Marco Scutaro

Two weeks ago, the Sox signed their Shorstop–Marco Scutaro to a 2-year, $12.5mm deal with an option for a 3rd year. The Sox hope Scutaro will keep up the numbers he put up last season and hold down the position until prospect Jose Iglesias is ready for the big-time.

Early last week, the Sox made a deal with the Texas Rangers that would send veteran Mike Lowell to Texas in exchange for C/1B/DH Max Ramirez. This deal is still being worked out as both teams are extensively reviewing the medical records of both players involved. Concerns over Lowell’s thumb and Ramirez’s wrists cause this deal to be not yet completed.

The Red Sox also made a couple of key signings on Monday. They inked pitcher John Lackey to a 5-year deal worth upwards of $85mm and outfielder Mike Cameron to a 2-year, $15.5mm deal.

John Lackey

Signing Lackey gives the Sox depth to their rotation for next season and for the future. The Sox now have a Top-3 of Beckett, Lester and Lackey and then Matsuzaka, Buchholz, and Wakefield to fill out the rest of the rotation. A rotation that no one in baseball can claim to match if everyone is at their best and remains healthy. The signing also gives the Sox some flexibility. They now have insurance in the event they cannot workout an extension with Josh Beckett, who is set to become a free agent after the 2010 season. It also allows the Sox to entertain trades involving Clay Buchholz, a chip many teams covet. Perhaps the Sox now go out and build a package around Buchholz to acquire an Adrian Gonzalez or a Miguel Cabrera.

The signing of Cameron, as well as the earlier trade for Jeremy Hermida all but ensures that Jason Bay will not be a Red Sox next season. After Bay rejected the Sox latest offer, it became clear that the two sides had very differing opinions on Bay’s value. The Sox were just not going to overpay for a player who can only hit fastballs, has poor defense, and whom the Sox have concerns about remaining healthy over a long-term deal. Cameron will become the everyday left-fielder, or possibly center-fielder (if the Sox elect to move Jacoby Ellsbury to left-field or trade him). Cameron also gives Manager Terry Francona some flexibility with his line-ups. If Ellsbury needs a day off, Cameron can move to CF, the same is true with J.D. Drew in RF.

Mike Cameron

The Sox are definitely addressing their pitching and defense to make up for whatever lack of offense their may be. I fully expect them to sign another reliever to fill out the bullpen and probably another versatile player to fill out the bench (I’m thinking Adam Kennedy is a good bet).

Are the signings of Lackey and Cameron a precursor to a bigger deal, possibly a trade for Adrian Gonzalez? We will have to stay tuned and see what the rest of this off-season has in store.

In other baseball news, the Yankees acquired Curtis Granderson from the Tigers last week. The real blockbuster of the off-season occurred on Monday, with the Roy Halladay saga finally coming to an end. Halladay has been dealt by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Philadelphia Phillies in a 3-team deal also involving the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners will receive Cliff Lee from the Phillies and the Jays will receive prospects from the Mariners.

The Red Sox have acquired outfielder Brian Anderson from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Mark Kotsay, who was recently designated for assingment.

Brian Anderson

So far this season with the ChiSox, Anderson was batting .238 with 2 HRs before being optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

As far as the hot-stove goes, Red Sox are exploring many avenues. They’ve been rumored to be wanting to make a blockbuster deal. That could be for Padres Adrian Gonzalez, the Indians Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez or the prize-gem on the market, Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays.

The latest on the Halladay situation is that the Sox reportedly offered Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, and Ryan Westmoreland at the least. But team officials have now refuted the claim

David Ortiz hit his first homerun of the season today, his first since September 22, 2008. When the ball left the yard, Sox fans across TitleTown let out a sigh of relief and jumped for joy in unison.  The aftershock of Ortiz’s homerun was a shot by Jason Bay, and a homerun by Mike Lowell, all three in the same inning. Jason Varitek also hit two homeruns in the game, as he now has 7 homeruns, 6 of them Fenway Park, after hitting just 4 homers at the Fens last season. In all, the Sox lit up the Blue Jays for 8 runs, while Brad Penny and the Sox ‘pen held the Jays to just 3 runs.

An important thing from tonight was seeing Brad Penny put together another quality outing.  The Sox starting staff has struggled mightily all season, with the exception of Tim Wakefield, yet they’re just 1.5 games out of first place in the AL East.  Other than his start on April 17, where he gave up 8 runs over 3 innings, and his April 28 start where he gave up 7 runs (4 earned) over 2 2/3 innings, Penny has put together quality outings that have given the Sox a chance to win games.  Overall, Penny is 4-1 with an ERA over 6.  In 6 of his 8 starts, Penny has tossed 6+ innings in each outing and given up 4 ER or less in each start.  I’d say that’s about what you would want from a 5th starter.

Tomorrow night, the Sox will look to sweep the Blue Jays who entered the series up 3.5 games in the AL East.  A sweep here would sort of make talks of the Jays being here in the end die down, at least a little bit.  However, it’ll take a strong effort from Jon Lester to get that done.  Lester has put together quality innings this season, however, it seems he has not been able to recover after one bad thing happens in a game.  A prime example would be the would-be double play where the ball was grounded to Lester and instead of throwing to 2nd base, he double pumped and then threw to first.  After that, things fell apart for Lester and he ended up giving up 5 runs in just 5.2 innings of work.  Overall, he has allowed 5 ER or more in 5 of his 8 starts, not even close to what we expected of him coming into the season. The bright side is that he has had good stuff and has pitched well for stretches in almost every game he’s pitched, but at one point or another, he loses his composure and everything unravels on him.  Without Jon Lester at the top of his game, as well as Josh Beckett (who has also struggled), we can forget about the playoffs this year.

