Jonathan Papelbon

I've been getting ready for fantasy baseball and came up with this idea for a Battle of the Blogs league. I have set up the league on ESPN.com and would like to invite any bloggers interested in joining. This will be a great way to compete with other bloggers for bragging rights as well as promotes everyone's blog.

I am hoping to get bloggers from all over the country. Below are the details of the league.

Battle of the Blogs Fantasy Baseball League is open to anyone with a blog. Your blog name will be used as your team name.

What are the most important considerations that will help to determine the outcome of the AL East divisional race in 2010?

Is it the performance of new Rays closer Rafael Soriano or Yankees starter Javier Vazquez? Maybe it's the comeback of Red Sox DH David Ortiz or the development of Rays OF B J Upton? Or is it the productiveness of the Red Sox offense in contrast to the effectiveness of the Yankees starting pitching?

Here are my Top Ten Questions for the AL East for 2010.

After making all kinds of noise this winter about his free agency in 2012, Jonathan Papelbon expressed his desire to stay with the Red Sox long term:

What do you make of the perception that you will seek the biggest contract in free agency and leave the Red Sox after 2011?

Article first found at Boston Sox Journalism .

While there is still volatility in all of the rankings, I think the closer rankings are the ones with the most potential to change.  Where does Billy Wagner fit in now that he’s going to be a closer?  Should Carlos Marmol, Bobby Jenks, or Trevor Hoffman be considered a top option?  Where do we value 2009 breakouts David Aardsma and Ryan Franklin?

These are all questions that we’ll try to answer as we take a look at how my rankings currently stand (remember, I’m still fine tuning my projections so keep in mind that these are fluid):

This is part two of my updated two-part series highlighting the Boston Red Sox' potential Opening Day roster.

All fantasy owners know that closer is one of the most unpredictable positions to draft. Just look at this season, where David Aardsma and Ryan Franklin (just to give two examples) emerged from relative obscurity to help buoy fantasy bullpens. With that said, let’s take a look at an early shot at ranking the Top 15 fantasy closers, though a lot of things will cause this list to change, potentially drastically:

I'm not a great eugooglizer, but bear with me. I'm only going to reference the giant kick to the testicles administered to me a few days ago by the now defunct 2009 Red Sox once.

Jonathan Papelbon allowed two inherited runs to score in the top of the eighth inning in Game Three of the Best of Five series against the Angels. He allowed three of his own in the ninth inning.

It was gut check time for the Red Sox on Wednesday at Baltimore.

They were coming off an embarrassing loss that featured the Sox bulletproof bullpen to blow a nine run lead.

Piled on top of that was the fact that the Sox infielders thought there were three outs in the eighth inning and ran into the dugout.