Well my father was watching the Red Sox St. Patrick’s Day exhibition game on television and something struck him as alarming. Then on Wednesday he brought his thoughts and concerns to our daily school hall duty for further discussion. He ran the scenario by me to see what I thought.

Basically it was summed up with this, Beckett starts the game and throws a decent four innings. Granted he gave up 3 runs but he looked sharp and was hitting the radar gun at his usual 94 or 95. Then in the fifth comes Papelbon. Now this was a different story. His first couple or so fastballs clocked in between 89 and 91. What!!!!!!? Oh by the way, the first batter he faced took him deep. Well lets see, lets give a professional baseball hitter, spring training or not, an 89 mph fastball and see what he does with it. Gone!

Jonathan Papelbon

It didn’t get much better. He topped the guns around 91. Now shouldn’t this show some concern among the coaching staff? I hope so. Remy and Orsillo were trying to contribute the lack of velocity to him pitching in the fifth inning of a spring training game rather than the ninth inning of a regular season one. That Papelbon’s adrenaline would power up that fastball. Power it up 5 or 6 mph’s??? I don’t know about that.

In me and my dad’s brief hall discussion while loud and obnoxious students, even at 7:45 in the morning, are strolling by, we concluded that this should be a vital concern but also agreed that maybe Papelbon needs a wake-up call in that not even his job as closer is safe. Especially given the personnel the Sox have added this off season. Hey wait…didn’t they sign a guy with 154 career saves, and isn’t that 41 more than Papelbon has?

Don’t get me wrong, I want Papelbon to be their guy, but I think there is a concern here and I hope it is fixed before it gets worse. Opening day is 18 days away!

Thursday marks the start of spring training for major league baseball’s pitchers and catchers and ends winter in the eyes of fans. The Red Sox pitchers reported today and had eager remarks to start their 2009 campaign. Even some pitchers, like Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Brad Penny and others, reported early showing their anticipation of the new season.

As the weekend arrives and workouts begin, the field players will begin to report and the spring will officially begin. Again even some of the field players have reported already, such as hard-working Kevin Youkilis. Its promising to see that so many players are eager to start the season.

The Red Sox have invited 19 players to Spring Training to try and make the club’s roster. This list includes players with major league experience like infielder Nick Green and outfielder Paul McAnulty. Also veteran first baseman/outfielder Brad Wilkerson, who the Sox signed to a minor league contract a short time ago.

The rest of the list includes catcher Carlos Maldonado, infielders Lars Anderson, Jeff Bailey, Angel Chavez, Ivan Ochoa and Gil Velazquez. And outfielders Chip Ambres, Zach Daeges, and Josh Reddick. Pitchers Daniel Bard, Fernando Cabrera, Enrique Gonzalez, Kris Johnson, Marcus McBeth, Dustin Richardson, Billy Traber and knuckleballer Charlie Zink round out the list.

The Sox are really eager for the arrival of their two top prospects in firstbaseman Anderson and lefthander Bard. In a very stacked roster, the openings will be minimal and be very hard to make. This is a good sign for the Sox because it means that they have a wide base to choose from and a lot of talent. The biggest key for the Sox will be to keep the current talent healthy. It is good to see that if injuries do become a problem then there is a good pool of players to pick from.

With just three days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, the topic that is flooding the news once again is the issue of steroid use in major league baseball. The focus should be on what teams look revamped for the 2009 season, or on how the champion Phillies are fairing. However, the main focus is the recent acquired information that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids and using performance enhancing drugs back in 2003.

2003 was Alex’s last year playing for the Texas Rangers, a year removed from being named American League MVP when he led the league in both homeruns and RBI’s.

Of course in all of this Alex still holds to his statements by saying that he never used the substances and is not guilty. He presently is now stating, “Talk to the union…I have nothing to say”. He stated something similar within the past couple years but is lucky that it wasn’t in front of a grand jury. Instead it was in an interview with Katie Couric on national television. When asked by Katie whether he had ever used or had ever been tempted to use performance enhancing drugs, he simply replied “No”.

He has not addressed the media publicly about the allegations. This because it was stated that anyone found who tested positive back in 2003 was going to remain anonymous and that there would be no suspensions given out. Back in 2003 the testing was done randomly and there were no written punishments about steroids since it was a time before the drug talk really surfaced within the sport. Since then however, many well known players have been linked to being ones that have used the drugs to better their performance. For example two would-be hall of famers Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are currently battling courts about their probable use.

Now A-Rod faces a sure huge media swarm that will fire out questions regarding the allegations and will have fans second guessing his actual performance. As Alex nears record breaking homerun totals, fans will ultimately be thinking if his skills and records are legitimate or if his name should have an asterisk by it.

