Left, Since Manny Left

The buzz in Chicago is all about a dread-locked slugger who wears the number 99. No, Ricky Vaughn didn’t grow…

Sox, Halos Should Revisit Napoli Deal This Offseason

The Red Sox were awarded the waiver claim on Angels catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli, but a deal could not be…

Josh Beckett: Home Runs, Endurance and The Stretch

It hasn’t exactly been a great return to the Red Sox rotation for Josh Beckett. With a 6.82 ERA in…

The Return of Judas? If Not, Who Could Help?

“Looks like Jesus, Acts like Judas, Throws like Mary.” Remember when that happened? Well, Judas may be on his way…

Ryan Kalish continues to perform

I've got a new man crush and his name is Ryan Kalish.

With the Sox 5.5 games out of first, there is still hope for a postseason in Boston despite a season filled with injuries and frustration. One of the reasons the Sox continue to stay within striking distance of the Yanks and Rays is the way that the replacement players have stepped up. From Bill Hall to Jed Lowrie to Ryan Kalish, who continues to embed himself as the cream for the Red Sox crop of prospects.

Trade Papelbon? Not so fast

A few days ago, MLBTradeRumors.com posted a poll on whether or not the Red Sox should trade Jonathan Papelbon. Out of 1,877 votes, 66.5 percent thought that the Sox should trade their current closer.

Emotions, especially in Red Sox Nation, can run high. Sometimes too high. The frustrations with injuries and a third place standing have Sox fans pointing the finger at several players, but perhaps none more so than Jonathan Papelbon. Think it's a good idea to trade your closer? You might want to take another look before making up your mind.

First of all, I'm not going to sit here and preach that Papelbon is as good of a reliever as he has been in the past. In fact, he has regressed for a few years now in several key categories. However, there is still plenty of reason to think things might be better a year from now.

Buchholz’s Breakout Slider, er, Season

With yet another brilliant performance Wednesday night against the slugging Blue Jays, Clay Buchholz continues to solidify his breakout 2010 season.

Buchholz is now 13 and 5 with a 2.49 ERA and a ground ball rate over 50 percent. His K/BB rate, however, has been very similar to his 2009 numbers. The biggest difference, and it is a huge difference, is his reduction in home runs allowed.

Constructing the best lineup to get to October

The Red Sox ended up splitting their four-game series in the Bronx Monday with a 2-1 win. While it was pitching that won the game, it was a small change in lineup construction that could pay dividends over the last two months, should it stick. However, along with hitting Ellsbury ninth, there are other ways to re-work the Red Sox lineup and maximize their run scoring potential

Marco Scutaro has done a fine job filling in as the leadoff hitter for the majority of the season and Dustin Pedroia may be back next week. Once Pedroia returns, his best fit would be at leadoff as he is second on the the Sox in OBP (just under Adrian Beltre, who's OBP is mostly due to his AVG) and pitches per plate appearance (which comes into play later). Pedroia and Scutaro at the top of the order provide plenty of contact and good OBP. That, hopefully more often than not, sets the stage for Adrian Beltre--hitting third--to take the same approach he has all season and David Ortiz to swing for the fences in the cleanup spot.

Reflecting on Boston’s good contracts as a declining A-Rod hits No. 600

Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th career home run. While fanfare was mixed -- most non-Yankee fans could care less -- the one thing that jumped to my mind was how rough of a season A-Rod is actually having and how hard it was for him to finally reach 600 home runs. I then took a second look at his 10-year/$275 million dollar contract, which has seven years remaining. In my opinion, it could end up being the worst contract in baseball history. That got me thinking of some of the Red Sox current contracts and how they blow the A-Rod deal out of the water.

The first contract that stands out in my mind is the 6-year/$45.5 million dollar deal Dustin Pedroia signed before the 2009 season. Even in a "down year" last season, Pedroia was worth 5 WAR and even having missed a chunk of time this season he has already been worth 3.5 WAR. As a comparison, Alex Rodriguez, to this point in the season, has been worth only 2 WAR. Pedroia is signed through his prime seasons (27-31) and will make no more than $10 million, which comes at the end of the deal (also and $11 million dollar club option for 2015).

Lackey’s Lack of Consistency

On Monday night, John Lackey took the mound looking to continue his stretch of 22.1 effective innings in which he had only allowed four earned runs and posted a 13/3 K/BB ratio.

Going up against a lackluster Cleveland lineup that ranks twelfth in the American League in OPS seemed to be just the ticket. Instead, Lackey struggled through 5 1/3 innings, allowing six earned runs on nine hits while striking out seven and walking five.