White Sox to claim Manny Ramirez – Manny is expected to hit the waiver wire any time now. The Dodgers, like the Red Sox two years ago, are simply fed up with him and want him gone. According to FoxSports, the Chicago White Sox are prepared to claim him and try and work a deal. This was probably the best news that I have heard in a while because you know the Devil Rays would kill to add him to their lineup. And say what you want about Manny, when he is on the field, the dude can hit. If you put him in that Rays lineup they become that much better and you can bet your ass teams will fear him.

I love how Rajon Rondo quit on Team USA – According to WEEI.com, Rondo claimed there were family matters and other things he needed to attend to before the NBA season started. Call me insensitive, but I’m calling bullshit. Rondo was pissed that he wasn’t getting the love that he deserved so he walked out, and I am perfectly OK with that. The kid thinks he is kind of a big deal and demands the respect of a top player in the league. Nothing wrong with that. I guarantee you if he was the starter and not Derrick Rose he would not have quit the team, and you can take that to the bank.

Belichick on Maroney: “I think he’s ready” – Coach Bill talked earlier today about Laurence Maroney and whether or not he was over the case of fumblitis that he contracted last season, and it sounds like he is in pretty good shape. I have been waiting a long time for Maroney to put up an all pro year. In fact, I think I have predicted it for at least the last two, if not three seasons. He is like Alex Gordon (Roayls 3B). Every year I claim he will live up to his lofty potential, and every year he ends up on my fantasy team, and every year he ends up disappointing. Please don’t do me wrong again Laurence. I beg you.

Can we have Lackey pitch every game against the Mariners? Is there a way this can happen? Because he sucks against every other team, even the shitty ones, but for whatever reason dominates the Mariners. Yea, I get that they suck and all, but it’s not just that. The stuff he had in both his starts this year against them has been disgusting. First, he took a no no into the eighth inning out on the left coast earlier this year, and just last night he showed us a fastball that Boston fans haven’t seen since he mowed us down last fall in the playoffs en route to striking out ten over eight innings. Someone needs to play these two tapes on repeat until the guy can figure out his act and pitch like that every game. Please.

Mike Reiss took a look at the Patriots 2008 draft earlier today and the results were not pretty. Two third round picks are no longer with the team (Shawn Crable and Kevin O’Connell) and their second round pick is struggling to make the team (Terrence Wheatley). Good thing they cleaned up in 2009 and 2010 to make up for it.

Anthony Rizzo now has 23 home runs while playing most of the year at AA Portland. For those who don’t know, Rizzo is only 21 years old, and missed a season battling Hodkins Lymphoma. People need to keep an eye on this kid, because he is on the fast track to major league stardom. The Sox are due to produce a home run hitter from their farm system one of these years, maybe he can be the first.

Figures, no more than six hours after I make a post that includes comments about how I am starting to feel good about this bullpen, Papelbon comes in a screws up what should have been an easy win. What makes it even worse is that he has been pitching great of late. It’s rare that the Red Sox are in a position to win a game that John Lackey starts these days so to let one slip away really is a kick in the balls. Now, instead of climbing to only 3 games back of the Rays we sit at 4 back and lose any momentum we had built during the three game win streak. It’s was likely a real long plane ride to Texas, but at least they can look forward to not having to face Cliff Lee this weekend. It could be worse though, Paps could have beat the shit out his father in law like Francisco Rodriguez of the Mets.

Notes…

- David Ortiz hit his 25th home run of the year yesterday marking the seventh time he has done it during his time with the Red Sox. Only Jim Rice (7) and Ted Williams (14) have as many 25 home run seasons for the Sox.

- Jarrod Saltalamacchia made his debut in the starting lineup and boy did he impress. Not only did he have no problems getting the ball back to the pitcher, but he gunned Aaron Hill down at second base, and went 2-4 at the plate with two doubles. Sure, it’s only one game, but it’s hard not to think we may have gotten a future all star in this deal.

- When Pedroia comes back, Lowrie needs to play first base. He is now batting .313/.441/.500 on the season and is hitting everything in sight. He doesn’t need to play every day, but he can’t simply go back to not playing at all, not when Mike “I have no lateral movement” Lowell is first on the depth chart. Maybe have him play once or twice a week at short and second and than two games at first. Marco has only had four days off this year so odds are he would welcome a few breaks here and there.

