Pitchers and Catchers Report in Two Days

Red Sox pitchers and catchers report in two days. The Boston Globe has features today on two of the pitchers who may hold the key to the 2008 Sox season, young phenom Clay Buchholz and last year's splashy import Daisuke Matsuzaka. For the record, I expect that Buchholz will have the standard ups and downs of a young pitcher, but I can see Dice-K having a second year akin to Josh Beckett's second season in the American League last year. he made the adjustment reasonably well, and now he knows the league, knows the hitters, knows the expectation, and with that knowledge had an offseason to prepare.

Matsuzaka Watch

Over at Sports Illustrated online, Tom Verducci has a piece and an interview with Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Japanese uberstar and international man of mystery who will either bring the Red Sox back to the promised land or else will provide yet another example of hype preceding reality. I vote for the former, please.