Spring Training is here

I’m almost over the debacle in the desert. I was able to watch the end of the game on NFL Network and I felt fine, so I think I’m ready to move on. And that’s a good thing because pitchers and catchers have officially reported to Spring Training.

Other than (enter your favorite team’s name here) are world champions! Is there any better statement in sports than pitchers and catchers report today? Ok there are probably other statements that are better but few evoke the same feeling of joy and rebirth as the day that the sports calendar turns over and it’s time for baseball to begin again.

With pitchers already working out and position players starting to show up let’s take a look at a one of the big topics early in spring training.

Jacoby & Coco – The centerfield situation is probably the topic that will be the most talked about during spring training this season. I know Schilling’s shoulder is a big deal, but I know a lot of fans are more interested in what the team will do with Ellsbury and what will become of Coco Crisp.

While it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have both Jacoby and Coco on the team I can’t imagine Coco will want to sit on the bench (which he confirmed today) and in my opinion he shouldn’t have to. I’m not saying that he should start in Boston, over Ellsbury because I think the kid has to play. He showed that he can get it done when the pressure is on last year and that is worth something.

Granted he only had 116 at bats and pitchers and managers will make adjustments and find some holes he’s still got the tools to be the Sox centerfielder for a while. Not only does he seem to be physically up to the challenge but he’s also given every indication of mental strength and will the 2007 Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia in the same locker room he will have a great guy to look up to when he inevitably goes through a slump.

It’s not fair to dismiss Coco because he’s certainly played phenomenal defense in center and I truly believe that if he didn’t hurt his wrist in the first few weeks of the 2006 season things would be a lot different than they are right now.

With that said, I think Coco is absolutely a starting centerfielder somewhere and the Sox really shouldn’t settle for 75 cents on the dollar in a trade. Trading him however could be a good way to find some pitching help in Schilling’s absence.

After reading this – Damon Nearly out of Baseball – from the FanHouse today I couldn’t help but smile about our present centerfield situation. I’m going to lie I am 100% ready to forget Johnny Damon ever existed in Boston with Jacoby waiting in the wings.

Extra bases – I f’n love firejoemorgan – not only to I agree with the basic premise of the site but this is one of the best things I’ve ever read. (This is what we’re up against)

The return of the baseball season also means the return of The Chili Guy on WBCN. This year I will find that SOB and shake his hand.

Countdown 39

Thirty nine days until the season starts and only six days until the first spring training game, I’m starting to get very excited for baseball. Dice-k is even scheduled to pitch two innings against Boston College tomorrow and the first half of the game will be on NESN. With all that in mind there has been a lot of off the field news going on in Boston sports.

I can’t hold back, I really have a problem with the Sox not signing Curt Schilling. He said that if they didn’t get a deal done he was going to file for free agency, but he didn’t want a pay raise wanted the same money for one more year.

Simple enough right? Just sit down with Curt, who doesn’t have an agent so you aren’t dealing with someone like Scott Boras trying to rape you, get this deal done. I understand the Red Sox saying they want to wait and see how he pitches this season but it seems like a no brainier from me.

In a time when mid-level pitchers like Gil Meche are getting 50-plus million dollar contracts. On weei the other day they were talking about how Gil Meche keeps getting brought up in all the pitching talks. Well that’s because he is a mid-level starter, a number three guy in my opinion, and he got a huge deal. Why wouldn’t you lock up Schilling for the extra year?

Even if he starts to regress at worst you are going to have a number three starter to go along with Beckett and Dice-K. If Schilling goes out and wins 12-15 games this year his value in the free agent market will sky rocket. It doesn’t seem like it’s worth the waiting to see if you want to sign him after this season. At worst you have another Wakefield who can go out and win 12 games.

Could this end up like the Pedro deal and be a smart move on Theo’s part, absolutely. Schilling could easily get hurt, he could pitch terrible and it could out fine, the Sox could free up some money to sign a younger free agent pitcher like Zambrano. I have faith in Theo but this isn’t really on par with their recent financial moves.

