Boston Red Sox

In no uncertain terms, the Red Sox significantly stepped up the pressure on catcher Victor Martinez Monday when they signed Cuban Adalberto Ibarra to a Major League contract worth anywhere between $3 and $4.3 million over five years.

Like Carlos Zambrano, big-time pitchers Justin Verlander, Jake Peavy, and Josh Beckett are off to awful starts. They are not alone. Names like Jon Lester, Aaron Harang, Javier Vazquez, Chad Billingsley, and Jeremy Bonderman join them on this list of the top ten worst pitchers in 2010.

Virtually all of these pitchers have two things in common. They were expected to be aces, stoppers, shutdown grinders, strike-one dealers. They are all disappointing.

Let’s take a look at how bad they all really are, see if they’re improving, and ask ourselves:

Is this just an April shower?

Josh Beckett continued to live up to the four-year, $68 million deal given to him by the Boston Red Sox prior to the season.

Due to David Ortiz’s struggles last season and early this season, many people have speculated over whether or not Big Papi is done.

In short, I think he is nearing the end. 

I am sure he still has a few good games left in him, but I would venture to guess that even the most diehard member of Red Sox nation would agree that his best years are behind him.

Whenever a player of Ortiz’s caliber nears the end of his career, the conversation almost always switches to a discussion of whether or not said player will make it to the Hall of Fame.

After a dismal start to the 2010 MLB season, fortunes are starting to turn for the boys of summer in Beantown. With a come-from-behind win over the bottom-dwelling Orioles, the Red Sox have been able to rattle off four wins in their last five outings, quickly approaching the .500 mark for the young season.

So far, nothing has been easy for the Red Sox. Starting the season against the defending world champion New York Yankees, along with the difficult Tampa Bay Rays and a much improved Minnesota Twins, things have not gone the way Sox fans have come to expect.

Eighteen months ago, the NY times announced that it was actively shopping its stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Red Sox, NESN, Fenway Park, and other real estate holdings. It said it was selling its 17.5 percent stake in NESV in an effort to raise cash and shield the paper from the rapidly-developing revenue squeeze that hit the newspaper industry in the wake of the recession.

Red Sox southpaw Jon Lester pitched 5.2 shutout innings this evening, but his bullpen allowed two runs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth as the visiting Baltimore Orioles tied the game, thereby leaving the lefty with only a no-decision to show for his efforts.

But the Sox scored in the bottom of the frame courtesy of a bases-loaded walk to Adrian Beltre, and they went on to win the ballgame, 4-3, in front of 37,367 fans at Fenway Park.

Is it me or does the game feel different when the Captain is behind the plate?

I will not argue with anyone that says Jason Varitek is near the end of his career.  I will not argue with anyone that says he needs to be the backup catcher. But after the start of this season, I must argue with anyone who doesn't agree that the game has a different tone when the Captain is at the Helm. 

Greetings from the Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. Since I am on a business trip and my time is limited, I thought I would group a couple of posts into one.

By the way, if you want to feel better about yourself, just walk around in the Bally’s casino at around 8 o'clock in the morning. It’s not a pretty place.

Let’s see what is going on around the majors.

Jacoby Ellsbury has broken ribs