA value to keep him around? Is there any room for sentimentality/fan loyalty here? A strong argument to me for resigning him is the idea of actually creating an on-field product that has numerous star players together for an era. Papelbon is a 4 time All-Star in 5 seasons. That's somewhat arbitrary, but combined with his great WHIP and ERA+ and SO numbers, it is indicative of him being a good and unique talent worthy of being paid as such.

I'm interested to see the terms of the deal. I will be surprised if it is too many years into his FA period, but at his age he could certainly pull it off AND have a major FA payday in 4 or 5 seasons.

Looks like Felix Hernandez will be staying in Seattle for the timebeing. Good for Seattle, it's about time they started being a competitive force in the AL West. Not sure the terms, but it is reported here: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4837939 I was very hopeful he would have become available until the Sox got Lackey. At that point it wouldn't have been as necessary. In any case, Felix is a tremendous talent.

How is it that this went unreported? I'd say that is indication that the FO has their leaks sealed pretty well. Damage in both knees corroborates the view held by just about everyone here that he's a DH in two seasons. I like his bat, but DH needs to be saved for other options moving forward.

Given that RS has started a Spring Training thread I think we can be confident that this is more or less the team the Sox will be going to battle with next year. Like most people, I'm inclined to think that they are still a bat away from being favorites. I think they have a well-put-together team and they have a higher ceiling than most other teams in baseball, as they did in 07, 08 and 09. The difference is that the Yankees added Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia (and, of lesser importance AJ Burnett) to take a good team into a great team. For the Sox to be favorites against that Yankee club they will need to add another bat to an already elite team. I'm confident they will get that bat by the trading deadline of 2011 at the latest and that we will all be very happy. Between now and then they may have a hard time being a team that regularly beats good pitching... they should still win 95 games and be the 2nd best team in the AL. One thing that could change that would be if David Ortiz could come back to life. It is easy to forget that the Sox have an option for Ortiz for 2011. If he comes back and swings like he can then he and Youkilis will make for a pretty formidable duo. A lot of people believe we have not replaced Jason Bay/Manny's power and that makes this team inferior to the one that won in 2007. Compare Kevin Youkilis the past two seasons with Manny Ramirez from 2004-2007: [table] PLAYER | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ RAMIREZ | .304 | .402 | .581 | .983 | 149 YOUKILIS | .309 | .401 | .559 | .960 | 144 [/table] Of course I'm not saying Youkilis is as good a hitter as Manny, who had many better seasons before 2004 and who had been producing at a HOF level for 9 years before this range. My point is that in terms of being able to provide a 3-4 punch it isn't that the Sox didn't replace Manny's bat, its that Ortiz isn't doing his part. If Ortiz gets his s*** going then he's the bat we're all looking for. If not then that bat probably isn't coming until he's gone. What I'm more worried about is the bullpen. I hope that some of the new acquisitions have live arms, because on the surface the pen doesn't seem as deep as it was last year.

Defense is a very easy way for this club to improve itself. If they had just let Bay go and acquired Beltre and Cameron then I would acknowledge it isn't a net gain. However, the addition of Lackey will have a big impact throughout this team and will maxamize that defensive improvement. They retain all of their good prospects, they got 3 established MLB players on reasonable contracts that stand little chance of hindering the team in the future, and they maxamized their draft picks for next year. I'm extremely confident that this team is going to be good next year, and very very good within the next few years.

Lowell needs to go because he can't field his position well any more. He can't attack the ball coming in, he doesn't react/dive well to prevent doubles down the line, and he even mishandled or threw-away routine GBs this year. I like Lowell as much as the next guy, but I think this rotation will be best served to know that they have the best defense money can buy behind them. I think there will be a trickle-down effect of having great defense. That's not to say I would endorse a "defense first" approach. I like the Slugging-Gold Glover approach best. They don't need or expect Beltre to replicate his best seasons. They just need him to hit for some power and play gold glove defense.

THis has been up here for 3 hours and nobody has commented, so I suppose I will. This is actually a great interview... much more in depth than a lot of the s*** out there. Its like Bard would love to talk to someone about pitching, and here's the guy asking the right questions. Nice contribution for a first post. From the article... That's pretty great. If I could throw 100 I would be visualizing exploding bats too.

And Jason Bay was part of that lineup Jacksonian. Teams have different ways of winning, but you are advocating for Bay by saying that when they had Bay they didn't get it done. You're right, they do need to add some offense before this team is exactly where the fans will want it, but Jason Bay would have been a DH after a year or they would be assured of a crappy LF contract for the duration of Bay's tenure. We will probably be talking about this for a long time, so clearly the jury is out. However, I expect that their offense will be where they want it to be sooner than later, but they have their eyes on a limited number of players.

I think the combination of his higher walk rate, his lack of a splitter, and his increasing disregard for holding runners on (even in significant situations) made it seem like he either cared a bit less or was just more sloppy than he has been in previous seasons. If 2009 was a "bad year" then we're in good shape.

I don't disagree. It would be better than the World Baseball Classic, which I like in theory much more than I like in practice. The best equivalent I can think of is the Champions League in soccer, where the best club teams play for title of world's best professional soccer club. It is much bigger than what this proposal is, but I'd love to see baseball find time to make something like that work. I won't hold my breath.

6 years is what I proposed. I'll just put it this way. I won't hold it against this team if they have to spend 5m/year over the next 6 years because they took a shot on a guy like Chapman. His stuff could make him one of the best pitchers in the league. You can't say that about every FA.

30m might be a bit much, but it's only too much if Chapman doesn't materialize into anything. If he becomes one of the better pitchers on the team he will easily be worth that much.

I really think the 15m that was floated a few weeks ago was just a ploy. Adding Chapman to this team would be a huge boost. If Chapman wants to make some money and play for one of the best teams in the world, the Red Sox are a great choice. I think it would be cool if they went 6 years/$30m for him. They will need a number of years for him to develop appropriately, but they have the resources to wait for it.