redsoxfan3

From Scott Lauber's Twitter. a700hitter is right, 2012 Bard is back. He was doing decent at the beginning of Spring Training, but now it seems he has taken a major step back his last two outings. The walks and hit batters has got to go. His control is still a huge concern.

Chien-Ming Wang is 'drawing interest' according to MLBTR. I am afraid that Cherington is going to try to sign him to a minor league deal as pitching depth that he has supposedly been looking for. I guess that it would not be a big deal, let's just hope that if we do sign him that he does not get to pitch for us in the majors. Also, we have not been linked to being interested in him, this is just pure speculation on my part.

Let's not get carried away with Vazquez. He does have good instincts and seems to be a hell of a defensive catcher. He is starting out in AA and if for some reason Lavarnway gets promoted or gets hurt, then Vazquez will be in AAA. At this point it is useless to project what happens with Vazquez. We have Lavarnway, Vazquez, and Swihart all in the minors. We just have to wait it out. All I will say is that I would be happy if Vazquez can someday be our backup catcher if he develops and proves himself enough just based on the fact of how good he is defensively and how strong his arm is. I think it is fair to say his ceiling is as a backup catcher. Let's not start saying how Vazquez is going to be a .250 hitter. The guy has only played in 20 AA games and hit only .205. Now back to Iglesias. Iglesias is in the same boat. We have Bogaerts, Iglesias, Marrero, and Vinicio who are all talented at SS. Iglesias does not have too much time. His stick better start to come around fast before Bogaerts is ready. I do not see Iglesias as the SS of the future. I know nothing is a guarantee, but things are not in Jose's favor.

I am tired about hearing about Aceves. He is by far the strangest and most bizarre character in the clubhouse. At this point since he is not going to get traded, hopefully it will be a non-issue moving forward because everyone already knows we can expect weird things from him. If he is such a cancer in the clubhouse, I think he should have been dealt or released by now. I know that we are already starting out without Breslow and Morales, so it is hard to trade the guy that is next in line to be a starter if someone gets hurt. Hopefully he can keep his shenanigans on the down low and won't be much of a distraction. Like others have said, we have already dealt with players like Manny and Tavares.

I think his fastball was right around 95-96. I am not 100% sure on that. I actually looked that up yesterday after the game trying to figure it out. It is hard to get anything on Spring Training stats when it comes to velocity. The good thing is that I think his fastball has been in the mid 90's all spring as opposed to the lower 90's like he pitched last year. Also, his three runs yesterday were the first three runs he has given up all Spring in his six innings pitched. The positive is that he did get into some trouble and ended up finishing out the inning. I think the 2012 Bard would have seen things get worse and not been able to get himself out of the inning. Not that I like to make excuses for players, but he did also have a open cut on his thumb that kept bleeding. He had to keep wiping it off. I know it was not a big deal, but I am wondering if that kind of was distracting his focus. I think Bard is definitely in an okay position to start out the season in non-pressure situations to eat some innings. If he does a good job with that, then gradually work him back into some tougher pressure situations. I am still not comfortable with him pitching in the 7th or 8th in a close game.

He isn't as fat as Colon. He isn't in that great of shape either. During warmups, he looks kind of out of shape. I would not say he is extremely overweight, but he could lose a few pounds. He is not in better shape like Lackey. Don't forget we are stetching out Aceves and Morales as well. We realistically have seven options. If Doubront shows any signs of fatigue early on, my guess is Aceves or Morales would fill-in. We still are about 9 million under if you count all of Napoli's 13 million. It is possible we can sign or trade for someone, but probably not likely. Lohse is likely out of the equation.

Honestly, who cares what someone says in an interview? People always talk out of their ass. Bust your ass in Spring Training and pitch well on the field. That is all that I am worried about. Let's get rid of the drama, have a smooth year, and work hard.

haha, it is still there. Although, I must admit he did look a little skinnier in the face. Probably a better way to answer your question is by saying that he has a thinner horseface.

It is a mild strain in his right hamstring. He is only listed day-to-day.

I saw Lackey in person today, and I could not even recognize him.

Are you going to the Puerto Rico game? I know I will be at JetBlue on the 5th for that game and at JetBlue on the 8th for the game against Minnesota.

I do agree with you there. The 44th pick will definitely be a valuable pick, especially to give up if we would sign Lohse. I am not against signing Lohse because I think he would be a decent addition and be an improvement over Doubront, although I would rather have that 44th pick. I would rather trade for another starter than lose the draft pick compensation at this point.

Just out of curiosity, is anyone making the trip to Fort Myers this year? I will be at JetBlue almost everyday for practice and will make the games on nights I do not work. I am fortunate enough to live only a mile away from JetBlue. I will also be working at JetBlue some this Spring Training.

I don't mind this at all since it is a minor league deal. The only thing I do not like is that we plan on having Napoli as our main starter at 1B. I don't think it is going to be much of a platoon. If Napoli gets hurt, it is nice to have someone other than Gomez to compete at 1B. I am not a big fan of having Overbay take up a roster spot when he can only play 1B in a pinch hit/defensive replacement role. He gives us no versatility, but I guess if we have an extra spot for him and he performs well in ST, then maybe he is worth giving a shot.

