Worthless and Weak

Well, last year, I thought it was going to be the year. The one year when the sox finally go all the way. This year, I don't know. Of course, I'll get a much better idea when the season actually starts, but I think that I'll talk a little bit about what the sox are doing.

I was really hoping that we would sign Tom Glavine or Jim Thome or somebody who would make an immediate and very large impact on the team. Fortuneatly, we didn't. I think that Epstein, more than anything else, has made it clear that the Duquette era is over. We will no longer simply go into the market with huge amounts of cash, and try to buy success. I have often said that I could do that. Simply look at what we need, and offer huge amounts of money to somebody like Manny Ramirez. I think Epstein is a much better GM, due to his ability to get good players cheaply. For instance, I think that getting Giambi was a great idea. I think that Epstein will be sure to build a team, not to buy a team. However, there are several questions I still have. Lets look at the five man rotation, shall we?

Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield, Casey Fossum, and John Burkett. Of these five, I think that five of them have the potential to be good/great pitchers this year. However, of these five, I think that five of them have the potential to be large dissapointments. Lets look at each one:

Pedro Martinez. If he is healthy, he'll be a great pitcher. If he is healthy, that is. I really don't know if he will stay healthy, although I really don't think there is as much of a risk this year as there was last year.

Derek Lowe. He's only had one year as a starter. So, last year could have been a fluke. However, I really don't think that it was. He should be good this year, but you certainly don't know.

Tim Wakefield. When Tim is good, he is good. When he's not, he's not really good. I think that Wakefield could be great, if he plays all year like he played the end of last season.

Casey Fossum. I think that this kid will break out onto the scene. I really enjoyed watching him pitch great games last year. And although I think he wasn't good in the way that Pedro is good, I think that there is a very good chance that he will break out onto the scene sometime soon. It might not be this year though.

John Burkett. He's old, and he can't play forever. If he pitches like he did in the first half of the season, he (and the Red Sox in general) will have a great year. If he stays at the level he was at towards the end of last season, I think that he may very well end his career very quickly.

Overall, I think that we have enough talent in our lineup to give us a fighting chance. I certainly think that we will win or lose by or rotation (and perhaps the closer by commitee thing). I certainly don't think that all five of them will have a great year, or that all five of them will have a bad year. However, I think that at least one of them (either Wakefield or Burkett) will end up in the bulpen by the end of the year. And I expect Rolando Arrojo to take his place.

Of course, all this assumes that we don't get Bartolo Colon by the beggining of the year. If we do, I think that Boston will be the team to beat. He is good, and I don't see a large potential downside with him.

Anyway, enough baseball for today, so let me just wish the Sox a good year, and you a good day!