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Pitching may be all-important to winning in baseball nowadays, especially when it comes to post seasons play, but nothing battles great pitching better than an old-fashioned, well-balanced line-up.
A balance of speed and power, lefty and righty hitters, run scorers and run producers, are essential to giving the opposing pitcher no easy outs, as well as affecting the opposing manager's strategy when the game becomes more "specialized" in the later innings.

Four words. 

Well, technically three words and a conjunction. In any case, they are four rather unexceptional words that, when used individually, could be understood in many different contexts. When used together, they form one of the most beautiful phrases in the English language:

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT

Yesterday was the official start of spring training as pitchers and catchers were due to report. Position players report next week and games will be underway shortly after that.

Foresight is blind.

David Ortiz is an established veteran. He’s also, suddenly, an unproven rookie. After a tumultuous 2009, the Boston Red Sox DH can’t afford to take anything for granted in 2010—which would be worse news if taking things for granted hadn’t always been the essence of earthly folly.

Clairvoyance means pretending that you can really see the future in a crystal ball.

Candor, on the other hand, means admitting that you can only glimpse the present through a dusty glass.

1. Introduction

I am very tired of hearing about the snap judgment about Derek Lowe; an ace pitcher that Atlanta Braves signed him for a four-year, $60 million deal.

One-time Red Sox ace Josh Beckett enters the 2010 season knowing that he does not have a deal in place for 2011. He arrived in camp yesterday with the knowledge that he’ll need to have an excellent season if he hopes to land the kind of contract that former teammate A J Burnett signed with the NY Yankees last winter (five years, $82.5 million) and current teammate John Lackey signed this winter (five years, $85 million).

There is a lot of skepticism concerning Jonathan Sanchez, and for good reason. While he threw a No-Hitter last season and was re-signed to a $2.1 million extension this offseason , a lot of Giants fans still question Sanchez's ability to pitch at the next level.

A year after the Rays inspired hope that the Yankees and Red Sox' stranglehold on the AL East was over, order was seemingly restored to the baseball universe as the Bombers won it all, the BoSox won the wild card again, the Rays had an up and down year, and the O's and Jays bottom-fed.

With the exception of Tampa, all the teams in this division enter 2010 looking noticeably different, with several note-worthy players joining and leaving the division.

The ever-intense Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, exciting young players in Baltimore and Toronto, and the Rays' quest for redemption should make for a

2010 Top 50 Twins Prospects | No. 14 | Carlos Gutierrez

Position | Pitcher

Bats/Throws | Right/Right

Born | September 22, 1986 (Miami, Florida)

School | University of Miami

Height | 6'3''

Weight | 205 lbs.

This Article Was Originally Published at GetOutofMyBallpark.com

With pitchers and catchers reporting TOMORROW (as well as many of the guys already in camp), it's time that we take stock of what has happened to the Red Sox in the past few months and accept some realities.

Jason Bay is gone. He's a Met now. The Sox let go of a guy who hit 36 home runs and had 119 RBI and replaced him with Mike Cameron.