The addition of Sweeney is just a fill-in to compete with Nava as the backup LF. Just because we signed Sweeney does not mean anything. We can still sign another LF OF, even if the odds are slim. I just don't like the fact that we only have Nava and Sweeney competing for time in LF. I would much rather have a healthy Kalish over a door punching Sweeney.

I like Youk as a person and for what he did in his time in Boston, but he made a business decision. I do not like the fact that Youk is playing for the Yankees, but what can you do? The White Sox declined his 13 million option for 2013. With that in mind, his agent went out and got him a 12 million dollar deal with the Yankees, not to mention he received a 1 million buyout for his contract. That means that his agent got him 13 million total for 2013 that he was going to receive if the White Sox picked up his option. Bick did a great job. I don't know what his other offers were, but if the Yankees offered him the most money at 12 million, then I think it was a great deal for him from a business standpoint. You cannot really fault Youk for that. This game is a business. s*** happens. When he wears the pinstripes, I will not be a fan of his and I actually hope he plays s*****.

Speier was calculating we are 17 million under, but Napoli could earn 8 million of that. So I think it is safe to say we have 9 million to work with that we are guaranteed under the LT. I would really like us to use that 9 million on another starter, but the options are slim. Overbay is a backup plan, but I think we should look into a LF/1B that is LH. Overbay's contract is not allocated towards the LT until he at least makes the 40 man roster. His contract will only total 1.5 million. I would like us to make some more moves. Let's look to trade Salty and a reliever.

On paper, all injuries and underperformance concerns thrown out the window, the Red Sox could potentially be a top team in the AL. Now, there are not going to be high expectations because of how injuries and underperformance affected this team last year. I cannot say the Red Sox are better than the Yankees, but I do believe that they have the potential to be better than the Yankees. There are a lot of questions marks and 'what ifs.' However, if Big Papi, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Napoli, Middlebrooks, Gomes, Drew, Victorino, etc. can play like they are capable of playing and can steer clear of injuries, then this team has the potential to be one of the best offenses in baseball. The bullpen is the clear strength, but offense should be a big strength as well. The rotation is the huge concern. If Lester, Buchholz, and Dempster can stay healthy and have solid years, then that will be a solid top three in the rotation. Once again, those are huge question marks. Not to mention if Lackey can exceed expectations and Doubront can have a solid year, there is potential to have a decent rotation one through five. However, that is a very big concern. I am not saying the Red Sox are better or are going to be better than the Yankees, but the potential is there and it is always a possibility. It will take a lot, but never count them out. Don't get too cocky, you never know when Yankee Stadium will become a nursing home.

Let me know how he looks. I will not be able to watch him play and will be able to just look at stats. I am interested in hearing how he does from someone that will be able to see him play.

Just out of curiosity, why .270-.280? He has never hit below .290 in any season he has played since 2007. I am not counting his 2006 season where he only played 30 or so games. Even after playing through an injury last year, he still managed to get his BA up to .290. I think if he is healthy, he is easily a .300 hitter.

I agree 100%. We still have 9 million guaranteed below the LT threshold at this point. We can add another pitcher. My 2013 prediction as of right now, is that Dustin Pedroia is going to emerge as the clear cut MVP of this team and he is going to have a healthy season.

I still think Napoli will catch on occasion, especially in interleague away games. We could have Napoli catch and Big Papi play 1B. I don't think we will see him back there about 70 games or so, but I think we could see him play about 15-20 throughout the year. Everything is circumstantial. It depends on a lot of factors. My guess is that they do not want him to catch a lot, but if they feel that is best thing to do given the situation, then I am assuming they will put him behind the dish. I am still hoping that we can trade Salty. If we do keep Salty, I hope he can get another 20+ homer season and work on that OBP and BA. The big thing for me is that when he catches, we have a big defensive liability.

We may not be $17 million under, but that still gives us about $9 million under, guaranteed without any other moves, if Napoli receives all of that $13 million. I do not think we are entirely done making moves. We have a lot of bullpen depth and one too many catchers (unless Lavarnway is the odd man out in AAA). At this point, I would not be surprised if we try to trade Salty and a reliever for a LH 1B/OF. I also would not be surprised if we try to add another starter. Maybe we can use that $9 million to sign one of Lohse, Marcum, etc. That would be a great addition. I could see us be completely done making moves, but at the same time, there are still some potential moves, especially with at least 9 million to work with. I also know that the FO has said that they do not mind going over the LT by a small margin if we need to.

Pedroia has said over and over again he wants to retire a Red Sox. If he does not get a career ending injury anytime soon, then I think he will go down as one of the best Red Sox players in history and will be going into the HOF. Of course, he has to perform close to his career averages for that to happen. As long as he is healthy, I think he will be able to. A few more GG's and his case will be really good. He already has an MVP and ROY award as we all know. The best thing abouy him is that he will give us a hometeown discount.

I just had someone tell me that Morse can play in the OF and 1B, which I have no problem with. Then he went on and said that he can play SS as well, just in case something would happen to Drew. I don't know Morse's height and weight when he was a rookie (when he played 55 games at SS), but I do know that someone weighing 245 pounds currently is not your ideal weight for a SS. Maybe I am the only one, but I though it was funny. I am assuming my buddy did not know how big he is a 6'5, 245.