Signing Schilling seems like a low risk move but we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out. For now all this news does is create a media mess. Every time Schilling pitches we’ll here “this is why the Red Sox should have signed him” or “this is why the Red Sox should not have signed him”. While I don’t agree with the decision I would like to watch the 2007 season with out having to deal with this contract crap every time Schilling takes the mound.

Everything always seems to get blow out of proportion this time of year with the Red Sox and this Schilling thing is not going to be any different. I hope Theo is right, I disagree with the decision but I hope I’m wrong.

Dice-K pitched a 100 pitch bullpen session yesterday guy does not mess around. The most concerning thing about Dice-K was the fact that he’s never pitched in the majors before but now I think it’s the fact that the translators he has are awful.

They take forever to tell us what he is saying and they are terrible English speakers, so when they start to translate they leave out articles and have bad grammar so you can’t understand them. They spent over 100 million dollars in contract and posting fees to get him but they can’t find a serviceable translator. Although at least they got rid of the first guy that didn’t seem to know what was going on, what Dice-K was saying or what the members of the press were saying.

Are you excited that he’s pitching Friday night at 6pm against BC on NESN…I am.

On to Manny, ‘Manny Being Manny’ right, we haven’t heard that before have we. Ok so Manny isn’t going to show up to spring training until the mandatory reporting date of March 1st. Big news right…maybe not that big of a deal. To be quite honest as long as Manny shows up and puts up the numbers he puts up he can come to camp on March 1st as long as he wants.

Manny doesn’t like the media but the media loves Manny especially when he is pulling ‘Manny being Manny’ stuff. Maybe he shouldn’t have gotten Julian Tavarez to be his PR guy but his mother is sick so lets give him the benefit of the doubt this time.

He’s a total whack job, he’s nuts and he is completely ridiculous but I think that’s why I love him so much. He’s unlike any player in the league, he has the temperament of a child, which at times can totally be a pain in the ass, but he’s also the best hitter in the major leagues seems to enjoy playing the game.

He’s wanted out of Boston a couple times but it hasn’t happened. People dog him for being spacey and not always playing hard but like I said he’s a child, you have to ride out his temper tantrums but it works out in the end. He has been one of the best hitters in the game and has been instrumental in the Sox success. Ask yourself this question. Have you ever turned a game off when Manny was at the plate? Didn’t think so.

Manny has permission to arrive late from the Red Sox, so it doesn’t really matter if he goes to a car show in Atlantic City or if he stays with his mom. As long as Manny is batting in the four-hole behind Big Papi on opening day I am alright with him showing up late.

Pitchers and Catchers Report

Pitchers and catchers report today. That sentence is one of the most beautiful ever created in the English language. Dice-K has been in Ft. Myers for a few days and the Globe and Dirt Dogs already has pictures up of a bunch of the Sox working out including Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Beckett and even Kevin Youkilis.

Youk has a wicked lumberjack goatee thing going on too, which already has me excited for the three best running subplots of the Red Sox season. Manny’s hair (at this point the possibilities are literally endless), team facial hair (the whole dirt dog thing really got going with the facial hair) and the absurd array of necklaces that players will wear (yeah so what if I own a phi-ten titanium necklace).

I don’t really have a lot of thoughts on spring training yet, I’m sure that will change as it gets rolling but do we really have to start with the negativity right off the bat. Boston fans get this ‘they are miserable and always looking for the worse possible scenario’ stigma, so why are we perpetuating it with this Dice-K is fat talk?

I will admit that when I first saw pictures of him I thought he was a little more portly then I had previously anticipated but seriously do you really think he is fat and out of shape? I didn’t think he looked all that different from the pictures I saw earlier but I guess the obligatory Akashi beer jokes are easy lay-ups, I’m sure we’ll hear plenty of that this year.

Pedro was frail, David Wells was a lard ass, Schilling is portly and Beckett is a good size guy. I’d say Dice-K is alright, he’s got a little spare tire action but he’s not running the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day, he’s either going to be on the mound pitching or chilling in the dugout with a cheek full of seeds. Or dip if he wants to fit the Sox profile. Fat or not, I doubt that he would have escaped scrutiny from the Japanese media horde if he was so out of shape.

Come on people think good thoughts, spring training hasn’t even started yet lets not get down on our $100 million dollar man yet.

