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If Tek can put up .270 with 16-19 HR with 70 RBI while staying healthy and catching 4 of 5 days I'll be happy.

Did theo ever say that Alvarez has the best stuff of any of his draft picks? No. The Sox make 50 draft picks a year or so. Theo has done 4 drafts, which is about 200 players. He singled out ONE to make this comment about, and that one came out and had a dominant performance for a 22 year old making his first ever start against MLB talent. I made one comment, simply relaying a comment by Joe Castiglione about a conversation he had had with Theo about one of the more exciting prospects the Sox have. If you don't believe him then fine, that's your deal. I put weight on it, in terms of how that impacts my valuing of Buchholz's skills and potential value as a major leaguer in discussions like these.

You don't see how saying essentially 'he's not trustworthy in terms of judging baseball talent' is criticizing someone who's job is GM of a baseball team? If you were a lawyer and I said "don't listen to a700, he doesn't know what he's talking about in legal matters" wouldn't you take that as criticism? I sure would. I'm not giddy about Buchholz, but I'm not ready to trade a pitcher who has + command, 4 solid pitches and the ability to hit 97 on the gun either. Given that the sox can have him for 6 seasons at an absurdly cheap price there is no reason to trade him except for in extreme circumstances. But again, don't listen to what I say. He might not throw what Theo says he throws and he might not actually hit 97. He could be a soft tossing lefty for all we know. Minor leaguers are entirely impossible to evaluate.

Nobody would deny that. But that's not the same as saying, essentially, that the GM's opinion doesn't matter because he's not as old as a700 and hasn't been watching the Red Sox for as long. I think those points are totally irrelevant to whether or not we should take Theo's words seriously.

K's Rollins. Dice still has some learning/improvement to do, but his stuff is really good.

I don't think they called strikes that bounced ten feet in front of the batters box and riccocheted behind the batter!

Castiglione indicated that, in addition to Papelbon, Theo also referred to Lester (who he didn't draft). You just LOVE to point out all of Theo's imperfections and I'm sure that, if given the chance, you would be a better GM. Just polish up that resume so you can trade Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden for a closer who has been successful for 120 MLB innings. Nice catch Coco.

Good point. At home, yes. On the road, no.

I kind of thought he had been hitting the whole time. This is a guy who I've seen hit numerous line-drives and hard hit groundballs right at guys. This was a moderately hit gb up the middle on a pitch that fooled him. Very nice rally for the Sox here. Daisuke seems to have a pattern of slow 1st inning starts, at least in his last few starts. He appears to settle down, but I wonder if that has historically been a problem for him. He pitched very well to Utley and Howard (though Howard's shot would have been a double or gone at Fenway).

Derek Lowe comes to mind as a good comparison in terms of an effective sinker. You have a good assessment of most of your Yankee players Jacksonian and I appreciate your modest honesty. I think the reason sinkerballers aren't considered big time prospects--as ORS began to point out--is that they allow too many balls to be put into play, which doesn't mean they'll be bad pitchers, but statistically that means they don't make people swing and miss--which is one of the key stats people look at to predict future success in the bigs. I think teams and scouts are more inclined to make them prove themselves in the majors before proclaiming them to be big time prospects. As far as I remember neither Lowe nor Wang were considered very good prospects... I could be wrong but I think both had to show they could do it. That said, Wang is a very effective sinkerballer and should be a very good middle-tier starter for a few years to come.

I just don't understand how having "young guys" is having depth. To me that's having "young guys". Depth is having Bronson Arroyo as your 6th pitcher. Depth means guys who are not question marks but who will come in and provide MLB Average or above without having to go through their first game or second game. I would LOVE to see 90% of the guys you're writing about facing the Sox lineup in an important game. Given what they've done to guys like Pavano and Clemens in the past I see no reason to fear Karstens. Not in the slightest. Are you saying that going into a playoff series you're going to be happy with the so-called depth mentioned above?

First of all, Santana isn't going anywhere. What a STUPID discussion. You guys should feel lucky to get a guy like Dontrelle Willis via a trade for Hughes and sanchez, not Santana. Would you have traded Mariano Rivera 6 years ago for ANYTHING? I doubt it. Santana is MLB's best pitcher. The Twins are inclined to spend more money now (thanks to the refined CBA) and they have a solid young nucleus. You think they're going to sell that all for a pitching staff who is coming off a completely missed season and a young guy like Garza? second, the Sox have plenty of pitching options that won't require Gabbard or Snyder to come into the picture until pretty late. Tavarez, Hansack, Lester would all get a shot first. Of course all of this is moot, so I would ask that people go back and remember that it is the YANKEES who are dealing with pitching injuries, not the Sox. If the yankees collapse this season due to injuries make sure to blame the FO's inneptitude and the lacks of the players who DO play, rather than the injuries themselves.

Given that the FO signed both David Ortiz (who won 3 critical playoff games), signed Keith Foulke (who could have been the Sox playoff MVP) and traded for Dave Roberts who was the ONLY one who single-handedly saved the season. They continued the quest to make the team competitive and to give them the chance to win. When you have the chance to win, whether its hockey, basketball or baseball it almost always comes down to a game of inches.

You're kidding, right? I'm willing to bet state right now that matsuzaka will finish in the top 5 in Cy Young voting this season and will make the AS team.

Nasty little slider from Hansack. He's an intreguing option.