The Red Sox officially signed Ryan Dempster to a two-year, 26.5 million-dollar deal yesterday.

To which I say, meh.

Meh.

I just don’t think Dempster will be that good.  Ryan Dempster’s the kind of pitcher that’s been around so long that everyone knows his name – but that doesn’t mean he can hold up the Red Sox rotation.  Especially – ESPECIALLY – in the AL East.

Look at Dempster’s stats on baseball-reference.com.  He started 2012 with the Chicago Cubs, and was traded to the Texas Rangers on July 31, literally two minutes before the deadline expired.  His numbers with Chicago – where he began as a reliever and a closer before earning a starting spot in 2008 – are good.  He had an ERA basically in the mid-threes as a starter, save for a down 2011 season and a renaissance 2012 first half.  He left Chicago sporting a 2.25 ERA on the year.

But, look what happened once he got traded to Texas.  He lodged a 5.09 ERA in the last half of 2012, and the fact he started walking the ballpark didn’t help him out any.

It’s well-known that for pitchers, the switch from the National League to the American League is a tough one.  The DH comes into play, the hitters tend to grind out their at-bats more (especially in the AL East), and ERAs tend to rise significantly.  Dempster pitched well against the Sox last year – allowing no runs over 13 2/3 innings – but let’s face it, pretty much everyone “pitched well” against the Sox last year.  And, Dempster got crushed by the better teams in the American League.  Nick Cafardo at the Boston Globe put it well:

The Angels ate him up in three starts. He allowed nine hits and eight runs in 4-2/3 innings in one start; six hits and five runs over 3-1/3 innings in another; and seven hits and our runs in 5-2/3 innings in a third.

The Yankees beat him up for nine hits and eight runs over six innings. The A’s got him for six hits and five runs over three innings.

And, as Cafardo notes, the Rangers didn’t make a big push to re-sign Dempster.  Cafardo also writes that a National League manager expects the Red Sox to pick and choose the teams that Dempster goes up against.  That’s… not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Was the last half of 2012 a hiccup?  Or was it a sign of things to come?  And what, exactly, do the Red Sox expect out of Dempster?  He’s gone 200 innings a year consistently since he became a starter (except for last year – 173).  The Sox needed that kind of consistency last year, and couldn’t get it out of the starting staff.  The looming question, though, is whether those 200 innings will be quality innings or not.

I have my doubts.  The Red Sox still need to put some serious work into their starting staff – Dempster will be a good addition, but I would be very concerned if Ben Cherington sees him as anything better than a fourth starter.  The Sox still need that top-of-the-rotation guy, and their time is starting to run out.

Also, as an aside, SOMETHING is going on with the Mike Napoli deal.  The Sox haven’t announced it formally yet, but Cafardo also wrote in the Globe that a medical issue’s come up with Napoli’s leg or hip, and that the sides are trying to wrangle the contract language to accommodate that issue.  Even if the sides work out the language and Napoli gets signed, yikes – it seems like Murphy’s Law applies to medical issues.

But, happy thoughts – Shane Victorino gave a great press conference yesterday, and it’s Friday.  We all love Fridays!

It’s so refreshing to see a Red Sox starting pitcher take the mound, throw strikes, not make faces at the home plate umpire, not buy into his own hype, and just quietly and calmly gut out a win for a team that really needs them.  Thank you, Franklin Morales, for being the most admirable starting pitcher in the bunch.  Morales, who took over the injured Josh Beckett’s slot for a spot start last night, pitched five innings.  His 80 pitches were the most he’s thrown since he was a starter for the Colorado Rockies in 2009.  He gave up two runs, four hits, and struck out nine without walking a single batter.

On Morales’s effort, the Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 7-4, taking two of three in the interleague series.  The Sox are (gasp!) BACK AT .500.  They’ve won two straight, and they’ll take a day off today (one of Josh Beckett’s 18 days off, I presume?) before returning to Fenway to host the Miami Marlins.

The game started off strong for the Sox.  Scott Podsednik led off with a single, and then scored on Dustin Pedroia’s double to left center field.  A Kevin Youkilis sac fly and a David Ortiz single scored Pedroia to give the Sox an early 2-0 lead.

