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I agree, but with Crawfords LH bat.....the bats will be more spread out in the lineup since he hits at the top. With Dunn, our 3,4,5 hitters could possibly all be LH and every contender will look for a quality LH specialist to neutralize the heart of our order, which could lead to a demise in the playoffs.

Varitek: .255/.360 12HR, 65 RBI Youk: .280/.400/ 19HR, 85 RBI Pedroia: .270/.340/ 12 HR 60 RBI Lugo: .270/.330/ 15 HR 60 RBI Lowell: .280/.340/ 18 HR 85 RBI Manny: .295/.390/ 30 HR 105 RBI Ellsbury: .285/.350/ 10 HR 60 RBI Drew: .285/.380/ 20 HR 85 RBI Ortiz: .295/.400/ 35 HR 120 RBI Team average of .280 OB% of .366 Team HR of 171 for starters Team RBIS for starters: 725 Beckett: 21-5, 3.33 ERA, 1.15 whip, 200K, 30 starts Matsuzaka: 18-8, 3.75 ERA, 1.25 whip, 200K, 32 starts Lester: 12-8, 4.45 ERA, 1.35 whip, 130K, 26 starts Wakefield: 14-12, 4.75 ERA 1.40 qhip, 125K, 29 starts Buchholz: 13-8, 4.20 ERA, 1.30 whip, 140K, 25 starts Colon: 4-3, 4.76 ERA, 1.40 whip, 65K 10 starts Tavarez: 2-1, 4.80 ERA, 1.50 whip, 45K 6 starts 158 total starts, someone will plug in 4 more 84-45 record from starters Last season we won 19 games in the bullpen, a bit high, ill say we win maybe 13 games in the pen for a total record of 97-65. Varitek will continue to decline. Youks power numbers continue to improve. Pedroia on a decline, I think he tops out at about .290, I think he had his career year. Power inproves. Lugo improves drastically to career norms. Lowell a slight decline. Manny returns to a little behind his averages. Ellsbury puts up solid numbers. Drew returns to career norms in second season. Ortiz avg. comes down, power numbers stay around the same. Beckett has another career year. Wins Cy young. DiceK improves in second year with new throwing program. Lester has pack average year, but solid nonetheless. Wakefield typical around .500, mid to high 4 ERA. Bucholz has a good rookie year, 13 wins will be nice. Colon will get a look. With the uncertainty of Wake, Lester and Bucholz I think he can get 10 starts. Tavarez is another plug in option, may be a reach to get 6 starts.

There arent very many names on that list I like. Baldelli is always hurt, but would be a great pickup if he could stay healthy and return to pre-injury form....that would still be a downgrade from Manny, even circa 2007. Burell is a proven slugger, that year he had in 2003 scares the crap out of me though. Not sure he could handle the Boston spotlight. Crawford is staying with the Rays. Hes the guy I would want most. One of the best athletes in professional sports. He may eventually develop 30 HR power. Hes only 25 and getting better, plus he bangs them in (avg about 80 RBI on the Rays over the last 3) and hes lightning fast with great OB skills. Not to mention hes an elite OF capable of filling in CF. Abreu, Alou, Anderson, Edmonds, Floyd, Giles, Griffey, Ibanez, and White are all too old to spend any money on them. All are as old, or older than Manny. Bloomquist, Brown, Chavez, Jones, Kotsay, Mackowiak, Mench, Michaels, Monroe, Payton, Posednick, and Rivera are all 4th and 5th Outfielders (some even AAA) for a big market club. They are not good enough to start everyday in LF for Boston. Dunn is a homerun, OB% monster....but hes not a very good OF (neither is Manny, but at least Manny knows the monster), and I dont think I would want him in our lineup. Listen, hes a fantasy monster.....but Papi is a lefty, Dunn is a lefty, Drew is a lefty, and Ellsbury is a lefty....that means that potentially 4 of the first 5 guys will be hitting lefthanded. I think I would rather have a RHH hitting in the cleanup spot Guerrero is the only guy who you can really compare power numbers with all the way across the board, but he is a RF, and a pretty good RF (minus the dumb ass throws) and would probably balk at the idea of moving to LF, especially if the Yankees call him up and tell him RF is his once Abreu is all done.

Do you think the option is picked up, or is this his last go-around with Boston? I think if he puts up .290 35 100 the option may be picked up considering the market, potential FA replacements, and lack of minor league depth at the LF position..... Another .296/20/88 at his salary though.......he could become expendable. Thoughts?

So that means that Varitek has another 8 productive seasons.....and two years where he "hangs on" for a total of 10 more years of Varitek!! (Since Fisk was 45 when he hung them up, and Tek is still 35). Im JK, everyone knows that as soon as he went to Chicago, he was never the same offensive player (ages 33-45).

