ForeverYoung

I guess if I have to explain my joke it wasn't that good....It was a fat joke.

And that is different from every off-season how? I personally think "Cool Hand" Ben's slow playing of this off-season is going to work for us. Not only do we keep our top talent that played amazing for every month that was not named September, but we also add through trades enough players to make our BP pretty good. Papelbon was a great showman and was consistent, but Bard/Bailey/Melancon is better than just about anyone's 7,8,9 men. Not to mention when Josh Hamilton and/or Matt Cain are wearing Red Sox Jerseys next year I will have to put "I told you so" 500 times in my signature.

You are correct....just trying to make a correlation. Lackey went 12-12 last year with a 6+ ERA, Wandy doing 4-5 is above .500 winning Pct. Which is what you look for out of a #4, although Wandy is not filling the role of #4 on Astros (Or whatever the hell the new owners decides to name them). If the Astros eat enough of his contract in order to get a prospect than I don't see why we don't grab him.

Can't fix ARP Cache.

It means that when you look at the depth chart as it stands, that is what we march into Spring Training with.

We will probably be picking up Youk's club option at the end of the year, if not he will be a free agent at the end of the year. We may just pick up his option in order to trade him away to the Reds, since that is his preferred team. Jacoby Ellsbury is arbitration eligible for 2013, so if he performs like he did last year we will probably let him accept arbitration in 2013 and make a long-term deal during the season to avoid luxury taxes. Hopefully, he will accept the arbitration for 2013 to help the team, instead of making us go after him AND Ethier or Hamilton. Similar to what Gonzo and Beckett did in order for us to sign free agents. Although, it is worth noting that he is a Scott Boras client which means that he will probably not be accepting arbitration next year if he has another 30/30 or even a 20/20 year. Scutaro will be a free-agent, so dependent entirely on Iglesias' improvement this year, and whether we can field him at that position in the Majors, we may have to go out and re-sign Scutaro, trade, or bring in another FA. Big Papi will be a free agent after this, but Lavarnway will be filling that role. So this should be the last year that Papi wears the Sox uniform, unless we extend the 'Tek style minor league contract. Dice-K will also be a free agent, but I don't see the Sox signing him unless it is to a MUCH smaller contract. Lester will have the potential to void his 2014 club option if he finishes first or second in the Cy Young voting, but that is only if we decide to trade him 2014. Jenks, Miller, Padilla, Silva, Cook, etc. of reclamation projects are free agents at the end of the year but I doubt any of those will matter. With Ethier accepting a one year contract to avoid arbitration it still does not change anything, since the new contract is for 2012 and has no club options. The Red Sox front office will be watching the new Dodger's management to see if they will work out an extension or new deal with Ethier. If they do, than they will have to pursue and pay Hamilton a great deal more money. I personally would prefer Ethier over Hamilton since he is fast, hits for average and has a great opposite field swing that would allow him to smack quite a few into the green monster. Matt Cain will be our primary target in 2013, period. We will sign him if the Giants are not willing to pony up the money, and even if they do we are going to overpay for a dedicated ace. If the Texas Rangers do not sign Darvish than they will be our primary contenders for Cain, with the Yankees basically taking themselves out of contention by signing Kuroda and breaking their tax bubble. Although, the Yankees will play the Crawford game and try and drive the price up by bringing Cain in to talk.

Morales started when he was in Colorado's system, I would feel better putting Morales in to suck up innings than a proven BP arm like Bard in the rotation. Granted, Morales has never pitched more than 46 innings in a season, but I would rather burn him out than Bard honestly. Bard is an investment, a strong setup/closer that has never started, and Morales is a career middle reliever with the potential to start in spots. I could see Padilla, its a descent patchwork signing to eat innings. Lester is not a proven Ace, Beckett is at the end of his usability, Buchy as good as he is doesn't have the reliability and durability to be our future. Pure and simple we need to go out and get a distinctive arm, and that is not going to be this year.

I might be unrealistic on Dice-K's recovery, I will give you that. I have my Starting Rotation looking like this: 1. Lester 2. Beckett 3. Buchohlz 4. Aceves 5. Silva Cook will be in AAA and will be the spot/ injury pitcher, and Morales, Dubrount will earn some starts during the season. Like I have said before, I think this is a band-aid year. We patch things up and try and hope our offense carries us into the post-season, than we get real serious next Free Agent class.

I'm not sure about Dice-K's recovery but if his previous injury recoveries are any litmus test he will pitch before that 18 month mark. Not to mention, unlike the National's treatment of Strasburg, we wont have him past this year so we won't be using kit gloves when handling Dice-K. I think the bullpen is stronger with the removal of 3 innings and out Lackey, and 5 inning Wakefield. If Miller doesn't make the starting rotation he will settle into Aceve's role as the work-horse inning eater, when Aceves makes the rotation. Bard should stay in the pen and with the addition of Melancon and Bailey that makes a pretty nasty 7,8,9 punch. Bailey may not be Papelbon, but with our offense there really isn't as big of a need to rely on a closer as with Philly. I think our Bullpen is set to be a little bit better than average, not stellar, but honestly we just need enough to not allow 4 or more runs a game.

That has to be the best estimate on the Sox's farm system I have ever seen.

