Boston Red Sox

gher salary but not this man.  Indeed, Smoltz is a great fit for a great organization like the Boston Red Sox.  Sure, it was not a huge front-page signing like it was for the Yankees

Continue reading "Smoltz; a Red Sock"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

Entrance into the Hall of Fame is the highest individual honour that baseball has to offer. Getting into Cooperstown means that without a doubt you are one of the greatest players of your generation and have earned the right for children to stare at your plaque as parents tell tall-tales of your abilities for years to come.

Continue reading "What makes someone a hall of famer?"

Dear God I love the Blue Jays. After all, what’s not to love? Sure, they may blow crucial games in crucial series, 90% of the time they can’t get a hit in extra innings to save their lives, they don’t steal bases and have never been able to beat the Rays (Devil or not), but after that, what else? Oh yeah, they can never seem to beat rookie pitchers, take advantage of bases loaded situations and every pitcher not named Halladay seems to start every at-bat with a ball. But still, every day I try to catch the opening pitch and every night check the standings… What’s wrong with me?

Continue reading "Why I watch the Jays"

To compete, a baseball team needs pitching and defense. An old adage maybe, but it exists for a reason. A team that continuously gives up runs ends up yanking their starters early in games and taxes their bullpen, lessening their effectiveness over time and thereby compounding the problem over the season. Ironically, trying to keep games close hurts the team in the long run. But with one of the best fielding percentages and team ERA’s in the league, the Toronto Blue Jays are competing.

Continue reading "Why the Jays won't compete: the importance ..."

It is hard to decide who was more charismatic for the Boston Red Sox through the 2004’s World Series run and 2007’s. They were the self-proclaimed idiots in 2004 by Kevin Millar and Johnny Damon and in 2007 they were the team to reckon with.

Continue reading "Kevin Millar (2004) vs. Kevin Youkilis (Present)"

Just picture it: it’s the top of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays are holding a slim 2-1 lead over the New York Yankees. Up to bat is Derek Jeter with Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez on deck. Cito Gaston, in order to shut the door on the game and the series gets on the phone and brings in the big gun, Pedro Luis Lazo, winner of two Olympic Gold medals with Cuba and current closer of the Blue Jays. And even if he gives up a run its okay, because leading off the bottom of the ninth for the Jays is Alexei Bell, who hit 30 HR with 100 RBI with Santiago del Cuba last year.

Continue reading "Part Time Jays: How to add a little ..."

asons, the American League East standings will be similar to this:
Tampa Bay Rays 96-66
Boston Red Sox 94-68
New York Yankees 91-71
Toronto Blue Jays 83-79
Baltimore Orioles 69-93

Continue reading "The New American League East"

I have been a Boston Red Sox fan since 1997 when they acquired Knuckleball throwing starting Pitcher Tim Wakefield and the tremendous team captain catcher Jason Varitek.  Tim Wakefield, believe it or not, really made me start liking the Red Sox. 

Continue reading "Who is your Favorite Red Sox Pitcher?"

.  Paul Byrd, in my opinion would not.     

So as of right now, the Boston Red Sox will pay the remaining $7.5 million of Byrd’s three-year, $21.5 million.  This is waste of salary space that the Red Sox could better assume with a reliever and instead of wasting that money the Red Sox could have recalled Justin Masterson.    

Continue reading "Why oh Why Byrd?"

When the Boston Red Sox signed Short Stop Julio Lugo, I had mix reactions.  So far, I have been feeling those exact feelings still.  He has not done much for the Red Sox in terms of Defense and Offense that a man like Alex Cora could do.    

Continue reading "The SS Problem"

After paying nearly sixty million dollars just to speak to Daisuke Matsuzaka, the question that should be asked: has the pricey conversation worked out?   

In the first season of Mr. Matsuzaka’s season with the Red Sox, it did not go as well as people hoped.  Boasting a 15-12 record, 4.40 ERA and zero shut outs, the Red Sox fans, or maybe myself, had questioned this deal.   However, after seeing the gyro ball thrower play an amazing post-season, I had a feeling that he would be one of the top starters in the American League for the 2009 season.  So far, I’ve been correct in that prediction.   

Continue reading "Has Dice-K Boded Well?"

not too happy with the three-team trade between the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox but Jason Bay has been a perfect fit for the defending world champions.

The reason why I was not happy with the trade was because I felt that the Dodgers could have given up a bit more and the Red Sox should have received a relief pitcher in return.  With the great coaching of the pitching staff in Boston, Scott Proctor would have been great to have.   

