The Red Sox and Toradol

Never one to mince words, Johnathan Papelbon mentioned in a recent article by Gordon Edes that not only he but a good chunk of the Red Sox pitching staff regularlly took Toradol. While not illegal nor banned in the same manner as HGH or some of the other PEDs out there, Toradol is still a serious drug - strong enough that you have to be in a hospital to take in in the UK. The Phillies, Papelbon's new team, won't let him take the drug, but apparently the Sox still use it:

A Red Sox official, speaking on background Saturday, described Toradol as a legal drug with clear pain-management benefits, and acknowledged its widespread use in baseball, including by Red Sox pitchers before their starts. 

However, the drug has serious potential side effects. In fact, Edes notes that:

Toradol is the nonsteroidal drug that Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz acknowledged last season might have contributed to the esophagitis that sidelined him for 20 games. Buchholz was hospitalized in intensive care and lost three or four pints of blood while dealing with the condition, which is a known side effect of the painkiller.

It sure seems like injecting your pictures with extra-strong anti-inflammatories before games is a Performance Enhancing Drug. Can anyone explain to me why it isn't?

Well, When You Put It That Way...

Insights on Red Sox pitching from Ruben Lipszyc, the author of Red Sox Nation - Alberta:

The top 3 pitchers in the rotation are back, and Buchholz didn't pitch after the middle of June, so the top of the rotation can potentially improve. There's been a lot of talk about not addressing the #4 and 5 slots. Despite many rumours, Boston did not sign Oswalt, Kuroda or Edwin Jackson or make a bid on Yu Darvish, or trade for John Danks. But last year Lackey pitched all season with an ERA well above 6. DiceK while healthy contributed an ERA over 5. Wakefield had the 4th most starts on the team, and his ERA was North of 5 as well. Andrew Miller started 12 games and had an even higher ERA. And please don't get me started on Kyle Weiland who would have made any of the above look like Cy Young in comparison. That's a total of 75 games started by pitchers with a combined ERA of approximately 5.80. I believe that Bard, Aceves and any others that need to fill in due to the inevitable injuries such as Cook, Padilla, Duckworth, Silva, Ohlendorf etc, can'd do any worse. I really see the starting rotation as being a large improvement over last year. Replacing Papelbon with Bailey and Melancon was a very smart move. On the field it may be a slight downgrade, but it never makes sense to overpay for relievers - particularly closers.

I like the optimism! Getting excited for the season to start...

Josh Beckett, a lonely nation turns its eyes to you...

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that tonight's game is huge. Beckett needs to come in and pitch like he's capable of pitching and shut down the Rays. Someone needs to turn this team around and he's only pitcher on our staff that's capable of doing this (being the proverbial "stopper"). Lester's the only one who might be close but I just have no faith in his ability to pitch big in big games.

In other Sox news, this is interesting: sounds like Buchholz will be throwing a bullpen session this weekend with an eye towards becoming a long reliever in the playoffs. If this really happens, then we could use a combo of Aceves and Buchholz as a starter, which I like MUCH more that Miller and Weiland.

I haven't heard any news on Bedard? Is he still hurt?