It's going to be 65 degrees and sunny today.  I couldn't think of a better time to lay down my thoughts on the upcoming season.  Knowing how much I like to write I need to break this down into a two parter.  Today I will focus soley on the Red Sox and tomorrow the rest of the pack.  I have spent more time than necessary trying to figure out how I'm going to break this down, but  I feel like my talents are best served going by individual players grouped by position.  Yes, Eric Wilbur did this yesterday, but he decided to be boring and make innocuous predictions.   Nothing like looking at the limb and pondering going out on it.

Coaching

No more Dale Sveum.  Enough said.

Outfield

Manny Ramirez
It's funny saying this, but Manny is the most consistent player on this team.  I will never get sick of him, which means I'm still driving his bandwagon straight into the Charles River.  He always puts up big numbers.  He puts the team on his back a few times a year and single-handedly wins games for them.  He will make a handful of "How did he do that?" catches in the field.  Remember last year when he hit over 10 Fenway home runs in a row onto to Lansdowne St?  The greatest thing about sitting in the Monster seats is having a Manny blast rocket over your head.  It's pure joy.

Coco Crisp
We all know how silly Red Sox fans can get when a guy has a great Spring.  Well Coco has had a monster Spring and I can see the Globe and Herald battling over the headline rights to We're All Loco For Coco.  I'm sure his shirts are selling like hot cakes right now.  My friend El Jefe and I have a rule that you have to wait at least a year before buying a shirt with a player name on it, even the t-shirts.  I won't be buying my Coco shirt any time soon, but I'm honestly excited about him.  I watched about 10 minutes of Sunday's game against the Phillies and he stole second base.  No big deal right?  Well, let's just say that Coco's wheels move a little faster than Damon's.  If he can swipe 30 bases then he changes the entire complexion of the offense.  Johnny stopped running after the collision in Oakland and it showed.  Having a threat like Coco is going to surprise a lot of people.  Let's just hope Tito let's him loose.

Trot Nixon
Christopher Trotman Nixon is in a contract year.  Typically that means he's going to have a fantastic season, but I'm not so sure about this.  I think Trot is going to try too hard and struggle for a good chunk of the first half of the season.  He's just wound a bit too tight and although he means well, it's going to effect his game.  I hope I'm wrong, because it's going to take an All-Star level breakout to get the team to think about re-signing him.  If he struggles too much, my money is Trot is a Washington National come July.

Wily Mo Pena
The man-child is in his apprentice year.  Manny, Papi and Papa Jack and going to work hard on him.  I can't wait for those Sunday afternoon games when he's in to give Trot a day off and he hits Sam Horn-esque bombs and gets the entire nation buzzing and debating why he doesn't play every day.  This will get worse if Nixon gets off to a Millar-esque start to the season.

Adam Stern
I know the rosters are not set, but he has to be on this team.  He's been nothing short of spectacular this Spring and in the WBC.  He's not the next Fred Lynn, but he certainly is going to be a spark off the bench.  I like his game and I'm glad he's one of us.

Infield

Mike Lowell
This whole 3B/1B situation is a "I won't believe it until I see it" situation.  I have no idea how this is going to play out.  I will say that Mike Lowell and Kevin Millar have had similar declines in their skills.  Is it a coincidence that they were both Marlins?  Read between those lines people.  The only difference is that Lowell has some defensive skills where Millar posesses none.  Look at the pre-steroid crackdown highlights of Lowell, when he had offensive game, and you will see he was shredded and had a pop in his bat.  Now not so much.  He looks normal.  He has warning track power just like a former 1B/DH.  I hope the team has learned from the Millar debacle last year and has a quick hook on Lowell.  Don't be surprised if they eat the contract and release him.

Alex Gonzalez
We have our own Gonzo now.  Isn't that sweet.  If anybody catches me calling him Gonzo please kill me.  If he struggles too much at the plate I'll be pulling out the Elian Gonzalez jokes out fast.  Hey, he's Cuban.  He must have skills.  I don't want to pick on Alex too soon though.  He's really slick defensively.  If anything I'm excited about a guy who can pick it.  Edgar didn't work out and it actually bummed me out, but everyone knows Gonzalez is an upgrade over Edgar and quite possibly Orlando Cabrera.

Mark Loretta
Two years of Mark Bellhorn and you could have resurrected Redd Fox from the grave, put him at second, and I would have been doing the dance of joy.  He's a steady player with some pop in the bat.  You know he's doing a good job when you're not hearing "Damn you Tito, put Bellhorn in there!!!!" coming out of my mouth while the first smartass fan tells me he's not on the team anymore.

