Hi folks.

Long time, no see. Err, talk. Err …. write? Read?

Regardless, I apologize for my prolonged absense and give Sully all the credit in the world for carrying the load on his own. He’s the best writer of the bunch (with Jeff being the stathead, and me being … the techie?), so if someone’s going to do the bulk, at least you got to read the best.

The short version is that I’ve been working at a new job for about 9 months now and I’ve simply been swamped with work. Making it more interesting is the fact that my new job is actually doing web stuff, so I after spending 10-12 hours at work on the web, the last thing I want to do when I get home is spend more time on the web.

However, things are swinging back into balance, so I figure this is a good time to poke my head back in.

So, the Sox aren’t so bad, eh? I’m not convinced this is a World Series winning team, but as Sully mentioned the other day, at least they’ve finally dispensed with the pleasantries and are playing the best players regardless of age or veteran status. Last year’s front office wouldn’t have jettisoned J.T. Snow. Last year’s front office wouldn’t have tossed aside Clement, Seanez, and Tavarez for Lester, Delcarmen, and Hansen. For better or for worse, this year’s front office is doing that, and that’s making a huge difference in my faith that they’re not going to punt wins to support clubhouse chemistry.

Winning breeds chemistry. It’s that simple.

Now, the Sox are out performing their raw Pythag by 3 games at this point, but they’re dead on BP’s 3rd order wins, so that gives me a little bit of solace. Digging in a bit on a few players …

Kevin Youkilis rules. He ruled last year. He ruled the year before. He’s the poster boy for an organizational philosophy, yet the very same organization kept him down behind Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, and then potentially a J.T. Snow/Mike Lowell combo. I don’t think it’s possible to doubt any longer that Youks is a major league hitter, and further, a straight up major league player. I don’t think he’ll slug .500+ for the duration of the season, but he has proven that not giving him 500 ABs last season was a mistake, and one that most decidedly cost the Red Sox the AL East title.

Mike Lowell doesn’t suck. At least not yet. The scary thing is that he’s taken his June nosedive, just like he has every year in recent memory, buoyed by a good BA and handful of walks. I’m not ready to declare him done just yet, and I’ll readily admit to being wrong on the Lowell bounceback, but I think he’s probably going to tail off some as the season wears on, which makes me hope that Hee Seop Choi will get a chance to see some major league action.

Coco Crisp is performing exactly as I’d expected, so I’m not let down at all. I didn’t buy into the hype. His track record was that of a guy with speed and spotty plate discipline, and that’s what he’s shown when he hasn’t been hurt. His stats in ‘05 were helped by a somewhat high BABIP. He’ll make great trade bait should the Red Sox ever get a real CF.

Josh Beckett. What to say? He’s dominant, then less dominant. I’m firmly in the camp that he’s not worth a huge long-term deal, at least not yet. He’s had obvious trouble adapting to the AL, which isn’t surprising since he’s never been judicious with his pitches. The Red Sox don’t need a young stud pitcher, they just need a stud pitcher. With guys like Jason Schmidt potentially available at the deadline, and potential free agents like Jose Contreras, Greg Maddux, and Andy Pettitte in the off-season, I’m not convinced it would be prudent for the Sox to overspend on a pitcher just because he’s young. Beckett’s been around long enough that it’s not a certainty he’ll get any better. He’s a great pitcher, and one I’d love to lock up, but not for Burnett money. Under $10mm/season, I’m in. Over that, he can find a new home.

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. The fact that I can turn on EEI and still hear people talking about trading Manny for Alfonso Soriano makes me happy that I can turn my radio off.

Finally, the guy who gives me the most trouble, Jason Varitek. As a former catcher, I’ve been a huge fan of Varitek’s. How can you not love the no nonsense approach he takes. He seemed like a perfect home team type guy. Then he bent the Sox over and they agreed to the worst contract they currently have on the books. He justfied it 2005, and has fallen apart in ‘06. He’s now passed the mythical 1000 games caught mark, and he’s taken the normal nose dive that catches take. He still hits well for a catcher, just not a $10mm catcher. The big gotcha, of course, is the intangibles. I, personally, have not been impressed with Varitek’s pitch calling since Joe Kerrigan departed. His “stand-up-for-the-high-strike” move infuriates me. But, his pitchers swear by him. The results just aren’t there. What pitchers has he made better? Pitchers don’t seem to get markedly better coming to the Sox, nor do they seem to get markedly worse leaving the Sox. It’s not a knock on the Captain, it’s just the truth.

At the end of the day, the Sox have a pretty good, but not showstopping rotation (Schilling is back to being a #1, Beckett/Wakefield are #3/4 guys, and Lester/Clement/Wells/Pauley are a crapshoot). The bullpen is similar. Papelbon is lights out, but the rest of the ‘pen is hit or miss. It is, of course, further evidence you shouldn’t spend a whole lot of money on your bullpen unless you’re signing a stud. Middle relievers are a dime a dozen and aren’t worth more than the league minimum.

The offense has been solid, if unspectacular. They’ve got moderate holes at SS, CF, and C (holes only in the sense that the Sox offense is usually studly at all positions). They probably won’t actively seek to upgrade those positions, since these Sox are apparently the defensive Sox, and while Crisp is probably stretched a bit in CF, there’s no one to replace him in the system.

The bench is iffy, but whatever, the Sox never pay attention to the bench and the guys they have their are always pacifiers and blankies to keep the manager or other players happy.

There you have it. My almost-first-half-summary. The Sox are in good position to keep plugging along, never getting too far ahead or behind the Yankees or Blue Jays. Things will get mighty interesting over the next month, as the Sox will probably try to find another starter, and possibly another bat. The bat might come out of the farm (Choi, possibly Dustin Pedroia, or the magically rejuvenated David Murphy), but the arm most certainly won’t. So don’t get too attached to the guys in Portland/Greenville/Lowell/etc., as they might not be around in a few months.

I’m noodling around an idea that makes me sad, which is basically a post that the Sox front office has been pretty mediocre since October 2004. But that’s for another time.

Last thing. I’ll try to keep it clean. F%#& Steve Silva and f$%* anyone who subscribes to the Boston Dirt Dog mentality. If you boo Pedro when he takes the mound the first time, you not only have no idea of the scope of what he meant to the Red Sox, you don’t deserve to ever understand it. You deserve to live in the minority of Red Sox nation who think that curses exist and anyone who doesn’t play here is a traitor and that the Yankees suck even though we’re playing the Twins. In other words, you’re a goddamn moron.

Boo him all you want after the first inning. But give the man the ovation he deserves when he takes the mound.