The Future Is NOW!

Good morning! Boston College was the workout location for some of the young Red Sox future superstars, including Clay Buchholz, Dustin Richardson and Jed Lowrie. This blurb is from the Boston Globe...

"Clay Buchholz and Dustin Richardson hope they're in the running to make the Red Sox. When you looked out at the football field in the indoor bubble at Boston College's Alumni Stadium yesterday, you saw the reason why many Red Sox fans don't want to make the Johan Santana trade.
You saw a confident, personable, Derek Lowe-like Justin Masterson and shortstop-of-the-future Jed Lowrie, both of whom have been mentioned in a possible trade for Santana. You saw a bulked-up, maturing Clay Buchholz, who may be the Red Sox' lone untouchable, though he may not even break camp with them, given the depth of their rotation.
The talent on the field - invited guests to the Red Sox' annual rookie development program - was a testament to how far the system has come. Baseball America, the bible of minor league baseball, ranks the Red Sox farm system second overall (Tampa Bay is first)."

Peter here, and untouchable is the perfect word to describe young Buchholz. And knowing that our farm system, the literal foundation for the future, is rated so highly just simply bodes SO well for the many years to come. I recently rewatched Clay B's no-hitter against the Orioles and again noticed the unbelievable movement on his fastball, the impossible break on his curve and the way he kept the O's hitters off balance throughout his nine inning masterpiece. AND he's been working out, which can't help but add zip to his pitches and even more amazingness to his off-speed stuff. We'll see him sometime next year, even though he is "officially" our number six guy in such a rich rotation. Believe me, he won't be numero seis for long.

In other Sox comings and goings, Hideki Okajima, our surprisingly effective lefthanded weapon coming out of the 'pen, is excited that the Sox season will be starting in his own homeland. He had this to say, taken from the Boston Herald...

"It’s great that Japanese fans will get to see the No. 1 team in the world," Okajima said. "It will be a great experience for me and the other players as well."

Peter here, and I love the sound of that..."the No. 1 team IN THE WORLD." I know, I know, I've had enough time to digest the World Series victory, but just the thought of it STILL gives me thrills and chills during these deadly quiet and cold winter mornings. I think it's time to break out the 2007 World Series DVD set. Every included game resulted in a Boston win, for the set starts with game number five, after the Indians went up three games to one in what could have been an ill-fated American League Championship Series for the Sox. But with their backs literally to the wall, nailed there, in fact, the Sox won seven straight games, ensuring themselves of that number one ranking. Old history? No...I look at it as one of the high points of my life. TWO of 'em, in fact. 2004, and then 2007. So for this baseball starved Red Sox fan living in Connecticut in the middle of January, screening a couple of the games, Josh Beckett's masterpiece(s) first and foremost, might be the perfect antidote to any and all winter doldrums.

Everyone, I wish you a great Wednesday, as we start sliding, uncontrollably at times, towards yet another weekend. And yes, you can click on the title of this post for the entire Boston Globe article. My thanks go out to each and every one of you for continually coming back to my blog, and me. Readership in the off season is up, and then down and then even LOWER than down, but I'll keep plugging away, God willing, until I draw my last breath. And that's a long, long time from now, I have to hope!! BE WELL. FOREVER.