The Celtics and Bruins are hitting the links and the Pats are about two months from the start of training camp, so it’s basically all-Sox, all-the-time.

(Sorry, the prospect of a Lebron vs. Kobe finals matchup doesn’t do it for me…not to get too sidetracked here, but can you imagine watching ESPN for those two weeks during the finals?  Not interested in a Lebron-Kobe love-fest; too predictable. )

As I was saying, it’s all about the Sox.

Thirty-nine games into the season, at 23-16 this is a solid start, considering the number of injuries the team has had to deal with.  So, without further ado, here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from the first 1/4 of the 2009 season.

The Good

* Jason Bay…Manny who? Boston knew they would be getting a better defender when they swapped Manny for Bay in a three-team deal at the trading deadline last season, but Bay has actually been Manny-esque with the bat.  Hovering around .300, Bay leads the team in HR (11) and RBI (40). He has also come up “clutch” in several big spots already this season, arguably none bigger than his 9th inning, game-tying 2-run HR off Mariano Rivera in the first meeting this season between the Sox and Yanks back on 4/24.

* The bullpen…save for the jettisoned Javy Lopez, this may be the deepest pen Theo has assembled during his tenure here.  Papelbon does his usual lights-out job at anchoring the pen, but the guys who set up for him are top-notch as well.  Ramon Ramirez for Coco Crisp…looks like a theft to me.  Already with four wins, Ramirez sports an ERA of 0.86 and has surrendered only 9 hits in 21 innings of work.  Delcarmen, Saito, and Okajima (especially as of late) continue to provide quality relief.  Add Masterson back into the mix and this pen is stacked.

The only concern remains is this pen over-exerted?  It certainly wasn’t last night (8 innings from Wakefield) but Ramirez and Okajima already have appeared in half of the team’s games and are on pace for around 80 appearances.  What is now the team’s biggest strength could become a liability with too much wear-and-tear.

* Wakefield…The elder statesman is pitching like it is 1995 (16-8, 2.95 ERA that season).  If his last outing against the Angels was a cause for concern (4.2 IP, 11 H, 7 ER) he certainly quieted his critics with an absolute gem last night against the first-place Blue Jays.  Just 97 pitches to get through 8 innings and he allowed only one ER while scattering five hits…just what the Sox needed after returning from a tough West Coast trip.

The Bad

* The Aces (Beckett and Lester)…Lester has allowed 76 base runners in 47 IP.  Opponents have hit 10 HR against the southpaw.  His ERA is well-north of 6 (6.51).  So far he kind of looks like a left-handed version of  Pat Rapp.

Beckett’s not much better.  79 base runners in 47.2 IP; 5.85 ERA…dare I say Mark Portugal?

The problem here has been consistency.  A few great innings marred by one terrible frame.  The feeling, here at least, is that both will turn it around and post sub-4 ERAs.  Beckett may have turned the corner with his last start vs. Seattle (7 IP, 2 ER)  But for now, Sox fans are left to wonder, and especially about Lester.  Is his performace the result of fatigue?  His innings jumped from 63 in 2007 to 210 last year (postseason not included).  Verducci effect? Time will tell.

To state the obvious, the bottom line is that the Sox will need both to pitch at ace level if the team wants to return to the World Series.

* Dice-K…nine runs in 6.1 IP…and the team spent 50 million just to talk to him?  Hey, it could be worse; ask the Yanks about Wang.  Sidelined since April 15, Dice-K has pitched well in his rehab outings with the Paw Sox and is slated to return to the big league club this Friday.  The team can only hope that he will return to form after this hiatus.  The fact the team is 23-16 without Dice-K and with pedestrian performances from Beckett and Lester is a testament to this team’s depth.

The Ugly

* Nick Green’s defense…Entering last night’s game he was more than serviceable at the plate, hitting .302 with 1 HR/13 RBI.  That’s not the problem since it’s hard to expect that Jed Lowrie would have topped these numbers.  But the defense is a different story.  GrEEEEEEEEn has committed eight errors at shortstop and has started to become a defensive liability.   No error was more costly than his blunder against Seattle late in the game last Sunday.  When Julio Lugo is the better defensive option,…well, how should I put it?  It’s like saying that if Brian Scalabrine can’t go tonight, the Celtics have no chance at winning.

* BIG PAPI…Big Papi hasn’t hit a HR since George W. Bush was in the White House.  But, honestly it feels like he hasn’t hit a HR since Daddy Bush’s term.  He was 0-3 with a walk in his return to the line-up last night vs. Toronto, lowering his average to just .203.  The power and production simply isn’t there right now.  How long he remains in the number three hole remains to be seen.  Big Papi has done more for this franchise than was ever expected of him when he was signed as a free agent from the Twins in 2003.  But, if this anemic production continues, the Sox will need to add another bat.  Yes, they could use some pop, but just having somebody get on base would be a start.  With Youkilis (an omission from the good category, as is Pedroia), Bay, Drew, and Lowell hitting behind Ortiz, a below-average number three hitter will continue to take away RBI opportunities from the heart of the lineup.

IN SHORT…There’s a lot to be excited about, but for now the performances of Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, and Ortiz may just determine how far this team can go.  These four players may just make or break the summer in Boston.