Boston Red Sox: 2007

[GBrushTWood]

2006 sucked for the Red Sox. Hard. I got tired of seeing the number 6 when I entered the official team threads forum. Therefore, I am starting this new thread.

The following is a list of things about the 2007 Red Sox that I am excited to see:

- DiceK striking out Derek Jeter at Fenway Park.
- J.D. Drew peppering the ball all over Fenway Park.
- if Papelbon is a #2, or #4 caliber starting pitcher.
- how Hideki Okajima turns out (is he a LOOGY?).
- how both Matsuzaka and Okajima make adjustments to the hitters after they've gone through the league one time.
- if Dustin Pedroia is not a terrible player (which he showed in his first stint in MLB)
- whether Coco Crisp can get over his injury/general terribleness and contribute.
- Manny Delcarmen making progress.
- Jacoby Ellsbury showing steady progress and improving even more at AAA.

So here's to the official Operation Sports home of the 2007 World Series Champions - the Boston Red Sox. After they win the World Series this year, somebody can open up this thread, read this first post, and begin to witness what a marvelous season it turned out to be. Well, if you have the time to do that you can.

Or, Yankees fans (and if they do not win the World Series, fans of the 2007 champions) can quote this post in October and insert water spitting laughing smiley faces. Whichever one works.

Oh yeah, how horrific does this Red Sox bullpen look? Dear god...

[Stu]

While we still have our holes (who doesnt) there's a lot to be excited about for Red Sox fans this season. I have to be honest, I didn't expect to be this excited about 2007 after such a miserable 2006. Maybe it's just the beginning of baseball season optimism, but you have to give Theo credit for bringing in as much talent as he did with what was out there. Now we just need to see how it pans out.

[Dispatch]

I think we can only improve after what happened last season. Pretty much everything that could go wrong at the end of last season did go wrong.

Things im excited about are

- Seeing how DiceK will do
- Seeing if Hansen will improve into the player that we thought he could be when we drafted him
- A 3-4-5 of Ortiz, Manny, and Drew
- A rotation of Schilling, Beckett, DiceK, Papelbon, Wake
- If Coco will play like he did at the beggining of last year before he got injured
- Hopefully Lester continues to recover from his cancer and can re-join the team by the All-Star break

[Misfit]

I'm eager to see how the new and young guys perform. Pedroia did not look as terrible as some people make it out to be. His BABIP was .188 which was way below league average. There's no way that continues considering the amount of line outs he had. I expect good returns on Daisuke and Drew and a return to form for Crisp. The most intriguing to me is Beckett though, who had a pretty terrible year, all things considered. A 5.00 ERA isn't going to do it for a number 2 pitcher. I'm fairly confident he'll improve upon that number but by how much? I think we find out this year if he's capable of being an ace for this staff or just a capable #3-4 type. And then of course there are the guys in the bullpen who could either be great or terrible. There doesn't seem like there is much in between for the Red Sox when it comes to relievers. I also expect Schilling to get his new deal, probably just for '08 with perhaps a mutual option for '09.

[Beantown]

I'm just excited for baseball season, period. With the Pats done, the Celtics sucking, the Bruins...wait...are the Bruins even playing?

[Stu]

I'm sure you guys have seen this, but great news about Lester. I didn't think he'd be able to recover this quickly but I'm glad to see him doing well.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basebal...er_speaks.html

[Stu]

Anybody else getting annoyed by the Matsuzaka coverage. I don't understand why the Globe and the Herald feel the need to start covering him like the Japanese media do. Did we really need a 2 page article about how he played catch with George Kottaras? It contained such thrilling quotes like:

"Elvis Presley? Wow," George Kottaras said yesterday. "It was . . . The guy just wanted to play catch."

and:

"For a game of catch?" Kottaras said. "No, not really."

I have a feeling we won't be able to look at the Red Sox section of Boston.com this year without seeing Matsuzaka's name at least 10 times. I'm glad we have the guy, but Gordon Edes needs to stop acting like a little school girl.

[CWood2]

Yeah, the minute by minute coverage is already ridiculous. I'm waiting for...

Edes: Shortly after a light lunch at 1:01 PM EST, Daisuke scratched his alleged "gyro" balls with two quick but powerful strokes.