State of the Union: The Boston Red Sox

    He dumped Garciparra, the face of the Franchise. He let Pedro go despite all of the great work he had done for the team in 2004. Also he let Johnny Damon go as well by low-balling him on the offer, and while he still plays, Ellsbury is better right now in center-field.

    That being said, Lowell is old, and while he had a career year last year, I didn't think he was going to last the 3 years of his contract, and I still don't think it's going to happen. I would really love to see him hit 30 home runs again this year, but it just doesn't seem likely.

    The lack of a reliable 5th starter is going to be an on-going problem, and possibly something the Red Sox will address at the trading deadline.

    Clay Bucholz has a bright future with the squad, but management and Francona will not allow the young star to go over 150 innings, and I will bet the bank on that prediction. He is too precocious to run his arm into the ground this early in his career.

    Bartolo Colon has been good in the minor leagues, but I sure the Red Sox and Epstein would like some more stability at the back end of that rotation. I hate to say it, and I will still defend the trade, but it would be nice to have Johan Santana followed by Josh Beckett in the rotation.

    You can put a fork in him because Jason Varitek is cooked. The 36-year-old catcher for the team has been declining offensively every season since 2005, and apart from the occasional home run he has really looked over-matched at the plate.

     I have serious doubts that Varitek's usefulness behind the plate has been used up, and I am sure he is still a terrific game-manager and student of the game. I have to believe he has been at least remotely responsible for the development of Beckett and Papelbon and a host of other young pitchers, and that is integral to any team's success.

    But offensively he has struggled mightily. He has already struck out 14 times compared with only 3 walks, and his OBP has dipped below .300. I think he will continue to regress offensively, but keep his job until Epstein is ready to bring prospect George Kottaras up from the minors to usurp 'Tek's job.

    Aside from the aforementioned relievers, the bullpen is old. Mike Timlin is 42. Julian Tavarez is 35, and Bryan Corey is also 35. Throw in the fact that Tim Wakefield is also 42, and we have ourselves a playoff rotation for an old-timers league.

    While Wakefield's age is almost erroneous because he throws a knuckleball, and frankly could probably do it effectively until he is 60, but the rest of the guys make up strong part of the bullpen.

    Timlin was being counted on to be successful in a set-up role, and to help ease the transition for Manny Delcarmen, but it looks like Aardsma has stolen that spot. Tavarez is legitimately the only long reliever on the major-league roster now that Kyle Snyder has been sent back down to Pawtucket.

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