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Can if they agree. Since so much of his money is tied to Games Finished incentives, I doubt he puts up much resistance. Unless he wants to win.

No, you can't. No pics in your sig. I like it that way too. I hate sites with about 10% content and 90% sigs.

Jackson, I'll eat my hat, and yours, if one of your '06 draft picks are making the '09 rotation. Your best pitching prospect in of the last decade or so isn't even making the rotation after his first two full-years of professional ball. Dude, be realistic.

Gom, four days is more than enough for muscle recovery. You should know this as a former athlete. Hell, if it wasn't then starters wouldn't have throw days in between starts. When muscle failure is most likely to occur is on consecutive days of use, even more so than with sustained use and regular rest. This is where the inning count becomes a bit irrelevant. If your contention is that it will be better for him provided that they don't use him on consecutive days, then I'd agree. But, what is the usefulness of that? Sure, I allowed my opinion be be swayed by those more trained than I. What they were saying agreed with my own knowledge of physiology. And, this is the most important part, I haven't see one go on the record with a contrary opinion.

So the '06 pitching class all makes it to the bigs in 2 years? Sure, that'll happen.

I agree, Crunch, and what has me optimistic is that it didn't come out of nowhere. It looked just as good 5 days ago against the Twins. If that is the deuce he's throwing all year, it will be good things for the Sox.

No, I watched him then (and last ST), and it was mainly FB/Curve at about a 4/1 ratio to begin the year. He's mixing it up a lot more now.

From what I've read, Lester is back to his original weight and back to full strength. If that is the case, I don't see a problem with him starting the year in AAA. I've read nothing about his velocity. The important thing to me is that he not be called up unless he's got his stuff all the way back and he's improved his command. I'm not suggesting the results in ST mean a whole lot, but Beckett is a completely different pitcher if you watch him. He throwing a consistently nasty deuce, as well mixing in some changeups and a good 2-seam FB. He's not just pumping gas, and he's starting to pitch.

That's all well and good. I'm aware that there is not consensus on the issue. There rarely is on the source of greater stress regarding sports injuries. What I take issue with is the notion that they are somehow being sneaky and hiding the real reason for the move. Immediately after his injury last year, there were reports from non-Sox media outlets stating that specialists (some even naming Dr. Andrews) thought the best move was to have him start in order to protect his shoulder. Gom portrays the issue as if they knew it was better for him to relieve all along, and that the reason they are putting him there now has less to do with need and more to do with being sneaky regarding the injury. I have yet to see one report from one specialist stating that the move to the rotation was outright folly. There is other media outside of Boston, you know, and several members rejoice in painting the Sox FO as either laughable buffons or coniving ne'er-do-wells. If this was a prevalent opinion amongst the medical crowd, I'm certain we would have seen something from another media outlet (Murray Chass comes to mind). I suspect this is for the reasons you have stated. No one is absolutely sure, but it seems like the majority opinion, at this point, is they were following sound medical advice.

Yes, knuckleballers are more durable, but I think that is due more to the fact that their stuff won't wane with age. I don't think it is due to less likelihood of injury. Older pitchers don't tend to breakdown in the arm. It's usually something else like the back or the legs. And, both Schilling and Wake were healthy going into last year. Sure, there was some doubt about Schilling given his '05 performance, but he was healthy going into the year.

Hell of a play by Brewer. I think that should ice it.

Can Oregon pull this off?

Here' my problem with the move (aside from losing overall value). It feels a whole hell of a lot like what it did going into last season. We went into April thinking, good BP, 4 good starters, Wells coming back soon, let's go..... It didn't take long for 4 starters to turn into 3, and that is what killed this team last year. The people who will be filling in are the same cast of characters. And with two 40+ y/o pitchers, it could happen at a moment's notice.

FYI, it is not a mispelling, his name is Johan, which is nowhere near Julio. As to the rest of your post. I didn't respond to it because I don't think you know what you are talking about. I watched each and every Papelbon start in '05. He stuggled with command both early and late. What made the difference was he got a lot of chasing early, and more patience the second time through the order. He was also throwing one pitch at the time, so it's no surpise the hitters made adjustments. Unless you can show me some velocity game logs, I'll go with my recollection that he held his velocity. Here's the true absurdity of the situation though. I'm not contending he is a great starter, or will be a great starter immediately. I'm contending he can be. You are saying there's no way it can happen based on opinion, not fact as you like to claim. There is limited data to make any assertion from, yet you jump right in, don't you Julio? The comedy is that you think you are reasonable here, and that I'm the irrational fanboy. I've made no assertions about how great he is going to be, so your comment about me being blinded by love is pure assumption on your part. I've taken what we have, limited to meaningless data, my own observations, and the relative values of elite RP vs elite SP, and have come to a conclusion that they should try it. You would rather have the immediate gratification, and there is a valid case for that. I don't take issue with the need for Papelbon as a closer this year. I take issue with your justification for it. You are justifying your point with extrapolated and unproven information. It is as if you didn't think the value of him closing was enough and felt the need to demean his value as a starter. Lastly, me stating you don't have a clue is not insulting. It is what my opinion is based on what you have shared. Stating you don't know baseball is just more of the same. I have called you no names, Julio (aside from Julio, but you earned it). You threw the first dart in this post calling me a child.

This is, again, your opinion, Mr. Julio. Your opinion that he can't be an elite starter does not make it fact. I'm not saying he will be, unlike you saying he won't be. I'm saying they should find out. That is all.

Julio Santana? I'm arguing about baseball with a guy that thinks Julio Santana is an elite pitcher (is he even a pitcher)? Thanks for making it easy. You don't know baseball, so I won't waste any more of my own time.

Relax guys, it's actually a good thing. You can tell when something really has Gom concerned because he throws an off-topic haymaker at the Sox when it does. This is just proof it's got him a little worried going into the season. If he was so confident in his team, he wouldn't feel the need to justify things.

AAV is the annual average value of the contract.

Again, and I'm trying to be nice here because I think you are a nice kid, name one player that wasn't under the microscope when he came to Boston. Schmidt and Zito are about the same as Matsuzaka in terms of AAV. This notion of yours just doesn't match the reality of the situation.

Soxfan, read what I posted. I did not mention his stats. I'm talking about the quality of his pitches. And, I don't get the reference to the media. Is the amount of media scruntiny he's going to get the reason you don't like the move? Come on. These are the Sox. No matter who they get, two things are going to happen. One, they are going to cost a lot of money because they go after the best players available. Two, there will be tons of media scrutiny. I'm still waiting for the alternative pitcher, and I'm still waiting for a reason that this was a mistake that makes sense.

I think Ortiz hits in front of Manny precisely because of Manny's patience and overall hitting prowess. Ortiz will chase a little more, but with Manny behind him, you don't want to walk him so he sees more strikes - ie, more hittable pitches.

He is. He's hitting spots, and his change-up is surprisingly good.