Boston Red Sox

According to Nick Cafardo, the contract talks seem to be progressing:

During the off-season, Sox GM Theo Epstein shaped the 2010 club by trading hitting for pitching and defense. Offensive producers OF Jason Bay and 3B Mike Lowell were subtracted from the lineup and replaced with defensive standouts OF Mike Cameron and 3B Adrian Beltre. The money saved by not re-signing Bay was re-directed to acquiring free agent pitcher John Lackey.

The theory behind the moves was that the ballclub can win as many (or more) games as a result of improved run prevention as it can by maintaining the former level of run production.

Why do so many writers in the baseball universe refer to Kevin Youkilis as over-rated or predict that his career will start to backslide?

Many of these pundits point to the fact he had a bad back throughout much of last year, and that back issues tend to linger and never go away—especially for a 31-year-old.  They assume that his back condition will be chronic, and with less time on the field he'll have fewer opportunities to produce runs.

There is a widespread consensus that the Red Sox starting rotation was significantly improved this winter.

But while most of that improvement is attributed to the signing of John Lackey, there is more to it than just that.

Lackey will no doubt improve the Sox rotation. But in addition to adding the best free agent pitcher on the market, the Red Sox improved their rotation through subtraction.

The Minnesota Twins scored one run on two hits off RHP Josh Beckett in the first inning of tonight's Grapefruit League opener at a chilly City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers, FL (it was 45 degrees when the final out was recorded). Afterwards, Beckett and seven relievers shut down the opposing offense on two hits over the final eight innings in the Sox 2-1 win. 

Besides Beckett, only LHPs Hideki Okajima and Brian Shouse allowed singles in the ballgame. Red Sox pitchers combined to strike out four and issue three walks.

Victor Martinez has huge shoes to fill behind home plate at Fenway Park. His predecessor was team captain, backstopped two World Series championship teams and is the only catcher in the history of the game to have caught four no-hitters.

With Jason Varitek now relegated to part-time duty, many pundits are wondering aloud whether Martinez will prove to be an adequate replacement with the bat and behind the plate.

Well folks, it's that time of year again. Regardless of what that groundhog said, spring has sprung. MLB teams have reported to their Spring Training venues in Florida and Arizona and rosters are beginning to take shape and it is time to start making predictions.

Fort Myers, Fla. is abuzz with Red Sox fans both young and old. With so many new faces in addition to most of the core from last year, it is going to be a fun spring. Here are some things to think about as the Sox break camp this year:

While some of the more devout Red Sox fans may already know everything about the non-roster invitees to 2010 spring training, such knowledge often eludes and frustrates those serious fans who don't understand the farm system's nuances.

Here then is a series of articles designed to introduce you to some of these players whose names and stats will be cluttering up March box scores.

Everyone knows the big guys, the big leaguers. Here are the little guys, the minor leaguers.

Only in baseball can a 93-69 record and a playoff berth seem like a failure. For the Boston Red Sox, that is just what last season was. Ever since 2004, the Red Sox have had the championship-or-bust mentality and this year will be no different. The Sox are on a never-ending task of keeping up with the Yankees and this offseason was no different. The Yankees won the World Series so what did Boston do? They overhauled much of their lineup. 

Key Arrivals : Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, John Lackey

Any fan of sabermetrics or the Boston Red Sox knows that Jacoby Ellsbury was something of a defensive liability in 2009.

For those of you who aren’t hip to the latest statistical trends, Ultimate Zone Rating is currently the best available method of measuring fielding, providing an estimate of how many runs a player saved (or cost) his team with his glove.