Continue reading "A New Bay Era"

Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, etc.). 

There is no doubt that the Boston Red Sox need to pick up the slack they have been putting on for the last couple of weeks.  They lost the recent series to the New York Yankees, they are losing to, what could be a play-off matchup, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and they are losing ground against the Tampa Bay Rays (whom, which, are facing the Yankees and Red Sox throughout September).  Do teams really want to give away their top prospects to a 36-year-old with a bad attitude but has one of the best swings in baseball?  Do teams want to give up an ace that could possibly turn out to be a bust in another uniform? 

Continue reading "Is it a bad thing to trade Mr. Ramirez?"

Offensively and defensively, the Yankees have been missing the services of Hideki Matsui since June 27, and Jorge Posada on and off for even longer. Matsui is an integral RBI guy to give ARod and Giambi protection in the five or six hole, and is needed more than ever in left with Johnny Damon's shoulder issues. Posada can hit pretty well, but can't throw, so even when he was in the game, other teams ran rampant--Jose Molina and Chad Moeller are decent defensive replacements, but can't match Jorge's bat.

Continue reading "Two Yankees, Toughing it Out"

The first half has been terrific for the Boston Red Sox and there is not much to criticize the World Champions.  As I have previously reported back in June, the Boston Red Sox have pretty much a perfect team.  With the season-ending and possibly career-ending surgery to Red Sox starting pitcher and hero, Curt Schilling, and as well starting pitcher Josh Beckett not being completely himself, they have not missed a beat. Daisuke Matzusaka is having a stellar of a season, as I predicted.  The back-end of the rotation, Lester, Colon and Wakefield are doing their duties quite well.  Justin Masterson has performed wonderfully when he has to fill-in for the number five spot. Without David Ortiz, Curt Schilling and not having Josh Beckett perform at his usual level; the

Continue reading "Good first half. What's next?"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

It’s the All-Star Break once again, that mythical halfway point in the season (I say “mythical” because most teams have played 95-96 games, more than the 81 that’s the true midway mark). Traditionally, it’s time for the teams to take a breath, collect themselves and iron out any kinks in their batting stroke or the pitching rotation—several starters made relief appearances or threw out of turn in the past game or two, knowing that three or four days of rest was coming for all of them.

Continue reading "Gimme A Break!"

As we continue to grow our community here at BostonRedSoxFanSite.com I've been scouring the net for other Red Sox blogs trying to network a bit.  I recently ran across Boston Red Thoughts ( http://www.bostonredthoughts.com).  If you get a chance, check it out.  I highly recommend it to anyone who loves the Red Sox.

Continue reading "Check out this great Boston Red Sox blog"

After yesterday’s game, the Yankees held a closed-door meeting among coaches and players—reportedly, manager Joe Girardi spoke, followed by Johnny Damon and captain Derek Jeter. In a postgame news conference, Girardi repeatedly (and sometimes heatedly) refused to reveal what was said in the meeting, although the gist of the discussion was obvious: the can’t-lose Yankees have been losing.

Continue reading "More Bad Yankee Luck"

Maybe in all of sports. Now that spring training has started, and opening day nears, a Boston Red Sox fan, who is also a professional journalist who frequently writes about baseball; and a New York Yankees fan have united to create a blog and web site where readers can celebrate, discuss and debate all things Red Sox, Yankees and baseball.

Continue reading "Blogging baseball’s greatest rivalry"

All right. Are you ready for this? As the All-Star break approaches, the Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball. That’s right. At 49-32, they’re a half-game ahead of Boston, the Cubs, and Anaheim. Whoa. Is this one of the signs of the apocalypse?

Continue reading "Hold On To Your Hats"

The Yankees and Red Sox are rivals in many ways—traditional and league rivals for years, they now regularly battle for free agents, as they might do with Indians trade bait C.C. Sabathia. And now both teams have some pretty crazy pitchers in their minor league systems, both of whom have a good shot at making the bigs in the next few years.

Continue reading "Two Kooky Pitchers"

So David Ortiz is going onto the 15 day Disabled List. The team expects him to be out for about a month. It doesn’t look like surgery will be necessary. This isn’t going to be that big of deal for the Red Sox. Sure it hurts to lose Big Papi, the Major League leader in RBI over that past 5 seasons, but Boston can manage for a month. Afterall, Ortiz played so poorly for the first month of this season that he may as well have not been in the lineup and the team did okay. Sure it hurts not to have his leadership around, but the Red Sox still have enough offense that they’ll be able to get by. Everything will be just fine.

