Normally I would not write something like this for fear of a jinx, but we have won it twice in the past 5 years so fuck that shit. After 2 and a half years, should Okajima be considered the best Sox middle reliever ever? In order to qualify for this title you can not have ever been considered a closer or starter for the Sox and your work on other teams does not add or subtract anything from the debate.  Lets look at some other contenders. El Guapo Rich Garces  was solid  for a bunch of years and had 4 good years from 98-02 with 99 and 00 actually being great years. Garces' biggest negatives are that he never helped win the title and his first 2 years where sub-par and his last year was terrible, but he gets bonus points for being a cult hero.  Mike Timlin  was pretty consistent, on 2 world series teams; however, aside from 05, he was never great and I just have too many memories of him giving up leads for him to get the overall crown. Hefty Lefty Mike Stanton  was on the team 3 different times and pitched pretty well, but he was never lights out and I mostly consider him a fucking Yankee. ( I know that goes against one of my rules of the debate, but this is my blog and being on the Yankees for a bunch of years is a negative) The immortal Greg Harris  pitched 6 years for the Red Sox where he seemed to come out of the bullpen every game and was o.k. but his era was too high and I can still remember watching him blowing games when I was 8 so he can't win the title even though at one point in his career he experimented with being a switch pitcher. Tony Fosses deserves mentioning because he was an iconic lefty specialist but you can't be the greatest middle reliever if you usually only face one batter per appearance. Calvin Schiraldi was good and at times great for the mid 80s Sox, but he was involved in the game 6 fiasco so no go for him. The late great Dick Radatz was one of the all-time great Sox Relievers and I would consider him a closer more than a middle reliever even though he would sometimes start closing the game in the 6th, 7th, or 8th innings which is the innings we currently associate with middle relievers.  John Wyatt  pitched really well in 66-67, not so much in 68 and then left the team. Dick Pole was below average for the sox in the 70s; however, his name was actually Dick Pole so he gets some bonus points for that. Mike Fornieles was a work horse in the 1950s like pretty much every other pitcher was a work horse compared to modern pitchers with a few good years, but overall he was nothing spectacular. Furthermore, for all I know we was a closer since they did not really keep that stat back then so maybe he does not count. Needless to say at this point I am stretching it with who should be considered for the title. So after all of my research and thinking of anecdotal memories, I am giving the title to Okajima for the all-time greatest sox Middle Reliever unless someone comes in with some solid evidence to prove me other wise.