The Boomer

Yeah, that was what I meant by "range". Soxprospects says the same thing.

Which kid are you talking about?

Well, saying someone who is playing at AAA has talent and will be good if they stay healthy and develop applies to, oh, about 70% of MiLB.

Hazelbaker (sic?) seems to lack the arm and range for a MLB CF job. He's 24 and there may not be much more filling out to happen, so he's a reach as a LFer in the AL East where the CFer is not named Granderson or Ellsbury. He could definitely be useful somewhere though. I like Brentz a lot and I hope he's still at Portland in August, when I will likely check out a game.

You make a good point. As long as he doesn't go after Sox players or the FO, I think that's exactly what happening. It plays to his "strength" of naturally wanting to comment on everything.

Welcome to the world of CHB!

I question if Tek could be effective as a manager if there are players on the team from his on-field days. At least he would be more effective IMHO if he came on after all the current players had moved on.

It worked for Joe Morgan.

Becks is a competitive SOB and my read is that he's not happy about the "snitching" mostly as it related to Tito; my speculation is specifically as it related to Tito's home situation. Otherwise, I read it as he's not going to apologize for anything on the field nor should he with respect to 2011. He has already said he made some poor decisions off the field; what more do people want? Modified: Just to put it in perspective, we had at least 2 DUIs last year (Cabrera and Choo) in MLB. That we know about. If it gets to that level then we can go scalp hunting for apologies.

Well, they had some free payroll after Albert went off the books. Not sure if this is the best way to spend it though.

Like Fred and Elk said, I think it's just so players can get used to the wall and dimensions before they get to Boston. I would think other teams do the same thing with their long-term farm if they can. For example: Wisconsin Timber Rattlers: 325 LF, 400 CF, 325 RF (they are now a Brewers farm team, but until 2010 they were a Mariners farm team) Safeco: 331 LF, 405 CF, 326 RF

Props and I'm glad he didn't try to extend the embarrassment. Now get him on a bus to Portland!

I wasn't sure what you were attributing the motivation to, being a better baseball player or making more money. It sounds like the latter, which is my perspective too.

I think if you have to have a captain, it needs to be an everyday player. Pitchers just don't have the same rhythm and are a distinct group. That said, they are on the team which is why having Tek as captain made sense because he worked closely with both groups. DP doesn't have the same relationship, so while he's the best of the choices listed, I'd go with "no" if I was managing the Sox.

They might, but Pedroia is a tough out. Hell, if he gets on the you have to face more lumber coming up. Like I said, just a brain fart.

This all comes down to: what is CC's role on the 2012 Red Sox? Is he: a. The get on-base and run wild guy (that implies he should leadoff) b. The table setter (i.e., hitting second) c. The middle-of-the-order bat (hitting 3-5) d. Leading off the second order (sixth) e. Mopping up the damage the power bats precipitate (seventh) f. The wrap-around bat (ninth) You can come up with a case to put him pretty much anywhere, but the important thing to me is that you pick a role for him and let him do it. Good teams play better when everyone knows their role. This was always my confusion about the CC deal in the first place. I think there are pluses and minuses to every one of the roles above, but I also believe that CC is an elite baseball player and he can make any of these work if he can get behind it. He's being paid like that, at any rate.

Some economists at Cal looked at this and determined PED use was worth about $12 million to a player. Even taking into account higher medical costs, shorter life span, etc., the NPV of taking PEDs was something like $9 million. So it's a very rational thing to do. I'm not saying it's right, just that it's sensible if you're in that position.

#1. I'd like to see Prince Felix make it to the bigs and it would be good to have another reliable LH starter outside of Lester. #2. My feeling is that Crawford saw that same thing many others did: that his role was not clear last year. I hope the FO and Bobby V. are working to correct that. I think you need to give him a role, whether that's leadoff, #2, #7, speed, power, defense, whatever and stick to it until he's comfortable with that. Last year, Carl oscillated between being lost and trying too hard to make something happen. The good news is that the Sox are a team that won't depend on Crawford to carry them, they just need to figure out a way for him to contribute to the team. #3. You make some good points, but I think the relationship there is already torched between Dice and the FO. However, it is strongly in Dice-K's interest to come back and do well if he doesn't want to go back to Japan or do a one-year reclamation contract for 2013. I am sure Mr. Boras has already got his client up to speed on that. #4. I hope so! #5. That's leaving out starts by Miller, Weiland, and Doubront that were shaky at best. If we get over 550 IP from our top 3 and the #4/5 spots are better covered, we should be OK. Our ERA was also killed last year by the BP being blown out from too many 4-5 inning starts. It looks like we should be better there if one of Aceves or Bard stays.

Once again, this is probably a brain fart, but why not bat Pedrioa at cleanup regularly? He's hit there some (not a lot, I know), but there's no rule that says your best power bat needs to be there. Just one of your best hitters. CF Ells LF Crawford 1B A-Gonz 2B Pedroia DH Ortiz 3B Youk RF Ross/Sweeney SS Aviles C Salty We are very LHH heavy at the top of the order, but Crawford is the only one who has a massive dropoff in his splits vs. LHP.

For the record, I can't find a quote from Theo describing them in that way. There are a lot of other people who do, but not him directly. But it's certainly possible he did say that. I like CC hitting second, but only by default. I think last year one of my brainstorms was to have him hit 9th so we had a wrap-around lineup.