Fireside Chats #72: Where we contemplate signing a one day contract with ESPN and retiring on top

Paul and I break down the legacy of Nomar Garciaparra, the potential of a Smoltz/Glavine/Maddux like Big 3 in Boston, and David Ortiz' attitude this spring in this Spring Training edition of Fireside Chats. We also look at the 2010 Boston Red Sox outfield and contemplate the various projections of their 2010 performance at the plate in our continuing series. 2010 Outfielders: Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron, JD Drew, and Jeremy Hermida. As referenced in today's show, here's a link to the MLB GameDay BIP Location database so you can map hit balls from one park to another and laugh at Jason Bay at Citi Field like I did. All that and more on this episode of Fireside Chats.

Fireside Chats #71: Where Tim holds a presser explaining his recent absence from the show

Everyone has been wondering where Tim's been and why there's been no Fireside Chats as pitchers and catchers reported to Fort Myers. We now have answers. He's been chumming it up in rehab with his pal Tiger Woods. But unlike Tiger, Tim's ready to get back to work! Seriously though, with the Red Sox heading back to Fort Myers, its time to take a look at the team the Red Sox are about to put on the field and decide what we expect out of the local nine in 2010. Starting this week, Paul and Tim will look, first at the infield then outfield and so forth, at Fangraphs' compilation of expert and community projections and give an assessment of their accuracy as well as will those numbers be good enough for this team to compete for a championship in 2010. First up: Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Marco Scutaro, and Adrian Beltre. All that and more on this episode of Fireside Chats.

Fireside Chats #70: Where Jagerbombs don’t help Paul with the ladies as much as steroids helped Big Mac

Join us as we talk about such exiting topics as, arbitration and the hall of fame and pine for actual baseball games again. If for nothing else, listen to this weeks show to hear Paul pull off a front runner for analogy of the year with regard to the Mark McGwire interview. Also, which "current" Red Sox would you consider potentially "Hall-worthy" by their career's end? All that and more on this episode of Fireside Chats after the jump.

Fireside Chats #69: Where we ring in 2010 in style

While I've been busy adding a daughter to his "bullpen" at home with the birth of my second daughter Julia (Julia Daloisio....initials of JD...hmmmm), the Red Sox have been busy putting the finishing touches on their 2010 roster. Join us as we look at the series of moves that Theo put together to ring in the new year capped off with the signing of Adrian Beltre yesterday. All that and more on this episode of Fireside Chats after the jump.

Fireside Chats #68: Where we welcome Mr. Lackey and Mr. Cameron to the family

Wow...that was an unexpected flurry of activity. Join Paul and I as we break down the day during which the 2010 Boston Red Sox started to take serious shape. Are the Red Sox better this year than they were last season? Are they better than the Yankees? What does this mean for Matt Holliday and Jason Bay? or Josh Beckett or Adrian Gonzalez? So many answers today, yet as many questions. Thankfully we have Fire Brand contributor Troy Patterson on the line to help us dig into the action for the day. All that and more on this episode of Fireside Chats after the jump.

Admiring Bridges

When Theo Epstein made allusions to (strike that) outright stated that 2010 would be a bridge season for his Boston Red Sox from the the championship team of 2007, through two successive playoff contenders, to a batch of young talent in A and AA ball, you could see the ugly start to come out of Red Sox fans across the Nation. Comments sections across the major news outlets in Boston were strung with statements that would have you believe that the mediocrity of Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots has poisoned the well in Boston. If we can't trust in Bill, then how can we trust in anyone, including Theo?

Fireside Chats #67: Where Day 1 of the Winter Meetings is recapped

You couldn't possibly think that the Red Sox could resign Kason Gabbard without us weighing in on all things "Day One of the Winter Meetings" could you? Gabbard, Atchison, the other guy and more...the news out of Indy is flying! All that and more on this episode of Fireside Chats after the jump.

Fireside Chats #66: Where we celebrate a Happy Arbitration Day with the sizzle of the hot stove

Happy Arbitration Day and welcome back to Fireside Chats. Paul and I had taken a little break as we enjoyed the lull in baseball activity between the "World Series that shall not be remembered" and the official beginning of the active hot stove season, Arbitration Day. But have no fear, we spend an hour rehashing everything from potential trade targets (Adrian Gonzalez & Roy Halladay) to recent departures (Alex Gonzalez) to things that we can't let die (Mark Teixeira) in hopes that we stumble upon at least one strategy that puts the Red Sox back in that "top 1%" again as a World Series contender in 2010. All that and more on this episode of Fireside Chats after the jump.

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.

Fireside Chats #65: Where we analyze the blueprints and lay out all the options

This week is a podcast of never-ending possibility. There are no wrong ideas, only bad ones, as Paul and I work through Evan, Mike and I's three part offseason blueprint to turn the 2010-2014 Boston Red Sox into multiple World Series winners. Oh...and as if it needed to be said, Paul tells us why he hopes the Phillies sweep the World Series. All that and more on this episode of Fireside Chats after the jump.