Once pitchers and catchers report I usually wake up from the sports induced coma that is the month of February between the Super Bowl and Spring Training and switch gears into full on baseball mode. After the debacle that was the AFC Championship game and the insufferable Super Bowl I figured this year would be no different. Then I remembered Kevin Durant and Greg Oden.

I’ve been starting to follow college basketball again, mainly because the Celtics are so bad and have potential for franchise player in the draft, hell I even watched the BC, Duke game the other night. And those are two teams that I historically don’t like.

My point is that I’m on a little bit of a hoops kick right now. To the point were I’ve been playing College Hoops 2k7 a lot (ok, ok I cheated a little and put Gerald Green on the Texas Longhorns more on G-Money in a bit).

I usually don’t dive into college hoops until the NCAA tournament rolls around (unless it’s KSC basketball, I was always an avid Owl supporter) so this year has been fun. I’m thinking Santa Clara might be my George Mason team whose bandwagon I shamelessly pile onto because of their Cinderella potential.

Anyway, I have enjoyed this whole Durant, Oden thing it’s been fun. Of course the Celtics will probably be the worst team in the NBA and get the fourth or fifth pick and miss out on those two but such is life. Here I go with the negativity again.

The shots of City of Palms Park (which is a really cool place to watch a game by the way) in the Globe have officially marked the start of ‘get excited for the Red Sox’ but that won’t be in full effect till I’m flipping channels and I either see a random MLB Spring Training game on TV or a Big XII College Game on FSN. Until then we have a little bit more of this lull to get through.

The lull isn’t so bad if you are in a city unlike Boston whose baseball team is what the entire summer is about. If you have a serviceable hockey or basketball team you’re probably doing alright but like I said the Celtics and Bruins stink. What is going to get me through the doldrums of February until spring training gets in full swing and the NCAA tournament tips off?

Well constantly checking dirt dogs and all the Red Sox blogs is obvious and Deadspin is always good for some sports related comic relief. I could start a fantasy league and go through all the players I think could have big years, which I probably will but this weekend offers us a little respite from the icy winds and mind numbing boredom of the February sports schedule, the NBA All-Star game, ok not so much the game as the dunk contest.

Ok, so not the game at all but the dunk contest. The only reason I really care about this years dunk contest is because of G-Money. It will also be interesting to see how Las Vegas handles the event since they are trying to show off what a prime location they are for an NBA franchise.

Gerald Green, a.k.a. G-Money will make the dunk contest a must watch even. His dunks from the high school dunk contest from 2005 were absurd (check them out here) he out dueled the likes of Josh McRoberts, who might be the captain of the Uber-Dork team.

Green has already told the Boston media he’s got something special up his sleeve and Paul Pierce said one of the dunks he unloaded in practice last week was the best he’s ever seen. On a side note about the dunk contest, the judges are Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, and Dr. J. I think G-Money has the best chance of showing these guys something special.

On weei the other day Dale Arnold and Michael Holley asked Gerald what the most memorable dunk contest of his childhood was. He said it was Vince Cater, so I think we can expect a couple homage to Vince dunks, maybe an elbow in the rim?

I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing a running diary for it, yes it’s an idea I stole for Bill Simmons but I’ve used it before for Super Bowls and I think it might be cool for the dunk contest. Whatever happens I’m saying G-Money takes the title and becomes the first Celtic since Dee Brown (who rocked the ‘cover my eyes dunk’ and pumped up his reeboks for a dunk) in 1991 to win. I bet Tyrus Thomas will be second, I liked him at LSU, I don’t think he should have come out but he is a leaper (as Tommy Heinsohn used to say).

I’ll go with Dwight Howard to get third, he’s a big man so that will hurt him and I don’t see him being as creative as G-$ and Thomas. Nate Robinson can have fourth, I’m over Nate Robinson, it was cool that he won last year the whole Spud Webb little guy thing but I’m read to move on from him. In short (literally) Nate Robinson eats.

Back to baseball real quick the, Red Sox first spring training game is February 28th when the Twins make the trip across Ft. Myers to City of Palms Park. Until then I’ll be ritualistically watching sports desk for Spring Training updates with Tina Cervasio.