Why would we want to waste money on Ramirez when he won't do anything for us until just before the Trade Deadline? If we really want Ramirez, let another AL team like Seattle waste money on him, and than if he is hitting when they are officially out of contention they will shop him. I mean Seattle has experience making gambles with players that have bad attitudes, let them take the risk we should just wait and see if Kalish comes back healthy and Crawford produces. If those fall through than we can always do a Ramirez/Hernandez trade using Lars Anderson, Felix Dubrount and Renaudo.

The free agent class according to MLB Trade rumors (http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/04/2013-mlb-free-agents.html) are: Right fielders Lance Berkman (36) Matt Diaz (35) Andre Ethier (31) Torii Hunter (37) Andruw Jones (36) Mark Kotsay (37) Carlos Quentin (30) Juan Rivera (34) - $4MM club option for 2013 with a $500K buyout Ichiro Suzuki (39) Nick Swisher (32) Starting pitchers Scott Baker (31) - $9.25MM club option Joe Blanton (32) Matt Cain (28) Fausto Carmona (29) - $9MM club option Aaron Cook (34) Kevin Correia (32) Jorge De La Rosa (32) - $11MM player option with a $1MM buyout Ryan Dempster (36) R.A. Dickey (38) - $5MM club option with a $300K buyout Scott Feldman (29) - $9.25MM club option with a $600K buyout Gavin Floyd (30) - $9.5MM club option Freddy Garcia (37) Zack Greinke (28) Jeremy Guthrie (34) Cole Hamels (29) Dan Haren (32) - $15.5MM club option with a $3.5MM buyout Tim Hudson (37) - $9MM club option with a $1MM buyout Colby Lewis (33) Francisco Liriano (29) Kyle Lohse (34) Derek Lowe (40) Paul Maholm (31) - $6.5MM club option with a $500K buyout Shaun Marcum (31) Jason Marquis (34) Daisuke Matsuzaka (32) Brandon McCarthy (29) Brett Myers (32) - $10MM club option with a $3MM buyout Carl Pavano (37) Jake Peavy (31) - $22MM club option with a $4MM buyout Anibal Sanchez (29) Jonathan Sanchez (30) Ervin Santana (30) - $13MM club option with a $1MM buyout James Shields (31) - $9MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout Chien-Ming Wang (33) Jake Westbrook (35) - $8.5MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout if club declines Dontrelle Willis (31) Randy Wolf (36) - $10MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout Carlos Zambrano (32) - $19.25MM player option depending on Zambrano's Cy Young voting placement I think it was last updated on 1-12-11 which puts some names out of the running, but it pretty much is accurate. There are some real game changers on the Starting Pitching and Right Field list, could you imagine the Sox picking up Cain and Ethier? Right now the Giants are trying to make a five year extension, but if that falls through....*Cough* JD Drew *Cough* Even without Cain on that list there are still some great targets for quality starters. We are definitely going after Ethier, since in march he said "a lot of signs are pointing toward his leaving Los Angeles after the season." I see us going toe to toe with New York next off-season over him, so we definitely need some room to spend next winter.

Are we seriously as Red Sox fans not willing to look past this year? I am perfectly willing to accept Kuroda, Jackson, and Oswalt signing elsewhere if it means we can go toe to toe with the Yankees next year for a top of the order SP. I mean do we go over luxury tax and give up on next year's Top end free agents to get a #4 or 5 Starting Pitcher? Or should we piece together a rotation with dumpster picks and prospects for this year and go for a meaningful #1 or #2 to take the pressure off Lester and Beckett? Personally I subscribe entirely to what Ben Cherington is doing right now, we will be better in the long run if we do this. Yes, there are people clamoring to make this year count, but our Offense can make us contenders this year even with a piecemeal rotation. Than next year we lock up a meaningful starting pitcher long-term and a meaningful Right Fielder long-term, than we dominate for years to come. We are in a really good position right now with 2013 free agent list, and we are in a much better position to make those deals by going under the luxury tax and resetting the time for 3 years. This is the new strategy for the Sox, go big for three years, hit the reset button for one year and than do it all again. Look to the long term Red Sox Fans, we have a chance to catch up in the championship race with the Stankees.

I never said that Bard has no chance of making the starting lineup...the potential exists. I just don't see him excelling like he excelled in the setup role. Bard throws a Fastball, Slider and a Changeup. In 2009 he was throwing a Curve as well, but the vertical movement was crud so he didn't bother throwing it anymore. If I am a major league batter, I know he has a mean slider so I just sit on Fastball and destroy it. He has to face these batters more than once, so feeding them a steady diet of sliders is just not going to cut it anymore. He barely throws the Changeup, 5% according to PitchFX and 65% Fastball, 20% Slider. He will get crushed as a starting pitcher using those pitches, unless he throws something in there to slow the batter down like a curve. So if Beckett starts to be a team player and teaches Bard to throw a curve, sure he can be an effective starter but until than he is a great setup guy. I think Bard is the hands-down fan favorite to make the starting rotation, well Boston fans that is. Foreign, Venezuelan and Dominican Republic fans have been screaming for Aceves ever since Papi endorsed him for that role, and placing an incomplete Bard into the starting rotation will only hurt his confidence and pitching ability. If Bard magically learns to throw a curve or even a cut-fastball in addition to his four seam than sure he can be an effective starting pitcher.