- Despite yesterday’s performance, I’m still not impressed with John Lackey. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but this just isn’t his year. His velocity is down, his location is off, his strikeouts are down, and he is giving up way too many hits. I know it’s kind of stating the obvious, but I had still been holding out hope for him. Not anymore. Consider me officially off the John Lackey bandwagon. When we make the playoffs I want Lester for game 1, Buchholz 2, Beckett 3, and Daisuke 4 (wow, that was hard to write).

Hey John Lackey. Thanks for dominating for 3+ innings striking out six of the first 12 batters you faced.

Thanks for proceeding to give up six runs on seven hits and five walks over your next two+ innings.

But more importantly, thanks for reminding me that you do in fact suck at baseball. Way to step up against one of the worst offenses in baseball. I’m not even going to mention the two runners thrown out at home plate, or the fact that Jacoby can play for Pawtucket tonight but not the Red Sox last night, nor will I mention that Youk managed to hurt himself simply swinging the bat, or that Kevin Cash was put into the game to replace him rather than Jed Lowrie. Nope, this one is all on you buddy. Because if you didn’t suck, none of that wouldn’t matter. This isn’t So Cal anymore buddy, get your shit together, we are in a playoff race here.

Beckett picked up only his 2nd win in 10 starts yesterday, hopefully he can build on this momentum

A week and a half ago, the night before this west coast swing started, I wrote a state of the nation address. The main thing to take out of it was that the Red Sox were starting to get players back and all they needed to do was stay within striking distance of the Rays over the next ten days. Although it seems like they went 2-8 over the past three series, the Sox actually fared pretty well and won six of ten. I just happen to have each of the losses firmly entrenched in my brain due to the ridiculousness of them. Regardless, the Sox entered the trip only 3.5 games back of Tampa and came out of it 4.5 games back. And that is fine by me.

What excites me most about the coming weeks is the way the starting pitching has performed of late. Other than Clay Buchholz struggling in his first game back from the disabled list, the starters have been lights out. Of the six wins, the starter accounted for four of them and only two of the four losses. Hell, there were even two legitimate no hit bids (although one of them turned into a loss and the other took 13 innings to finish off). What we now have is everyone on fire at the same time. There is not a single weakness on this staff. Ignore the bullpen issues if you may. The way the last ten days have gone you should be disappointed if the starter goes less than seven innings making it difficult for even this bullpen to screw up too much, especially with Bard and Paps ready to go on most nights. I’m telling you, the way this team is now positioned they have the ability to win games in bunches. Do not be surprised if they win 20+ games in August and September. Call me optimistic, but (starting) pitching wins championships, and I’ll take this starting rotation combined with Paps and Bard over any team in the league. Enough said.

What I Liked:

John Lackey Impresses – It took three games but the vaunted Red Sox starting rotation finally lived up to all the off season expectations. Lackey was everything we expected and more last night going six innings allowing only three hits, two walks, no runs, while striking out three. He worked quick and pounded the zone throwing a perfect mix of fastballs and curve balls. After seeing Beckett and Lester struggle it was nice to finally see one of our aces step up.

New Guys Can Hit Too – All winter we talked about pitching and defense and how the additions of Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre, and Mike Cameron would improve the defense enough to make up for their lack of offense. It is still early, but I said from the beginning that these guys are going to bring more offense to the table than expected. That being said, Beltre is batting .364 with 2 RBI while Cameron and Scutaro are both batting .300 with a .417 OBP.

Beltre Is The Real Deal At Third – Again, it has been a small sample size but you got to like what you have seen out of Beltre defensively. The most recent example being a double play he turned in the sixth inning last night ranging to his left on a hard grounder making a quick throw to second on the move allowing plenty of time for Pedroia to turn the double play at first.

I Love The Middle Of Our Lineup – I don’t care that there is a possibility that none of them hit 30 home runs, I’ll take Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, and Kevin Youklis batting 2, 3, and 4 any day of the week. All three of them in a row like that will wear down opposing pitchers working deep into the count waiting for the right pitch to hit. Just because we don’t have Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz in the middle of our order doesn’t mean it isn’t just as dangerous. Just wait and see.