Happy Valentine's Day

Spring Training is nearly upon us but there is only so much speculating you can do, obviously if things go right there are a bunch of teams that could be World Series champs. Given enough time I’m sure someone could make a case for any team to be paper champions but that’s why we play the games.

(My Valentine for you this photo of the lovely Tina Cervasio)

Since we really won’t know anything about the upcoming season until opening day, which should be a national holiday along with the day after new years and the day the new Madden comes out, Boston.com is giving us something else to think about, just in time for Valentine’s day.

Who do you love? Every day, until Valentines Day, Boston.com is asking fans who their favorite Red Sox of the past 40 years are to compile an All-Beloved team. Naturally looking at this got me thinking, who are the most beloved players. I’ve always been a bit of a baseball history buff but there is so much emotion attached to the 2003 and 2004 teams. I voted on these but after thinking about it for a while I feel like these are questions that deserve closer thought.

Leading off, most beloved catcher – There are a number of choices offered by Boston.com but it really comes down to just two players. Carlton “Pudge” Fisk and Jason Varitek, the case for Fisk is pretty solid. He’s got one of the most defining moments in Red Sox history the homer that he waved fair, he’s got a foul pole named after him and he is from Charlestown, NH (Live Free or Die!). He’s a Hall of Famer and no. 27 was retired in 2000. My mom loves him and if I grew up watching the Sox when pudge was playing I might feel differently but for me it’s Tek.

Varitek was part of one of the greatest one sided trades of all time, Derek Lowe and Tek for Heathcliff Slocumb, winner Red Sox. He is also only the third player ever to be named captain of the old towne team. And he ruined Alex Rodriguez in that huge brawl in 2004 that helped spark the Sox stretch run and eventual World Series win.

One more thing…he said "If a player is not a 'dirt dog,' it will be difficult to fit in into this city." It’s a tight battle between these two and it might be generational but I’m sticking with Tek.

Next up…first base. This one is a little bit tougher, Mo Vaughn, Bill Buckner, Brian Daubach or Kevin Millar. A lot of people will automatically rule out Buckner since the whole Mookie Wilson thing but I was only two years old when it happened and with out Buckner the Red Sox wouldn’t have made it that far anyway. However if we are talking about fan’s love for players then he’s out.

Dauber ruled, I used to get into constant debates with my old roommates, Preston and Wee Man as I referred to them, about whether or not Daubach was better than Tony Clark. I say yes Dauber was better Tony Clark eats. He was also one of the original dirt dogs and one of my buddies has a Daubach is my daddy t-shirt, so the Sox were all over the daddy thing before poser Yankee fans. Dauber definitely had the fan love as role players like him often do but he was outshined by Mo and Millar.

Millar is definitely my favorite first basemen of the last few years, not only does he have the cowboy up thing and all his other ridiculous antics, he also brought the attitude and persona to the 2004 team that really carried them through the playoffs and made them incredibly fun to watch. I’d love to see Millar back in Boston again as a back up just to see him loving life and pulling every thing, I’ve never seen a guy pull more balls to left then Millar, kids playing waffle ball don’t pull that much.

As much as I liked Millar, Mo Vaughn gets the nod at first for my All-Beloved Red Sox. He was a fixture at Fenway when I was growing up watching the Red Sox. My parents used to get third base line seats for the Sox on my birthday every year (they always played the Tigers and I hate Alan Trammel to this day) but I always wished we had first base side so I could see Mo.

On the stat side of thing he was the 1995 AL MVP and perhaps the most important thing for a young fan, he had a unique batting stance that if you could imitate correctly made you look cool. Also his batting stance is still good for a laugh when you are with friends, even at 22 years old.

Granted he did leave for the Angels in 1999, back when they were just the Anaheim Angles, but he left us with some great memories and he was the first home town homerun hitter that I can vividly remember and as a kid that’s something that catches your eye.

I’m just going to get this out of the way right now even if I am batting out of the Boston.com order but the most beloved DH is Ortiz, no argument. Literally there is no argument anyone could possibly make for me to change my mind, it’s Big Papi end of story. Boston.com agrees since they have fans voting on “DH not named Ortiz”…see I told you. Now let’s move on.

