2008 SOX

So the reason Earl created this blog was to reduce the zillion emails that could sprout up during a season and then fill someone's inbox with the 46 reply to alls. So in the interests fo that, i will pull in an email from GR and myself and get it going out here.

My message -
I'm looking forward to the season. I worry about a world in which the Sox are the favorites, and that first month looks like a killer. Tor has an easy schedule that first month, so it will be funny to hear all the writers say they are for real on May1 or 15th - right before Burnett goes on the DL, BJ Ryan needs more surgery, and Rolen gets hurt again. The only thing more predictable is the annual Ken Griffey JR hamstring injury.

GR response
I think that Schilling is actually more of a loss than people think. Yes, he wasn’t that great last year, but Lester doesn’t fill me with confidence in that role, yet…Also, a blister from Beckett could prove devastating to this team…AND there are lots of old guys to boot.

So what do you guys all think? It looks like I was early on my BJ Ryan prediction as he is already hurting. Oh no, wait it was AJ Burnett who is now hurt. And GR is worried about a Schilling-less staff. I think there are some people that are saying "no worries" about missing Curt. In the long run, it is probably a game or two in the standings (and that assumes that Curt would have made 25 starts). So a game or two could be HUGE. Or it could be nothing. We won't know for sure. Hopefully he can come back in the second half and *pitch* like he did late last year.

But to pull a page from the GR book, I would argue that the Sox rotation looks great, especially in comparison to the Yankees. GR worst case scenario is a blister to Beckett. And blisters heal fairly quickly.

Take Beckett out of the rotation and match up the Sox versus the Yankees.

Dice-K vs. Wang - edge Sox. Wang gets killed by good teams and the yanks bad fielding is bound to catch up with him one of these seasons.
Pettite vs Wake - slight edge NY
Mussina vs Lester - sorry, even with the walks I'll take Lester
Kennedy/Hughes et al vs Bucholz/Tavarez et al - a complete wash.

Now put Beckett back in and the Sox likely win all those "matchups."

And bullpens. I'll take Paps over Mo, Joba over Delcarmen and all the rest of the guys on both staffs are question marks.

So which team gets Sabathia when CLE is 15 games out in June - could be the difference in September/October.