He'll get his at bats during the year as neither Drew or Cameron are obvious locks to play even 140 games. And as you said ST stats are pretty much meaningless.
Yeah. You think we move Hermida to RF on days Drew doesnt play or we just shift Ellsbury and leave Hermida in LF? I cant wait for opening day.
It probably makes sense just to leave Ellsbury in LF since Hermida has experience in RF in his career anyway and Ellsbury doesn't have the arm for RF. Plus it doesn't make much sense in shifting Ellsbury all over the field making him try and learn a new position every other day.
Gammons was on NESN last night talking about Bard this ST and how he's apparently developed a pretty devastating change, to go with his fastball and slider. Here's an article from the Herald: It will be interesting to watch the growth of Bard this season. He has all the makings of a guy that can come out of the bullpen and dominate. http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?articleid=1241492&format=text
I posted the one on the Yanks.....so here's the Saux version: By Craig Calcaterra The big question: Will the Red Sox score enough runs? Just because it's "the big question" -- and it's "big" because everyone in the Boston press corps and greater Red Sox Nation seems to want to ask it -- doesn't make it a great question. It's worth asking simply because a team can never score too many runs, but what seems to be motivating the question this spring is not a concern about the Sox' offense for its own sake, but a misguided belief that, simply because the team doubled down on defense this winter the offense will necessarily suffer. False dichotomies are fun and everything, but if I went through life asking myself whether I wanted chocolate or vanilla Frogurt I'd miss out on the fact that there's a swirl option too. Put more simply, a team can both improve run prevention and maintain a more than adequate offense, and I think the Red Sox have done that. Projections are what they are, but the Red Sox project to have the second best lineup in the AL this year. More tangibly speaking, Jason Bay is gone, but Marco Sutaro and a full season of Victor Martinez represent significant improvements. Adrian Beltre is one of those gloves that was brought in, but with his health restored and a more friendly hitting environment I expect him to do quite well. Everyone hates on J.D. Drew, but he's still an excellent hitter. This team will score some runs. Not that anyone who wrote one of those hand-wringing "will the Sox score enough?" articles this spring will admit that they were grabbing for easy storylines instead of thinking about the Sox' offense (query: is the fact that I used this as a "Springtime Storyline" hypocritical? Meta? A pun? I think it was a pun. Yes, that's it.). So what else is going on? John Lackey was the big offseason pickup, of course, and with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester the Sox have a potent 1-2-3 in the rotation. If this team makes the playoffs, watch out, because those guys will be hard to beat; The 4-5 is a bit less solid. After a rocky 2008 and a rocky beginning to his major league season last year, Clay Buchholz put up a nice run to close the season (just ignore the last two starts, please. Thanks). If he can maintain that, great, but he still has something to prove on the major league level. I think he will, but whether that comes after a few more speedbumps is up in the air. At this point Dice-K is a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a 3.5 hour game during which I fell asleep around the fourth inning. Tim Wakefield throws a knuckleball, though, and I remain convinced that one day a knuckleballer will go 35-0 with 400 strikeouts (and he'll be limited to 35 starts only because The Man wants to keep knuckleballers down). Could be Wakefield this year. Then again, I could be letting my irrational love of the knuckleball get in the way. Hard to say; I wonder about the bullpen. Papelbon is still good, but his playoff struggles worry me and overall he strikes me as a guy who could take a step back. Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez all fell off a bit last year. Maybe they all had uncharacteristic swoons, such as they were, and will roar back this year. Maybe it means that the bullpen will be a bigger problem than a lot of people think; Overall run-scoring aside, David Ortiz is a big question mark. A lot of people will note that he picked things up nicely after his dismal start last year, but all 162 games count, and the Red Sox don't need another swoon like they saw from Big Papi in 2009. If, as is totally possible, his bat just won't play this year, the Red Sox will have a hole in the lineup that will nag. So how are they gonna do? Ultimately there aren't as many questions about this team as there are about other teams because, let's face it, every move the Red Sox make is analyzed to the nth degree. Sometimes, however, that level of scrutiny can actually obscure the overall picture. I can't put my finger on it, but I just get this feeling that this team is somehow less than the sum of its parts. No, I'm not talking about chemistry or that kind of nonsense, just a feeling that a lot of guys could have less-than-stellar years. There's less upside on this team than there is on the Rays. There's less room of error here than there is in New York. If, say, Kevin Youkilis gets hurt and Josh Beckett stumbles, an otherwise excellent team could be merely good, and merely good isn't going to cut it in the AL East. Prediction: Third place in the AL East, just out of the postseason money. This isn't hate -- The Sox will be good and I think it's going to be a ridiculously close race all season long -- but I just have less confidence in them and perhaps a touch too much confidence in the Rays. Buy hey, that's why they play the games.