Second base has long been a lost position for the Red Sox. Guys like Jeff Frye, Craig Greybeck, Jose Offerman, Freddy Sanchez not the strongest of players. However there are a few that standout. The RemDawg (Jerry Remy incase you are an artard) Mark Bellhorn and Jody Reed (yep Jody Reed next time some one brings up an obscure baseball player drop a Jody Reed on them that or Arcamedies Poso).

As much as I want to say Bellhorn, he went to the Yankees and that is a huge minus. I mean sure he was third in RBI’s behind Papi and Manny in 2004, he had some huge hits that year and he pretty much either struck out, walked or homered you had to love him and his twin ear flapped helmet and grimy hair but the Yankees dude, the Yankees.

I was a little unhappy with Todd Walker being left off but he only played one year so I guess he is out as well, even though he’s my favorite second baseman of the last 40 years. The winner is obviously RemDawg there is no other real choice, especially with Bellhorn going to the Yankees.

I never saw him play but he is hugely popular in New England thanks to NESN and he is a great broadcaster, I hate it when the Sox play on ESPN or Fox. I’d pay to see an Orsillo, Remy vs. Buck and McCarver cage match, wouldn’t you?

Who would be RemDawg’s double play partner you ask. John Valentin was one of my favorites and I loved what the OC brought to the table in 2004 but there’s only one choice for me, Nomar. I know he left town in a bad way and everything fell apart with the whole A-Rod thing but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Nomar.

Nomar was a five time all star, he was Rookie of the Year in 97, he won the AL batting title in ’99 and 2000 batting .357 and .372 and was a legit threat to hit .400 at some point in his career. Then he was on the cover of Sport Illustrated with no shirt on and it all went to hell. He was traded (bringing in the OC which in the end was a good thing) to the Cubs and has struggled since. Still he was the biggest star in Boston sports for the better part of my development of a Red Sox fan.

Third base sparks a debate, a big debate. I pick Bill Mueller, hands down but I’m sure many would reply with Wade Boggs. I used to be a huge Boggs fan, the guy won five batting titles and went to the All-Star game twelve straight years, that definitely makes you a fan favorite.

I really genuinely liked the way he played and the fact that he ate chicken before every game, woke up at the same time every day, took exactly 150 ground balls in practice, had batting practice at 5:17 and ran wind sprints at 7:17 and he drew the Hebrew word for life in the batter’s box before each at bat…even though he’s not Jewish. Sounds like I should be picking Boggs, but nay I refuse. First of all he went to the Yankees, strike one and two right there. He also gets credit for teaching the Yankees their pitch selection technique of only swinging at perfect pitches (according to wikipedia)…d-bag.

Strike three, after he played his final two years with the Devil Rays he insisted on being inducted into the Hall of Fame wearing a Devil Rays cap. Excuse me? Sure you got your 3,000th hit with the D-Rays but I doubt that you’ll be remembered as a Devil Ray.

Yankees or Sox you have to pick one and show us all wear your loyalties lie, no taking the easy way out as a Devil Ray. Luckily the Hall stepped in and declared he would go in as a Sox (it’s Sox even for the singular, we’ve gone over this) so with all that said funk you wade Boggs.

Side note: Some how they left Tim Naehring out of this whole thing…not sure how you can forget him, come on ‘feed the gator’.

I pick Mueller, professional, dirt dog, batting champ, easy guy to root for, loved watching him play, he wins. He also gets bonus points for that “it’s not Ferris Biller” commercial from when he first got to Boston and people didn’t get why m-u-e-l-l-e-r is miller.

Dirt Dogs has a most beloved bullpen guy, I’ll go with Lowe. He was great as a closer for a while then he imploded but then he came back and was a good starter. Oh yeah then he came in as a closer in the playoffs and threw the two best pitches I’ve ever seen in my life. He also was lights out in the 2004 playoffs.

Batting next, most beloved right fielder, I think you know the answer since I already paid homage to him in an early column. Trot Nixon. I probably would have been a big Tony C fan but I never saw him play. My dad hates Dewey Evans so I’ve never given him much thought.

