For our 100th Post, we are lucky enough to have a special guest writer on the site today.
Please meet Alan Greenwood, Sports Editor at the Nashua Telegraph in New Hampshire.

Alan Greenwood has been covering the Red Sox for 15 years for the Nashua Telegraph and has been a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America for 13 years, serving as the Secretary/Treasurer for the Boston Chapter since 2001. He grew up in Exeter, NH, graduated from The University of New Hampshire in 1981, worked at Foster’s Daily Democrat in Dover, NH for three years before coming to The Telegraph, where he became the Weekend Sports Editor in 1986 and the Sports Editor in 1994. Over the years he has covered the Patriots, Celtics and Bruins as well as the Red Sox.

Alan was nice enough to take some time to answer a few questions as an expert on the Red Sox for us. Today is part 1 of 3.

1. What do you think of the Matsuzaka signing, and what should fans expect from the pre-season favorite for Rookie of the year?

While I am a skeptic at heart, from everything I have seen (and heard, even from fellow skeptics) is that Matsuzaka is the real deal. While the expectations for him are unprecedented, even by New England standards, it would be shocking if he were anything less than a legitimate frontline pitcher, if not a legitimate ace. That being said, I still think fans would be wise to scale back their expectations a bit, because the man still hasn’t thrown a pitch in a big league game.

2. What do you think about the other major offseason signings the Sox made in Lugo and Drew?

While I’ve never quite grasped the unconditional the Red Sox front office has had with Julio Lugo, he should prove adequate, or better if his offense makes up for the defense they lost. Drew is Drew; if he can play more than 130 games he’s a great signing. Sentiment aside, Trot Nixon isn’t exactly an iron man anymore.

3. Who is in line for the biggest positive turnaround this year, and who is most likely to dissapoint?

Coco Crisp is my pick as the player most likely to provide the most pleasant surprise, at least amongst those who can’t get the thought of his 2006 season out of their heads.
Biggest potential disappointment: Mike Timlin. Even if he stays healthy, no small feat for a pitcher at age 40, he showed every sign last season of being a player who got old in a hurry.

Come back tomorrow for part 2

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 25th, 2007 at 4:42 pm and is filed under General Postings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.