I decided I wanted to do a little Red Sox roundtable in chat format, so I reached out to BS Memorial Stadium (Tim), Red Sox Haven (Randy), and Surviving Grady (Red). They were all happy to join in, but Red couldn’t make the chat so he submitted his answers via e-mail. I then decided to bring in Dave Isaacs, an A’s fan who had spent the summer in Boston and witnessed Abe Alvarez’s debut and then later on when Randy had to briefly leave, I brought in Fire Brand reader and Tour Reporter/Chargers Confidential writer, Joe. The first four questions (I asked nine) are below…
Part Two…
Evan: I posted the other day, saying that its possible Mark Bellhorn could disappoint and fall flat on his face, leaving us needing a second baseman. It’s certainly possible. Kevin Millar could also fall flat on his face. David Wells, Jason Varitek, Johnny Damon, the possibilities are endless. Who do you think is most at risk for foiling the Red Sox season, why, and how could we replace him?
Tim: I’m kind of worried about the middle relief/setup roles
Dave: I guess any player at any given time could disappoint and fall flat on their face. Slumps can happen to anyone, even though bellhorn may be at more of a risk.
Tim: I think Bellhorn can succeed with a lot of playing time, at least within the range of play he was at last year. But Timlin, Embree, and Mantei’s health kind of worry me a bit, to be honest.
Evan: Mike Timlin and Alan Embree showed their ages last year, if they fall apart, we have no middle relievers.
Evan: Unless BK shows up this year.
Randy: I’m kind of worried about David Ortiz. I love the guy, I think he’s a great hitter, but at any moment he can go back to being the guy who couldn’t even start on the Twins. I was a lot more skeptical before last season…
Tim: BK’s an interesting case. I mean, if he regains velocity (big “if”), he’s a GREAT RH setup guy.
Randy: but it’s a little better this season, but not quite where it should be for me.
Evan: It’s funny you mention Ortiz, I was thinking about that the other day. If he regresses…
Tim: I’m actually a little worried about the aftereffects of Ortiz’s shoulder thing.
Evan: Personally, I think Mark Bellhorn could cripple our season.
Tim: But keep in mind that this was a concern coming into 2004- it seemed so many guys had career years in 03. But other guys stepped up in 04.
Evan: A lot of people had career years last year, though. Bellhorn came close, Damon, Mueller continued to surprise…
Randy: Embree and Timlin’s success should diminish at some points; they are both getting way up there in age (mainly Timlin). If they stay under a 5 ERA, then I think we’ll be OK because did we really expect a lot from either of them…
Randy: when we picked them up?
Evan: When we picked Timlin up he was coming off a season with an ERA under 3.
Tim: I think if Bellhorn hits at a 250/360 clip, we’ll be ok
Randy: That’s true, but he was still pretty old.
Dave: I don