Because It's Never to Early to Start Making Predictions About Next Year

Now that I've had a little time to digest the fact that the season is actually over and there will be no Red Sox to watch for quite a few months now, I'm ready to turn my attention to next year. Although I love watching baseball and miss it I must admit that I really, really enjoy talking about off-season moves. October, of course, is much too early to really make any predictions about next year so all of my outlandish predictions I am about to make are based solely in my imagination and have just a slight handhold on reality.

1. Josh Beckett will return in 2011 as a soulless, pitching monster and rightfully regain his place as the Red Sox ace. This one is really a no brainer. Things can't get worse for Josh, they can only get better. So if one is to assume that next year is going to be better for Josh, let's go whole hog and say not only will it be better, it will be his ultimate year. You thought 2007 was good? It was nothing compared to what 2011 will be like.

2. Jason Varitek will return to the Red Sox for one more year and announce he will retire at the end of 2011. A win-win for everyone. Tek gets to stay with the Red Sox for one more year and leave with the dignity and send-off he deserves. In the meantime, he will continue to be Josh's catcher (thus ensuring Josh of his monster year, see prediction #1), do some great hitting when he is in the lineup, and continue to do an excellent job of backing up VMart. Which brings us to ...

3. Victor Martinez will sign a 4 year deal with the Red Sox for a reasonable amount of money. Victor doesn't want a huge payout, he just wants what he deserves and a little job security to go with it. I predict Theo will see that this is the way to go with Salty not being ready to be the full-time catcher and no free agent or trade available catchers who are better than Victor. Combine that with the fact that Clay loves him and really, I don't see why it is a question whether he should be signed or not.

4. Youk moves to 3rd base and the Red Sox get some new 1st baseman. I'm not ready to predict who they might get to play 1st base but I have a hunch that Beltre won't be back next year and 1st basemen seem more plentiful than 3rd basemen. I prefer Youk at 1st myself.

5. Darnell McDonald comes back as a utility man but Daniel Nava does not. Darnell I can easily see slipping into the Bill Hall role (although hopefully we won't need him as much as we needed Hall) but I think Nava will go on to smaller, greener pastures. I wish him the best of luck.

6. Jacoby Ellsbury will be back in centerfield and all will be forgiven all around. Look, everyone had bad feelings last year about the Ellsbury situation. He wasn't happy, the Red Sox weren't happy, the media wasn't happy (or maybe they were because it made a good story), fans weren't happy. I predict next year Jacoby will regain his place in centerfield, steal a million bases, be a fantastic lead-off hitter, and make everyone forget about this debacle.

7. Lowrie and Scoots will have a knock down drag-em-out fight during Spring Training for the shortstop position. And Lowrie will win. Scoots will be back up. Lowrie is tougher than he looks and could totally take down Scoots.

8. Jon Lester will win the Cy Young award. I predicted this would happen this year but that's not looking like it will pan out so I'm going with 2011 being his year. Now remember, Josh is having a monster year this year so that means Jon has to be a smidgen better. This will make Josh even more motivated for 2012.

9. Papelbon will start the year out as the closer but Daniel Bard will finish the year as the closer. Pap is still good and I'd love to see him bounce back but my prediction is he won't and Bard will be eased in.

10. J.D. Drew will continue to quietly kick ass. Yeah, J.D. had a slight off year in 2010 but I think next year he'll be back to form. No one will notice though because he will be so unobtrusive about it.

11. The Red Sox will win the World Series. Why not?

The Clouds Are Closing In

Maybe it is the weather today or perhaps it was that god awful game last night but I'm feeling a tad bit pessimistic about the Red Sox this morning. When Jon Lester takes the mound against the Indians I'm counting on a blowout win and by that I don't mean a blowout win for the Indians.

Jon Lester cannot be blamed solely for this loss, it was a team effort loss thanks to crappy errors by Scoots and VMart as well as some not so good pitching by Atchison. At least Manny del Carmen pitched well, which is really all the good that can be said about last night's game. After the triumphant return of Mike Lowell on Tuesday and the return of the crazy, angry Josh Beckett (as opposed to the cynical, stoic Josh Beckett) I was expecting more than that.

I will say this - last night's loss combined with Monday night's loss is making me much more worried about the upcoming Yankees series than I usually am. This could be make it or break it time. So step it up guys, forget about all those new babies that have arrived with their resulting life altering ways and play your little hearts out.

Hey, Grumpy Guy Sitting Next to Me Yesterday - I Have A Few Things to Say to You

So yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of attending Fan Appreciation Day at Fenway where I got to shake hands with all sorts of players like Bill Hall, John Lackey, Jeremy Hermida, Bill Cameron, Jason Varitek, Dustin Pedroia, Keven Youkalis, Ramon Ramirez, J.D. Drew, and Joe Nelson. Josh Beckett, to my dismay, did not grace us with his presence. I assume he was off getting a massage or something.