Kevin Youkilis
Don't get too attached to that first baseman's mit.  You won't need it for long.  I'm really interested in seeing Youk for a full season.  I want to know if he's all that he's cracked up to be or just another whiney bitch who doesn't deserve to play.  Anything short of a .300 average, 18 home runs and 80 RBI is not good for Youk's future.  Truth is I don't like him so much.  My feeling is that if he's so good then he would have made it easy for Tito to supplant Bill Mueller, but he didn't.  On top of that rumor has it he's a notoriously cheap tipper at the local restaurants so he's already got one strike against him.  Perhaps this doesn't continue if he becomes and All Star and gets a big fat contract.  Odds in Vegas are 150-1.

Alex Cora
Here's what is funny about this guy.  When nobody is on base or the team doesn't need a big hit he looks like an overmatched hitter.  If the Sox need a run or something big to happen he always hits the ball hard.  Sure, some of those turn into outs, but it's as if he needs pressure to lock in during an at bat.  Too bad he couldn't channel that into every at bat.  He'd be a solid every day player if so.  His defensive value is worth it.  Given injuries and days off there aren't many bench players I'd want to put in there.

JT Snow
I should just give him an incomplete.  I haven't seen him once this Spring.  He's here to be the consumate professional and team player.  I really like when teams do this.  He's Mike Stanley without the professional hitter label.  I used to love him and Tim Salmon when they were on the Angels.  Heck, I even bought an Angels hat when they were rookies.  It was the only non-Red Sox hat I have owned since I was a kid.  One was the Blue Jays, which I had when I was 6 and thought they had the best logo and uniforms in the game.  I still feel strongly about this.  The only other one was a Reds hat that was part of my Babe Ruth team's uniform.  Cheers to you JT and a fine career.  May the taste of champagne hit your lips this October.

Hee Seop Choi
As long as he wears a Sox uniform I am calling him Bok Choy.  Since he was signed less than a week ago I have no idea if he's going to be on the team.  Every time I see him and then look at his stats I think he's Rafael Palmeiro without the steroids.  We'll see.

Enrique Wilson
I don't care one iota about his relationship with Manny.  As long as he's not on the Yankees I'm happy.  He's one of a hundred former Yankees, who were mediocre players, that absolutely killed the Red Sox when they played.  You could have given him $5 million this year and I wouldn't so as much raised an eyebrow.

Catchers

Jason Varitek
I love catchers.  There is no other player I respect more than a catcher.  A lot of this stems from the fact that when I was in Little League my best friend was a catcher.  He suffered through a lot and we were 12.  We probably played 30-40 games a year if you include All Star tournaments.  I don't know how Tek does it, but I'm sure the tree trunk legs help.  I don't think there is a better catcher in baseball.  Is he the best with the bat?  No, but he's damn good.  Is he the best defensive catcher?  No, but he's damn good.  Does he handle pitchers better than anyone else?  Yes.  The only thing that I worry about is seeing him break down from the wear and tear.  Here's hoping he has taken DNA shots from Carlton Fisk.

Josh Bard
Remember when many in Red Sox Nation thought it would be a good idea to let Tek go last year and put Mirabelli in as the every day catcher?  They went so far as pro-rating his 2004 numbers over a 162 game period to see his stats blossom to a .280 average with nearly 30 home runs and 100 RBI.  Yeah folks there is a reason why they are called back-up catchers.  I hate when fans worry about the back-up catcher.  It's like worrying about a back-up quarterback.  Who cares?  It doesn't matter unless your starter sucks.  In our case he doesn't.  Here's hoping that Bard can handle a knuckleball. 

DO

David Ortiz
I'm renaming the position.  It's a DO.  If you're mediocre you're a DH, but if you're great you're a DO.  Watching Papi in the WBC made me a tad bit nervous because he was looking to launch bombs every at bat.  I hope that was just a "I'm screwing around in these exhibition games" occurance.  I also hope he gets back to spraying the ball around instead of trying to pull it all the time.  You thought last year was good?  Watch as Papi goes off while Theo makes him sweat the contract extension.  Every home run after 35 this year will produce these words from Papi.  "Tee-O that one just cost you another $500K a year"

Pitchers

Curt Schilling
Everyone feels the same way.  Which Curt are we going to get?  I'm hoping for a healthy one.  The guy has guts and loves to pitch in big games.  What else can you say?  I'm glad he's on my team.