Kind of weird my dad dislikes some odd sports stars, like Dwight Evans and Doug Flutie (I know blasphemy ah! But I don’t like BC so there). Any how Trot is my pick he’s a dirt dog and I fell for that type of play and demeanor in 2003 with Millar, Trot, Mueller and company.

Left field is another one that it almost too close to call, like the Mo Vaughn, Millar situation. Manny, Jim Rice and Yaz, that is definitely the toughest position to call. Jim Rice was a great player, he was kind of a jerk to the media, but I’ve met him and he seems like a nice enough guy. I like him on NESN and he hits the piss out of a golf ball.

Yaz is another one of those guys that if I had seen him play he might be my favorite. My parents loved Yaz and he’s one of the players that sparked my interest in baseball history, along with Ted Williams and co., so I do have a deep appreciation for Yaz.

Manny is another guy that I love he is a pain in the ass but he’s fun to watch he always brings something different to the game and he’s a great hitter. His ‘Manny Being Manny’ attitude might cause some distractions but it’s far better to watch and follow then the business like cold efficiency style of the Yankees.

I’d love to pick Manny here but there are a couple other guys you can’t count out. Mike Greenwell and Troy O’Leary, I was a big time Greenwell fan when I was little he’s one of the first Sox players I remember vividly. I think I might actually be about to pick Greenwell over Manny. I love Manny but Greenwell was one of my first favorite players, how can you go against that?

Alright, alright, I’m going with Manny. Not just because he is a better player but because he is incredibly fun to watch and he gives the Sox a chance to win every single game. What’s not to love about that? I like Mike Greenwell, I really do but for most beloved I’m going with Manny, although if he has any ‘Manny Being Manny’ moments I’m bringing in Mike Greenwell.

Look at me, I can be, Centerfield. This one hurts. Johnny Damon was my favorite player for a long time. I was a big Damon fan when he was on the Royals and A’s and when he came to Boston I was pumped. He was awesome here, definitely the most beloved before he went to the Yankees. He totally sold out and ruined his legacy for a couple extra million. That even nearly ruined sports for me. It definitely made it clear that it’s about the money.

Ellis Burks was one of my favorites but I’m going with Freddie Lynn here. I never saw him play but he was my mothers’ favorite player so I’ve heard a lot about him and I know he was a fan favorite as a player, he’s another guy I wish I could have seen play. This should be Johnny but he sold out.

Finally who is my most beloved starting pitcher? There are certainly plenty of options but it comes down to two, Pedro and Schilling. Curt gets big props for making that Ford commercial were he says “I’ve go an 86 year curse to break” and then he did it. He also had the whole bloody sock thing, which ruled.

Unfortunately for Curt, Pedro takes it. Pedro was one of the core guys that solidified my passion for the Red Sox. Every game Pedro pitched was an event. You’d talk to your friends about every time Pedro was starting and if you had tickets you’d count out the days to try and figure out whether or not there was a chance that you’d get to see him pitch.

I only got to see Pedro pitch in person once and it was in his final season, 2004 in a game that I think propelled them to winning the wild card, but that’s another story. My point is that Pedro was a phenomenon and he resonated with fans and was the most dominant pitcher in baseball for a long stretch. As awesome a Schilling was in 2004 my relationship with Pedro was longer and I will never forget him coming out of the bullpen in Cleveland and pitching six innings of perfect relief in the ALDS.

Last but in no way, shape or form, most beloved unsung hero, if you even have to think about this one there is something wrong. I shouldn’t even have to say his name but that wouldn’t do him justice. Dave Roberts, I maintain that his steal of second base in the 2004 ALCS is the most important play in the history of the Boston Red Sox. You could argue but I am not listening.

There should be a Dave Roberts statue outside of Fenway and I truly hope that one day I can tell my kids the story of Dave Roberts’s stolen base in front of that statue. Everyone in the world knew he was going to steal second and he did it. There’s nothing really more to say.

I have to add in a All-Beloved NESN field reporter. I'm assuming you already know but this is my excuse for running a picture of Tina Cervasio. She easily trumps Eric Frede. Don't start with the Hazel Mae talk, she's the All-Beloved SportsDesk Anchor.