For being a Red Sox fan I don’t feel much remorse on the subject because my take on steroid use is that it is intolerable and is considered to be cheating. Also that this will create a distraction to the Yankees’ spring and will give others an edge in those regards. As a major league baseball fan on the other hand, I am disgusted and I guess that I truly hoped that Alex was not using. I really wanted to believe that there were A-list players, like A-Rod, in the league that had no relationship to the drugs and that we were over the hump with that issue and headed in the right direction. I guess that will have to wait.

Now we all know that the Red Sox and Yankees compete by squaring off 19 times a year and they both go for the high market players during every off season, but this years’ off season was rediculous. There was a battle for Mark Teixeira and after the Red Sox offered him $170 million for 8 years, they lost out to the Yankees at $180 million.

The Yankees and Teixeira have come to terms on a eight-year contract worth $180 million, according to multiple reports, that will fit the winter’s top free agent slugger for pinstripes. The Yankees will look to their slick-fielding switch-hitter to man first base and protect Alex Rodriguez as they open the new Yankee Stadium.

I am going to have to give the edge to the Yankees this winter and their signings. They landed the top two pitching free agents by signing C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. And to go along with Teixeira, they locked up the three best available players during the winter.

The Yankees spent a total of $423.5 million dollars on their three players. Two of which play only every five days! Although, they do join a huge cast of players that will play in front of a dedicated Bronx crowd at a new billion dollar stadium.

With this said, I feel that the Yankees have to win the World Series. How can you not? In fact, if the Yankees do not win the fall classic then I think that certain personnel should not be fired but kicked out of baseball entirely. If Joe Girardi can not lead that overpowering squad to a title then he and Brian Cashman should retire.

Now the Red Sox on the other hand spent a considerable amount less on their signings. They spent a total of $94.5 million on resigning Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, as well as signing John Smoltz, Brad Penny, prospect Takashi Saito, and Rocco Baldelli. So maybe I don’t give the edge to the Yankees. When you can spend $329 million less and lock up two proven all-stars, a future hall of famer, a former pitching ace, a highly anticipated reliever, and a hopeful very talented outfielder.

So go ahead Yankees, spend your billions. Granted the Red Sox spend a lot of money too, but $423.5 million for three players? We will spend what is needed to get quality players and be right there once the post-season comes. Besides, we already have spent less and have 2 championships to show for it since 2000. How many do the Yankees have since then?

As recently reported on redsox.com, the Red Sox have 9 key questions to answer when the team begins to report for training this spring. I will give them to you in no particular order of importance.

1. Big Papi needs to get his groove back- I believe that Big Papi’s groove may not be able to entirely return. The big slugger is 33 years old and is now in a full season without Manny hitting behind him. He can return better than his “off” year of a year ago but I hope Red Sox nation doesn’t expect him to deliver what he has in the past because I don’t see it happening.

2. Sorting out the bullpen- One “problem” they have that I don’t see as a problem is that the Sox have a lot of arms. To help set up for Papelbon are; Okajima, Delcarmen, Ramirez, Saito, and if all the starters are healthy, Masterson. That is a good handful of arms to start with, but they need this, as any team does, in order to compete for a title.

3. Matsuzaka’s temporary leave- Daisuke will not join the team until mid or late March because he is pitching in the World Baseball Classic for his home country of Japan. He will stay in Japan and workout there instead of travelling here then going back. The Sox are reluctant about this but will monitor him and his workouts. I say let him do his thing. As far as workouts, they do things twice as hard over there. Actually that probably goes for most things over there. He will be fine and in good shape come opening day.

4. Varitek’s offense- You already know my opinion on this! I say let him hit .250 and do the managing of the pitching staff while on the field that he has in the past. He will lead in every other way. Besides, I don’t think his offense will be what it was last year. It was an off year and I think I read somewhere last year that he was going through a divorce, I may be mistaken. You can’t tell me that anyone does their best work when they are going through that.

5. Ellsbury’s consistency- Well I think they solved this when they got rid of Coco Crisp. Now Jacoby can play every day and do what he does best, play good defense (without being compared to Coco’s), leadoff and get on base for Dustin, Big Papi and Youk, and steal bases.

6. Lowell’s recovery- He will bounce back and give his usual display of stellar defense at third base while being solid on offense. Probably no career totals this year at the plate but solid nonetheless. Also don’t look for Lowell to have hard feelings that the Red Sox tried hard for Mark Texeira to replace Lowell in the line-up. He is classy and knows that the Sox value his play and loyalty. They should since he was the one that took less money to stay in Boston rather than take a longer contract with the Phillies a couple years ago.