I was lucky enough to enjoy this experience with some Twitter friends @shelley1005, @__fc, and @pinkberryoasis but my seat for the game was a single seat all by myself (in case you missed it, here is why I had a seat all by my lonesome). I was on the end of a row next to the grumpiest guy ever to come to a Red Sox game. He sat with his arms folded for most of the game and made comments to his companion (a young man who's replies I never quite caught). Here are a few of the things I would have said to him yesterday had I not feared his grumpy wrath:

1. Dice-K is not getting traded before the All-Star break. No way, no how. And I don't think any West coast teams are interested in trading for him just so he can go to California and be with more Japanese people.

2. The Red Sox didn't trade anyone for Marco Scutaro. He was a free agent that we picked up in the off-season. That 10 minutes you just wasted trying to remember who we traded him for is time you are never getting back.

3. Manny del Carmen is actually a good pitcher despite what you think. Now I know why you didn't respond to my enthusiastic "Oh look, Manny del Carmen is pitching now!" Your bad vibes alone is what caused those 2 home runs.

4. And if you didn't like MDC why did you have nothing to say about Scott Atchison, who frankly deserves more bad will than MDC? Or do you not know who Scott Atchison is?

5. So Tito put both J.D. Drew and Ortiz in to pinch hit for 2 different players. When Ortiz struck out the 2nd time you can't tell Tito he should have hit Drew for Ortiz. That just isn't possible.

6. I think I heard you muttering something not so nice about Josh Beckett. You are lucky I didn't hear what you said because that would have been enough to make me stand up and kick your grumpy ass.

Accentuate the Positive

Plenty has been written this morning about last night's crushing defeat at the hands of the Yankees - a game that frankly we deserved to win after clawing our way back from a 5-1 deficit. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about it but I'm not going to because after losing 3 straight games with no one thing you can blame for it, I think it's time to be positive and think about the good things that have happened lately. I know, I know, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades but at this point what else do we have to hold on to but the feeling that things could turn around at any second.

- V-Mart. That man has been in such a slump that I cringe when he comes up to bat with 2 outs. That's not how I viewed V-Mart last year. Well, last night he had 2 home runs. That's right, 2!

- J.D. Drew. Everyone's favorite outfielder (did you see the beautiful diving/sliding play he made on Saturday?) was the man of the hour last night, coming through in a clutch with a 3 run home run and putting the Red Sox back in the game.

- David Ortiz. He may not be the Big Papi we remember but he isn't the sad sack he was last month. He's been doing some damage lately and showing some fire.

- Marco Scutaro. Nope, I didn't like Marco's signing. I loved Gonzo and didn't want to see him gone. Marco though, has been making some really nice looking plays out there and he has filled in the lead off spot very admirably for Ellsbury. Combine that with his funny facial expressions and we've got a winner.

- Dice-K. He's proven that he can only pitch well with Varitek behind the plate and when he does he's brilliant. Oh wait, this is getting into negative territory so I should stop there.

- Josh Beckett. No, he hasn't done anything great lately but I can feel it in my bones that he's going to tear through those Yankees tonight and avenge Tim Wakefield. Then he might punch Papelbon for good measure.

Any high points I have missed? Feel free to comment. Kara and I changed our blog settings so that anyone can comment without logging in so if you've been wanting to disagree (or agree) with me anonymously, here's your chance.

So That's What Pitching & Defense Look Like

I had an image in my mind of Theo Esptein calling up Larry Lucchino last night to tell him that finally his pitching and defense idea is catching on. Low score games with phenomenal pitching, that's what we've all been counting on and for the last two nights the Red Sox have delivered.

After Clay's stellar outing yesterday, Jon Lester slightly one upped him by having an even better outing (hard to believe, but true). Lester had 11 strikeouts. That's right, 11! He was the ace we all know he is and effectively erased all memory of his previous bad starts.

Let's not forget to give props to both Bard and Papelbon who effectively held on to the 2 run lead and even made it look easy. It's always nice when Pap just does his job without trying to up the ante on excitement.

Darnell McDonald continues to amaze. Count me in the camp that viewed his debut as a fluke but he has more than proved me wrong and, for once, I am happy to say I was wrong. I'm also very happy to see Pedroia back in the 2nd spot in the lineup because for some reason it seems to be making a difference with his hitting. Watching Lowell pinch hit for Ortiz brought up usual mixed feeling for me. I would like to think Big Papi is not finished but it isn't looking so good for him, is it?

As an aside, I don't know if it is his ease at being back in Toronto (although how anyone could feel at ease in the cavernous Rogers Stadium is beyond me) but Marco Scutaro is beginning to show his personality. He exhibited a variety of different faces, tossed his bat and gloves, and even threw his batting helmet down in the dugout. Keep it up Marco!

Now that the Red Sox have swept the Blue Jays (A sweep! Finally!) they head down to Baltimore to show the Orioles that the one win they got on Sunday was an aberration and will not be happening again.