Dan Bard Is A Bad Man – Three and a third innings pitched, one hit, two strikeouts, no runs. Right now the only bright spot in a questionable bullpen Bard is easily the most reliable arm they have out there. He looks like the Dan Bard of early 2009 when he threw 20+ scoreless innings in a row. He is locating his fastball, throwing his slider for strikes, and straight out blowing away batters. Plus, you know you are dirty when your change up is 89 mph and guys are still way out in front of it.

What I Didn’t Like:

This Bullpen Is Wack – Beyond Danny Bard I have no faith in anyone right now. Talk to me tomorrow and I’ll add Papelbon to that list, but right now I am still too pissed. But other than these two, there are question marks with everyone:

• Manny Delcarmen – when he is up in the 95-97 mph range and pounding the strike zone he is effective against both right and left handed hitters. When he is in the 89-93 mph range and all over the place he is useless. It was encouraging seeing him not get lit up on Tuesday, but he has a long way to go to win my trust.
• Ramon Ramirez – was dominant in the first half of last season. Then he lost it and had no control over the strike zone anymore. He was still effective against righties but struggled mightily against left handed hitters. When he is on his game he is a top notch 8th inning man but we haven’t seen that player since June 2009.
• Hideki Okajima – still effective against lefties, but struggled in the second half of 2009 against righties. Will he regain his dominant form or is he becoming nothing more than a lefty specialist?
• Scott Atchinson – it is never a good sign when you come into the game for the first time and I have no idea who you are.
• Scott Schoenweiss – used to be awesome but is going to need to show me a lot before I trust him. He sucked last year, got cut in spring training, and was only in Sox camp for a week.

Slow Starts For Beckett and Lester – Jon Lester has a losing record in April-May for his career and Josh Beckett sucked for the first five weeks in 2009 before turning it on going into the summer. Maybe it has something to do with the way the Red Sox prepare their pitchers for the season, but both were not sharp this week. Lester was hitting 98 in the first inning and threw a couple of nasty curves and cutters. But after that he was down in the 93-95 range and couldn’t locate to save his life. Beckett, like Lester, couldn’t locate and had no feel for his curve ball allowing hitters to sit on his fastball. I’m hoping we don’t have to wait until June to see both of these guys at the top of their game, but this was not a good star.

What’s Next:

A three game series at Kansas City

Friday: Tim Wakefield vs Kyle Davies @ 8:10pm

Saturday: Josh Beckett vs Zack Greinke @ 7:10pm

Sunday: Clay Buchholz vs Gil Meche @ 2:10pm

Newly-acquired Boston Red Sox pitcher John Lackey(notes), right, shakes hands with manager Terry Francona during a baseball news conference at Fenway Park in Boston, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 200, Lackey finalized a five-year contract with the Red Sox, a deal worth $80 million to $87.5 million .

OK, I know that I haven’t posted in a little while so I figured I would make it up today with my opinion on what’s going on in the Boston sports world recently. Well a couple of days ago I picked up a couple tickets for a couple games for the Red Sox upcoming season, and I knew that it was a good investment. Buy them before they start spending tons of money and maybe they’d be cheaper, or maybe they’ll still be expensive. To answer your question as to whether I bought the tickets because I want to see Marco Scutaro, the answer is “no, not even close.” It’s because I knew that it wouldn’t be long before Theo Epstein actually made a significant move, like he did yesterday, and he did it twice.

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Last month Terry Francona was uncharacteristically open about what he wanted the front office to do this winter, he even got into naming John Lackey as a guy he would love to see them pursue. I wrote about it here saying that Lackey would be a perfect fit in Boston and people looked at me like I had two heads.

Since getting bounced from the playoffs at the hands of the Angels, people have been talking non stop about needing to get another big hitter in the lineup. So much so that it seems people have forgotten what has gotten us two championships in the last decade, pitching and defense. Did you know that the Red Sox actually scored more runs and hit more home runs last season than they did when they won it all in 2007? No, you didn’t. The difference maker was the defense. I know it, Theo knows it, and now you all know it.

