Boston closing the book on the knuckler and the captain, David Ortiz is now the senior member of the Boston Red Sox. 2012 will be his tenth season with the franchise. Kevin Youkilis is close behind, heading into his ninth year. After that, it's Josh...

Considering there were some major issues last year at the end and theres major changes here at the beginning, Im concerned about the attitude. But attitude filters down. When you see Josh Beckett and Jon Lester here, theyre the top of the pyramid as...

Conducting his first official press conference of the spring, Valentine spoke for 28 minutes and touched on everything from how he’s handling the topic of last year’s collapse to the leadership of veterans Jon Lester and Josh Beckett to his curiosity...

Its an imperfect science, this picking of a team in spring training. On Clay Buchholz: First impressions of Clay Buchholz have been very impressive. He led the charge in the 300-yard [dash] with Jon Lester the first day. He set a great example there. ...

MYERS, Fla. Later in the day, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester will be made available to the media. Is it just me or is anybody else interested in a few mea culpas? Perhaps we could hear an admission that things were not quite right by the time the SS...

I had a good feeling of what it would be like, and there’s just a lot of guys that love to work here.” From Curt Schilling to Jon Lester, Papelbon closed for some outstanding pitchers in Boston. It will be more of the same in Philadelphia, where Roy...

Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard and Andrew Bailey are just some of the pitchers who have thrown. When they finish, they leave the mound, cross one sidewalk, and find themselves standing on a lined NFL-style field. And under the watchful eyes of...

18, 2012 Feb 18 9:00 AM ET Baseball Tonight's Karl Ravech and Tim Kurkjian debate the biggest issue for the Red Sox heading into spring training. Kurkjian says starting pitching is the No. 1 key. How will much-maligned starters Josh Beckett and Jon...

The Red Sox extended a similar invitation to captain Jason Varitek , who has spent the past 15 years with the team. It remains unclear whether the soon-to-be-40-year-old catcher will take them up on the invitation, sign elsewhere or retire. Wakefield,...

Grove. I know some folks will say that Roger Clemens deserves consideration, but when Pedro pitched in the late 90′s, it was somehow transcendent. And there is also the fact that I cannot get past the whole “Clemens is a complete jackass, and a crappy...

Minus Jon Lester, there is relatively little assurance that any of the Red Sox' projected first four starters can make in the neighborhood of 30 starts, even assuming that there is a commitment to do so. And if they can whether they can do so now with...

Minus Jon Lester, there is relatively little assurance that any of the Red Sox’ projected first four starters can make in the neighborhood of 30 starts, even assuming that there is a commitment to do so. And if they can whether they can do so now with...

A calf injury slowed slugger Adrian Gonzalez. A lack of conditioning finally caught up with Josh Beckett [stats]. John Lackey was pitching with a blown-out elbow, which might elsewise have been labeled heroic. Jon Lester [stats] picked a bad time to...

Epstein also brought in Jason McLeod to oversee the scouting and player development departments. He worked in scouting under Epstein in Boston, then was Hoyer's assistant GM for the Padres for two seasons, instrumental in drafting such homegrown Red Sox...

ERA+ for ’98 thru ’02: 136, 186, 181, 188, 197 Unit pitched A LOT more innings during his 5-yr span, so his WAR is higher, but just barely: Pedro – 36.2, Unit – 38.5 If you go by total value, I can see the argument for Big Unit…but just based on...

How much will be lost in translation? FanGraphs crowdsourced 560 Darvish projections from its readers, and this was the average 5x5 line: 14 Wins, 3.21 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 174 K, 0 Saves. As noted in the FanGraphs article, these numbers compare Darvish...

MYERS, Fla. (CBS) — Whether the Red Sox like it or not, the focus at the start of spring training is going to be on the catastrophic end to the 2011 season. So when veteran hurlers like Josh Beckett and Jon Lester report early, many will naturally see...

On Monday, the voting for that team began at RedSox.com and FenwayPark100.com, with a ballot compiled by historians and front office staff. Feel like Jon Lester has been a better southpaw starter than Babe Ruth? Or that Pedro Martinez's dominance meant...

For those wondering, Manny Ramirez does not have to be completely idle during his 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy. Ramirez, who turns 40 on May 30, is eligible to play in spring-training games, according to major-league sources. ...