kenmeister

Personally, I'm rooting for E-Rod to truly have overcome coronavirus and continue his quest for a 20 win season.

I was just thinking about how many great players burst onto the scene shortly before or in 2007: Lester, Pedroia, Youkillis, Papelbon, Ellsbury, Dice-K, Okajima, & Buchholz. Have any of you ever seen such a huge crop of players emerge all at once like that?

I've put the Sox down as 80-82, which is far from helpless. I'm curious what your guess is.

I always liked Lowrie but he's pretty old now.

Alright, here's an assessment. The rotation The ceiling is actually high. Sale, Rodriguez, Richards, & Eovaldi could stay healthy and regularly pitch quality starts, with Perez & Pivetta solid 4-5 starters. By year's end, it could be one of the best rotations in the majors. The floor is abysmally low. Sale may never make it back this year with any effectiveness. Rodriguez could have aftereffects of his heart condition and never make it back this year beyond a few starts. Richards and Eovaldi could land on the DL for significant portions of the season. Perez and Pivetta, forced to pitch too many innings, could get exposed and shelled on a regular basis. Houck could be brought in to start but with only two pitches the league may catch up to him quick and outmatch him. It could truly be a disaster. Ken's prediction: the rotation shows signs of success, but injuries and ineffectiveness plague it until the end of the season, when everything starts to come together, but alas it's too late to make the playoffs by then. The bullpen Ceiling: I think the most we can hope for is adequate. Floor: While the relievers themselves aren't that bad, if the starting pitching gets shelled, the bullpen will get exposed and forced to pitch way too many innings. Ken's prediction: As the starting pitching gets worse & worse, we get more and more bullpen starts, and the Red Sox find they can't hold a lead smaller than 4 runs by mid-summer. Again I think it gets better by year's end, but too late to save anything. The offense Ceiling: If JD Martinez and Andrew Benitendi regain their strokes, watch out American League. Floor: I think the worst our offense can do is middle of the pack. Ken's prediction: The offense starts out strong, but as the pitching bottoms out mid-summer, they start to feel like they have to score 10 runs a game and lose patience. Eventually the offense sputters as well. JD finds his stroke by year's end just as the starters start to keep us in games again, and the offense ends a respectable 5th in the AL. Defense Ceiling: err Floor: Bad news bears Ken's prediction: A struggle all year; we lose some games that are actually well pitched due to fielding errors, further adding to the offense's feeling like even 10 runs isn't enough. **** Overall: 80-82

I continue to doubt that anyone further is being added to the Red Sox.

It's February 5th. I'm starting to doubt anyone else is being added to the Red Sox. So as constituted, I'm going to say ... 80-82.

Oh no!!!

Year after year we let Nelson Cruz sign elsewhere. I really don't get it. EDIT: I thought he still played outfield apparently he mostly DH's now and we already have JD.

And it's February 3rd ... crickets ... They really could be done. I'm going back to Houck as the logical candidate to close. Better that I think than play in AAA.

Maybe a stupid question, but why can't Houck become the new closer? My understanding is that he has electric stuff, but only 2 pitches; wouldn't that be perfect in the closing role?

I just want to say I feel badly for all of these people who still don't have a job lined up for 2021 and it's already Jan 31st. I would imagine only a few will get hired in the coming weeks.

Obviously a lot of those are big names and there's no way they'll go unsigned into the season. But my goodness it's almost February.

Maybe a stupid question, but we badly need a closer and if Colome is still out there, why the heck haven't we signed him???

May would be a joy. I don't expect to see Sale until August, and even then for 5 inning starts through the end of this season.

Oh! moonslav is missing Perez.

Does this mean Houck starts the year in the rotation until Sale returns?

I really wouldn't be upset if I woke up one day and saw that either of those guys signed with the Red Sox. Just sayin'.

I'm looking at his stats ... Age 37: 1.079 OPS Age 38: .904 OPS Age 39: 1.045 OPS Age 40: .832 OPS Age 41: .687 OPS Age 42: .684 OPS So he was good through age 40. As long as he is 34 or younger when that six year contract is signed, he'd have been gold.

It's almost spring training. This is getting ridiculous. If we had just 1 or 2 holes left, I wouldn't be as worried, but even if you leave Arroyo in for 2B, we need a center fielder, another starter, a closer, and a reliever. Sigh.

Speaking of closer ... if we don't get one, we won't even be remotely competitive in 2021.

I'm starting to lose faith any more moves will be made.

I love Verdugo, but Mookie Betts is gone so we can pass on Kluber and re-sign Perez? I don't get it. At any rate, if we don't get a closer, we won't be competitive.

We missed out on Kluber!!! Damn. . That's how I feel.

I will be very, very disappointed if we don't get him.