Lackey brings another I want the ball mentality to the mound and while he is someone who is easy to hate, when he is on your team you fall in love with him. He has missed approximately six weeks at the beginning of the 2008 and 2009 seasons which is concerning. But upon his return he pitched the rest of each season with no issues, something that is reassuring. If you are not convinced that Lackey is a solid addition to this team, compare the two pitchers below. What you are looking at is the regular season era for each of the last five seasons:

Pitcher A 3.44 3.56 3.01 3.75 3.83
Pitcher B 3.37 5.01 3.27 4.03 3.86

Which would you rather have? While it is close, I think the edge goes to Pitcher A. Obviously era is by no means the only way to rate a pitcher, but it is still a good number to look at, especially over a five year period. That being said, Pitcher A is John Lackey and Pitcher B is Josh Beckett. Scary.

With a rotation of Lester, Beckett, Lackey, Matsuzaka, Buchholz, and Wakefield; the Red Sox now have a rotation that is arguably the best in baseball. Combined with the improvements on defense, this team is already much better than it was at the end of last year. Remember, a run saved is just as good as a run scored.

The thing about this move that is most telling is that the Red Sox obviously have a boat load of cash and are ready to spend it as they see fit. The Red Sox NEVER give long term deals to pitchers in their 30’s out of fear of getting burned later on. $85 million over five years is by no means cheap and the fact that they were willing to pony up is evidence that they have a large surplus of cash, so much so that they are willing to take the risk of having to eat it years later.

While this team is far from complete, signing Lackey brings them one step closer. You can never have enough pitching, never.

- Chris

The second this trade was made last August I got extremely excited about the possibilities. Not because we were acquiring a potential hall of famer who used to throw 100 mph, but because Wager likely was going to be a Type A free agent netting the Red Sox two draft picks upon his departure. Wagner pitching well was just icing on the cake. This was a brilliant move by Epstein that has gone COMPLETELY under the radar and he deserves a lot of credit for making it happen. The Sox ended up trading two prospects who will likely never amount to anything for a month and a half of great pitching and the Atlanta Braves first round pick (20th) and a supplemental pick in between the first and second round. Sounds good to me.

The first round pick is not a guarantee. Because of the way the Elias Rankings work, if the Braves were to sign John Lackey, Matt Holliday, Marco Scutaro, or Jose Valverde then the Sox would get the second round pick instead. However, the odds of that happening are unlikely.

Theo has gotten plenty of criticism of late, and for good reason, but you have to give credit when credit is due. This was a great move for the Red Sox. They got rid of two prospects they didn’t like and now have two first round draft picks to reload.

- Chris

The following is an excerpt from Terry Francona’s interview on WEEI’s The Dale and Holley Show yesterday.

“Every time [general manager] Theo [Epstein] talks to me, I always say get a pitcher. I know we need to score runs. When you don’t pitch, you certainly make life a lot more difficult for the whole team. When you have a well-pitched game, even when you go into the seventh or eighth inning, you have a chance. When you have solid pitching, and sometimes past solid into spectacular, that’s when your team really has a chance, not only in the regular season but it carries over into the postseason.”

Francona also sounded like a fan of Lackey, a free agent.

“John Lackey is one of the best. Every year, there’s a couple guys that seem like they can sway the fortunes of an organization. He’s that type of pitcher. Now, to get that type of pitcher, you’re going to have to make quite a commitment. That’s something that makes our organization a little bit uneasy. It doesn’t mean a guy can’t come in and help you win. If there’s an injury along the way, that can set your organization back quite a bit. There’s a lot to think about besides just the year 2010.”

Sounds good to me. Everyone is talking about the need to add a big hitter and maybe two, but why can’t you do both? The Yankees spend $220 million a year on payroll and currently the Red Sox only have about $100 million on the books for next season. Even if you sign Jason Bay for $20 million a year and account for arbitration raises we are only talking about $120 – $130 million. Considering the team is once again selling seats, literally, and has raised the ticket prices, I have a feeling they can afford to splurge for once.

Adding John Lackey would be perfect. The guy is a proven work horse and has shown that he can do it on the big stage playing well in the playoffs and winning a World Series in 2002. If you throw a rotation of Lester, Lackey, Beckett, Dice K, and Buchholz out there you all but eliminate the need to add a hitter beyond re-signing Bay. I am usually all for being conservative with money and winning through player development, but sometimes you don’t really have a choice. If it comes down to a couple million dollars a year, why not just pay the price and bring another World Series to Boston?

- Chris

P.S. Lackey really is an ugly fucker though, and you know how I feel about ugly people…