SoxFanForsyth

Almost zero chance this happens. Taz posted a 1.43 ERA last year and a 9.2 K:BB ratio. He's not going down to AAA. Not even close, not even with the options. The bullpen, IMO, will look like this: Hanrahan - Bailey - Bard (especially now, after Farrell's comments) - Uehara - Tazawa - Miller - Breslow. I fully expect one of Aceves or Morales to get dealt with Salty before the season starts. And I expect the other of Aceves or Morales to be learning how to start in AAA.

To be fair, though, Nava's defense was very good last year in LF, and he posted a .383 OBP vs RHP. If he's going to be facing RHP exclusively (albeit splitting time vs RHP, as I think Gomes gets most of the ABs), he's a pretty good option to have out there. Not to mention he's one of the few guys left who would go play a double header then come back and wash everyones jerseys if it meant he got to stay with the big club. He appreciates his time and works hard to stay up there. His talent against RHP (.797 OPS vs RHP in 2012) is certainly good enough to merit keeping him as an option vs RHP. Especially when you consider Gomes (Career .732 OPS vs RHP, .715 in 2012) and Victorino (Career .732 OPS vs RHP, like Gomes, and .629 OPS vs RHP in 2012). They don't exactly murder RHP. Having a guy who can get on base at a near .385-.400 clip vs RHP while playing above average defense in LF would certainly be worth keeping around, specifically for this team. All that said, I really want Garrett Jones, but I'm not sure what they're asking for. If we can pull Jones for a package revolving around Iglesias plus 1 lower level, young kid, I'd do it in a heartbeat (assuming it wasn't a highly touted, top prospect going with Iggy).

He was probably trying to impress me and threw out his arm. So much so that it even threw out his non throwing arm!!

Sweeney was just signed by the Sox to a minor league deal. I would think he will make the major league roster, especially if he can play a little 1B.

Not sure if you saw this or not, but Pedro already has been mentoring Rubby. Full article here: http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/8836664/rubby-de-la-rosa-boston-red-sox-learned-changeup-pedro-martinez Apparently Rubby's Grandmother was Pedro's nanny, so they've got a connection prior to and outside of baseball. I really hope Pedro takes Rubby under his wing and teaches him how to be great.

You could sit shotgun and be the co-captain.

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=16409129&c_id=mlb Watch the entire thing, or fast forward to the 56 second mark. And make sure you put a towel down before you drool all over yourself. 98 mph paint in the bottom of the 6th. Disgusting.

Here's a prediction: During Spring Training, Rubby De La Rosa looks like an absolute monster and people fall in love with him.

According to Edes, Pedro said he'll "be on the field" I wonder in what capacity he's talking about. Didn't they just expand the amount of coaches you're able to have in the dugout? It'd be nice to have him as another pitching coach, especially with the crop of young kids we have coming up. No better pitcher to emulate than Pedro.

Regardless of whether they're flame throwers or just 92-94 mph "throwers", the fact remains he got away from what he was good at and tried to change too many things. The fact that his arm slot is back in the right slot is a huge step in the right direction. I strongly believe he'll be back to his pre-2012 self going into 2013. This team is going to win a lot of games by holding leads from the 7th through the 9th innings.

The DBacks have DFA'd Lars Anderson. The Red Sox would be smart to pick him up as an extra option at their LHH 1B/OF.

Sometimes you just need to get away from the game and clear your mind, hit the "reset" button to be cliche. By the time everything had piled on top of him last year he was probably so buried with thinking about every mechanical issue that he couldn't pitch. The thing about Bard - he's a thrower, he's not a pitcher. Last year, we tried to make him into a pitcher. We need to just let him go out there and throw.

Sorry - Here you go. The original article is here http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2013/01/farrell_impress_1.html Another article that mentions it (and the bullpen depth) is here http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2013/01/24/red-sox-bullpen-looking-deep/UeVQTXG3W9UypNPneYFjpJ/story.html

Old(ish?) news, but it looks like Farrell met with Bard, and he's found his arm slot again and gotten his power back. If he comes back as the old Daniel Bard, which is entirely possible, and sounds almost like it's probable from the early reports, this bullpen will be beyond filthy.

Not quite sure why we're talking about Youk like he's the epitome of health? The guy has averaged about 120 games over the past 2 seasons. And it's not like he's going to be making a move to 1B to ease some of the physical stress of defense. He's going back to 3B, which hurt him to begin with. You know why Youk was even a decent hitter in 2011? Fenway Park. He hit .320/.426/.563 at home in 2011, and hit .191/.317/.349 away. Take him out of Fenway park and his numbers plummet (See: 2012 - .235/.336/.409). Even in Napoli's horrid year, he still outperformed Youk last year (Nap 2012: .812 OPS, Youk: .745 OPS). And while we're on it, Youk had a .745 OPS last year while playing around 21% of his games at Fenway (26 games of 122 played) and posted an .848 OPS at Fenway. Take out those games at Fenway last year? He posted a .221/.336/.388/.724 line away from Fenway Park last year. So that's two consecutive years where his numbers are completely based on Fenway Park, yet he would have to play 1/2 of his games away from Fenway. No thanks, I'll take Napoli, who had an .840 OPS on the road last year, had a 1.731 OPS at Fenway last year, has a career 1.107 OPS at Fenway Park, and only got stronger down the stretch when his team needed him the most (1.051 OPS in September, 7 HR in 16 games). Youkilis, meanwhile, got fatigued and his production dropped off in September, where he posted a .649 OPS and 3 HR in 26 games. Give me Napoli over Youkilis, and it's not close.

The Sox and Yanks are virtually in the exact same boat right now. If things break right, and the players stay healthy, both teams have the chance to be a 93-95 win team. If things turn sour, they can turn really sour. I see both the Sox and Yanks as 87-89 win teams this year, both in the WC hunt well into September

Iggy + 1-2 for Jones? Um. Yes x1000. And it's not close.

Nobody has mentioned it yet, but Berkman signed yesterday with the Rangers for 1/11mm. Pretty big check for a 37 year old guy who played 32 games last year. I was certainly interested in him, but not close to that price.

Maybe Cherrington was thinking exactly what you were thinking about the trade: From the Red Sox Acquire Bailey thread: Hindsight is 20/20. Stop acting all holier than thou when you supported the deal when it went through.

Hey a700 - You should go listen to the WEEI Hot Stove report on 1/3/12. They interview Theo, and he talks about how Webster and De La Rosa were bigger returns to the Sox than the salary relief because they are such good prospects. The Cubs did a lot of scouting of them because they were in talks regarding a few trades (Dempster) at the deadline. Also, in Keith Law's chat yesterday, here's what he was asked and said: Basically, he's being undersold because he's got too much MLB time to be on prospect lists, so people don't recognize the talent he's got.

By the way, who do you have as our top 5? Mine go Bogaerts - De La Rosa - Bradley / Barnes in either order - Webster

Your valuation of these prospect is almost the complete opposite than that of almost every talent evaluator that I've read.

Huh?!? Webster, Barnes, De La Rosa are all young arms that are top 5 prospects in the Sox organization. Barnes and Webster could both crack the top 50 list on BA, and De La Rosa would likely crack the list too if he was eligible.

Stanton is not just anybody. He is perhaps the only position player I empty the farm to acquire. David Price, Giancarlo Stanton, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez. Those are the only players I empty for.

That's a top 15, a top 30, a top 50 and a top 80 guy. That's a huge package. But Stanton is a huge player. You may have to add another piece like Frank Montas, who pumps 96-100 as a 19 year old, but is raw. Insane upside with a power arm like that. I would say the Sox would get something back in that deal.