Want to know why spring training stats don't matter? Brian Shouse has an ERA of under 1.00 yet the Sox felt he was pitching so well that they signed Alan Embree (who had an ERA of over 5.00 in the NL last year) over the weekend and today they released Shouse. But hey it's great Josh Reddick and Jeremy Hermida are killing the ball right now!
Earlier this week the Giants were said to be shopping Kevin Frandsen around and sure enough they just traded the 27-year-old infielder to the Red Sox for a player to be named later or cash.
I actually really liked the Hermida move as a 4th OFer especially giving him up for a bag of balls in Hunter Jones.
Yeah I agree. They were mentioning him on Baseball tonight and said they thought he would break out if he got the at bats
Tazawa is visiting Dr. James Andrews for his elbow, can't be good news. But at least it's not the shoulder.
Yikes, I haven't seen that, did he hurt in pitching in a game. I thought he was pretty good in his limited action last year and can only get better..
As Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell told Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, the elbow bothered Tazawa during the second half of the 2009 season: "He's been dealing with some discomfort, some tightness, in the second half of last year," Farrell explained. "He went through a normal offseason, didn't have any issues, came into spring training, went through every outlined throwing session that we had and there were varying degrees of tightness or discomfort at different points this spring. And then in games his velocity was not quite where it was in the past and his breaking stuff was not as sharp. And even in his last bullpen he felt there was a little bit of tightness. I wouldn't say it was further, or getting worse, but precautionary we wanted to send him to see Andrews and get that evaluation."
Hopefully something will show up that explains why he wasn't really effective last year when he pitched in the MLB, as he was pretty hittable and didn't really have a lot of bite or break on his pitches. EDIT: Update, Tazawa has elbow damage, surgery may be an option.
not good.... Tazawa tells Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald that there appears to be ligament damage in his elbow. He's not sure about surgery, according to Lauber, but it "will be part of the discussion." Doesn't sound too promising.
Good news: If we can lock-up Beckett for less than what Lackey got this offseason, it would be a huge win for this organization. Get it done. http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=5040442
This could be good news: ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports that the Red Sox have offered right-hander Josh Beckett a four-year contract extension. Olney adds that "there is optimism a deal will be completed in the next week or two." I really want the Sox to lock Beckett up and are confident they will get the job done if they really want him back too. A rotation of Beckett, Lester, Lackey and Buchholz for the next 4 to 5 years is pretty damn good if they can all stay healthy.
Even better news: SI.com's Jon Heyman reports that the Red Sox are "closing in" on a four-year deal worth around $70 million for right-hander Josh Beckett. Heyman expects the agreement to be made official sometime next week so it doesn't affect their tax situation. Nice work getting this deal done, assuming it does in fact go through.
I agree, I am very encouraged to know Beckett will be in the fold for a while. Lowell had 2 doubles today and the trade talk to the Rangers is back on, if the Sox assume even more of the money. Has anyone heard any names or at this point may it be a player to be named later thing?
I think the Sox just want to get rid of Lowell at this point. Originally they were going to pick up 9 million out of the 12 he was getting this year, so I'm sure the Sox would like to save that same 3 million but might be happy saving just 2 now. I really don't think the player matters that much. I'd assume that the player would again be Max Ramirez traded to the Sox since he hasn't done much to establish himself with Texas during ST.
Would you believe $68M????? UPDATE: The Boston Herald's Scott Lauber passes along word that Beckett's deal will be worth $68 million over four years.
Now that it appears Beckett is all but signed you now have Beckett, Lester, Lackey and Buchholz all under control until 2014 (with Matsuzaka signed until 2013). You have to wonder if this makes Buchholz, Matsuzaka or Kelly availabe in trade talks now. Matsuzaka might have more trade value than someone might think, since he's signed for 3 more years and pretty cheap too, making 8, 10 and 10 million. Only problem is he has a full no trade and is a giant pain in the ***. Of course he needs to prove he's healthy and this is probably wishful thinking.
Looks like Julio Lugo has been traded to an AL East team, this sounds like a bad April Fool's joke. I'm going to go with the obvious guess that it's Baltimore or Toronto, most likely Baltimore but for comedy sake I hope it's the Yankees. Also Junichi Tazawa is going to have TJ surgery so he's obviously out for the whole 2010 season and probably won't be able to help the Sox until the end of the 2011 season. Tough break for the kid. EDIT: Yup it's Baltimore. Enjoy Fenway Park & Fenway South 18 times this year Julio.
