4/4 Online Seats Game Thread: Red Sox Ready For Yanks

The Yankees have had their moment in the sun. Now, Josh Beckett and the revamped Red Sox look to cut off the Yankees at the knees on opening night.

And the Season Begins…

And the season begins… There’s no doubt the bureaucrats “got it right” on this one – pairing the league’s biggest rivals in the 2010 MLB opener. All signs point to a classic, fit with a marquee pitching matchup, palpable hatred on both sides, and the two best teams from the past decade kicking off the new one. Josh Beckett takes the hill against C.C. Sabathia as the two AL East juggernaughts begin their annual battle for divisional supremacy. Get to your TV at 8:00 pm sharp – or 6 pm if you’re like me in the Mountain Time Zone – and prepare to watch baseball at its finest. Keys of the Game Starting Pitcher Coming off a strong spring, striking out 22 in 19.1 innings while walking just 5, Beckett certainly has the edge over Sabathia, who has looked sluggish in 18.2 IP thus far (15 K, 8 BB). Though spring stats are rarely an indication of long-term success, they are a good indicator of a hurler’s readiness at the season’s onset. If C.C. continues to struggle with his command, he could be in for a long night. Expect Beckett to be sharp as the team gets off to an early lead in the first few innings.

POLL: Thoughts on new Sox team?

As we all gear up for the new season, Fire Brand wants to know what you think of the current Red Sox team.

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Since agreeing to come back to Fire Brand recently, I've reading the site's archives -- in part to get a feel for the place after a few years and in part to try and brush off the writing cobwebs and remember how to do this again (and I'm already opening an article with a self-referential aside, so I guess it's like riding a bike). Anyway, it struck me while reading that these pages haven't yet addressed one of the most notable deals of the winter: Nomar Garciaparra's one day contract.

The Fireside Chat crew put together an excellent discussion of the move, but I feel like Nomar's Red Sox career -- and his career in general -- deserves an obituary in addition to a eulogy. After all, you can trace these current Red Sox -- and moreso this current Red Sox era and fanbase -- right back to 1997 and right back to the phenom shortstop that lit Fenway on fire that summer. Nomar Garciaparra created the modern Boston Red Sox, and gave us some of the greatest moments this side of October, 2004, and now he's Red Sox property again, this time for eternity.

Sox Sign Embree, What to Do With Boof, and the Watch List

Sox Sign Alan Embree Just after noon yesterday, the Sox officially agreed to a minor league deal with veteran lefty reliever Alan Embree. Embree, who last pitched for the Sox in 2005, comes off a shaky 2009 season that saw him struggle in limited duty, posting an even BB:K ratio (12 BB, 12 K in 24.2 IP) on his way to a 5.29 FIP. Still, Embree offers depth to a team searching for a second lefty reliever to complement Okajima. Though LOOGY specialist Brian Shouse has performed well over his long look in camp (7.1 IP, 5 K, 1 BB; most IP of any Sox reliever), Embree’s versatility and Shouse’s code-blue platoon splits may give Embree the leg up in the competition.

Top Prospect Ryan Westmoreland to Undergo Surgery

Earlier today, the Red Sox front office released a statement reporting that top prospect Ryan Westmoreland will undergo surgery to correct a cavernous malformation. A cavernous malformation is a group of dilated blood vessels in the brain, often diagnosed following headaches in the patient. However, many people can have cavernous malformations without presenting symptoms.

Remarked General Manager Theo Epstein, "The entire Red Sox organization stands in support of Ryan as he courageously deals with this issue. Ryan is a remarkable kid and a talented player, and we understand that many will be concerned about his health. He is getting the best medical attention the world has to offer, and we will have more information soon. Until then -- out of respect for Ryan's privacy and at the request of the Westmoreland family -- we will not have any further comment."

Everyone here at FireBrand and all over Red Sox Nation is pulling for a speedy recovery for Ryan and we wish him the best. At the moment, there is no word as to when he will return to the field.

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.

AL East Sleepers: Boston Red Sox

As the hometown team boasts one of the strongest starting nine in the American League, it can be difficult to detect sleepers among the pack. Don’t be fooled, however. They are there and prepped to support an elite cast looking to avenge last season’s early playoff exit. Though few of the positional starters offer much potential as true "sleepers", considering the number of All-Stars and MVP candidates among them, the pitching staff contributes much of the excitement on this front. With youngsters and rebound contenders among the lot, an already superb rotation and bullpen could receive a few significant boosts from numerous sources. SP Clay Buchholz After the light came on last season, it never seemed to go out. Finally hitting his stride at the Major League level, he was able to lay fears about his potential to rest. Though not a groundbreaking season by any means, Buchholz’ performance went a long way toward stabilizing the ailing rotation during August and September. Looking forward to 2010, Buchholz should comfortably take the place of the 5th starter – possibly 4th, depending upon the performance of Daisuke Matsuzaka – expectations he should have no problem fulfilling...

Contingency Planning for an Ortiz on the Ropes

As Buster Olney stated in a recent piece, “the Red Sox may look to replace David Ortiz if he struggles again in the first half like he did last year.” Certainly, the struggles of Big Papi have a lot to say about the success of the team. Like we profiled earlier, David Ortiz is undeniably on the downswing of his career. In what should be the last year of his contract, Ortiz will likely have difficulty living up to his $12.5 million price tag. The plan outlined by Olney involves a specific scenario under which Ortiz repeats his 2009 first-half struggles, leading to a trade of Ortiz, acquiring a catcher and moving Victor Martinez to DH. Quite the series of moves. The first obstacle to any such move involves Ortiz underperforming to such a degree that he repeats his putrid April and May, in which he hit just one home run in 178 at-bats on his way to a .185/.289/.286 overall line...

Payroll Pressures

With arbitration cases kicking in, payroll comes to the forefront of team concerns this week. While the Red Sox only have 4 arbitration cases left to settle, we can start to look at the overall payroll concerns going into 2010 and beyond. 2010 is supposed to be our "bridge" year, but is 2011 really when the Red Sox completely reload? Cot's Baseball Contracts lists the Red Sox payroll commitments, and a handy spreadsheet breakdown for the next 4 years as well. Evan's article yesterday laid out some basic figures for the four arbitration eligible Red Sox. While his figures for Delcarman, Ramirez, and Hermida seem solid ($1M, $1.5M, $3M) I have more reservations about Papelbon, considering the "favor" he wants to achieve for his fellow closers, and think his case will invariably go all the way into arbitration, where he'll get close to $9M. I have a feeling he'll ask for at least $10M, especially after he thinks he should be getting Mariano Rivera-liek deals in free agency. Currently, the Red Sox payroll stands at $149M, taking into account all new contracts, leftover payments for former players (like Lugo) any options exercise upon contract termination (Wagner, Alex Gonzales) and monies received form other teams (via Seattle for Bill Hall).