2011 Boston Red Sox

[adice15]

I'm excited for this year with the trade for Gonzalez and the signing of Crawford, plus the Yankees missing out on Lee.
Go Red Sox!

What do you guys think about trading Papelbon or Ellsbury? Personally, I'd like to keep them for another year, but if we can get a steal for them I'm all for it.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

Ellsbury will not be going anywhere this year, nor Papelbon. There is no market for them in arbitration year and coming off injury and down season. Red Sox 99% of the time never sell low.

I do feel Crawford will give Ells that spark, since you got the top two base stealers in the league in the same line up.

And Papelbon will come out with blood. Most guys in the league perform the best with their backs against the wall.

And I love how Max Ramirez just fell in their laps, and they now got Rangers first round pick, and sandwich picks instead of Angel's second for Beltre. So that is 4 first round picks, and Max Ramirez for nothing.

Seems like everything just fell into place. Boy Wonder was right, it was a bridge year, and the man is a damn genius with how it all worked out. Never will doubt him again (even though the A-Gon thing up at the deadline had me nervous, and was the only time I doubted him).

[adice15]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb...ory?id=6166841

I hope he gets better in time for opening day. This sucks

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb...ory?id=6166841

I hope he gets better in time for opening day. This sucks

Well he returned to fine form and pitched solid.

All four starters are pitching very well this Spring. And then there is Dice K

[adice15]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

Well he returned to fine form and pitched solid.

All four starters are pitching very well this Spring. And then there is Dice K

I can't wait till I get my MLB.TV free trial, I normally never get to watch the spring games. Hopefully there isn't an injury bug going around this year

[cake612]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

Gonzalez played today and had a single and a sac fly in his 2 ABs, Ellsbury had a nice game as well. Everything looks good for the lineup to be 100% and ready for a big year. Can't wait for the regular season to start. This will be the most exciting team that I can ever remember. When Pedro was in his prime they never had a good offense or rotation depth and even the world series teams don't look as stacked as this team does on paper.

My only concern right now is Beckett's health, back problems are always worrisome so it's tough to predict what we'll get out of him during the rest of his contract. If he's healthy and can go 180-200 innings they'll be unstoppable since he's basically the number 3 now unless he has a huge bounce back year and becomes an ace again. Even if Lackey gives them basically the same performance that's not bad for a 4 and some combination of Dice-k, Wake and perhaps Doubront later in the season should be more than enough to win the east. I'm always an optimist when it comes to the sox but this year it seems like they might actually live up to my expectations for once.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

I am just ecstatic to see Ellsbury and Pedroia knocking the cover off the ball back from injuries.

Looks to be a very fun lineup, and these guys look to enter the season on fire.

[inglip]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

I can't wait for this season, I feel really good about our whole lineup. I hope I can resubscribe to MLB.TV tomorrow so I can watch the rest of the preseason.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Lester name starter, and their bullpen looks phenomenal this spring. 23-1/3 innings and only allowing 1 run (solo shot by Cabrera) for a combined .039 ERA. An only 12 hits surrendered in that stretch.

Seems like we have too many deserving guys fighting for that last spot or two.

Some nice depth though.

[cake612]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

I'm gonna need to see a few good weeks out of the bullpen before I have much confidence. Bard is great obviously and I like Pap more than a lot of people but other than that their all question marks to me. Okajima was terrible last year and hes the only lefty right now unless Doubront makes it although I'd rather have him as a starter in Pawtucket. Wheeler doesn't excite me at all and Jenks kind of scares me. I like Miller's potential but he was awful last year as well and I'd rather see him start the season in Pawtucket as a reliever and show he can throw strikes consistently.

I think the starters can give them enough innings that it won't be a huge concern unless Daisuke gets yanked in the 4th inning every other start. I don't love the bullpen right now but nobody can ever say for sure they have a great bullpen at the start of the year. Relievers are so hit or miss even veterans can just randomly have a terrible year and then be lights out the next. We definitely could have a great bullpen, Jenks and Bard could be the best set up duo in the league and Okie could shut down lefties again but he could also be done and Jenks could end up being a head case who gets hit around, can't get anyone out and gets cut halfway through the year.

I hope your right but there have been a lot of seasons where the pen looked good to start and then by June every writer and talk show host is yelling about how they need to make a trade for another bullpen arm. It looks like that might not be the case this season but you just never know.

[EnigmaNemesis]

I was hoping Reyes would make the team.

Good that they signed him. If he pitches like he did this spring, it would be a welcomed edition.

[dingleberryfinn]

Red Sox Fans Opinions Wanted

i set up the Bosox minor leagues on my Show franchise
& i wanted to see if I could get a some opinions on anyone i may have missed that i really should have in the game, what with the limited available slots, thanks.

catcher
ryan lavarnway
luis exposito
tim federowicz
mark wagner

1b
aaron bates

2b
oscar tejeda
tony thomas
sean coyle
nate spears
will middlebrooks

ss
jose iglesias
derrik gibson
xander bogaerts

3b
garin cecchini
kolbrin vitek
jorge jimenez

of
brandon jacobs
juan carlos linares
ryan westmoreland
zach daeges
chih-hsien chiang
jeremy hazelbaker
che-hsuan lin
bryce brentz
bubba bell
henry ramos

i feel like i've got a pretty good handle on the pitching staff
so i won't bother you with that,lol
thanks again

[adice15]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

This may be a bit of a long shot, but I was thinking about starting a Red Sox blog and was wondering if anyone here would be a cowriter or something. If not, thats fine though. I'm just seeing if theres anyone thats interested lol.

EDIT: And even if you're not interested, I need some name suggestions so post any that you think of.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

All this baseball today!

I am looking forward to Giants and Dodgers tonight. Just screams baseball opening day since the Sawx are not until tomorrow!

I am jonesin'

[Matty86]

Re: 2011 Boston Red Sox

This may be a bit of a long shot, but I was thinking about starting a Red Sox blog and was wondering if anyone here would be a cowriter or something. If not, thats fine though. I'm just seeing if theres anyone thats interested lol.

EDIT: And even if you're not interested, I need some name suggestions so post any that you think of.

I've been toying with the thought of starting a Sox and/or Boston sports blog (although there are already a couple million of them... lol) Might be interested in helping out with someone... show me a PM with what you have in mind if you want, but not making any promises just yet.

Oh yeah and I founded and edited a newspaper at the college I used to attend.