The Cubs scored one run in the bottom of the first.  Things settled down until the bottom of the third inning, when Chicago scored its second run on a Starlin Castro “double” to shallow right field that Pedroia and right fielder Darnell MacDonald couldn’t sort out before it bounced off Pedroia’s glove.  Two things: first, very very hometown scoring there – if that’s a legitimate double, then I’m Bryce Harper; and second, Terry Francona, who was calling the game for ESPN, instantly jumped to Pedroia’s defense and heaped all the blame on MacDonald.  Personally, I saw Pedroia call for the ball and then let it bounce off his glove.  We all know how much Tito loves Pedroia, his cribbage buddy.  But, if Tito wants to be a neutral ESPN analyst, he should start by being neutral.

Anyway.  Ortiz made things right the next inning, when he hit a monster home run to center field to put the Red Sox ahead again, but his efforts were thwarted by yet another defensive miscue involving Pedroia.  Pedroia and Mike Aviles Aviles met at second base to handle a force out from a tap-back to pitcher Matt Albers.  Aviles cut in front of Pedroia, dropped the ball and picked up the error, and the Cubs evened the score again.  This one was clearly Aviles’s fault, but it’s kind of weird that Pedroia was involved in both defensive communication issues this game.  Is he not calling for the ball or something?  I find it hard to believe that both Aviles and MacDonald would just ignore Pedroia calling for the ball.

It seems like all was forgiven though, as the Red Sox put up three runs in the top of the seventh inning to grab the lead for good.  MacDonald doubled, pinch-hitter Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled, Ryan Kalish – who made his return from the minor leagues yesterday – singled, Will Middlebrooks hit a sac fly to center field, and Daniel Nava dropped a bunt.

Good win for the Red Sox all around.  Except for the Curse of Dustin Pedroia, it looks like things were rolling, at least for one night.  Here’s a link to the box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Boston returns to Fenway from its 4-2 road trip on Tuesday, when it welcomes the Miami Marlins.  Clay Buchholz (7-2, 5.38 ERA) will try to repeat his last great start against Miami.  He’s up against Mark Buehrle (5-7, 3.41 ERA), who picked up his first loss in ten interleague games against the Red Sox last week.

The Boston Red Sox head to Chicago to open a set with the Cubs tonight.  The Red Sox are probably the most underachieving team in baseball this year, and the Cubs are literally the worst team in baseball so far this season.  Normally, this matchup wouldn’t really garner a lot of fan interest, let alone a nationally-televised broadcast.  But this series is turning heads because of Theo Epstein, the dashing young general manager who revamped the Red Sox for their championship run, and then turned tail and fled to Chicago after last September’s collapse and chicken-and-beer disaster.

The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy published a very revealing Q & A with Epstein.  A few impressions from the interview:

1.  This interview took place at the Starbucks on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill.  I know that Starbucks!  I met with my wedding photographer there.  The parking lot is tiny, and it’s hard to find a spot.  Why would they meet there?  Maybe if you’re Theo Epstein, the cars part for you and there’s just parking everywhere you look?

2.  Epstein calls the photo that the Chicago Sun-Times published of him walking across Lake Michigan on Opening Day “beyond ridiculous.”  He’s trying to protect himself here, by saying that he’s really not a miracle worker (yeah, no kidding, say the Sox, currently saddled with some of the worst free-agent contracts in baseball).  He also calls the Chicago fan base calmer, quotes a “Midwestern sensibility,” and notes that Cubs fans understand that building a winning team takes patience.

3.  Theo is still a Red Sox fan.  I mean, he grew up here, he worked for Boston, and he knows the people running the team now.  This is probably the least surprising update on Theo Epstein, like, ever.

4.  He rambles for a while about the compensation issue.  Essentially, he says it wasn’t as big a deal as the media made it out to be (welcome to Boston, Theo!), but that the September collapse threw all these issues into an even sharper relief that didn’t help matters.

5.  Theo excuses his terrible free-agent signings, and weakly tells Shaughnessy that the Red Sox had the best drafting program of the decade.  I’m not even sure that’s true.  There’s a difference between having prospects that are good, and having prospects that are hyped.  Sure, a lot of Red Sox minor leaguers have become good MLB players – so have a lot of Yankee minor leaguers.  Plus, I don’t see how saying that you’re good at drafting players answers for the millions of dollars of salary wasted on free agents that don’t/can’t play.

