New Poll: Which catcher would you least like to see go on free agency?

New Poll Question: Which Red Sox catcher would you least like to see go on free agency? * George Kottaras…

Revisiting 2009: Did we get what we expected?

Coming into the 2009 season the Fire Brand community went through the exercise of giving their individual expectations of each players fortunes for the season to come. Once all the forecasts were in, I took the liberty of averaging the numbers together to come up with a singular community projection for each player. Over the next few weeks, we'll look at results and compare our expectations to the reality that would follow. Given the uncertain future of Jason Bay underneath the Green Monster in Fenway Park's left field, I thought it only appropriate that he serve as our first profile.

Red Sox start offseason with bang, acquire Jeremy Hermida

UPDATE: Theo on the trade: "It was a chance to get a guy with unfulfilled potential for a reasonable cost." The Red Sox consider Hermida an average defender in either left or right field. (MLBTR) The Red Sox have acquired Florida Marlin outfielder Jeremy Hermida for lefty pitchers Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez. Hermida, 25, has been long on potential after being the 11th pick in the 2002 draft. However, with injuries and no "leap forward," he was a liability to the club at a $2.25 million salary, sure to rise in arbitration.

Theo’s “95-Win Team”, Beckett’s Extension, Falling Dominoes, and the Mailbag

Theo’s “95-Win Team" In recent years, one of the most important axioms put forth by the Theo Epstein and the Red Sox front office is the law of the “95-Win Team”. According to this directive, the team’s goal is to target 95-wins annually in an effort to compete every season. This is really a great piece of wisdom, as a team that wins 95 games will make the playoffs most years. In fact, the Wild Card winner since 2003 – the first year Theo took the esteemed office of Red Sox General Manger – has averaged a record of just about 95-67. However, this doctrine relies on one major assumption – that this team will always be able to perform up to their expected level... Josh Beckett's Extension Over the past few days, rumors have been circulating that the Sox and the Josh Beckett camp have been discussing a contract extension. Adding fuel to the rumors, Beckett and agent Michael Moye have indicated that there will be no hometown discount for the Sox, so the team will have to be ready to shell out quite a bit of cash. Introducing the FireBrand Mailbag And, finally, introducing the FireBrand mailbag, where we will answer all of your darkest, most burning questions about Red Sox Baseball. If you would like to ask the writers a question to be answered on the site, please forward your inquiries to Mike_Silver_FireBrandAL@yahoo.com.

What could Josh Beckett sign for?

In the coming weeks, Josh Beckett and his agent (Michael Moye) will meet with Theo Epstein and brass to discuss an extension. There's no way that Beckett sniffs $161 million, let alone $150 million, but I'm here to tell you there's absolutely no chance Beckett settles for less than $100 million over his total value. In the end, I'm calling a six-year, $111 million deal for Captain Kickass.

All-Aughts Team of the Decade RF: Trot Nixon

The Red Sox. From 2000 to 2009, have you ever seen such a drastic reversal of fortunes? Regardless if the Yankees (bleh) win the World Series, I can't see how you don't anoint the Sawx the team of the decade. Speaking of team of the decade, that's what we're doing right here. We've anointed our shortstop of the decade in Nomar Garciaparra. Let's move on to right field. It rather obviously came down to Trot Nixon versus J.D. Drew, and Nixon took home the honors.

Big Papi wants to play 3-4 more years

David Ortiz believes he has three or four more years in him, and wants those years to be with Boston.

“I want to finish my career here,” [Ortiz] said. “I think I still have another three or four good years in me. It’s not like I’m going to play until I’m 50, but I know I can still swing the bat. All I know is last year I had the worst two months of my career and still almost ended up at 30 and 100.” “Everybody is used to seeing me hitting 40 homers with 140 RBI,” Ortiz said. “But I tell you, anybody will take 30 and 100." (Boston Herald)

I certainly will. The last 10-15 years have been weaned on 40/120 being the mark of a true power hitter, but with the increased emphasis on speed, defense, pitching and no steroids, 30/100 has become the new benchmark. Ortiz needs to come out with a strong season, hitting in the .280 range while flashing 30/100 power for the club to pick up his 2011 option, valued at $12.5 million. While I see that option being picked up, it remains highly likely that Big Papi will finish his career elsewhere.

BoSox AFL Update

With the conclusion of every major league season comes the beginning of the second season of “minor” leagues in baseball – the Winter Leagues. This 2009 off-season, the Sox have placed 17 promising prospects across four leagues, including some of the most exciting names in the organization, such as Casey Kelly, Ryan Kalish, Jose Iglesias, and Yamiaco Navarro. The Winter Leagues are one of the more interesting annual rituals of the MLB, aside from maybe the Rule 5 Draft, as every team in baseball pours their most highly touted prospects into one pool where they duke it out for organizational supremacy.

All-Aughts Team of the Decade SS: Nomar Garciaparra

With the close of the decade, it's time to look back at the decade that was; the decade that completely changed the face of the Red Sox. We're going to be creating a full 25-man roster and create the Red Sox Team of the Decade. Today, we'll take a look at shortstop, with Nomar Garciaparra doing the honors as our shortstop of the decade. Look at what Nomar meant to Boston. An entire generation was weaned on Nomar. He provided a homegrown electricity to the team. Between him and Pedro Martinez, Boston was a team to watch.