SoxFanForsyth

Yeah, I agree with that. Anyone who isn't at least slightly concerned with the return of the injured is just ignoring it altogether. Although after reading the comments from Theo regarding the cause of Pedey's problem coming from immobility for an extended period of time, my biggest concern is our number 3 starter. If Beckett can't get his s*** together and post around a 4 ERA this year, that could be a 6-8 game swing in our L column, and that could be the difference in a 97 win, AL East championship season, and another 89 win, miss the playoff season.

By the way - Dipre - Everytime I see your sig, I want to vomit.

After reading the quotes from Theo on Pedroia and his injury, as well as Youkilis saying he feels "stronger than ever", Ellsbury should be fine after a solid offseason of healing, Beckett has been working out with a personal trainer, which virtually means his back should be much better, and DiceK has said he's working his lower body more, which will save his arm, it sounds like the injuries are all healing up nicely. Gonzo is going to talk to his surgeon about potentially bumping up his schedule to start swinging earlier because he's ahead of schedule, so he should be good for Opening day. From Theo's quotes, as well as the various most recent updates (other than Ellsbury - haven't heard much on him other than Theo saying he's pain free, contradicted by Tito saying he still feels it a little, but that was 2 months ago), I am extremely excited about this season and have high expectations for the injured players. I don't think they'll all average 160 games, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see 145-150+ for each player. For what it's worth, I don't think I'm looking through rose colored glasses, I think that's forming an opinion based on reports that have come out, which is really all that we can do.

Wait. Did RSFFL get banned?? EDIT: Nevermind. I saw his banter with Suns. How did me and Dipre not catch and flack for our fighting a few weeks ago? All RSFFL did was bold his comments. We were using size 984 font bold italics and underlined.

Punxsutawney Phil came out of his borough this morning, Spring is coming early! Yankees fans are pissed.

Theo Epstein on the Town Hall last night about Pedroia's injury and his foot "feeling wierd": Even though I know we're not out of the woods yet, that's some great news after what Pedroia had been saying. Sounds like what he's feeling is normal and should be fine by Opening Day.

Kids are dropping the hammer at the age of 8 these days. I was throwing sliders when I was 10, and it completely mangles your elbow and shoulder. By 18, I had torn my rotator cuff. My kids are going to be throwing fastball/change up until they're 14. No point in blowing out arms to win the American Legion 13 year old state championship. I remember last year - I think it was in the late May - June time frame, Francona started pulling the trigger at the first sign of trouble with the pitchers and I was thinking "Damn Tito, I'm proud of you". We were winning games, our bullpen was being used properly, and our SP's were getting out before they could get raked. Then, he went back to his old ways. I'm hoping that with an improved bullpen, he won't be afraid to go to the well in the 6th inning if need be. Is there any website that has a pitchers ERA by inning? I know Yahoo has it by number of pitches, but I'd love to see our SP ERA in the 6th and 7th. I bet it's 6+

Ugh Rush. Worst part about rush is bid sessions. f*** bid sessions

They're having a Red Sox Town Hall meeting tonight, started about 5 min ago. NESN.com has a live blog of it if you're out of NESN's network. Also, Boston.com/sports has a great article with some questions already asked to the panel of Werner, Lucchino, Theo, and Francona. Good read - gets you pretty pumped up for the season.

From Boston.com, Pete Abraham reporting over at the Red Sox Town Hall meeting.

Thank you for that link. That's amazing.

Oh my God. Bogar by far. We lead the league in Runs Scored last year if Bogar was a bench coach.

I can't believe I forgot about Bogar last year. Oh my God. He was terrible. How many times did we run ourselves out of an inning with him over there? Youk on 1st, double down the RF line, and he gets gunned down by 27 feet trying to score with no outs. Beltre grounds out and Hermida whiffs and we lose by 1 in 11 innings. Absolutely atrocious coaching in the 3rd base box last year.

Wait. Are you mocking me? He stole 68 last year, and lead the league.

-excerpt from Rotoworld.com. -From NESN.com Seems like there are some conflicting reports swirling around. Hopefully he was just having a tough day when he was talking to WEEI about "saving bullets" and he'll be able to get out of spring training and be close to 100% by April 1.

Last year he had me banging my head against the wall when he would leave the starters in during the 7th after showing fatigue in the 6th. Then again, he was put in a tough position, choosing between a fatigued Lester or a fresh MDC/RR. Hopefully this year he'll be a bit quicker with the trigger, now that we have Jenks, Wheeler, and Bard to clean up the 7th and 8th.

Sorry - My post probably wasn't very clear. I meant that Lowrie and Scutaro will combine for 10 SB, not 10 individually.

Total SB - I'd say the Sox will put up around 150. Ells 55 Craw 50 Pedey 15 D-Mac 8 Cam 5 Scut/Lowrie 10 Misc Other 10 Something like that.

Yup. As much as I absolutely despise admitting it, Pedroia could be a going concern for the Sox this year. I'm choosing not to worry about it until Pedroia comes out of a game with a foot injury, even though that's irrational.

Saw that on WEEI.com a few days ago. Not something you want to hear. Lowrie's value may have skyrocketed. I'm sure Pedey will be fine, he said he expected to be 100% after 3 months and he's just not there yet. It may just be a little fear in the back of his mind, too. He'll grind out this year and then next offseason he'll have the screw removed and be back to normal. That said, I would have liked to hear a bit more optimism from Pedey, especially because he's the guy who's always optimistic about everything, so hearing any kind of a hesitance in his voice is never good.