Jon Lester News

Call me crazy, but knowing that Jonathan Papelbon more than likely won't stick around with the Sox after this upcoming season, do you foresee him going to the Padres in a trade for Adrian Gonzalez, seeing as they don't have a potential closer next year? -- Aaron G., Reno, Nev.

The Red Sox are "putting on a full-court press" to acquire Roy Halladay, according to a source, and are hoping to add the former Cy Young winner to the top of their rotation to go with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

The Red Sox used 11 starting pitchers last season, two more than the Yankees and one fewer than the Phillies.

The Sandman and Madden: Together again! The Red Sox are "putting on a full-court press" to acquire Roy Halladay, according to a source, and are hoping to add the former Cy Young winner to the top of their rotation to go with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

What spoke loudest about the job DeMarlo Hale did in his four years as the Red Sox's third-base coach is that nobody noticed him.

One of the greatest pleasures Ron Johnson has enjoyed in his five years managing in Pawtucket has been serving as the messenger.

Jon Lester is 10x the pitcher Grienke is. And Daniel Bard should have won rookie of the year.

As unsettling as that can be, it still will beat last winter. Not only was Lowell undergoing massive job uncertainty because of the Red Sox [ team stats ] ' pursuit of Mark Teixeira, but the third baseman also was undergoing extensive and uncomfortable rehab from hip surgery.

As statesman turned ranger, George La Rue Washington, once said..."It is impossible to rightly govern a Red Sox Nation without God and the Pinstriped Bible." Yes, I'm talking about a possible step back competitively - not an easy thing to do for a franchise that sells out every game and answers to a "Nation" of rabid followers.

Now, he may be one of their first targets in free agency. According to a major league source, the Sox met with the right-hander's agent at the GM meetings earlier this week in Chicago.

It's early in the offseason, but the Red Sox have started to get a feel for how they can give their starting rotation an instant upgrade for next season.

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS announced the following appointments on Thursday; GARY RAJSICH to the position of Professional Crosschecker, BRANDON MOZLEY as Regional Crosschecker, BRIAN PARKER to the position of Professional Scout & DAN COX as an Area Scout.

Went up on major league trade rumors site. If link doesn't work: Beckett is highly respected by the Boston staff.

We felt like we deserved a nice, long vacation, but our recession-infected bank accounts argued to the contrary.

The most promising aspect, going forward, is that the Red Sox have money to spend again.

In the american league having all pitching and no hitting is a recipe for disaster.

Sentimentality and success don't mix well, but even those most unhappy with the way Boston's iconic 2004 team was quickly dismantled have to admit the turnover paid off.

Coming out of the chute firing strikes in good locations, John Lackey got the Angels rolling against the Red Sox with 7 1/3 scoreless innings in a 5-0 win in Game 1 of the American League Division Series at Angel Stadium on Thursday night.

That was the only question left on Monday, a day of postmortems for a Red Sox season that died a surprising and unexpected death Sunday afternoon in the shadows of Fenway Park.

Neither deal worked out particularly well. Penny won seven games for the Sox, but from May 9 until his release in late August, won only twice.