Additions: None

Losses: None

Victor Martinez – After being traded to Boston at the deadline last summer, Martinez should be much more comfortable entering 2010. He will have had two months in 2009, the entire off season, and all of spring training to become familiar with the Sox pitching staff, something he didn’t benefit from last year. While he will never admit to it, being thrown into the fire like that combined with the fact that he never knew where he was playing likely took it’s toll on him. And still, he hit .336 with 8 home runs and 41 RBI in the two months that he was here. Along with becoming more familiar with the team’s pitchers, Martinez will come to the ballpark every day knowing he is going to be penned in the line up as the starting catcher. Sorry Jason Varitek, but your time has past. Having Martinez for the entire season provides an immediate boost to an offense that already scored the third most runs in baseball last year. As long as Victor can stay healthy, he will produce.

Prediction: .292/.383/.506, 24 HR, 102 RBI, 95 Runs

Jason Varitek – The Red Sox could have exercised a team option on Varitek for $5 million, but instead declined. Varitek, getting no substantial offers elsewhere, was forced to opt for his $3 million player option and a backup role in Boston. It is unclear how Varitek will fit into this years roster, but one can assume he will likely catch once a week to give Victor a day off here and there. My initial thought was that he would become Josh Beckett’s personal backstop to avoid anymore hissy fits from Beckett, but Victor caught him in the final month of 2009, in his playoff start, and in all bullpen sessions both spring training starts. His true value lies in his knowledge of the American League. Hopefully, he and Victor are sitting down before every game going over a plan of attack for that days line up. Otherwise, we would be better served with Mark Wagner.

Prediction: .240/.305/.390, 4 HR, 21 RBI, 30 Runs

Recap: After the trade last summer a position of weakness immediately became a position of strength for the Red Sox. There are very few premier catchers in baseball, and Joe Mauer is the only one I would rather have outside of Victor. His injury plagued 2008 seems to be behind him and more of a fluke than anything. Victor’s offense combined with Tek’s knowledge should combine for a great season from the Boston backstops. The only weakness would be the ability to keep runners at first base. The Sox would rather their pitchers focus on the batter than holding a runner and the Martinez and Tek are both below average at getting the ball to second. Although, Victor has said that he watched tape this off season and noticed mechanical flaws that he has since fixed, but we will see. Regardless, the offense that he brings is well worth giving up a base here and there.

Overall: A-

Last Year: 6

Projected Start: Pawtucket

ETA: 2010

2009 Recap – Junichi Tazawa worked his way through the minor leagues quickly last season, his first in America, after playing in the semi pro industrial league in Japan. He posted a 2.57 era in 18 starts at Portland followed by 2.38 era in Pawtucket before getting the call to the big leagues. Ideally he would have had more time in the minors but the combination of Penny, Smoltz, and Wakefield didn’t work out making him next in line. His first appearance came in the 14th inning at Yankee Stadium in which he gave up a walk off home run to Alex Rodriguez. Over the course of the season he appeared in six games total, starting four of them while posting a 7.46 era. Despite his high era he showed tremendous poise on the mound and often gave glimpses of being a solid starter a couple years down the road.

Strengths – Tazawa possess above average secondary pitches for his age. He has a tight slide, and slow looping curve ball, and a fork ball that could become tops in the game. He has the ability to locate each of these pitches and has confidence using every one. Much like Daisuke Matsuzaka, he likes to attack the corners but he is able to get it over the plate when he needs to unlike his counterpart. He is also extremely calm and poised on the mound, something that was easily noticeable watching his six appearances in Boston last year. It would have been easy for him to to get rattled and lose his composure but he handled adversity amazingly for someone so young.

Weaknesses – His fastball at times wouldn’t even make it to 90. He has good movement on it and good location, but it seems the harder he throws the flatter his fastball. He also would get away from using his secondary pitches as he got later into his starts allowing hitters to sit on his below average fastball and ultimately eat him up. Also, it seemed that his body wore down by the end of the season. By the time he got to the big leagues his pitches didn’t bite as much as they had in the minors and he lost some of his velocity.

