If there's one word that comes to mind when you hear the name "Red Sox," it is most certainly GENIUS. From the financial acumen of their Other Department, all the way down to the artful squatting of Jason Varitek, the organization is thoroughly awash in eruditeness. Nowhere has this advantage been more heavily impressed upon the subconscious of the baseball world than in the Boston team's selections in the annual Rule IV draft, otherwise known as the amateur draft.

In last year's draft the Red Sox turned a lot of heads when they selected Bryce Cox, a RHP from Rice University, with a 3rd round selection. While there was a bit of confusion over the pick itself seeing as Cox had actually seen his usage decline greatly due to wildness and a climbing ERA, we all knew better. There was more behind this pick than could be seen on the surface; there always is when you're dealing with an entity as formidably cerebral as the Boston Red Sox.

When the smoke cleared, it was obvious to everyone with a modicum of intelligence that Bryce Cox was the best pick of the entire 2006 draft. It turns out that the Red Sox had really done their due diligence on the fireballer from Rice, finding out that he had refined his mechanics in the period that he was not being used out of the bullpen, and subsequently had turned into a veritable force of nature. No longer was he wild and hittable, instead now becoming a hurler of precision and power – he walked almost no one and struck out almost everyone in the last few weeks of Rice's season. Of course, the Red Sox were the only team to really pick up on this .

The draft experts soon were showering well-earned praise upon the pick. Baseball America's Jim Callis said that when he watched Cox pitch at the College World Series, "his slider moved more than any slider I have ever seen." It doesn't really matter that it wasn't actually a slider that Cox was throwing (it was a slurvy variation of a knuckle curve), the point is that the pitch breaks a lot! ESPN's resident baseball draft expert, Keith Law, a man who has unparalleled wisdom regarding the assessment of command issues that may plague pitching prospects, said that because of his mechanical corrections, Cox was a "strike-throwing groundball machine," and that he was "a good bet to be the first pitcher from the draft to show up in the majors."

Bryce Cox was such an impressive pick by the Sox FO, that even the bloodthirsty Boston media was persuaded to write glowing articles about the kid. The Providence Journal reported of his mechanical fixes that he "has changed arm action without much difficulty," and The Boston Herald said that " the 22-year-old right-hander has skyrocketed to the upper echelon of Sox pitching prospects and has been tabbed by many in the organization as the team's likely closer of the future."

After throwing 30 innings of dominance in his professional debut at the A and A+ level last season, 2007 was Cox's time to shine. It was also time for the genius that flows through the Red Sox organization to reach even more revered status. In his first appearance of 2007, pitching in AA for Portland, the draft moxie was on full display as Bryce served notice of his employer's prowess:

2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K.

He was on his way. The Red Sox fans rejoiced at having one of the best relief prospects in all of baseball. The Craig Hansen Debacle™ was a distant speck in the rearview mirror now that Theo & Company had excecuted such a calculated maneuver by selecting Cox in the 3 rd round.

A month later, it doesn't matter that his ERA is currently 5.14, or that he has let up more hits than innings pitched since that first appearance. It doesn't matter that he hasn't struck anyone out in 4 weeks, a span of 7 appearances and 12 innings. Nor does it matter that he sports a K:BB ratio of 3:11 on the year, and a BB/9 of 7.07. What matters is that Bryce Cox will be good because of the GENIUS that permeates the ebb and flow of all decisions crafted by the Boston Red Sox. Logically, how could the Sox seemingly reach for a pick and be wrong? The Boston FO put too much time into finding a sleeper, the experts think too highly of the heist itself, and the fanbase knows in their tiny, Irish hearts that there is no way Theo & Co.'s brilliance can fail. It has become very clear that both corrupt umpires and HGH fueled hitters in the Eastern League are feebly attempting to make a mockery of the cunning and vim that the Sox personify. It will not matter in the end though. Genius is omnipotent.

See you in The Hall, Bryce. Godspeed!