Continue reading "Injury to Ortiz is Bad News for Boston"

For you Yankee fans out there, I'm going to commit the ultimate fan heresy and argue against ARod, and in favor of Boston's Manny Ramirez, as the greatest hitter in the game today. He doesn't have anywhere near the defensive value that ARod does, and he's more of a clubhouse canker (I won't say "cancer" as he's more annoying than destructive) but he gets my nod for a consistently good eye, consistent power, and postseason performance. 

Continue reading "Manny Ramirez: Baseball's Best Active Hitter"

Upon seeing Justin Masterson pick up his first Major League victory the day after Jon Lester pitched his no hitter, it got me thinking about the Red Sox’ non-trade for Johan Santana. Both Lester and Masterson were prominent names in the trade talks, along with Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie (Clay Buchholz was deemed completely off limits). There was much debate over whether or not Boston would be better off going with the proven All-World pitcher in Santana, or sticking with the young prospects on the belief that they would develop into the prominent pieces of a championship franchise that they were projected to be. So often both front offices as well as fans fall in love with prospects who have never even played a Major League game based solely on their advertised potential. Almost as often, this ends up being an irrational love affair that falls short just as it has in the past with the likes of Brian Rose, Dernell Stenson and Steve Lomasney (anyone remember these guys?). In this case, Boston’s decision to hang on to its young talent has so far worked out very well to start the season.

Continue reading "Looking In On The Players Involved ..."

I will pause my 'Round the Horn of the 61 Yanks to acknowledge yesterday's big story, and to contemplate what the Real Lead should be on the story.

Obviously, there's Jon Lester, two years removed from cancer, pitching not only the clinching Game 4 of last year's World Series sweep, but tossing a no-no, the first of this season. Lester struggled early this season and struggled in the bullpen before this start. He acknowledged feeling during warmups that he'd be lucky to get out of the first inning. Clearly, he got stronger as the game went along. Amazingly, it was the first complete game of his career.

Continue reading "No-no? Yes Yes!"

Jon Lester has completely validated, for one night at least, Red Sox management’s decision to back off their pursuit of Johan Santana this past off-season and keep him in the fold for 2008. In reality, it will most likely take a couple of years to say for certain whether or not Boston made the right move to hang on to the young lefty, but after Lester blew his 130th and final pitch, a 96 mph fastball, past Royals batter Alberto Callaspo to complete his no hitter, it has to make Theo Epstein very hopeful for the future.

Continue reading "Lester's No Hitter Validates Decision ..."

ht throwing his first no-hitter of his career makes you feel safe and secure over the future of the Boston Red Sox.  In just two years, two rookie pitchers, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, of the

Continue reading "Lester's Performance is a sign"

Very unBeckettesqueSince Boston Red Sox’ number one ace Josh Beckett came back from his lower back injury, he has not been himself.  His record is (5-3), he has an ERA of 4.67 and a WHIP of 1.09 however, he does have fifty-six strikeouts.During his first campaign with the Red Sox he had terrible outings, his second stint with the Red Sox was pure genius and now his third outing has been a mix.  The reason why he has gotten most of his wins is because of the offense.Maybe Josh Beckett has not fully recovered from his lower back problems and he still has to work out his mechanics.  A great pitcher like Beckett should not have to do that though, look John Lackey.  He was out for nearly two months of the season and when he comes back, allows only one run on six hits and strikes out six.As long as the offense picks up some of Beckett’s slack, including the bullpen, his outings should be fine in the mean time until he picks up his game.  Also starting pitcher Curt Schilling should be back in the line-up in a couple of months and the other pitchers are picking up the slack especially Daisuke Matzusaka.Is this a major setback for the

Continue reading "Very UnBeckettesque"

What else can the Red Sox do?After winning two World Series in four years, the question to ponder is: what else can the Red Sox do?  The team has all the right aspects and keys to a winning ballclub.  They have the offense, the defense and pitching in both starting and relief.  When breaking down the club maybe we can find the chink in the chain.Offense: When the two main sluggers of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are not performing others like Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell and yes, even sometimes J.D. Drew, can perform. Just the other night J.D. Drew was clutch against the Minnesota Twins by knocking a RBI double center field.  Offense is not the problem.

Continue reading "What else can the Red Sox do?"