7. Bard and Wakefield reunited- Bard is back again to catch Wakefield’s knuckleball after being traded because of his 10 passed balls in 5 games trying to catch the dancing pitch. I think all of us in Red Sox land took Doug Mirabelli for granted all of those years and don’t realize how hard it is to catch Wakefield. Now we have a guy who isn’t (and wasn’t) as successful and now we will value Mirabelli. Let’s give Bard the benefit and a break.

8. Lugo and Lowrie battle for ss- I see this one going to Lugo and giving him the benefit of the doubt. Lugo will get the nod and will be given the chance to stay there or screw it up. Simply because Lowrie can play everywhere so he can come off the bench and fill in and then take over when Lugo hits like crap. Plus Lugo still has 2 years left on his $18 million contract! The Sox don’t want to feel they are throwing that away.

9. Baldelli’s energy level- He will need it for when J.D. Drew gets hurt again and has to play rightfield. It says that Rocco has better medication for his rare condition and should be there all season and ready to go. I tell you what, this guy is accident prone and seems to be a little numb as well. Great raw skills though.

These 9 things to answer could be a lot worse. The Sox seem to be in good shape if these are the main problems. What always ends up being the major problems is pitching and if the Sox can keep their personnel, and keep them healthy, then they could legitimately compete for their third title in six years.

The USA Baseball Team has announced their provisional roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic and includes two members of the Boston Red Sox, all-star first baseman Kevin Youkilis and Major League Baseball MVP Dustin Pedroia.

The USA teams’ full final 26 man roster, which includes 13 pitchers, is not due until Feb. 24th and the team’s first game will be played in Toronto on March 7th at 2:00pm against Canada.

Even though the roster is currently at 42, and contains many excellent players, Sox fans shouldn’t worry about Youk and Dustin making the final roster. They have been named as part of the elite and will be there come Feb. 24th.

On a side note about a Sox player, third baseman Mike Lowell, recovering from off season right hip surgery, will not be participating in the Baseball Classic for his represented country of Puerto Rico. Both Puerto Rico and the Red Sox denied him of playing in the tournament in fear of doing damage to the hip. Lowell will be focusing his time on making sure he is as close to 100% for the Red Sox come this spring.

As fun as this Classic is to watch, I think it is so hard for them to play to make it as interesting as it could be. There is no good time to hold this event. During the season is a definite no, at the end of the season doesn’t work because so many have finished their seasons and are ready for a break. Also the current time of the event, March, is so tough because you have guys just trying to get back into baseball shape, timing of pitches, getting their swing just right, or getting their arms into shape. It poses a problem for players like Lowell because it forces them to choose what is more important, and in his case its the Boston Red Sox and their hopeful upcoming 2009 season.

roster provided by www.usabaseball.com

Provisional World Baseball Classic Roster

Final roster due Feb. 24.

Jason Varitek,captain since the 2005 season, returns for his 12th season

On friday the Boston Red Sox and Jason Varitek agree on terms of a deal that will keep the captain a member of the Red Sox for the 2009 season with an option for 2010. The deal guarantees Varitek $5 million with incentives based on performance that could total another $7 million. The announcement hasnt been made because a physical is pending but everyone in Boston, including the pitching staff, are excited about Varitek’s return. When the team reports to Fort Myers on Feb. 12th for spring training, Jason Varitek will be there for his 12th full season as a member of the Red Sox and will be ready to lead the pitching staff.

Varitek hit a career low .220 last season for the wild card Red Sox, but contributes to the team in much more important ways. Varitek’s leadership towards the pitching staff and in the clubhouse could not be replaced. Jason should have been the first guy this off season that the Red Sox should have locked up. But, in an offensive-minded league because that is what pays the owners, he and his contract deal was put on hold.

Varitek is a career .263 hitter, a gold glove winner in 2005, and a three time all-star. But more importantly he is the captain. How do you tell the captain after 11 seasons that you do not want to offer him a deal because he hit a mere .220? Well lets see, how about in recent past catching 4 no-hitters (a major league record), including one from Clay Buchholz, who has since dropped off Red Sox nation. There was no fluke there huh? I would think Varitek had something to do with that. I would say in a sense that Varitek has thrown 4 no-hitters.

Since 2004 and the Red Sox two World Championships, I consider Jason Varitek to be the club’s most valuable player and today is a good day in Beantown for they have signed a great catcher, clubhouse leader, and captain for another year. Many are, including the 2009 pitching staff, are happy that Tek has signed.