I'd love to see the Sox make a run at Peavy...we should have kept Crisp, he can hit, where as Ellsbury cannot and has one of the ugliest looking swings for a left-handed hitter, ummm, EVER. Could have maybe shipped Ellsbury, Buchholz, & someone like Devern Hansack (he's never making the roster here, let's be honest) and maybe a fourth player like Ryan Kalish or something...since that's not going to happen, how bout we bring Burnett & D-Lowe back mmk?

Burnett is too much money for not enough pitcher. He has good stuff, but you can't pay top dollar for a #4 starter, which is what he'd be for the Sox. His past season was his best, otherwise he's been a .500 pitcher with durability issues. Lowe will be the better bargain and Buchholz will be better than Lowe. The kid has great stuff and deserves another shot.

Burnett can dominate with his stuff at times. He would be the best 4th starter in baseball (although in my opinion he would really be the 3rd starter). Lowe has been here already and his better days are way past him. I would rather sign burnett just because he is much younger and has more upside (also makes you swing and miss). Buchholz is over rated. He has good stuff but his fastball doesnt move enough. I see him as a 10 game winner at most in his career. In other words a 3rd or 4th starter on a good team.

Garry I couldn't have said it better myself!

I agree with Bucholz (and Masterson) in the rotation. We should see glimpses of Bowden in June July too.

Burnett is injury prone and you are not going to pay him or Lowe $15M for backend rotaion when Beckett and Dice K are making 10M each at the front end. The Sox should pull a pitcher out of the trash like they did with Colon last year (this year they should get someone who isn't a physical and mental mess though). No Pedro though!!!!

They could be in the Peavy sweepstakes with the talent they haveto trade. As a 4th starter whatever Peavy does should be gravy for The Sox.

The problem with your Peavy talk is he has a no-trade clause that has to be waived and he has made it clear he wants to stay in the NL and that he does not want to go to Boston.

Chris, if we trade for Peavey, he's not going to be a 4th starter.

I agree with whoever says that Burnett is too risky and going to cost waaay too much money. Let the Yanks overpay for him, like they do with everyone else.

I think home-grown pitching talent will make their make this upcoming season if they get the chance!

Let the Yankees have Lowe, Burnett and Sabathia....as Curt would say: "We don't need them"!

I think Theo is trying to drive up Burnette's price on the Yankees to perhaps make the Sox more competitive in the Tex sweepstakes. While I'd love to have A.J. I'll be very surprised if we get him (or even seriously make an offer).

The Sox have got to make a run at AJ just to keep the Yankees off-balance, and not let them have a clear shot at him. They don't have to land him, and they probably don't intend to. It's a head-fake, a way of keeping the cards close to the vest. The real prize is Tex. Making a play for AJ is useful in that pursuit.

I think Bucholz is one of those guys with all the tools and all the promise, but who struggles forever in the bigs. It happens, and it's a bit of a mystery I guess, but it's all about one's personal makeup. He's trade bait if the right deal presents itself - many clubs would readily a 'project' like him, young talent who needs help finding his way. (The Sox already have at least two 'projects' - Ellsbury and Masterson. They don't need another.) Bowden, on the other hand, seems like the real deal. He will find his way on his own, as Pedroia and Youk (and... maybe Lowrie?) have.

Burnett would be an outstanding addition to the rotation. He's got great stuff, misses bats, and absolutely owns the Yankees and Rays -- completely dominates them. He's not injury prone at all -- just about every inning he missed during his time in Toronto was related to his successful Tommy John surgery from 2003-04. Last year's 220+ innings are a good indication that's all behind him now. A fill-in junkpile pitcher like Colon won't do the trick this time around: 1) Beckett had some scary pitching arm numbness related to his ulnar nerve; yeah, he seemed to recover with rest, but elbow problems have a nasty habit of coming back, so there's a real injury risk there. 2) Dice-K had a great season in '08, but, in many ways, he pitched worse in '08 than in '07 -- he struck out fewer and had a lower strikeout rate, he walked more per nine innings (he actually led the league in walks allowed), and pitched signifcantly fewer innings. He gave up fewer hits and fewer home runs, which accounts for his much lower-than-2007 ERA, but there's no question he was the benefit of some amazing luck last year, and he's very unlikely to see the same kind of luck next year. 3) Jon Lester pitched beautifully all season, but had a much heavier than intended workload. Teams don't like to let young pitchers increase their innings total from year to year by more than 30 innings or so -- but Jon Lester's innings total in '08 was more than 60 innings higher than any other season in his career. He held up just fine for us in '08, but we might see some effects of that big increase in '09. I hope we don't, but it's a real risk. All of our top three starters have some question marks going into '09, and the Sox are not exempt from Murphy's Law. I'm confident we'll need a boost to the rotation next year (just like every year), and this time it makes sense to pass right by the discount counter and go right to the good stuff. The Yankees are going to spend a lot of money improving this winter. We can't stand still while they do.

Every time I hear or see someone listing Tim Wakefield as the 4th or 5th starter for the Sox, I gasp ! With what the Rays already are (adding Price), and what the Yankees will be..........I see all of those people, at already-sold-out games at Fenway next year, wonder what the hell is going on. The Jays are always tough for us, too. Even though there is not a better man or team mate than Tim, I'll bet the lovefest for him will end at about the same time.