Well, count me in for a Boston spring or early season get together, provided I'm not out of town or somehting.

Sounds good. If you are interested I'll share some of my observations from Spring Training when I get down there. If people have any players they want me to take a look at just throw a name out and I'll see if I can catch them. I don't typically interact with the players (they are working, I leave them alone) but I like to watch the workouts. I usually spend a couple of mornings watching the workouts at the minor league camp then catch the big league game in the afternoon. I have tickets for five games right now though I'll probably end up going to only four.

That'd be awesome, Jose. Thanks. You can email me through the account linked on my profile page. And have a fun trip, I'm jealous.

Pitchers and Catchers and Programming Notes

...these are a few of my favorite things...

I don't want to assume they're making the playoffs, but that notwithstanding I'd like to see a regular (monthly?) thread on what they need for the postseason and whether they're on the right track. I know we'll have plenty of "Bard pitched the first three games, so at this rate he'll make 162 appearances and be crap when the postseason comes" discussions. For this, however, what I'm thinking of is that we first look at what they need in the postseason, and then check in on a regular basis to see whether the pieces are coming together or falling apart (and what must be done to get back on track).

Midseason we could probably use a medical thread. Hopefully it'll be to discuss how much has improved.

I'd love to have a meetup again, but realistically I won't be there. Phil probably has a better chance of attending than I do. Daly moved to within a couple miles of me a while back, and we still haven't managed to meet up.

I will be back around the Boston area in late March. First time on US soil in two and a half years. Don't let me down, boys.

Sounds good. If you are interested I'll share some of my observations from Spring Training when I get down there.

Noooooooooo!!!!!! :)

and I was thinking that we could do discussions of the management of the bullpen and of the platoons in the lineup.

I'm hoping for a discussion of the midseason firing of Dan Shaughnessy. But, I really like these too.

Noooooooooo!!!!!! :)

I still have one more Ramon Ramirez to ruin! (um...is that one still in the organization?)

I will be back around the Boston area in late March. First time on US soil in two and a half years. Don't let me down, boys

How long you in town? See if we can get a Spurs/Sox double dip going.

How long you in town? See if we can get a Spurs/Sox double dip going.

About a week, March 25 to April 2. So we could meet up for a spring training game if NESN is carrying any around then, or have an Opening Day meetup on the 1st.

Pretty sure that first weekend is FA Cup for the footie, and Spurs are not involved (/sad trombone). They play Wigan on the 2nd, but I'll probably be watching that at my dad's house before heading to Logan for my evening flight back across the puddle.

We need an official CFBPS thread.

I'm in for a Boston meetup. If I could make a suggestion, the Phil Coorey meetup at Game On went pretty well, and we were able to get a private area (I think they call it a Luxury Box) downstairs with 2 TVs that we controlled. We could get together for a road game.

I'd like to see a regular (monthly?) thread on what they need for the postseason and whether they're on the right track.

I'd rather see one on what they (and the Yankees) need to catch up to the Rays, Jays, and Orioles :)

-- MWE

On the second topic: Anything would be awesome.

On the first topic: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2011/02/youkilis_ready_1.html
Youk is pumped to be moving back to third because he hates holding runners on and doesn't care for the chit-chat that is typical between a first baseman and a base runner. Love that guy.
Also, Youk says Adrian Gonzalez told him that he (Gonzalez) is slower than Victor Martinez, which Youk doesn't believe is possible. (now that I've shared the second anecdote you don't have to click through).

the Phil Coorey meetup at Game On went pretty well, and we were able to get a private area (I think they call it a Luxury Box) downstairs with 2 TVs that we controlled. We could get together for a road game.

That place will probably be absolutely heaving on Opening Day, no? Or will enough people still be stuck at work at 4pm?

That place will probably be absolutely heaving on Opening Day, no? Or will enough people still be stuck at work at 4pm?

Yeah, it'll be a mess on Opening Day, but there's a chance we could score one of the private areas.

I meant it for more of a general meetup, though, rather than the Meetbert.

FYI, once the server upgrade takes place later this month, I'm going to be opening some things up, like the ability for people to submit blog entries to the team blogs. I'll also be allowing links to outside articles to be posted to the team blogs.

If there are any additional requests, please let me know.

Thanks for your work, Jim.

For what it's worth, I've come to really appreciate the blog / newsstand division that's been in effect over the last few years. I think it makes sense that if there's a news piece worth submitting for comments, it should just go in the main newsstand area, rather than being cordoned off in ST. I don't, initially, like the idea of switching back to the old model where ST is parallel to the newsstand but only has Sox specific links.

Some notes about how the Sox are handling the reporting of injuries this year. Some of the interesting passages;

But he (Francona) was often missing details when asked about injuries last season and that left the players to fill in the gaps. In some cases (Mike Cameron), it was easy. In others, not so much. Jacoby Ellsbury arrived in Toronto armed with note cards and read a statement to the media about his condition.

So the Red Sox will issues press releases this season, a process that started today with the information on Adrian Gonzalez. It's a positive step that they realize the process had to change.

But while Francona said the team would try to be “more consistent” with its information, this also could be a step toward the hush-hush Patriots way.

“What’s the word, a little Belichickian?” Francona said. “Is that the right word? Is that a good word?”

No, that's not a good word. Red Sox fans pay a lot of money to attend games or to get NESN and watch them on TV.

This seems like an excellent idea if they don't try to hide everything. Hiding things is begging the media to guess, which leads goodness knows where. Better to give out good info, less problems in the long run.

No, that's not a good word. Red Sox fans pay a lot of money to attend games or to get NESN and watch them on TV.

That money being spent does not necessarily entitle either the fans or the press the information under discussion.