Anyway.  The series kicks off today with a 2:20 start at Wrigley, when Diasuke Matsuzaka (free agent signing, 0-1, 7.20 ERA) takes on Ryan Dempster (2-3, 2.31 ERA).  Saturday, Jon Lester takes on Jeff Samardzija (Jeff Samardzija!  I remember him playing football at Notre Dame, very Tim Riggins-ish!) and Sunday, Josh Beckett closes it out against Paul Maholm.

Sorry about the headline – I couldn’t resist.

Check this out: as of June 3, the Boston Red Sox were officially out of the AL East basement:

Exciting – take THAT, Toronto Blue Jays!  The New York Yankees are only a half game ahead, and lately New York couldn’t hit its way out of a paper bag with RISP.  The Red Sox pitching finally seems to be shaping up, the bullpen is sorting itself out, and the lauded hitters are, well, hitting laudably.  Even some rookies and unknowns have started to step up and help the club out.  Most recently, Clay Buchholz and Felix Doubront led the Sox to wins over the (last-place, snicker) Blue Jays with dazzling outings, and unexpected offensive outbursts from the likes of Daniel Nava and Nick Punto put the Sox over the top.  Kevin Youkilis is back, Dustin Pedroia sounds like he’ll play on Tuesday, and even Daisuke Matsuzaka’s had a promising rehab stint in Pawtucket on Thursday.

Daniel Bard will try for the series sweep today.  He’s won his last four decisions.

So, things look pretty darn good in the Nation.  Ben Cherington?  Genius!  Bobby Valentine?  A master of strategery.  Even Wally the Green Monster looks a little more plush these days.

Now granted, this could all turn around again quickly.  The Boston media is ruthless, the Sox have some tough series coming up (Orioles, Nationals, Marlins, and then a showdown with Theo Epstein’s Cubs…).  If Alfredo Aceves blows a save, Adrian Gonzalez grounds into a few double plays, or Youkilis loses his hot bat again, then the mood around here will turn from glass half full to glass half empty quicker than you can say “fourth place… that means we’re only better than one other team in our division, right?”  The histrionics of Red Sox fans and Red Sox media, both optimistic and pessimistic, should never, ever, be underestimated.

But for now, Sox fans, let’s enjoy this moment.  In the past year, we’ve gone from the team that was supposed to win 100 games, to the team that collapsed and missed the playoffs, to the team that lost its manager and its general manager, to the team that took a chance on a green general manager and a has-been manager, to the team with no closer, to the team with no bullpen, to the team with no pitching, to the team with no hitting, to… this incarnation.  A team with some good pitching, a basically reliable, if patched-together, bullpen, and an offense that can string a few hits together.

It seems like now, finally, for some reason, the Sox have a fighting chance at this thing.  Maybe this is how baseball’s supposed to be.  If you won games on paper, there’d be no such things as baseball stadiums.  If you won championships in the off-season, then fantasy baseball would just be called baseball.  Sure, fourth place isn’t really that amazing – but it feels so much better than fifth, and this team feels so much better than fourth.

In today’s Red Sox edition of “Whoops!  We should have thought of that,” we learn that a Chicago Cubs fan living in Fort Myers found a great way to stick it to the team that snatched Not That Chris Carpenter from Chicago’s ivy-covered grasp just yesterday.

When the Red Sox announced that JetBlue had secured the naming rights for the Red Sox’ new spring training home last March, Eric Engelman ran to his computer and, using his wife’s Go Daddy account, bought the domain name www.jetbluepark.com for eight dollars.

Click on the link.  We’ll wait.

Do you see what I see?  As of this morning, jetbluepark.com redirects not to an informative website laying out the amenities, features, and seating chart of the Red Sox’ idyllic new complex; not to a website where Red Sox stars tell the people how much they enjoy flying JetBlue; it doesn’t even redirect to redsox.com.

Nope.  It redirects to yankees.com.

Well played, Mr. Engelman.  I fully expect that the Red Sox brass will be calling you and offering to take that domain name off your hands for a lot more than the eight dollars you paid for it.