Lucienbel

Agreed on Morrow. I think he's going to end up being a really good pitcher. At the very least, the veterans on the staff will have a positive impact on him. While I prefer Tampa's rotation, I don't think it's fair to count Toronto's out. If all these guys have good years they'll be looking real good. With the way other pitching staffs in the AL East are too, they're still one of the best in the East.

I personally like Hanrahan's stuff a whole lot. It is a question mark how he would do in Boston, but I see the interest they have as well.

This is an interesting move to me. I haven't followed the Cubs at all really, are they planning on contending so soon? Or is Jackson just completely after the money? Jackson is good enough to slot in with a team that can contend.

Someone that's able to sit down and get some solid pitching in the farm system and up and through the majors would be excellent. With all of these things you've said, they do seem to at least have a mentality geared sort of in place for this now. It's nice to see them not just pawning off the farm system for whatever they need this year. Seeing guys like Reddick go and play that way gets difficult to watch after a while. With that said, it seems like we develop solid hitting all the way through, which is a positive. At the same time, it seems that all the trading of prospects and the up and down "fill in this position while the other guy is hurt" has seemed to be incredibly hurtful to some prospects we've had. I'm all for building for the farm system, and I'm all for waiting for it even when it comes to building a winning team. Other people have said it as well, big names aren't necessarily the problem, but they shouldn't be entirely relied on either. However, it seems that when big pieces are brought in to complement what is already a pretty good team, things go best. I'd prefer to see people come up from the farm, and then the Sox fill in with good players at positions they need to. My mind goes to the Washington Nationals....they were able to draft good, develop good, and then fill in with guys that made a difference from the outside.

I also wouldn't mind seeing what Salty could do at first. I'm really not interested in seeing him behind the plate anymore, and I certainly hope that the Sox current catching situation means that he won't be back there a whole lot.

Outside of the Hamilton thing I completely agree with this as well. Given what Hamilton ended up getting, I really don't see the advantage of signing him. If he ended up getting left dry and they could have swooped in for two years, maybe. The way it is now though, I don't see the logic in him. With that said, I think the analysis on the pitching is good, both you and Jacksonian seem to have pretty good ideas with that. Also agreeing that the money they have left won't lock them up a pitcher that doesn't have some question marks. With that said, adding a guy like Marcum who does have question marks may not be the worst idea. He's always been pretty solid when he's healthy. I like the 3rd or 4th place finish idea, and I'm going to predict the same. Someone else said it too, this team should have better chemistry. I know for a lot of fans not having a big name player or a winning team will probably turn them off, but I do imagine this team will be a lot more fun to watch than it has in the recent past. I'm excited for that at the very least.

Certainly. He's interesting. I feel a large part of his development has been the roles he's been thrust into thus far....though he really hasn't shown any promise in his bat, I can't imagine he'll be as bad as last year. Coming up in this new environment might relax him a bit more too. No doubt his defense is a plus. At the end of the day, I'd still like to see them acquire a shortstop, but if they don't we could be doing worse.

Completely agreed as well. I know a lot of people here don't like the moves Cherington has made, and truthfully maybe they aren't the greatest. Dempster certainly doesn't seem to be. It does seem that the team this year will be a lot more fun than last year or the year before though.....even if they didn't get the greatest guys, there's definitely going to be more guys on the field who want to play their hardest every day than we've had in a while. That will be a nice change.

I like Marcum and Jurrjens a lot, along with Edwin Jackson as far as pitching goes. Marcum has always thrown the ball pretty well when he is out on the mound....sort of surprised he hasn't drawn more interest from teams. I'm also still baffled as to why this team has never had interest in Edwin Jackson.

5/80 is way off what a lot of people thought that he'd be getting. Making 3 mil more than what we're giving Dempster annually.

I don't particularly like what they're doing with their money.....and being a Sox fan, I suppose I can't really complain too much about money and such, but yeah. With that said, they're definitely a good team. For the next 3-4 years, they'll be a great team. As we've seen though, a lot of 6-7 year contracts at high value have been screwing a lot of teams lately (Red Sox, Yankees) so we'll see what happens as all these guys get older. Money has made them a great team though.