This was one of my longest Red Sox columns ever, it's also one of the few stories on this blog that I've taken a few days to write, so here is a quick wrap up.

My All-Beloved Red Sox team:

C – Jason Varitek
1B – Mo Vaughn
DH – David Ortiz
2B – Jerry Remy
SS – Nomar Garicaparra
3B – Bill Mueller
LF – Manny Ramirez
CF – Fred Lynn
RF – Trot Nixon
Bullpen – Derek Lowe
Starter – Pedro Martinez
Unsung Hero – Dave Roberts

NESN Field Reporter - Tina Cervasio

Boston.com’s All-Beloved Red Sox team:

C – Jason Varitek
1B – Mo Vaughn
DH – David Ortiz
2B – Jerry Remy
SS – Nomar Garicaparra
3B – Bill Mueller
LF – Carl Yastremski
CF – Fred Lynn
RF – Dwight Evans
Bullpen – Derek Lowe & Rich Garces (oh El Guapo)
Rotation – Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield
Unsung Hero – Dave Roberts

A couple of additional spring training thoughts:

The Red Sox equipment truck left for Ft. Myers monday and while it might have got a little bit too much coverage, it’s still pretty exciting news. It’s think good thoughts time.

Pitchers and catchers report on friday, which is very exciting news, especially since ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian wrote today that the Red Sox could have the best rotation in baseball. With Dice-K, Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon and Tim Wakefield…also Jon Lester (possibly) and I highly doubt it but Roger Clemens is still lurking around.

Even with all the questions looming, like Lester’s cancer, Schilling’s age and contract talks and the fact that Matsuzaka hasn’t thrown a pitch in the MLB yet that is still a pretty formidable rotation. I am a firm believer in the ‘you can never have too much/enough pitching’ creed, motto…creedo…so I like the fact the Red Sox six potential starters and have other guys in the bullpen that can make spot starts. Like Joel Piniero and Julian Tavarez.

The biggest question is obviously Matsuzaka, but in Kurkjian’s article he quotes Bobby Valentine saying that the most important thing for Dice-K will be his relationship with his catcher. Well is catcher is Jason Varitek who happens to be one of the best catchers in the game and is well known for being very good with young pitchers.

One more day until the heralded phrase of ‘Pitchers and Catchers report today’ is uttered.

Careful the stove is hot

Now that I got the X Games out of my system it’s time to turn some attention to the Red Sox hot stove which has been glowing red hot in the past few days.

The Red Sox stove chose a good time to start heating up since the Celtics are about to set the franchise record for longest losing streak (I will be at the game Friday so I’ll have something Celtics oriented this weekend) and other than that there really isn’t that much going on this week…other than Barbaro dying of course, so sad, so sad.

The hot stove week kicked off with a Saturday morning phone call from none other than Joseph P. Reynolds. He sounded a little distraught and told me that he had heard some people talking about the Red Sox trading for Todd Helton. He was nervous that they’d ship Manny off to Colorado and get Helton in return and since he was calling from CTU Park City, Utah he had no way of confirming or denying these rumors.

After hearing this I was instantly jolted out of an early afternoon daze so flipped open the laptop and started checking out some of my “sources”. After a day of phone calls back and forth and constantly checking out SoSH and Dirt Dogs I finally saw something on ESPN’s 11pm Sports Center.

Six Degrees of Hating Peyton Manning: We still can’t escape the Pats-Colts loss - Helton started at quarterback over Peyton Manning in his senior year at Tennessee, granted he got hurt Manning took over and never looked back, have I mentioned I hate Peyton Manning.

Unfortunately to my dismay ESPN decided to rehash the old SNL skit where Jerry Seinfeld is a night time news anchor and he just keeps reading teases about a life threatening thing that you could be eating for dinner and saying things like “up next: it’s deadly and it could be your dinner”.

Every time ESPN went to commercial it was “are the Red Sox going to add a $90 million slugger…” or “up next good Rex vs. bad Rex and who’s in the trade talks for the Red Sox” it was seriously killing me.