2010 outlook – Tazawa will start the season in Pawtucket and will be one of the first in line if the Red Sox need a spot starter. He spent the off season on an American training routine of running, lifting, and strengthening his shoulder rather than throwing every day like in Japan. This should help him adjust to the longer American seasons and throwing every five days as opposed to once a week in Japan. Don’t be surprised if he adds a little giddy up on his fastball either as early reports out of camp are that he has put on about 15 pounds of muscle. He could also be a crucial piece in a trade deadline deal this summer. Either way, having been in America for a year Tazawa’s future is looking brighter by the day.

- Chris

MLB.com -  From a National League scout: “I know Wade Davis and David Price have tremendous talent, but learning to pitch in the American League East is different from any other division. Let’s see what those Baltimore and Toronto young pitchers do. We’ll see Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes make a jump soon. Clay Buchholz may be the best of them all.”

Suck on that baseball, suck on that Joba, suck on that Phil, New York, Wade, David, all of you. Clay Buchholz has pretty much been written off by most of the baseball writers outside of Boston and many of the Boston writers as well. All the while I spent the entire summer trying to get him promoted from AAA and convincing people that we shouldn’t trade him at the deadline. Now we have an MLB scout coming out and pretty much saying Chris, you are the man, how can you be so right all the time? It’s hard, it really is. People in this town turn on players quicker than anywhere else sans maybe New York, but you simply cannot teach the talent that Buchholz has. The kid has a mid 90’s fastball, a low 90’s two seamer with lots of action, a knee buckling curve, and one of the best change ups in the league. We have seen him dominate before throwing a no hitter in his rookie season and there is no reason to think he all of the sudden just can’t do it anymore.

I can understand the concern going into 2009 after his struggles in ‘08, but after seeing him dominate spring training last year and bring that into the regular season with Pawtucket you should have know he was back. He continued that success once called up in July and except for three really bad starts he was the teams second best pitcher behind only Jon Lester.

Now, he has come into camp with an extra 15-20 pounds and looks like a man rather than a scrawny, lanky, goofy nerd out of Texas. The Sky is the limit for this kid, I know it, this scout knows it, and it’s about time that everyone else figures it out as well.

And from the same article:

“Meanwhile, MLBTradeRumors.com guru Tim Dierkes used Baseball Musings’ lineup analysis tool and CHONE projections to rate AL offenses on Rotoworld.

The Yankees (5.826), Red Sox (5.371) and Rays (5.273) are rated the three best, while the A’s (4.532), Royals (4.536) and Mariners (4.559) are the worst. Toronto (4.656) ranks fourth-worst, which is scary when one considers that the Blue Jays owe many of their wins over the last four years to Roy Halladay.”

Wasn’t the Red Sox offense supposed to be terrible this year? I mean, that’s what everyone has been saying, right? I know Theo Epstein has been pushing the defense and pitching theme all winter, but I don’t remember him ever saying that offense was going to become less of a priority. People assume that since they lost Jason Bay that their offense will be significantly worse. While it will not be as good as 2009 (3rd most runs in baseball) it is still a solid squad. Yes, we lose Jason Bay and his 36 home runs. But we replace that with Mike Cameron, who is good for 15-20. Combine that with the upgrade at shortstop in Marco Scutaro and having Victor Martinez for an entire year and you are not too far off where we were at the start of 2009.

People are still going to complain about this team not being able to hit good pitching, mainly Mazz and Shaughnessy, but who can? Pitching will always beat good hitting. And there are so few good pitchers in the league that it is hard to draw a good comparison with how other teams do because the sample size is just too small. The biggest reason they struggled so much against last year was simply bad luck. This team is full of good hitters up and down the order, the law of averages alone suggests a regression towards the mean this year and increased success. There really is no way they can be as bad as they were last year again.

Either way, spring is in the air. It was 50 degrees this weekend and baseball is right around the corner. Keep an eye out for a in depth Red Sox preview as well as predictions for around the league.

- Chris

Fast forward to the 1:10 mark and watch the rest of the video. OK, now try and convince me this kid isn’t the second coming on Nomar Garciaparra. Sure, there is no quirky toe tapping and glove fidgeting, or a beautiful flow of hair, but his stance and swing is an exact replica. For those who haven’t heard, this kids name is Jose Iglesias and he is one of the hot topics this spring at Red Sox camp.

Iglesias, a 20 year old Cuban defective, was signed this past September by the Red Sox to a four year $8.2 million contract. He is considered by most to be the starting shortstop in Boston as early as 2012. Known mainly for his glove, the kid has drawn comparisons to some of the greatest to play the position, including Ozzie Smith. After seeing this video, I am now convinced he will be a superstar with his bat as well. If you do anything that is comparable to Nomar, then in my eyes, you are a living legend.