Well, maybe they are a ways from the present day equivalent of the 1959 White Sox team of a similar nickname that ran and played small ball all the way to the American League Pennant, but compared to what we are accustomed to with the slugging Red Sox, this year’s team is practically making games look like track meets. Boston has always built its teams around lumbering sluggers, and aside from the fact that perhaps the most famous play in team history IS a stolen base, one would be hard pressed to name any prolific basestealer in the 100 plus years the franchise has been in existence. In fact, since Theo Epstein has had control of the general manager reins, he has built the team around the "Moneyball" philosophy of high on base percentage and not giving away outs. The team has not only ignored stolen bases, but has pretty much discouraged them not wanting to risk giving away outs.

Continue reading "The Go Go . . . Red Sox?"

I've been a Yankees fan since the early nineties, pre-Showalter, pre-Torre, pre-post-seventies-World-Series-victories days, and it seems to me they're as vulnerable as they've ever been. I like Girardi, I like the New Steinbrenner regime that doesn't look to scour out every single prospect for the possibility of Winning Right Now--but I think they are (dare I say?) approaching those dreaded Rebuilding Years.

Continue reading "Rebuilding the Yankees--A Good Thing?"

In the days following the excavation of the "cursed" Ortiz jersey from the fresh concrete at "Yankee Stadium--The Sequel" we've seen Jorge Posada go on the DL for the first time in his long career, and ARod join him for the first time since donning pinstripes.

Continue reading "Yankee Injuries = Ortiz Curse?"

It's the ninth inning of a scoreless game between the Red Sox and Blue Jays. Roy Halladay and Jon Lester had both pitched brilliantly, holding the other team scoreless through eight innings. Papelbon came on to help Lester, but with the shay back end of the Toronto pen--closer B.J. Ryan coming off TJ surgery, setup man Jeremy Accardo with an ERA over 8--the game was Halladay's to win or lose.  Three times already, he'd gone the distance, but had lost two of those games when Toronto failed to muster enough offense to give him the win. Would this time be the charm?

Continue reading "Roy Halladay's Heartbreak"

Yesterday Justin Masterson delivered just what the Red Sox needed: relief. Well sort of. For a team that has been ravaged by the flu and already had to scratch Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka from scheduled starts, they badly needed some one to step in and give them quality innings, especially after spot David Pauley in a spot start and Jon Lester who pitched on three days rest failed to do so. Justin Masterson got the emergency call to jump up from Double A Portland to make his Major League debut and did so masterfully. The only problem was, the bullpen blew it.

Continue reading "Get Masterson in the Bullpen, Now!"

With the conclusion of the Red Sox’ annual Patriot’s Day game, Boston infielder Jed Lowrie has now completed his first week in the Major Leagues. It is safe to say that he has made a remarkable first impression, especially with three RBI in his debut. At this point nearly every Theo Epstein wannabe capable of dialing into WEEI are surely grumbling that Jed Lowrie needs to assume to the role of every day starting shortstop. They can certainly make a good argument in the fact that Lowrie is batting .375 and already has more RBI in only 15 at bats than Julio Lugo has so far this season. At some point Lowrie is going to force Boston to make a decision to make him the starter as he appears to be the shortstop of the future for the Red Sox. In this same blog earlier this spring, I touted that Lowrie could begin to challenge Lugo for his job by mid season. In fact, I still feel that way. However, Lowrie is still not ready to be the starting shortstop despite his early success.

Continue reading "Despite Hot Start, Lowrie Still Not ..."

Two weeks into the 2008 season and the Boston Red Sox must be pleased with how the season has gone thus far. Granted they are only two games over .500 at 8 and 6 and have split their last 10 games, but things could be much, much worse. When the Yankees went to Japan to open the season, they proceeded to go 11-19 in the first month of the season before finally snapping out of it and going on to win the division. Boston is only half a game out of first place in the tightly packed American League East which is currently lead by the surprising Baltimore Orioles who do not figure to hang around much longer.

Continue reading "Red Sox Should Feel Good About The Season So Far"

Boston fans don’t panic, the Red Sox will hit this year. After scoring only 14 runs and batting .268 as a team in the four games to open the season, I’m sure Red Sox Nation is thinking it was a good thing Boston has been playing against a team even more anemic offensively or else they could be 1 and 3 instead of 3 and 1. David Ortiz, the biggest bat of them all, went 0 for 11 before coming alive in the fourth game. Take heart Sox fans, Ortiz (who is hitting .188) and Mike Lowell (.133), last season’s leading run producers, will not finish the season batting below .200.