They did an especially good job scaring the bejesus out of me by showing clips of Manny with every tease, not cool. Turns out the Sox were in trade talks with the Rockies for Todd Helton after all. They may not allow music in Utah but apparently they are on top of their hot stove baseball in the local ski shops.

By now this is old news but in hindsight it would have been a pretty decent addition to the Sox lineup especially since the trade talks involved Mike Lowell and Julian Tavarez and maybe someone like Delcarmen or Hansen.

I wasn’t big on the idea of trading away Lowell and having Youk move back to third. The infield isn’t going to be as solid this year mainly because Julio Lugo isn’t Alex Gonzales (defensively) and it’s still not clear what you’ll get from Dustin Pedrioa.

I like having gold glove caliber defense at third and I think Lowell provides a pretty good amount of pop (solid doubles hitter), not as much as Helton would but in the end it was probably a better choice to stick with Lowell rather than move Youk again and take on Helton and his six year contract. With that said I’d have no problems moving on from Tavarez the guy really hasn’t shown me much other than that he can pitch ok when it doesn’t matter.

As for Hansen and MDC I would have been ok if the Red Sox had moved on from them, they have shown promise but have been unable to take that next step and jump up to being effective on a consistent basis. There are some guys I don’t want to see dealt, like Jacoby Ellsbury or Daniel Bard, and I think it’s safe to say the Sox aren’t willing to move them. However if you are going to get an established guy like Helton then it makes sense to take a chance in giving up a guy like Hansen or Delcarmen.

In the end it was all for show as the Sox and Rockies broke off talks, rumor has it Theo was pretty unhappy with the Rockies for throwing out the names of the Sox players the two teams were talking about. I guess he didn’t want Lowell, Tavarez and company to know they were on the block, can’t say I that I blame him after the way the whole Nomar thing went down.

No Helton but there is plenty more Sox stuff going on. Theo got married and his dad tricked Gordon Edes into thinking Theo got hitched at Nathan’s Famous hot dogs on Coney Island, which made for a pretty good story on the radio and internet yesterday.

Things to be excited about:

Dice-K is throwing in California which is exciting news but I want to see some video, just over two weeks till pitchers and catchers report. Also he has told the Sox new pitching coach that he does in fact throw a gyro ball and he is working on a new pitch, maybe a cut fastball no real word on that yet.

Jon Lester arrived in Ft. Myers today. Granted I wouldn’t expect Lester to be ready to go by opening day never mind when pitchers and catchers report in a couple weeks, but this is still encouraging news. According to the Globe he says he isn’t 100 percent yet but he is optimistic and is looking to return as soon as possible.

He also said that he will start where ever and whenever the team feels is necessary. I know the Red Sox have a good amount of pitchers but you can never have enough pitching and having a healthy Lester available for long relief or spot starts will really make the Sox bullpen or starting rotation better.

Check out Nick Cafardo’s brief article about Lester here.

The newest news...Curt Schilling wants another year, but the Sox haven’t really said much. Schilling said he wants to get a deal done before the season starts, if not he will head to free agency. Here’s my two cents. Sign him and sign him now.

I think that’s what the Red Sox will do but seriously Schilling, a one year deal for the same money he is getting right now. Even if he becomes your number three starter, I don’t care you still sign him. He had a better year last year than Gil Meche and he got a huge deal. The guy made a truck commercial in which he said and I quote “I’ve got an 86 year curse to break” and he f’n did it. When I first saw this commercial I was upset, why jinx us right off the bat, but then he came in and helped the Sox win the World Series that alone is worthy of a one year extension.
Two Words: Blood, Sock (or Blood and Sox if you want to play with some words)

I’m sure this will be the talk of the town for the next couple of weeks before pitchers and catchers report. Some people are painting Schilling as whining for more like Pedro did but I say sign him right now, get a deal done there is no need to wait. This is the same team that offered Coco Crisp an extension after the first two weeks of last season so why not extend Schilling another year.

Pitching is always at a premium and if you can get Schilling for a discounted price, even if he falls off a little and becomes a third starter, he is one of the best pitchers out there and if you let him go to free agency he will definitely be more expensive. Sign him and sign him now!