I'd love to see Swisher still be in the picture. With that said, not too upset we didn't end up signing Hamilton....I don't think that that's a deal this team wanted to compete with anyway. Some good points here though, and it'll be interesting to see what the pitching staff does. Lester coming back well and Buch doing what he did the last half of the season last year would definitely be worth some wins. If Ellsbury does have a good year, they don't have to sign him necessarily....he could end up becoming worth a decent amount toward the deadline.

Also agreeing. It's interesting seeing baseball shift like this. The Yankees not being the most expensive team in the game anymore, and the West Coast spending so much money. The Giants, Dodgers, and Nationals certainly look good. The Braves should never really be counted out. Should be a pretty interesting year, I'm sort of looking forward to it as a baseball fan in general. Wish we were looking better, but there should certainly be some fun series to watch this year.

I don't necessarily see all User Names posts as defending the front office and this team all the time either. I think he's trying to have a positive attitude about the team he likes a lot of the time. Watch out. It's better than say, complaining about things that haven't even happened yet.

I really can't figure out why they want to stay away from Jackson, seemed like he would have been a decent choice last year, still seems like he'd be a decent choice too. Even at two years, I don't really like this deal. I feel like I'm going to be watching him pitch all season thinking they could have done better. Hope he makes me eat my words.

To stay on the topic of starting a new thread, I feel like everyone here has a pretty good idea of your opinions on this topic too....so it'd be better to carry it on into a conversation that's already happened.

I'm interested now. There was a theory proposed that there could be a trade in the works and room on the 40 man is needed for this. We'll see if this is the reason or not. At the moment I agree though, not too concerned quite yet. Won't be until I hear more.

And it will be tough to forget too. I had pretty much managed to let go of him when he left though....it's going to be weird seeing him in pinstripes, but I won't hate him for it. Just hope he doesn't do good against us.

Except that will never happen. It's designated a historic landmark. Even with LL being such a charmer, I dunno if he'd be able to talk the city into that one.

Totally forgot Marcum was on the market too. Guy is far from bad, and pitched pretty decent in the AL East while he was here. Actually, can't really understand why his name hasn't come up a little more. He probably wouldn't be a terrible choice either.

The way that they're able to build their bullpen every year like that is amazing even. Rodney certainly won't be the same guy he was last year, that was an absolutely outrageous year when it comes to closing. Still, I think he's going to be pretty good. Some of the beauty of Tampa's pen every year too is that they never have to log too many innings....their starting pitching is always able to go deep enough to keep the pen fresh all season. Losing Shields will certainly effect that some, but at the end of the day I think they'll find a way to replace the innings he put up. As for them being the number one team in the East right now, I don't like to say it but this is quite possibly true. At least for the very moment. Though, if Toronto can stay healthy (and this seems like a big if) I'd certainly be nervous about them too. Especially if Romero can find a way to pitch to his potential.

Wasn't going at you, kind of realized it sort of looks like that though. Going after those numbers though. Sorry, it's getting late. And with that said, before I go to bed, I've kind of settled on the thought that Edwin Jackson would probably be our best realistic choice (barring trades). So now I'm kind of hoping that they sign him. Part of me wanted them to last year, a lot of me wants them to this year.

At this point in time I don't think we should be assuming how any of our pitchers should be behaving in any manner. I do think the pitching will improve, but Bill James is thinking a miracle here.

This might be worth a laugh. I'm really interested in where he thinks Lackey and Doubront will end up pitching those innings. I'd expect Doubront and Lackey to probably be more around 150-160, and I really think that might even be being a little nice. Hopefully the front office isn't listening to him too much. I'd assume the offensive numbers are probably a little closer...assuming everyone stays healthy.

I think that's the attitude everyone needs to go in it with. I'm certainly trying to keep an attitude like this with the Sox rebuilding now. The more and more I look at this year, the more and more it's definitely a bridge into the next year or two when some of our better prospects are ready to come up. None the less, it'd be nice if they could still pick up a pitcher or two to help the team a long.