Newly signed right hander John Lackey has gotten off to a positive start in a Red Sox uniform having not given up a run in his first two spring training starts. The former Los Angeles Angels ace worked three innings against the New York Mets in Grapefruit League play. Lackey gave up three hits in his start showing both excellent control and velocity in his pitching motion. Lackey has a career ERA under 4 and is coming off a decent 11-8 season with the Angels. In 2007, Lackey was a Cy Young candidate winning 19 games and being voted to the AL All Star Game. Jeremy Hermida and Mike Cameron both had RBIs in the Red Sox win over the Mets 8-2 in Port St. Lucie, FL. Clay Buscholtz will take the mound on Friday in Junipter, FL when the Red Sox face the St. Louis Cardinals.

The collegiate squads of Northeastern University and Boston College got a thrill facing the Boston Red Sox in a spring training exhibition. Manager Terry Francona told the media that he thought facing college teams was a better way to get ready for Grapefruit League than a inner-league scrimmage. The Red Sox were able to use a lot of pitches and get a lot of guys on the roster multiple at bats. David Ortiz hit a two-run homer against Northeastern for the Sox in route to a 15-0 win. Boston College scored a run on the Red Sox in the fifth inning of their match up thanks to a Spencer Payne single. The Red Sox kick off spring training competition on Friday against the Minnesota Twins.

Most MLB teams this year will be jealous of the Red Sox’s starting rotation of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Clay Buscholtz. Beckett, Lester, and Lackey could easily all be aces on a lot of teams in the Majors with all three capable of making runs at the Cy Young this year. Matsuzaka won 18 games in 2008, but had a down season last year with his ERA ballooning up to 5.76 in 2009. Should Matsuzaka recapture his good form than American League batters will be in a lot of trouble this year. Buscholtz will likely round out the lineup and last season he went 7-4 last season and is looking to take a big step forward in 2010. The bullpen will be lead by knuckle-baller Tim Wakefield (who went 11-5 as a starter in 2009) and dominant closer Jonathan Papelbon. If the Red Sox offense can perform better than last year, expect Boston to have a better season. The Red Sox pitching staff is talented, experienced, and deep. Here’s hoping they light up pitching mounds all season long.

The Red Sox announced they’ve signed pitcher Joe Nelson to a minor league deal for the 2010 season. Nelson will be heading to Fort Myers, FL to join the Red Sox’s spring training and compete for a spot in the bullpen. The 35-year-old was a Red Sox previously from 2002-2004, but only saw three major league appearances. Since then he’s bounced around the major and minor leagues with streaks of both good and bad form. His “Vulcan” pitch is his trademark change up pitch named after the death grip of “Star Trek” fame. Nelson has pitched his way onto to big leagues rosters before as was the case in 2008 when he won a spot on the Florida Marlins.

After a good year pitching in 54 innings with a 2.00 ERA, Nelson earned a deal with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After getting off to a good start to the 2009 season, Nelson underwent a terrible month of May where he had a 8.53 ERA.  The right hander had offers from other teams, but felt that the Red Sox’s current roster make up gave him the best chance to make a MLB team in 2010. Nelson will have plenty of competition this spring in Florida, but don’t be surprised if you see his name on the Red Sox roster come opening day.

Jeremy Hermida signed a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox bypassing arbitration proceedings. The 25-year-old outfielder was traded to the Red Sox from the Florida Marlins where Hermida played for five years. The deal is worth $3.345 million as left handed batter will add some diversity to the Sox’s batting lineup. Hermida batted .296 in 2007, but also led the league in errors made by right fielders with 9 errors committed. His batting numbers have dropped off since hitting .259 with 47 RBI’s in 2009. On the upside his fielding has progressed since 2007 committing only one error in 120 games last season. Hermida will come into Spring Training as the fourth outfielder behind Mike Cameron, J.D. Drew, and Jacoby Ellsbury. Let’s hope the kid can bring his bat back to 2007 and keep his glove from last year.

The Red Sox have come to an agreement with closer Jonathan Papelbon avoiding arbitration in 2010. The right-hander will be paid $9.5 million in 2010. Papelbon told local media that he would like to end his days playing in a Red Sox uniform likening his ideal career to that of his Yankee rival Mariano Riveria. The Baton Rouge hurler has been one of the best closers in the game in recent memory and it would be a shame should the Sox lose him after next season. Nevertheless, Papelbon’s desire to remain in Boston will hopefully make it easier on management after next season. Here’s to hoping “Pap” stays a Sox for a long time.

What do you expect the Red Sox to do this year? Do you think they’re going to win the Series again? It’s time for us all to put our expectations down. All of you should put your predictions down below in the comments section of this page. I personally expect that the Sox will get back into the Wild Card position. It’s hard for the other divisions to do better than the East to take a division winner and a wild card spot too. So instead, I expect that the Red Sox will get it. I would say that they’ll have about 85-90 wins, second place in the division. Then I would think that they’ll make it to the ALCS, just because they’re due. There have been some weird mistakes during the offseason, but I’d rather have them make the big mistakes now and then have it out of their system before the pivotal moments in the year. So what do you say? Any nay-sayers amongst you? Or any real optimists who expect them to sweep through the playoffs?

There is a controversy that has just arisen about Matsuzaka. He’s been with the Red Sox for awhile now, but it is unfortunate that he didn’t let them know the extent of his injuries last spring after the World Baseball Classic. There were a few suggestions that the team needed to check him out a little bit more. Apparently in an interview to a Japanese magazine, Daisuke Matsuzaka said that he was a little bit hurting, or something like that. The Boston Red Sox just found out about it and they aren’t so happy about it. They will be talking to him, his agent, and many other characters in this event. They want to know if communication broke down and, if so, how.

Yesterday was the Hall of Fame voting for the 2010 class and the winner was, unsurprisingly, a Red Sox player. But it is a little bit surprising which one it was. Andre Dawson, who only played with the team for a year or two and was injured most of the time, is the newest member of baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He will be honored in a ceremony in a few months. He definitely deserves it, although his actual time of performance was really low. He had 12 knee surgeries during his career and it sidelined him for such a long time that most fans only got to see short moments of his legendary ability. When he was playing great, he was amazing. He deserves it, though I suppose the Red Sox can’t take much credit for his election.

There are rising concerns about the level of the roster that the current Red Sox team will put on the field this year. I mean, we play in the same division as the Yankees, but we don’t have the kind of push that they do in their batting. Our pitching is decent and our fielding is getting better. But can’t we get the big bats here too? They have made some big changes over the last few years and especially this offseason. They have invested some impressive resources in their lineup this year, but there’s nothing really big in it as far as the batting goes. Hopefully we’ll be able to make some big changes in the next few weeks before Spring Training begins. Either that, or hopefully someone’s bat will simply light it up again this year. Let’s get ready to see it in action!