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Probably some chance, although he doesn't yet seem to have the power that Sizemore does. Hey, let's give Pinearo the closing job now, huh?

Yeah, I do the two saves thing too. It is essential. it's too bad there's no way to save the franchise rosters as the system default rosters.

It took Ellsbury (by my rough count) 10 seconds home to third. That's a 4.4/40. Running around bases.

Congrats dude. You did the top 150? I'm more inclined to do the as many Sox players as possible first, even if it means I have to create a Jed Lowrie So are you creating all the players at the beginning of a Franchise, saving it and essentially playing from there?

Settle down bro, NESN only covered an hour of the game so mlb.com only did too. NESN actually cut away to a Daisuke interview and cut away from the game early. That's why the game wasn't on. Every other game is on (except for the FOX ones, depending on your market). It's a pretty damn good service if you have a nice computer and high speed IMO.

Also, there are quite a few more pitches for your pitchers to throw (4 different curveballs). I prefer pitching in baseball games to hitting, so I like that addition.

lol ORS I didn't get to see any of it. I just rushed home from work and only caught the bottom of the second and the stupid interview with Daisuke. I have to admit he's always an interesting interview, but I really think there has to be a better translator. Perhaps they could have two translators working simultaneously or something. I think the best is when they retroactively overdub his comments, so while he's speaking in japanese you can hear the english translation clearly. Two translators could do this, right? Since I didn't see it, what was his outing like? Details please. And Gom, not every at bat matters, but for a guy like Ellsbury (who I believe answered ORS's speed question in the bottom of the 2nd) or Pedroia a lot of off season debates are being put to the test with each and every at bat. I don't resent you for not understanding our obsession, but to be nerdy enough to be on a baseball site, but then insulting other people who are just more into it than you is pretty hypocritical. Is it only okay to come here if you are a casual baseball fan? Did YOU watch Philip Hughes' inning yesterday in Yankees spring training? I did. Weren't you interested to see the Yankees top prospect against MLB talent? I was.

So, both the 2K7 and O7 The Show titles are out. I have The Show for PS2 but haven't played it yet. I'm too busy nerdily updating rosters so I don't have to do it deep into a season. Interestingly, the character created for Matsuzaka has the option of throwing a gyroball but it appears nobody else does. That's pretty cool. Also, they seem to have added a few pitches while losing a lot of the minor league editing from last year's version. The minor leaguers appear to be there in Franchise mode, but you can't edit them outside of Franchise.

No, its not set in stone. My guess is that if he has a 80% season this year (say, 180 IP, 15 W) he will be resigned. If he sucks or gets injured then he might retire or make a sad attempt to come back. For a "measley" 1 or 2 million the sox could sign him above what he's currently making to ensure he comes back, or if he pitches at 80% this season perhaps he'll gladly accept the same contract.

Ochoa has a god-like arm apparently. Who knew? :dunno:

You can tell Schilling is relieved that his night went decently.

Was that WMP?

Who is #3 in RF?

Isn't this s*** great man? I LOVE it that baseball is back and I even enjoy watching late-inning spring training games. Game tied after a Mauer 3 run shot off Tavarez. Oh yeah, I forgot about THAT feeling.

Nope. The inning should have ended with that groundball. The next batter lined a single to CF.

ORS, in case you didn't figure it out the error was Lugo. He double clutched in his glove then made a lazy throw that went catcher-side by about 3 feet. Fortunately he made up for it with an RBI.

Good to see everyone is here. Welcome to a new season. From now on, it will only be a day or two between actual baseball games. Nice hit for Pedroia.

That's funny, because he looks like he did last year and the year before. He threw a 103 pitch bullpen the other day and has since thrown two BP sessions. Humberto Sanchez, who is bigger and younger than Matsuzaka has severe soreness during both of the BP sessions he threw.... hmmm, I guess I'll take the pitcher with the beer gut and tremendous durability. I think its hilarious that people call Matsuzaka fat. This guy is good, whether he is fat or not. Oblique muscle = important for hitting and pitching Abreu and Sanchez will likely be just fine. Thankfully (for those who bragged about how great Sanchez is).

Well, it is very hard to quantify 'scrappy' statistically, so its hard to go back and say historically 'this guy was scrappy' 'that guy was scrappy'. I can think of guys who had that reputation, shortstops like Phil Rizzouto and Pee Wee Reese were both mainstays for their clubs, and there have been plenty of small, non-power hitting middle infielders who have had long term positions on winning teams. I don't disagree with you, but baseball has had hundreds if not thousands of characters over the years. There's room for Dustin Pedroia in the mix someplace.

In his first batting practice session apparently Matsuzaka was quite impressive. I haven't seen many clips of it, but here is a youtube entry that has the best video I've seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ6d9DXHGKM At the end I'm pretty sure there's the slider that Jacoby Ellsbury swung and missed by 6 inches. It looked really nasty.

I do too, but to be fair (at least to someone like a700) I don't think so many people are jumping on what he didn't do last year, as much as they see a guy with a lower ceiling. Physically alone he looks like he could never hit over 20 HR so they question the choice to make the absolute decision that THIS is the guy of the future. How can we say there isn't another 2B out there (via FA, Draft, trade, etc.,) who can't do better. I am pretty attached to Pedroia because I love the type of player he is. He's not the only one like that, we've all played with someone like him in the past. He's scrappy, reliable, extremely talented and very smart. I think the Sox should set aside one or two positions on the team where they take a high OBP guy with plus defensive and clubhouse abilities. Those two players, in my mind, are Youkilis and Pedroia. I think they can both be around affordably for the next 5 years or so and each can still get on base at a .370+ clip.