In all seriousness though, the kid is talented. Check out the video below to get a sneak peak at his smooth hands and rocket arm. Upon signing, it was questioned whether or not he would hit enough to be a capable shortstop in the major leagues but Iglesias impressed during his time with the Arizona Fall League and has some scouts thinking an Orlando Cabrera type bat is in his future. Even if his bat is less than stellar, he will likely save enough runs with his glove to avoid being run out of town a la Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, and Nick Green.

It may be impossible for Iglesias to live up to the hype, mainly because so much is expected from him at such a young age (20), but it appears that Theo Epstein may have finally found a solution to his revolving door of shortstops.

- Chris

“We had an opportunity to exchange ideas with the club about a contract extension for Carl and it was clear to all of us that an immediate agreement was not going to materialize.  Thus, we all agreed to table discussions until the end of the year.  We’d like to minimize distractions for Carl and the club and keep the focus on baseball, so we don’t plan to comment upon Carl’s contract status again until after the season.”

Going into this winter I would have bet everything I had on the Red Sox employing either Jason Bay or Matt Holliday in left field on opening day. Their demands weren’t outrageous and I didn’t think the Sox would feel comfortable entering 2010 with 36 less home runs (Jason Bay’s 2009 total) in their lineup. Fast forward to right now and both Bay and Holliday have long since happily signed elsewhere while at the same time the Red Sox added John Lackey and Mike Cameron instead. Ellsbury will play left, Cameron will play center, and the Sox will likely have less thump in their lineup than they had in previous years. What I failed to consider at the time was the prospect of Carl Crawford hitting the free agent market in 2011.

If they do in fact have interest in Crawford, which is purely speculation on my part, then signing Bay or Holliday long term would have made signing Crawford nearly impossible. Not only would there be no position for him, but it would be tough to swallow another big contract when the team is already up against the luxury tax threshold. My best guess is this; Crawford is a younger and more dynamic player of which the Red Sox value higher than Bay and Holliday. He is also likely to command less on the open market. Combining the fact that the Red Sox like him more and that he would cost less than Bay or Holliday and ultimately signing him would be far more valuable to the club financially. This alone made it worth the risk of waiting it out even if they don’t sign him in the end.

Unfortunately, it looks like the Yankees also covet him, which you would expect as both the Sox and Yanks see the damage he can do more than any team in the league due to the unbalance in the schedule. The Yankees were silent when it came to Bay or Holliday and they also let one of their own, Johnny Damon, go to Detroit leaving left field to be occupied by Randy Winn and Brett Gardner. The Yankees spent the whole winter saying they had a hard budget of $200 million, which they spent up to, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if they were saving their pennies to make a run at Crawford next year.

Regardless, Crawford will no longer be employed by the Rays past 2010. He will command much more than the tight stringed Rays are willing to pay. Even if the Red Sox don’t sign him, the news of him potentially leaving the AL East is nothing short of stupendous. Sure he could end up signing with the Yankees, but the effect he would have on that home run driven offense is less than that of most other teams. But just imagine for a minute having Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford in the same lineup? Yea, you can count me as on the bandwagon.

- Chris

WEEI.com – Did you get away from the split last year?

No question. No question. I think when you’re successful at one certain aspect of your game, and mine was being able to locate my fastball towards the end of the season, you’re successful with it, I tended to really kind of rely on that a lot. Until I got hurt with it, which was a big part of the season, I went with it. Hindsight’s 20/20 now, but obviously I’m going to take that into consideration, try to be a little more selective with my pitch.

Did you lose the feel for the splitter?

No question. That’s such a feel pitch. It’s a pitch that you have to throw a lot, just like a curveball. Any kind of offspeed pitch, it’s a feel pitch. There were times when I was choking it down a little too much and overthrowing it, and there were times when I was throwing it perfect. But like I said, that comes with experience, and this year I’ll be able to take that into the season right from the get-go.

