While I am not a fan of picking up pena, he is a decent guy to have coming off the bench, and to hit lefties. I wouldn't be suprised if we move nixon around the trade deadline. Since he gets hurt every year, and his production has dropped off, he needs to have a good 1/2 half for us to get anything for him. Several radio sports hosts don't feel the sox are really looking for this season. With a surplus of decent pitching prospect, and beckett/paplebon both being young they are looking for 2007 and beyond. Dustin Pedroia will be the starting ss/2b if not this season, next. Youkillis is at 1b, and cocco in cf. Pena will play a corner position. I hope they go after andrew jones for cf. As for catching, they used one of there several first round picks on a catcher.
As for bronson leaving, I have no problem with that. Yes he won 14 games last year, but he is very inconsistent, and we did have one of the best offenses in baseball over the past 2 seasons. The offense did help arroyo win several extra games. He has pitched like shit most of the spring, and I heard the game the other day on the radio, and the announce team were talking about the lack of sharpness on any of his pitches. He usually pays attention to runners, but let several get away on him, and he was taking a lot of time on the mound, where he usually is pretty good about the time between pitches. He is 28/29 area, and has pretty much maxed out. He will have 5 unbelievable starts, and then 3 - 4 really bad ones, and 3 - 4 avg ones. On a world series contender, he would be a #5 at best.