Gammons on the Sox

At ESPN Insider, Peter Gammons talks about the support system available to Matsuzaka, as well as the "mean-spirited" Boston fans and a media which hopes for the latest Japanese import to fail. He also points out that the Red Sox are likely to sign Chan Ho Park (as possible closer), and that Manny Ramirez WILL be the Sox leftfielder this season.

As for the worst signing of the winter, "the Commissioner" notes the Royals signing of Gil Meche. He also does a post-mortem on the Mets' Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano deal, on the presumption that "little guys can't play."

The Sox acquire Brendan Donnelly from the Angels. Of note is Donnelly's number one comp on the "similarity scores" hit list, Scott Linebrink, for whom the Sox seemed to have lusted. For whatever reason, Phil Seibel didn't seem to be in favor, so he'll get a fresh start on the left coast.

For those who are wringing their hands about the absence of a closer, I'd remind them of one item - it's December 16th. Yes, we all remember the closer by committee theme, but the Sox still have months before opening day.

Starters:

Schilling
Matsuzaka
Beckett
Papelbon
Wakefield
(Lester)
(Tavarez) - pitched well down the stretch
(Clement) - bullpen stuff?

Bullpen:

Donnelly
Timlin
Romero
Hansack
Breslow
Delcarmen
Hansen
Okajima
Snyder
Lopez

I'm fond of the issue of player accountability, in other words, do you need better players or your players to play better.