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Hansen will be interesting because among his problems he was suffering from sleep apnea and he has had an invasive procedure to try and correct it. This might have been some of the drag on him. But if they can't get his mechanics right on his slider he has little hopes of being a successful pro.

A guy with more recent upside that is getting very little notice is Travis Hughes. Great K to BB ratio, a horse in terms of innings, a very respectable 1.19 WHIP and a microscopic 1.91 ERA. He is an older guy (29) who may finally becoming into his own after two very short failed MLB stops in his 10 year pro career. Worth a look in ST.

Travis Hughes Career Stats

Travis Hughes 2007 PawSox

Hopefully the RS will try and improve their balance in terms of LH relievers, it is a weakness with the two guys they have both being more effective against RH:

Okajima WHIP LH 1.18 - RH 0.86 OBA LH .289 - RH .235

Lopez WHIP LH 1.60 - RH 1.80 OBA LH .366 - RH .300

In Lopez' case these are stunning differences. This club could use another LH that actually matches up favorably.

The thing to keep in mind is that every other team in baseball will be working this winter to get better and while the RS won it all in 2007, the gap between them and some of the other elite teams wasn't much. Bullpen is always key and the sure way to insure you haven't got a good one is to get too happy with the one you have.

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lets not forget about buccholz. he can be used in the pen, either him or lester

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It isn't likely to happen as a regular season tactic. While Papelbon was being groomed as a starter in the minors, he was a closer as a college player. Usually when a player is converted to relief it is because they have very good command of a couple of pitches and never mastered the rest.

Buchholz ceiling is so high as a starter I personally couldn't see the RS stopping that development cycle and reworking his routines and reducing his pitch selection to fill a hole in the regular season. More likely will be that they will open the season with Clay in AAA and control that work load and call him up before or close to the deadline (baring injury to another pitcher or meltdown, in which case he is here sooner). At that point they will use a hybrid of a six man rotation and get their guys rested and sharp for the stretch. However he is used as season progresses, there are few trades that could be made on the fly that would give the Sox as much impact.

Lester is much the same and the RS are so RH centric, they'd love to have a quality LH starter. It will be with great reluctance they ever send that young man to the bullpen. Could Clay beat him out if he is a jaw dropper in the spring and Lester stinks? Maybe only the RS brain trust knows because they were quite insistent in letting Pedroia play through a bad spring and a bad April.

The Sox are just too high on what these guys can do as starters. Heck they almost couldn't get out of their own way with Papelbon and leave him in the bullpen and that guy was and is a world class closer. But if one fails to make the grade in MLB as a starter it certainly is the fall back position, though either would probably do a stint in AAA to get used to all the changes in work patterns including the lack of pre-game preparation and rapid warm-up.

Timlin is a "no-brainer" in part because like Schilling and to some extent like Lowell he wants to be here enough not to "test the market" over a long period of time. While at his age it is unclear just how solid his body is, when healthy he is a confident and steady performer that does the number one thing a reliever must, he throws strikes.

If he stayed in this market long enough his $$$ would grow past the RS FO taste IMHO. But if you can get him locked in for the similar $$$ to 2007, it is only one year and one year deals never kill you in the checkbook. But if you look at how thin this market is on November 21st, patience will net people money they are unworthy of IMHO.

I agree with Sue that finding LH pitching talent is not an easy thing to do. It is however the most obvious flaw in the RS bullpen and has been an issue ever since Mike Myers left for the big cash and crash in NY. Myers wasn't the guy to keep but the RS probably need to drop $5M-$6M on a two to three guys on the downside and see if the get a rebound. JC Romero might have been that guy last year, but he was still struggling to throw strikes and the RS had roster issues that made it hard to carry him. In Philly he got his ship straightened out and got his WHIP in line and had a very impressive ERA. Who might be on the board that looks like he did in the 2006-2007 off-season, I don't know but IMHO that is the way the RS need to approach this. Big bucks on middle relief seldom works.

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Agree with Sue, Lopez is probably out.

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He'll get his shot in ST I would think. It cost the RS under $500K to sign him and reassign him to Pawtucket. But the RS would be wise to have some LH there to compete with him. No field manager really wants to have a bullpen with only one LH pitcher. Tito would never complain but it does hamstring what he can do in game.

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Since we just won the WS, there's not as much pressure to pick up ANOTHER ace like Santana, since we already have 3 aces now and a terrific lineup.

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Oh the RS will kick the tires on that one and/or Haren if either becomes available.

Once upon a time the RS traded to super prospects for an established ace under 30 years old. It worked out OK. The prospects were Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. and the pitcher was Pedro Martinez.

The RS staff looks very, very good right now but projecting young pitchers is tough. In 2003 the baseball world was sure the Cubs would dominate this decade with Prior, Wood and Zambrano.

If the A's put Haren on the market he may be of more interest to the RS because of his contract status. They might do nothing but I don't think that Ellsbury and Lester are untouchable, it just would take a very attractive deal.

Breslow had some bad and some good splits versus LH in Pawtucket last year. He had a good BB to K ratio (7BB - 33K), good K per inning (33 in 21.2) but his ERA was tough at 4.98. And like a lot of the RS LH over the past few years, while he walks more RH, he has a better ERA and OBA versus RH.

But the real red flag is that he fell apart in the second half of 2007 with a 7.92 ERA and OBA of .327. He could shock everyone in ST and earn a spot but he doesn't look like the best plan for a LOOGY.


Breslow PawSox stats

Breslow College and Pro career stats