Pitchers and Catchers Report to Fort Myers

Well after a long and very painful offseason the boys are back. Terry is gone, and Lackey is probably yelling at someone for overcooking his fried chicken and I have a feeling this is the year where the Sox return to the top of the baseball world. Many of you will not continue reading after reading that line. Probably going to get back to watch mediocre Jeremy Lin highlights or watch Eli Manning blindly throw balls around a football field. Anyways, let me put my anger aside for just a few more moments. I was very excited to see the moves the Sox made in the off-season making a point to improve the bullpen they had last season. Signing Andrew Bailey and Mark Melancon will solidify that bullpen and once again make it reliable. Jonathan Papelbon is out and will make a living blowing saves in the City of Brotherly Love and I couldn't be happier. His death stare to the plate was getting old and he had lost his intimidation factor that once was such an advantage. His tailing fastball had become flat and hitters after seeing him for a longer period of time began to tee-off. They were picking up the ball quicker from his release and so began the downfall of Pap and it will only continue in Philly. Regardless of that nutjob, Bailey and Melancon will be competing for that closer role. Talks were that Daniel Bard was going to fill that role, but with that fat-load Lackey having Tommy John in the off-season, the Sox are seeking another starter. That starter may be Bard. Whether he has the stamina to go 6-plus innings has yet to be seen. He was usually a one inning type man pumping his fastball up in the triple digits and kind of left it all out there. Whenever he got into that second inning of work, he became erratic and hung his slider a bit too much for my liking. But if one thing is for sure, the Sox will again be in the hunt and hopefully we can resist leaving our chances until the last game of the season.


By the way, does that video not just get you absolutely amped?