AL Central Sleepers

In a division packed about as tightly as a can be, the emergence or decline of a single player can mean the difference between a playoff berth and an early end to the season.

With the AL Central race as wide open as any division in the MLB, each team will be counting on the contributions of every player on the roster – and praying for the breakout of their sleeper prospects. And, when it comes to those, there is certainly no shortage of potential breakout players.

Cleveland Indians

SP Justin Masterson: Though we could have gone with OF Matt LaPorta here, it just wouldn’t have been as fun as picking the home-grown talent.

Everyone in the Boston metro-area familiar with Masterson – or “Monsterson,” as some like to call him – and his impeccable set of offerings. The 6-6, 250 lb behemoth was the centerpiece that brought Victor Martinez over the Sox, paired with stud reliever Nick Hagadone.

A hefty price tag befitting of the elite catcher, Masterson now turns his sights toward the AL Central as the Indians’ number three starter…

Evan Brunell’s 2010 MLB Predictions: Does Boston win it?

As the advent of spring training games are upon us, I thought I’d kick off everyone’s favorite little exercise by providing my own personal predictions as to how I think the season will shake out. Now, before I do so, a word of caution: predictions can change daily based on events. Heck, my predictions change multiple times a week. But I’ve gotta make predictions at some point, right? Point being, I might disagree with my own predictions a week from now. Most of the time, these kind of predictions are an exercise in fallacy, but it’s not going to stop me from trying.

I don’t know why I made things harder on myself, but I set out to present an exact record. This means I had to go into a spreadsheet and make sure all the wins and losses totaled the correct amount of games while also balancing out to a .500 record. Took me a while, but dadgum it, I did it. One thing I did not control for was the unbalanced schedule (in a total record sense), but I already strained my tenuous math skills, so I wasn’t about to complicate it further.

Click “read more” or the headline to find my predictions.

Reaching into the MailBag

This one courtesy of James, aka “jgr jgr”. James submitted a few puzzling questions, though this one made me think the most:

“Is there some hitter or pitcher out there under the radar that you think will be wearing a new Boston uniform in 2010?”

Well, going off this question, we’ll avoid talking about the likely suspects, including Bay, Holliday, Harden, or Scutaro who have all received a great deal of coverage not only on this site, but on Sox discussion boards ‘Nation’ wide (Yes, that was a pun. No, I won’t apologize.)

As for truly under the radar names, we must look really deep into the free agent roster, probably to the point of back-end bullpen types or bench hitters. While these moves may not be exciting to the average layman, these are the transactions that make championships. Depth and injury/slump insurance is perhaps one of the most underrated aspects of building a championship team. John Henry could grab any fan off the streets to build a team that could win 100 games if everything were guaranteed to go as planned. However, the true talent and meddle of a front office is tested by their contingency planning.

When a team has the type of financial resources the Sox have, it’s difficult to pick a truly “under the radar” name that will make an impact, as the players the team is likely to sign are usually the top free agents, too big to fly below the hard deck.

But there is still value to be that the rest of the baseball world is not discussing. Here’s a few that I think the Sox may settle on before the off-season ends:

Value at Starting Pitcher

Assuming that the Cubs re-sign Rich Harden, while Ben Sheets and Erik Bedard find other suitors, I would love to see the Sox sign Carl Pavano. Though his 5.10 ERA left much to be desired, Pavano actually turned in quite a season in 2009, with a 4.00 FIP ERA to go along with a 3.77 K:BB rate. While his 6.64 K/9 was merely average, a 1.76 BB/9 rate is more than adequate.

If you have burning questions about Red Sox Baseball, please submit your questions to Mike_Silver_FireBrandAL@yahoo.com. We’d love to hear what’s got you thinking!

KC 5, BOS 1: Byrd Gets His Wings Clipped In First

A five run first inning by the Kansas City Royals did the Red Sox in last night, as the boys from Boston drop the second game of a four game series, 5-1.

Paul Byrd shook off the missteps of the first inning and went on to throw 6.2 innings, but the damage was already done, as Zack Greinke held off the Boston bats with another dominating performance.

9/7: No more Sox

Today is the final game of the season against the accursed White Sox, stealers of Carlton Fisk. Josh Beckett has given up 12 home runs in his last four starts (!!!) while Mark Buehrle is 2009’s Mr. Perfect. Curt Hennig would roll over in his grave if he knew that the wrong Sox had the ‘Perfect’ label. Can Beckett keep balls inside the Cell? If he wants a future job as prison guard, he better show it here.

9/6: Two young lefties duel

John Danks needs one more win to set a single-season career high in victories and move over .500 in his career. He’ll be opposed by John Lester, who now is the Red Sox’s career leader in strikeouts by a left-hander in one season. Should be fun.

9/5: Wakefield returns (triumphantly?)

Wakefield returns! Perhaps the Sox’s most consistent starter when healthy, Wake will go against Gavin Floyd, who has a 2-0 career record against Boston.

9/4: Two Sox go at it

Paul Byrd goes against Freddy Garcia; two pitchers both returning from the dead. Garcia held the Yankees to three runs in six innings last time out, so he may be rounding into form. The ChiSox certainly aren’t; they’re collapsing. A sweep would be nice; I still haven’t given up hope for the division title.

The Buchholz-Masterson Sisters and the Battle for Chicago Ahead

Because we never want them to feel good about each other, we have a duty to never stop comparing Justin Masterson and Clay Buchholz. So, it’s time to put the question to rest: Which one is the prettier sister?

And…On Friday, the Sox get set to take on a diminished White Sox team. Fresh off trading designated hitter Jim Thome and starter Jose Contreras, Chicago seems to have mailed in the 2009 season.

But they won’t make it so easy on the Sox, as Boston will go up against the heart of the White Sox rotation with matches against John Danks, Mark Buehrle, and Gavin Floyd. Are the boys in red up to the challenge?

8/27: Looking for the sweep