More preseason notes

Tony Massarotti reports on the pressure cooker of expectations Red Sox Nation has for Clay Buchholz. The Sox need to start this guy in the minors, both to save his arm for the stretch run, as well as to protect him from the fans, who want at least two no-hitters this season (possible, yes, but totally unreasonable). It’s actually kind of a good thing his Spring wasn’t so great, so that Boston has a good excuse to send him down. I’d look for Bartolo Colon to begin the year in the five slot.

Bobby Kielty may opt out

Promises, promises. Opening Day has rolled around, and both Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury are still on the team. This makes for an awkward situation for Bobby Kielty, who re-upped with the Sox under the impression that one of them would be moved this offseason, thus freeing a roster spot for him. After initially saying that he would go down to Pawtucket until this outfield glut is addressed, Kielty, an established veteran, is not so sure anymore. It’s a shame that a talented role-player like Kielty (and someone as well-liked as him) could be lost for nothing because of a full roster.

Changing of the guard in the AL East?

David Pinto was playing around with PECOTA’s numbers and came up with an interesting result: apparently the statheads at Baseball Prospectus think that Tampa Bay will have the best rotation in the AL East. The numbers have Boston somewhere between 2nd and 4th, depending on whether you use straight predictions, or you fill out the number of rotation innings using replacement-level types.

1-1: Sox split Japan series

The Red Sox came away with a split of their two-game series with Oakland at the Tokyo Dome. It sure was good to watch some baseball again, wasn’t it? Don’t worry too much, I still consider these games like Spring Training, even if they do count.

Sox drop delayed game 4-3

The Sox played well yesterday, but suffered some bad luck in the 8th inning which allowed the Toronto Blue Jays to score all four of their runs. Reid Engel, playing in centerfield, misjudged a fly ball and lost it in the sun; it carried over his head, allowing all three runners to score on what was scored a double for Chip Cannon off of minor league pitcher Barry Hertzler. To be fair, the bases became loaded when Hideki Okajima struggled with his fastball command, walking two men.

Sox protest MLB pay policy for Japan trip

It was 12:05 PM, the national anthem was played, the official said, “play ball!”, and yet there was no stirring from either dugout. The Red Sox players were staging a protest against MLB’s policy for paying the teams for the upcoming Japan trip. From what I can gather, the string of events goes like this:

Yankees top Sox in Spring match, 8-4

Three hits, three walks, four runs. Two outs. That was what Bartolo Colon contributed today in the Sox’ only Spring contest against the Yankees. Colon seemed to struggle with command in this outing, and it cost him against what is still the best lineup in baseball. Julian Tavarez came into the game, and escaping the first inning, got smacked around in a long second inning, giving up doubles to Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu, who also added a 2-run shot.

Coco Crisp: A match made in Japan?

The word is that the Oakland Athletics haven’t found any room on their roster for outfielder Todd Linden. Yet again, the 27-year old player will be out of a Major League job, despite putting up some pretty decent numbers in the minors and being able to play all three outfield spots. Oakland has been mentioned as one of the teams interested in Coco Crisp. And we’re going halfway around the world to play them pretty soon.

Lester pitches well in 16-6 drubbing of the Reds

Jon Lester’s line wasn’t all that great, but he did pitch pretty well against the Cincinnati Reds yesterday. The Reds, known to be an aggressive and free-swinging team, got four hits and drew just one walk over four innings against him, scoring three runs. More importantly, Lester got up to 70 pitches and showed good stamina and execution of his pitches. Bryan Corey turned in more than an inning before getting into a bit of trouble, but was bailed out by David Aardsma. Aardsma gave up two runs in the following frame, and Javier Lopez surrendered one more. Craig Hansen went one perfect inning, striking out two, flashing the promise he has as a setup man.

The State of the Sox 2008

I thought as we start to head into the 2008 season, it’d be nice to get a “big picture” overview of the club, to see where we’re headed not only this season, but in the near future. This is a chance to see up the pipeline a little bit, and anticipate what the Sox may be facing in future offseasons. Here’s a look at the depth charts at each position, and a short discussion of our strengths and weaknesses; the current state of the Sox.