Josh Beckett
Anyone who barks at a showboat in the Spring is A1 on my list.  If this works out we have our #1 stud for the next 5 years.  I cannot be any more giddy about this.  What kills me is that the Jays signing of Beckett's former teamate AJ Burnett has drawn more national attention than the Sox acquiring Beckett.  Even though Beckett is considered the better pitcher none of this matters.  I shouldn't complain too much, because Josh can fly right under the radar for a while.  After a few adjustments to the AL the guy is going to tear up.

Tim Wakefield
Here's how every Wakefiled season goes.  Good start when the air is cool and dry.  Falls apart when the heavy, humid, air settles in around late June/early July.  Struggles for a while, but adds some wins when pitching inside of domes.  Get's on track and then tears it up when it gets cool and dry in September.  Here is what I hate about this pattern.  For four straight years I have been at the first humid game that Wakefiled pitches in and gets shelled.  If I have a ticket this year I'm giving it up.

Matt Clement
Anybody that Peter Gammons loves as much as he does Clement gets a two year grace period with me.  He was awful after getting hit in the head last season.  He lost his mojo and obviously never had a "Talk to me Goose" moment that would have put his confidence back in place.  We've seen that when he's on he is most definitely on.  I got hit in the eye twice in my life while at the plate.  It hurts like a mofo and the second time it happened I partially lost my vision for a day.  That first at bat when you get back on the saddle is terrifying.  I'm rooting hard for Clement this year, because the crap he's taken has been totally unjust.

David Wells
If he were 50 years old and pitching against the Red Sox he'd still chuck a shutout.  Another guy you're happy to have on your team, beer belly and all.  I love when he pops off at Selig.  That guy is a lame duck.  He never should have been commish and he should be pushed out by the owners.  I don't care if he's a nice guy.  He could be a boy scout troop leader for all I care.  He will go down as the man who let steroids run rampant in the game.  Boomer is colorful and fun to have on your team.  Plus, he's not too shabby when he pitches either.

Keith Foulke
In about a month when Foulke has 10 saves everyone will forget the Johnny from Burger King comment.  I did the second after he said it.  If 30K people boo me for an extended period of time I may get surly.  It's human nature.  I'm going to set a goal that every time a member of the media makes reference to that comment I'm going to email them a one worded message.  Boo.  To drive my point home I'll add about 30K more o's to it.  The bottom line is that Foulke's knees gave out last year.  Knees are an integral part of pitching in case you aren't aware.  He tried playing through it yet got no respect for doing so.  My Danzig shirt is ready to roll in honor of "Mother" Foulke.

Mike Timlin
Does he have another year left in the tank?   As long as he keeps eating at El Pelon Taqueria then he'll be fine.

Lenny DiNardo
I cut him some slack because he played for team Italy in the WBC.  He gets a two month grace period, but who knows since he could become the lefty specialist and hold the title of emergency starter.

Rudy Saenz
I asked the Magic 8 Ball if Rudy will have a good season.  The answer was very doubtful.

Julian Tavarez
When he is on he is very good and when he is off he is a timebomb.  Fortunately, he proved this week that he is only a threat to himself.  I cannot understand why people are not more excited about him.  He just singlehandedly took the rivalry with the Devil Rays up by three notches.  The anticipation for the first meeting on April 18 is killing me.  I have no idea, short of getting beaten badly for so many years, why Tampa always finds their way into some doneybrooks with Boston.  It's the closest thing that we have to old time hockey, which cannot be bad.

Jonathan Papelbon
I'm saving the best for last.  I honestly feel bad for Pap, because I have personally placed a tremendous amount of expectation upon him this year.  My heart is going to be broken if he doesn't become a major force for years to come.  I fell in love with him hard last season.  There is something special about his make-up that sets him apart from any pitcher that has come up through the system since the mid-80s.  It's been twenty years and I think it's high time a new sheriff rolled into town.  Papelbon is a horse.  He thrived under playoff pressure last season.  He brings some serious smoke and when he develops some complimentary pitches, he's going to be downright nasty.  I'm not even upset that he's starting off in the bullpen.  Great bullpens win many a game so his presence will certainly help.  Hear me now and listen to me later.  Pap will be a starting pitcher sooner or later and we will soon be inundated with Beckett/Papelbon promotions, because they are going to be a force to be reckoned with.  Don't think I'm not counting down the days until I can officially buy my Papelbon jersey.  That day is July 31.

 

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