Dont understand this move.....he really had zero value last year. He will never be used in reverse split situations, and cant throw enough strikes to lefties to be valuable. There had to have been better options available.......I know its low risk but it seems like money thrown out the window. We really havent had any good lefties since Embree and Myers (even though Myers IMO was very similar....and I hate LOOGYs, especially ones who dont get lefties out besides Garrett Anderson).

Casey is no more than John Olerud a few years back (minus the plus defense). Casey is a great, and I repeat Great bat off the bench. Not many teams can throw out a Sean Casey as a bat off the bench. Chris Carter will not make this team, and is just another Petagine, Juan Diaz, Calvin Pickering type of player. There is reason we got him so easily.....there is a reason why nobody has given him a chance. Plus, the DH position is locked up for quite a few years. In the minors he has done alot with the bat, but not quite enough. Averaging 18 HR in 500 ABs in AAA doesnt scream out stud to me, although his OB% is high....his slugging% looks a little low to consider him a future slugger.

One of the better bench players in the game.....most winning teams look to improve on weaknesses......since most winning teams are all set 1-9, they either look to the bullpen, or bench.....Cora has done a very nice job securing this spot for a number of years. As long as hes on our team.....we have one less thing to improve because of his solid glove and an occasional hit here or there (which is all most teams really ask for from bench players, unless we are talking about pinch hitters, which he clearly is not).

.275 18HR 88RBI .390OBP......and a whole lot of "swing the effin' bat!!!!"

I must admit, the numbers blew me away as well.......because he looks awful up to bat sometimes......but I think we all take for granted what he brings......fact is, there just arent many complete catchers out there. Some can hit, some flash the glove, some call a great game, some have rockets for arms.....but not many do it all as well as Tek does. In addition, there really arent many catchers who hit well right now.....and for all Varitek brings, Im happy with him for the next couple of years, even if he is declining. There are very few catching prospects out there......bard, salty, martinez (1B is calling his name), but even out of those guys, none are as good defensively as Vtek.....and only Martinez blows him away offensively right now (yes, I do know that eventually Salty will be pretty good).

I HATE CRISP.........but Francona is even more of a goat for his stubborness. Stick with they guys who got you here? Without these guys we may have won 100+ games.

COCO SUCKS ASS......I HATE YOU EVEN MORE TITO FRANCONA

F*CK YOU COCO.....DONT EVER COME BACK TO BOSTON TO P.O.S......I HATE YOU

I think they should have fun....If Manny needs AB's, hit him leadoff for shits and giggles. Have a positional player pitch if theres a blowout. Bring up Zink and start him for a game just to say we had two knuckleballers on the same team at the same time, seriously.....just have fun with it. Most importantly though, get rest for those who need it. Let Tek DH the last 2 games and sit Ortiz. Tek seems to be finding himself at the plate, and what better way to do it when he can just concentrate on hitting. Ortiz could use a little rest. The only starters who should be playing are Manny, Drew, Lugo and Varitek as a DH. Manny needs ABs, Drew looks like hes found his swing....so get more reps with the success you have found. Lugo sucks ass and doesnt deserve a break.....figure it out in the next 2 games, and Varitek has looked a little better lately, and DH'ing him wouldnt hurt. Wake pitches tonight, which is fine bc he is a knuckleballer....and there should not be a single significant arm used in a game. Tomorrows starter should be a nobody.....Id rather see Zink than Hansack....Hansack has no future with us anyway....not saying Zink does, but it did take quite a long time for Wakefield to figure it out too.

Im not sure if that is exactly what he was doing. I know the penalty for calling opposing cadences is a personal foul for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Get ready for in depth analysis of this question: Yes.

Why does this matter? Are you just stating fact? If the Sox play the Angels I will jump for joy since we have owned them in the playoffs, and we match up really well against them anyways. 2007: 6-4 2006: 3-3 2005: 6-4 2004: 5-4 Postseaon:3-0 ------------- Total: 23-15 .605% winning percentage. I dont have the Indian numbers (bc im lazy) but my eyes/memory tell me that I want the Angels over the Guardians or Yankees.......and I sure as hell know you want nothing to do with the Angels since they seem to hand it to you guys. BTW Jacksonian, thank you for your words of support and classiness. Hopefully we meet in the playoffs, as we should for another October dance.

Id like to see Clay in the 9th. Show off our "young gun".

He continues to impress me. Textbook swings, taking pitch after pitch whether its a strike or ball, unbelieveable eye on this guy. Never saw a pitch he liked, and I love his dirtdog attitude. I love how he gets so pissed off after leaving the bases loaded, really shows his unbelievable heart and love for the game. A true gamer.

Drew, making his mark on the game.

This could get ugly realllllly fast.....who thinks Chamberlain walks his baby nuts up to the mound and throws at a sox hitter if the sox take a big lead? I do.

4 straight posts...a new record!