Continue reading "Red Sox Hitters Just Need to Find Their Rhythm"

ioles offense and give the fans some hope that this rebuilding project has a bright future ahead.

Boston Red Sox

Will Jon Lester have a breakout year?

Lester has two partial Major League seasons under his belt in which he has had some bright moments as well as his share of struggles. Now that he more than a year removed from his cancer diagnosis, it is time for him to realize his potential. He is slated into the rotation as the number 3 started so unlike the past two seasons, he is expected to be a vital cog in the rotation.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: American Leauge East"

The New York Yankees try to carry themselves with the belief that they are the classiest team in baseball. Earlier this week manager Joe Girardi took a stance that was not supported by many others in baseball when he harshly criticized a home plate collision in a game earlier this week, calling it dirty and something that you don’t do in Spring Training. If a young player trying to get noticed by his manager his coming into home and the plate is completely blocked, he has every right to barrel over the catcher. If Girardi doesn’t want such a thing to happen, he should tell his catcher not to block the plate in Spring Training. Nonetheless, I can understand Yankees pitcher Heath Phillips throwing at Evan Longoria in retaliation the next time the two teams met, that at least sends a statement to your teammates that you’ve got their backs. However, when Shelley Duncan slid into second base with his spikes high, that is just plain dirty and something that is unacceptable at anytime in the season. The home plate collision was a young kid trying to make a play, done with no malicious intent. Sliding into a base with your spikes in the air can only be seen as trying to injure another player.

Continue reading "Yankees Playing Dirty . . . And Other ..."

Over the next several weeks I will preview the upcoming Major League Baseball season on division at a time by addressing the key issue each team faces this summer. I’ll wrap it up with my post season picks and predictions for award winners. First up is the National League West.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Preview Part One: National League West"

I am thoroughly looking forward to the Hank Steinbrenner Era. It seems he is hell-bent on replacing his father as the most obnoxious loudmouth, know-nothing owner in baseball. After watching the display he put on this winter in the Johan Santana Sweepstakes and his recent comments about the existence of Red Sox Nation, I don’t believe there is a bigger blowhard in sports today. All we need is for him to revive the Billy Martin routine with Joe Girardi, a possibility that may not be that farfetched as it appears Girardi not necessarily that easy to get along with. Little Stein seems to be unpredictable and impatient and not only expects the team to win now, but to do so in spectacular fashion. Earlier this year, Hank implied that general manager Brian Cashman would be on the hot seat if the plan to hold on to their young pitching instead of going all in for Santana didn’t pan out. If Steinbrenner allows his arrogance and impetuousness to take over the organization, I envision a return of the Yankees to the "glory" years of the 1980's when George was the show.

Continue reading "Looking Forward to the Hank Steinbrenner ..."

For the past decade the order of finish in the American League East has practically been predetermined from day one. The Red Sox and Yankees would battle for first place, Toronto Blue Jays would finish in the middle of the pack, the Orioles would be afterthoughts and the only question with Tampa Bay was whether they would lose more than 100 games or not. This seasons looks like it could be entirely different and the division is experiencing more depth than it has since the mid 1990's when Boston, New York and Baltimore were all contenders.

Continue reading "American League East is a Beast of a Division"

Young, homegrown talent played a significant part in the Red Sox title run last year led by Dustin Pedroia winning the Rookie of the Year and Jonathan Papelbon definitively closing out games. Clay Buchholz pitched a no hitter in his second major league start, Jacoby Ellsbury stepped in when he was needed and became a vital part of the offense, and Jon Lester got the win in the World Series clincher. All are expected to be key contributors to the team this season. However, this influx of talent from the minors has not left this cupboard bare as Boston’s farm system still ranks in Baseball America’s top 5. Here are some of the next big prospects to keep an eye on in camp this spring and follow their progress this summer.

Continue reading "Boston Farm System Still Flush With Prospects"

Forget about the groundhog, today is the day that officially marks the end of winter for baseball fans everywhere. Pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training camps in Arizona and Florida and not a moment too soon. While the Hot Stove League is entertaining for a while and gives us something to talk about during the off-season, it loses steam once the new year begins and we are left yearning for the day when the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues kick into gear. It is here that we get our first looks are the new acquisitions, the hot rookies and the comfort of the returning stars. We get the first glimpses of what our favorite team will have in store for us and we really get to ramp up the predictions and debates for the new season. Here are some of the stories I’ll be following with the Red Sox this spring.

Continue reading "Boston Red Sox Spring Training Stories To Follow"