redsoxfan3

Correct. Doubront has no options left, which why I was kind of confused with what Bobby V was saying. There is no way in hell we send him through waivers unless we really want to part ways with him. The only thing that I can logically come up with is that if Bobby V does not think that he can be a starter in the 5th spot is that he has a role in the pen, but I am really hoping he can at least be given a shot for that 5th spot.

I went to the Boston Globe party today in Fort Myers after the game. There was a decent amount of people. I got a free shirt, free stress ball that looks like a baseball, free food, a free beer, and a free book of Nick Cafardo's that he personally signed for me. It was fun and I got the opportunity to meet Cafardo and Abraham.

An interesting statement made by Bobby V. I find what he said about Doubront interesting. I really hope he wins the 5th spot, but now I am kind of concerned he might give it to Padilla or Cook. He didn't directly come out and say that Doubront will not win it, but if he feels "there's still a step" for Doubront to take, then that leads me to believe that at this point that he will not win it. We still have enough time in Spring Training to declare a 5th starter. I don't believe it will be Aceves at this point either, especially with the way Melancon pitched today. I am interested to see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

I don't think they just signed him because they stole bases against us, haha. I think when they saw him play that they liked what he had to offer on the base paths, that is one of the reasons we signed him. He was a great all-around player, that is why we signed him. Who would have thought that he would do that bad in his first year here?

I never would have thought that the starting pitching race would actually be this close. I thought that Bard would lock down the #4 spot and that Aceves and Doubront would fight for the #5 spot with Cook and Padilla falling off of the radar. Cook and Padilla have had some decent results and have made their case for a starting spot. I really hope Doubront locks up a starting spot, but I must say I am happy with the competition going on in camp. I just hope that Bard does not mess his chances up, I guess if he does then he will be back in the pen, which I would be fine with.

This might be a long shot, but what if Doubront were to be the #4 and Padilla or Cook could be the #5. Cook went 3.1 today and didn't give up a run. He has yet to give up a run all Spring. I know his time has been limited, but what if he were to pitch this good the rest of the Spring? I feel like we are better off with one of Bard or Aceves was in the rotation, but it could be huge for our pen if we could keep both.

Sounds cool to me. I might stop by and go to this. Everyone in town that hears about this might be there just for the free stuff. Hopefully too many people don't go.

I agree with you. As much as I want Iggy to make the team as our starting SS, I don't know how realistic that is, especially if this injury is any sort of set back for him. I think we will be fine with Aviles at SS. He can play the position decent enough for us to get by and his bat is better than Iggy's. Whatever the team chooses to do will be fine with me. Either way, we will probably see Iggy in the majors at some point, especially if he improves his hiiting if he starts the year in AAA. McDonald I am sure will make the cut to start the year because we will need the 4th OF with Crawford out. I like his work ethic. I just do not know what will happen with McDonald when Crawford comes back. Will we keep 5 OF's? If we don't we might try to trade him otherwise we will be forced to put him through waivers, which means another team will pick him up.

You do make some good points, but what I am saying is that he is already used to LF at Fenway and at this point they will not change that. I agree that his speed may not be utilized to its maximum capability, but at this point they are not going have him change positions. He can use that speed on the base paths. One of the reasons they signed this guy is because he was supposed to be a big boost to our offense. Like I said, I am just concerned with him getting back on track offensively. He needs to just get on base and steal some bases this season like he is capable of.

That sucks about Morales, I thought he was a lock to make the pen on opening day. I am just hoping that he has a speedy recovery, we could use the extra arm in the pen.

I wonder when he will be ready to go. If he doesn't get healthy soon, he might not have a chance at all to make the roster. Hopefully it is nothing too serious.

It is good to see that we are signing a guy with past problems such as the identity issue. On a serious note, I am fine with this because of him having potential to start in the majors. Hopefully he does more good for us, instead of causing problems.

I liked watching Lin, but I am just glad we made some cuts so we can get some others more playing time since the start of the season is right around the corner.

I know some might not like the term Red Sox Nation, but I basically grew up in the era that Red Sox Nation became popular in. I consider myself part of Red Sox Nation, but I still understand why some do not. Like previously mentioned, it is probably for marketing. Either way we are all Sox fans.

Any news on Iglesias or Sweeney? I know that Iglesias was penciled in to start yesterday, but they ended up starting Spears instead. Maybe he will play today? I guess we will have to wait to see the lineups.

It is good to see Crawford making progress. I am also glad that they are not rushing him into things. I would rather see a healthy Crawford for the majority of the year, which might make him wait to return until a couple weeks into the season as opposed to seeing Crawford rushed back into things and see him return by opening day where he could have a possible reoccurence.

The rain delay could have had an impact on him, although that should not be a justifiable excuse as to why he pitched bad. He might face another rain delay this season, so hopefully it was just a one time thing. I am not worried with the one bad performance from Bard. Lester didn't pitch great yesterday. If I can take anything positive away is that he got out of a couple of jams that he got himself into by only giving up two runs. We only scored one run, but we had a lot of minor leaguers playing yesterday, so that is why we did not have a lot of offense. Today I am excited because we play one game at 1:05 and one game at 1:35. I am not sure which game I want to follow more. I want to watch Beckett pitch, but I also want to see how Cook does. I will probably just flip back and forth and follow both games.

I have been looking for the lineup for tonight's game. I have tickets to go. I am just worried that we since we played a lot of our starters last night that we won't be tonight. I wanted to see Pedroia play tonight, but if he doesn't I might be interested in selling my two tickets and I will just go to another game. If anyone finds it and can post it that would be greatly appreciated.

I don't think that is off of the wall. I look at it this way. People need hobbies, interests, activities, etc. to keep busy with their spare time. I am in college and follow the Red Sox a lot. A lot of other people my age experiment with drugs, drink their life away, get into art, or do other hobbies. I am already engaged and I feel like I spend my time a lot better than those who party all of the time. I had my time in high school where I thought it was cool to go to parties and get drunk, but I got over that phase of my life fairly quickly. I just don't see the point. Don't get me wrong, I still drink occasionally, I just don't go to parties all the time and get wasted. People can do what they want with their life. This is my choice and I don't care what people think. My fiancee knows that I love the Red Sox and it really does not bother her a whole lot. She is even starting to follow the team. She is a Big Papi fan and has gone to a couple of Spring Training games with me. It probably also helps that her dad is a big Cubs fan, so she is used to a man being in her life being a baseball fan. I have been a Pedroia fan from day one. He is the favorite player of a lot of Sox fans. If he is your favorite player, then there is nothing to be ashamed of. He is a great role model and a great player to have as your favorite. I agree with ORS on this and about the least favorite player.

It is very easy for the Red Sox to grow on you. I get a lot of crap from some of my friends back in Ohio who are Reds and Guardians fans. They always want to know why I am a fan of a team that isn't close to where I am from. It should not matter where you are from. You can be a loyal fan from wherever you live. My dad and mom are not huge sports fans, so I was not born into a family that don't have favorite teams. Consider yourself lucky if you were born into a family of Red Sox fans. I wish that was me. I hope to start a trend with my kids and grandkids to become Red Sox fans. There is nothing more that I hate than someone accusing another person of being a bandwagon jumper. Don't accuse until you know the whole story. I must say that over the years I have made a few of my friends jump on the Red Sox bandwagon, but after they didn't win any more World Series after 2007 they quickly changed teams. The Yankees probably have the largest amount of bandwagon fans, but the Sox are pretty close because of the recent success. Let me just end my rant by saying that Red Sox baseball is a way of life for me. Some say it isn't healthy, some say it is an obsession, to me it is a choice and a way of life.