Actually, considering all the bitching we did about our pitching, Sox starters still had the highest WAR in the league, which is incredible when you consider the schedule they faced. It was actually the bullpen (and the division obviously) that was their downfall. And I think we can safely the bullpen has been improved drastically since last season. Of the worst offenders, Delcarmen and Ramirez are gone. Oki is still around, and while he's gotten worse every year since he joined the league, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that he levels off and can post a low 4 fip. They've added Wheeler (2010 FIP: 4.10) and Bobby Jenks (2010 FIP: 2.59!).

With a bullpen of Wheeler, Jenks, Oki, Bard and Paps getting the meaningful innings, there really is no reason to think we won't have a top 10ish bullpen this year. That's probably a solid 4-5 wins better than last year.

This is basically true, it's a matter of perception. We want our athletes to look like they care. JD Drew isn't the first dispassionate athlete to have people hate on them for it. Hell, a ****-ton of people vote for president based on who they'd rather have a beer with, it shouldn't surprise anyone when peoples' preferences run the same way when it comes to athletes. I say this as someone who is definitely irked when JD strikes out in a key situation and walks back to the dugout like he just picked up some milk at the market, but in reality he almost certainly benefits from his approach.

As for injuries, I don't know if he sits when he could play. I know there's a theory that Scott Boras tells his clients to only play when they're 100%, but Tek is with Boras also and I don't think anyone would question his commitment.

got my baseball america prospect book today

GEHRIG'S TOP TEN RED SOX PROSPECTS PRESEASON 2011

1) jose iglesas. best sox prospect since clay buchholz was putting up pedro numbers in AA

(ryan kalish)

2) anthony ranaudo. no pro innings but they gave him a lot of money and it sounds like he should be in AA by july. megaprospect potential

3) felix doubront. he kinda sucks but he's better than replacement level already and he has no service time. sox have promoted him pretty aggressively so i guess they like him. probably will be pittsburgh's #4 starter a year from now

4) junichi tazawa. dude gets no hype but the sox gave him a lot of money and he was a fringe mlb player by the end of his first stateside season. tj surgery isn't a big deal these days. sox will own his rights through like 2037

5) che-hsuan lin. sick athlete and probably a plus defender in CF. he's 22 and cairo projects him at .247/.322/.327. i can see him becoming secretly really valuable

6) drake britton. this dude is for sure getting traded. red sox love shorting pitchers who haven't done **** in AA+

7) xander bogaerts. his career is basically a mirror image of hanley's through this point of his career. his 800 ops line in the dsl is actually kind of monstrous, average OPS is like 650 there and that's with lots of old dudes who shouldn't be there crushing the ball. still real far away tho obv

8) yamaico navarro. cairo gives him a 700 OPS this year altho i guess scouts hate him

9) ryan lavarnway. eh he keeps hitting and they're still letting him catch.

10) garin cecchini. eh the sox gave him a big bonus and it sounds like they're higher on him than the other position players they drafted

Te Wera “Beau” Bishop. Remember the name.

oops, wrong thread

first i've heard about this. apparently, drew is considering retiring after this season to become a missionary...

unless all of a sudden rob neyer is writing satire for sbnation

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2011/2/8...nary-hamstring

http://www.overthemonster.com/2011/2...-sox#storyjump

Is it April yet?

You haven't seen him play at Philly. Those people get mad.

Philly fans in general are alway mad. They dont count.

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/bos...yle-extension/

sounds like buchholz desperately wants to get screwed in an extension

also lol @: "The Sox have a team policy that a long-term deal with players who have accumulated fewer than six years of service time and remain under team control should cover the player’s first free agent season and include a team option."

i am dumb and don't understand all this financial stuff. what exactly is he hoping for and why do you think he's "trying to get screwed?"

lester's contract is extremely team friendly although it became much, much friendlier when he went from being a good pitcher to being a ****ing amazing pitcher right after he signed it.

So how many steals combined are Ellsbury and Crawford gonna get? O/U 500?

racist ban

You guys need to borrow some pitching? We could loan you Andrew Miller.

meh, when you are a young pitcher 1 injury away from perhaps being worth nothing, being guaranteed $30m or so is hardly horrible. you need to consider the actual utility of the extra money he might be able to get, then consider if he ends up being great the extra money he will end up making.

for most people with an inkling of financial sense (ie not Antoine Walker), the only difference is an extra chunk of money that will be given away to his heirs

So I composed a list of who I think the most likely players on the opening day 25-man roster will be.

Crawford
Ellsbury
Drew
Gonzalez
Pedroia
Scutaro
Youk
Salty
Varitek
Lowrie
Kalish
Cameron
McDonald

Beckett
Lester
Buchholz
Fat **** Lackey
Dice-K
Paps
Bard
Jenks
Wheeler
Aceves
Oki
Wake

That's 26. Who's the odd man out, assuming Drew is healthy? Wakefield? That's a ton of pitchers to have. If it's between McDonald and Kalish, Kalish has to be the obvious choice, right? Give him some more minor league at bats, and Darnell was pretty good last year.

You forgot Big Papi so you're gonna have to ditch two. What about Doubront, I thought he was going to be part of the pen?

nah, i forgot papi when i typed it out, but not when i first did the list. that list right there is 25, so just gotta drop one.

yeah, forgot about doubront. we definitely have a glut of pitching.

Ah OK gotcha. Yeah we have alot of pitching but with the history of Beckett and Dice-K over the past few years we might need it.

oh no doubt. i'm positive we will need 6 OFs, too, due to Drew's chronic injuries, and Mike Cameron being old and bad. Just curious who we start with.

no team has 6 fulltime OF on the roster. the sox have only kept around 4 OF a lot recently

so who goes down? McDonald or Kalish? Frankly, I'd rather get rid of Cameron, but I'm willing to give him a year to prove that last year was an aberration.

kalish will probably be in AAA all year unless two OF get hurt. keeping his service clock from running is worth a lot

cameron's a pretty good player

i mean, maybe, but he accrued a negative war last year. i'm sure most of that is sample size and running bad, but he looked so lost in the field last year.