Looks like Lowell to Texas is dead now that Texas claimed 1B/OF Ryan Garko off of waivers from Seattle. Texas had said they were looking for a right handed hitter than could back up 1B and 3B, something Garko can't but he is probably a cheaper option than Lowell although not nearly as good hitter or fielding wise, even with Lowell's bum hip.
Junichi Tazawa (elbow) will have Tommy John surgery next Tuesday, according to WEEI.com. Tazawa will not be a factor for the Red Sox until mid-2011 at the earliest at this point.
That is awful news on Tazawa. Hopefully he comes back strong in 2011. Lugo back in the AL East, no he can hopefully boot a few balls for the Sox, this is great news.
Great win tonight. Good to see the team fight back from down by 4, sets a good tone for the season. Beckett obviously had no command on his fastball and never really threw a curveball for some reason. Good to see Pedroia and Youkilis start the season off with a bang. I know it's only one game but I think the Sox bullpen is going to have a rough year as I only semi-trust Okajima and Bard while Delcarmen and Ramirez scare me. Off day tomorrow and we start it back up with Lester on the hill Tuesday. Also it was great seeing Pedro back in Fenway wearing a Sox uniform. EDIT: It's great having Gammons on NESN now.
Love Pedro. Agreed about the bullpen issues. Ramirez has been pretty awful since mid-last year. And while I can't seem to fully trust Okajima either, he's been very reliable during his time in Boston. The good news is that it appears the Yankees have just as many issues (if not more) in their pen. I think they've messed with Joba too much and Chan Ho Park looked every bit the huge bust he was during his time in Texas. Also, Youkilis is just so good. I would have a hard time believing that even Billy Beane knew he would develop into such a premier hitter.
I don't think anyone thought either Youkilis or Pedroia would develop into the player's they are today. Which is why baseball is just so great, you just never know. Yeah it's funny as Okajima has been a rock in the Sox bullpen for 3 years yet I don't think anyone fully trusts him, go figure. I won't be surprised to see Michael Bowden up by June in the pen. I also think getting Boof Bonser back will help the pen a bit. I actually think I'd take the Yankee pen over the Sox pen right now. I like Robertson a lot and eventhough the Yankees have screwed with Joba, I think he still has upside and could possibly turn into that 8th inning dominate reliever again (of course if he doesn't I won't feel bad). Plus they do have that Rivera kid in the pen still. The main thing that's going to hurt the Yankees' pen is that they don't have a solid LHP. Somehow Marte was unhittable in the playoffs but let's not forget the guy did have an ERA of over 7 last year and hasn't been very good since he left the Quadriple A league.
I also should note Papelbon threw his first non-fastball of the 2010 season to Granderson that ended the game and broke his bat. So hopefully his splitter is working this year.
So, how long do we give Papi before we commence with his burial? Presumably, Tito will have a shorter hook than last year (2-3 months). He has to, right?
Papi was pretty good after he got over the first few months, but he does scare the heck out me when he steps up.. I went from always thinking something good was going to happen to the exact opposite in what 1.5 years.. Good win last night, Youk is just a gamer..
While it is only just one game in April, it does worry me a little bit that he was in hitter's counts all night and didn't look good at the plate. I do think Francona will have a shorter hook, maybe going to Lowell with a LHP on the mound (if he's still around). I could also see Ortiz switching spots with Drew in the order if he's still not hitting by mid May. I'm sure the Boston radio stations are killing Ortiz and saying the Sox shouldn't extend Beckett after last night as the New York radio stations want Park and Marte gone and want Posada out from behind the plate being replaced by Jesus Montero (which is funny in itself since Montero is worse than Posada behind the plate).
I should also note that Ryan Westmoreland was at the game last night watching from Theo Epstein's box, which is awesome news.
Busy day for the Sox, they called for a 3pm press conference to announce the Beckett 4 year extension. Cliff Lee has to be a happy man today since he'll be the only frontline starter available now after the season ends.
One more thought from last night -- I'm not a fan of batting Drew in the 7 hole, behind the likes of Adrian Beltre. I understand Tito wants to stay away from a lineup with consecutive lefties, but Drew is way too good to be hitting that low in the order. Swap Martinez and Drew and bump Beltre down a spot to the 7 hole.
I think we're all expecting big things out of Lester this year. I'm looking forward to watching him pitch tonight -- provided the weather cooperates.
