Springtime For Bronson. Mr. Arroyo's first thought when told he'd be facing the Yankees next Sunday? "All right, Terry wants to see what I've got right off the bat.'" ... Pitching coachs Dave Wallace and Mike Griffin (Pawtucket) have nothing but praise for Arroyo.

Bombo Productions, a New York City sports and entertainment company, was given special access to the Red Sox last year and its as-yet-untitled film about the 2003 season may be in theaters by Opening Day. Team VP Charles Steinberg: "It is the story of the season through the eyes of about six fans ... from the time tickets went on sale, through Opening Day, watching games at home or listening on the radio. It's the emotional ride fans went through from the start to finish, with humor and pathos."

Curt Schilling is working on his relationship with Jason Varitek as much as his pitching arsenal, which now includes a cut fastball. ... Pokey Reese talks about growing up poor in Columbia, South Carolina. ... If it weren't for bad luck, Bryce Florie would have no luck at all. Damn. ... Chat with Jerry Remy tonight 7:30 pm.

BlogWatch: Alex Belth of Bronx Banter presents a two-part roundtable on the 2004 Yankees with Larry Mahnken (Replacement Level Yankees Weblog), Tim Marchman (New York Sun), Buster Olney (ESPN), Alan Schwarz (Baseball America, ESPN), Joe Sheehan (Baseball Prospectus), Joel Sherman (New York Post) and Glenn Stout (Author of Red Sox Century and Yankees Century). ... Dirt Dogs has an excerpt from Rob Bradford's book "Chasing Steinbrenner: Pursuing the Pennant in Boston and Toronto." ... Articles We Never Finished Reading: "If you're a Boston Red Sox fan, you worry. What if all those guys who had 'career years' in 2003 fall short in 2004?"

A few weeks ago, Rob Neyer reported that the performance of baseball's 10 greatest hitting catchers dropped a cumulative 31% from age 28-31 to 32-35. El Guapo's Ghost wonders what that means for Jason Varitek. ... Jeff at The House That Dewey Built looks at the AL East's catchers. ... Colby Cosh created a 2-D projection of the K/Inn, BB/Inn and HR/Inn of each ERA qualifying pitcher from 2003. Thanks to PSF for the link.

Theo Epstein on Byung-Hyun Kim: "He definitely is an X-factor for us because his ceiling is so high. He hasn't gone out and done it in that role [starting]. Until he does, we'll all be very anxious to see what he does. ... I remember when he gave up those bombs to the Yankees in the World Series. I was watching the game with a couple friends and said, 'Maybe this could be an opportunity. Maybe they'll be down on him if they go on and lose the World Series and maybe we [San Diego] can trade for him.'" ... Epstein said he pretty much spent the entire 2002-03 off-season pursuing Kim before acquiring him in late May for Shea Hillenbrand.

From e.e gammings: "For those Red Sox fans that marvel at what may be the best pitching staff in the game, but fear that pitchers like Tim Wakefield, Derek Lowe -- who is so focused on his job that he can never remember to sell his used frog on EBay -- and Scott Williamson might get overused so much their arms turn into rhinos, Boston had only nine games in the last four weeks in which they didn't use at least three pitchers. Simply yipes."