Well there you have it. I was the first person to bitch about this and trust me, it happened long before the rest of the media finally figured it out. For much of last season people were befuddled by how Papelbon had suddenly become semi-mortal, not me. It was blatantly obvious the whole time. The reason Papelbon was so unhittable in the past was because of his ability to locate the fastball and the follow up with a split finger that by the time you realized it wasn’t a fastball it was too late. Last year, it was all fastball. He would get ahead of guys 0-2 what seemed like every at bat, but after two pitches hitters were getting a feel for the fastball. Next a series of foul balls ensued and then ultimately a blown save. I don’t want to discredit anything Papelbon did last year because he was still one of the top three closers in all of baseball. But if he is throwing his splitter and getting guys to swing and miss there is no pitcher I would rather have on the mound in the bottom of the ninth. Hopefully last years disaster against the Angels is enough for Papelbon to realize that he needs this pitch to be the best in baseball. That is the Paps that I want on the mound.

- Chris

ESPNBoston.com — Daisuke Matsuzaka was back in camp Tuesday after tending to personal business in Boston but never made an appearance on the practice field. He left after working out inside and speaking briefly with Japanese reporters.

According to translations, the Kyodo News and the Japanese sports web site Sponichi Annex reported a few days ago that Matsuzaka, who was an early arrival here, had skipped his throwing session at the end of last week because of tightness in his back, and his no-show on the field Tuesday would suggest that the condition had not improved sufficiently to resume throwing. The Japanese media outlets had reported that the Red Sox were aware of the condition, though Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein did not mention it while discussing Matsuzaka with reporters on Monday.

We haven’t even made it to spring training yet and there is already word surfacing that Dice K is hurt? Come on. I was expecting big things out of him this year, especially after having a promising winter with the Athletes Performance Institute.  But this is not a good start. This kid has all the talent in the world but there is always something that is getting in the way of him succeeding. Even when he won 18 games in 2007, there was still plenty of bad things to be said about him. And it’s not like I can just call him a puss and tell him to suck it up either because that’s what he did last year and he blew nuts all year. Listen, Dice K obviously isn’t the key to the 2010 season. We could win the World Series without him making a single start. But if you give me half of the 2007 Dice K out of the fifth spot in the rotation and we could easily see the Red Sox starters pull in 80 wins during the regular season. Now get your shit together Dice and earn some of that money you are making.

- Chris

With spring training approaching, lets try and make sense out of Theo's off-season moves...

Many fans may not be too impressed with Theo Epstein’s moves this offseason, but be assured there is a method to his madness.

Let’s start with the infield. The Marco Scutaro signing does not seem like it is a big signing, but let’s face it it’s not supposed to be. Scutaro was signed at the bargain price of $5-million a year through 2011 with a mutual option worth $6-million if the Sox exercise it and $3-million if Scuatro exercises it. Any Red Sox fan with a brain knows that Scutaro is just being used as a bridge to Cuban defector Jose Iglesias. There is no doubt in my mind that the Red Sox will not exercise Scutaro’s option for 2012. If Iglesias is not ready by then the Sox will use Jed Lowrie, if still with the team, or sign another A-Gonzo type to fill the void until Iglesias is ready to step in. The Beltre signing is another signing that makes complete sense. Beltre is another guy they got at a bargain price of $9-million for one year with a $5-million dollar option for 2011. Beltre has been described by Joe Maddon (Tampa Bay Rays manager) as the best defensive 3^rd baseman he has ever seen. This alone makes him an upgrade over the very immobile Mike Lowell. In a perfect world Beltre would only be a Red Sox for a season with the Red Sox bringing in Adrian Gonzalez in July or the off-season. Another possibility could be if top prospect Lars Anderson shows promise he could step in at first-base in 2011 and have Youkilis shift to third-base. Essentially both infield signings are being used as bridges to other players.

The Mike Cameron signing is another transitional move. Many fans are upset at the fact that the team didn’t make a serious run at Jason Bay. Ultimately not making a run at Bay makes complete sense is certain things pan out. Cameron was signed to a two year $15.5-million contract which isn’t exactly bargain pricing but it also isn’t a lot. Cameron will be the Sox centerfielder for two years while the Sox top outfield prospects develop. Both Cameron and JD Drew’s contracts will be up at the end of 2011. By 2011 Theo Epstein hopes that both Josh Reddick and Ryan Kalish will be ready to step in as full time outfielders. That leaves an outfield with Reddick, Ellsbury, and Kalish in 2011. By this time the Red Sox No. 1 prospect in some people’s minds, Ryan Westmoreland, may also be ready which would then make Jacoby Ellsbury expendable for trade if need be. With a minor league system full of top outfield prospects Theo could not justify signing an aging Bay to a five or six year deal.

