Bellhorn04

One of the things that makes the Crawford signing look so bad now is the breakout year Ellsbury had. I don't think anybody can honestly say they saw Ellsbury suddenly becoming an MVP candidate.

From WEEI Beckett: Is Schilling one of our pitchers? By: Paul Flannery Responding to Curt Schilling's criticism that things aren't going well in Red Sox camp under manager Bobby Valentine, Sox pitcher Josh Beckett said in an interview with The Big Show, "I haven't seen him around this year. Is he one of our pitchers?" "I haven't seen him around," Beckett continued. "I'd think if someone knew that much they'd probably be a little closer to it. Game's a lot easier from over there [as a media petrson], I think. As far as him speaking about how things are being run, I haven't seen him around here to where he would know that much." Beckett said that things have been "great" with Valentine and he's particular liked some of the changes he's made for the pitchers. "My legs have never felt this good coming out of spring training," Beckett said. "We don't shag during spring training. [Valentine] actually said that, 'We run a shag-free spring training.' Some of that, not being on my feet during spring training has been helped. I definitely think some of the stretching and workouts have paid off well for me." The pitcher acknowledged that the Sox have to get off to a better start this season. "We definitely have to do better than we did last April, especially at the beginning," he said. "I know we started to kind of play a bit better toward the end of April, but we definitely have to do better than we did last April. You can't put yourself in that hole and expect to dig yourselves out of it again. I think everybody here knows that and we're going to go out and play our tails off."

Yeah, I'm disappointed with Schilling about this. It's the exact same type of s*** that was used to smear Francona on the way out, featuring the ever-popular unnamed inside sources. In addition to the undercutting of Valentine, it creates a lot of talk about who the snitches are.

I think it's a little unfair to jump to the conclusion that Beckett is one of the players complaining to Schilling.

This thread has been a challenger from the get-go.

Yes, I think the pitching is what will decide it and we'll definitely need some things to go our way. And if Aviles stinks it up we'll see Iglesias.

But it's going to be essentially the same defense as last year, except substitute Aviles for Scutaro and Sweeney/Ross for last year's mishmash in right. I don't see a big dropoff.

Do you think our defence was a factor in some of our losses last year?

If Aviles plays poor SS defence early, will they have any choice but to bring Iggy up?

It was Scranton-Wilkes Barre, but it was when they were in the Phillies org.

I don't know, I think the Red Sox have now significantly closed the gap on the Yankees spending-wise. Especially if you compare payroll as a percentage of revenue-on that basis we are outspending them. I think what tightened the purse strings this year was simply all the money that was already committed. They are already projected to be over the luxury tax threshold by $5 to $10 million.

Hey, that sounds exactly like a page out of Pumpsie Green's book: 'You shouldn't take it personally when I refer to your comments as idiotic, inane and demonstrating a complete lack of understanding.' The issue I was trying to address, which I thought was somewhat interesting, was jung's statement that the Red Sox organization is still very enamored of utilizing the left field wall. I will concede that my reference to all the acquisitions of lefthanded hitters was a little sloppy/hasty. However, the point about taking Crawford over Werth still stands. Werth was a guy who seemed tailor-made to hit balls over the Monster but they went for Crawford instead. With regard to the history of the team, yes, there have been a lot of lefthanded hitters who have used the wall to their advantage, especially for doubles. There have also been a lot of righthanded power hitters who have been able to utilize it for home runs. Fenway has always been a great hitter's park period. Again, the issue I was interested in was whether the Red Sox organization continues to be fixated on building their team around utilizing the wall.

Did the Red Sox prefer Crawford to Werth because they thought Crawford would hit more balls off and over the wall than Werth?

jung, I'm not sure the Sox organization is enamored with the left field wall. As has been noted, they have drafted a lot of left-handed hitters, and their big acquisitions last year were both lefty hitters.

Tavarez had one of the alltime outrageous quotes after the Nationals signed him in 2009. They were apparently the only team interested in him and Julian was not especially thrilled to be joining them, but, as he explained it: "Why did I sign with the Nationals? When you go to a club at 4 in the morning, and you're just waiting, waiting, a 600-pounder looks like J-Lo. And to me this is Jennifer Lopez right here. It's 4 in the morning. Too much to drink. So, Nationals: Jennifer Lopez to me."

That does appear to be the grim reality of it, though we might be a little better than 3 pitchers. Our only shot is the wild card. It could be an entertaining year. But on paper the Yankees pitching staff absolutely shreds ours.

This is a really tough one. I can't remember liking too many Sox players who really stunk. About the only thing I can think of is Ricky Gutierrez in 2004. Gutierrez didn't play much, or well, but for some reason he was in the Sox dugout in the ALCS cheerleading up a storm. It was pretty amusing.

Even the Golf Channel is following this policy.

Agreed on Doubront, not so sure about Cook. Too small of a sample.

True.

Padilla hasn't been terrible this spring. 11 innings, 13 hits, 5 ER, 9 K, 1 BB. We could probably do worse for middle relievers. But he's certainly out of the hunt for a starting slot.