The only deal I can’t really make sense of is the John Lackey deal. Why sign this man to a five year deal worth $85-million when he isn’t even an ace type pitcher. The Red Sox were reluctant to offer Johan Santana or C.C. Sabathia a long term deal so why give it to John Lackey? Odds are Lackey will not be effective throughout this entire contract and the money committed to Lackey is money that can’t be committed to Josh Beckett who is  a younger and a better pitcher in my opinion. Maybe signing Lackey will pan out but I just don’t see it as a good deal for the Red Sox and it is out of character for Theo to commit this kind of money to an aging pitcher.

Essentially what Theo Epstein has done this off-season is put together a team, barring any injuries, that has an opportunity to win the World Series without tying up too much money in free agents or blocking spots for up and coming developing super stars in the minor league system.

-Willy

The Padres are just now saying what everyone in baseball has been saying for over a year now:

“While I’d be thrilled to have him part of the organization for the long term, the early signals indicate his cost will be greater than our ability to pay.”

That is from CEO Jeff Moorad to the San Diego Tribune yesterday. Gonzalez’ agent, John Boggs agreed and is fully expecting a trade:

“The feeling we’re getting is more than likely (the Padres) are going to have to trade Adrian because (they) can’t afford him.”

These guys really need to head about 100 miles north to LA and get an acting gig because they had me fooled there for a minute. It sounds like the two sides thought there was a legitimate chance of a deal getting done but you can’t fool me. Was it the frugal ownership that finally sunk in? The fact that the Red Sox would pay through the roof for him? Is it because the Padres have no talent in the major or minor leagues? Or is it simply that they finally realized that no one in San Diego gives a shit about baseball? Regardless, you know Jed Hoyer is sitting in his office just laughing at the show his CEO has been putting on. There is no doubt in my mind that when Jed took over as GM of the Padres he called every single team and said Gonzalez is on the first plane out of San Diego on July 31, 2010 after 4pm est (the MLB trade deadline). Now the team is trying to lighten the blow on the few fans they have by giving them a good five months to take it in. Does this mean that the Red Sox are first in line for Gonzalez’ services? Of course not, but it means Theo is one step closer to bringing someone in to try and give you some semblance of what Manny and Ortiz did in their heyday.

- Chris

Tim Wakefield says he’s completely recovered from offseason surgery to repair a herniated disc and plans on reclaiming his spot in the Red Sox’ starting rotation during spring training.

“I don’t,” he told a television interviewer in New York, where he was to receive the annual Bart Giamatti Award — given to the player who “best exemplifies the compassion demonstrated” by the late commissioner for excellence in the community — when asked if he anticipated a change in his role in 2010.

With the acquisition of John Lackey, the Sox now have six starters for five rotation spots: Lackey, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Clay Buchholz and Wakefield. But Wakefield says he plans to step back into his old position as one of the five starters.

“I feel great,” he said. “I finished my rehab a couple of weeks ago [and I'm] right back on schedule as far as my offseason conditioning and throwing program [is concerned], and I feel like there won’t be any setbacks when I go to spring training.”

This is interesting. Obviously everyone around here loves Tim Wakefield and would love to see him become the all time wins leader in Red Sox history, but who does he expect out of Lester, Beckett, Daisuke, Lackey, and Buchholz to be left out of the starting five? It obviously isn’t going to be Lester, Beckett, or Lackey as these guys are essentially 1, 1a, 1aa. It would be foolish to try and block Buchholz from continuing his rise after he has showed pretty consistent improvement over the last 18 months; and Daisuke was arguably our best pitcher in September; not to mention the financial commitment they have made to him or the fact that he had an 18 win season and a sub 3 era under his belt that last time he was healthy.

I see Wake going into the season as the spot starter/long relief man out of the bullpen. It isn’t a glorious job, but when you are 43 and coming off back to back to back seasons where you had to hang up the cleats early due to injury then you take what you can get in terms of a job. Regardless, this is hardly a bad problem to have. Every year the Sox go into the season with “too much pitching” and by July 31st they are always mixing it up trying to add another starter before the deadline.

- Chris