Apparently, we now have a fish of our own (although I would rather the Trout variety…), as the Sox have acquired Mariners 1st baseman/outfielder Mike Carp for either cash or a PTBNL. Unfortunately, he is one of THOSE–LOTS Of promise, but injuries have prevented him from reaching his “true potential”. A career .255 hitter, he was limited to 59 games and a .213 BA for his sophomore season in 2012…He will battle against veteran Lyle Overbay to be the backup to Mike Napoli…
As I mentioned yesterday, That Clay Person threw BP yesterday. If no after affects are felt, he will throw a simulated game over the weekend, and then will be slotted in for an actual game. John Farrell weighs in: “…Thirty pitches, which is consistent with starters who threw their first round of live BP. He came out of today feeling good about himself. He used all his pitches. It was an impressive work day.”
Also working yesterday was Felix Doubront, who threw his first bullpen of the 2013 campaign, with no ill effects…still no definitive word on when he will see live hitters. Read more…
Going round the horn, (or the bend, depending on who you ask)with some random goings on during this first full week of Spring Training.
I was talking to my friend, Paul from Boston this week, and we both pretty much agree that we want the goal for this year’s campaign to be that the games be fun, and we LIKE this team. If they win, so much the better, but after the last year and a half of the cranky, entitled brats, a team of guys who like what they do, and play hard, would be a
welcome change…
And I think Jon Farrell will go A LONG way in doing that. In his first team meeting last week, he basically broke it down into 2 basic rules: Be on time and be professional. And we all know he is a no nonsense kind of guy, who just sits back and watches, and then addresses things. There will be no theatrics, or Japanese musical videos, or making it all about him–Holy Buckets! How nice will THAT be??
But I think, in order for that to happen, Alfredo Aceves needs to GO–RIGHT NOW…During batting practice over the weekend, he decided that it would be a good idea to throw eephus pitches during batting practice. What the frack? John Farrell basically said its been addressed and wouldn’t say any more–and hopefully that is the end of it–but I think Aceves, while a GREAT pitcher, is a spoiled rotten CHILD, who if he doesn’t get to start or close, throws these little passive aggressive tantrums, but who needs to toe the line, or get gone… Read more…
It’s here! It’s here! ITS HERE! The First Mandatory workout for all Pitchers and Catchers happened today at about 9:30am. Baseball is HERE!
Principal Owner John Henry, conspicuously absent for quite some time as the rumor mill has swirled around the Red Sox, held court in Fort Meyer for about 25 minutes yesterday, answering everything that was thrown at him. He calls Tito’s assertions in his book about “sexy” players, “laughable”, and the one about the ownership group “liking but not loving baseball”, “ridiculous.”
Maybe he is being truthful, but do you really think that if Tito’s writings WERE true, that John Henry would actual come out and ADMIT it? Admit that they wanted to sign positive PR players, and that soccer, or hockey, or whatever other team they current own, is their true passion–and that baseball is just “OK”. Read more…
Yep, the “official” indicator that spring training is imminent–The Truck left Fenway Park around noon today, filled to the brim with all manner and variety of Red Sox stuff–both baseball and personal, and will arrive in Fort Meyers sometime on Friday…
I don’t know what it is, but this offseason has FLOWN by–it didn’t feel like the interminable mess that it has been in recent years. Perhaps it’s because we were all SO ready for the 2012 campaign to be over as it was pretty much pure and unadulterated CRAP from beginning to end–that we all just needed a time out, some space, and copious amounts of Jack Daniels and Maalox (had to get rid of all the extra Daisuke Daiquiris somehow…)
So now we turn the page and hope (oh, how we desperately hope) that Ben’s signings in the offseason, while not super splashy, are enough to get this team to at least be watchable and likeable again–and if they can contend, that’s all gravy, at least this year… Read more…
I’m making the annual pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Yay!
And, my daughter will make her first visit to the Fens–at 17 months! I didn’t get to Fenway until I was 13!!
So, as I mentioned on my Facebook Page the other day, Pedro and ‘Tek are back together again–but this time as Special Assistants to GM Ben Cherington. Some of Pedro’s duties will include (naturally) working with Sox pitchers. He weighs in: I think we have a ways to go. We have to work hard and keep the team healthy. That has been the key the last few years… But I think the team has talent. You have the pitching nucleus to actually do it. If you want to do anything in baseball you have to do it through pitching.”
Good news on the Will Middlebrooks front–his right wrist fracture is all healed up, and he has absolutely no restrictions going forward into the 2013 campaign. Let’s hope that the stellar path he was on before the injury continues. If he does continue to be a force at the plate and on the hot corner, it will go a long way to improving the Red Sox chances to compete this year, because right now, at MLB Futures Odds at Topbet, they are pretty much middle of the pack… Read more…
Random Thoughts at less than 3 weeks to Pitches and Catchers…
Avascular Necrosis. Sounds tasty, doesn’t it? That is the hip thing that cost Mike Napoli 2 years and $34 million dollars. And the weirdest thing is that he said he has no idea that he had the condition until the Sox found it during his contract physical. Web MD lists the condition as: “Avascular necrosis (AVN), also called osteonecrosis, aseptic necrosis or ischemic bone necrosis, is a condition that occurs when there is loss of blood to the bone. Because bone is living tissue that requires blood, an interruption to the blood supply causes bone to die. If not stopped, this process eventually causes the bone to collapse.” Yeah, its sounds as bad is it probably is…and worse still, he has the condition it BOTH hips. But until it becomes an issue, it’s not, so for now the Sox expect (hope?) to at least get the year they paid for out of Napoli, and go from there…
Chris Carpenter (no, not THAT one) was DFA’ed to make room for Napoli on the 40-man, thereby reducing ever further the NOTHING the Sox got for Theo from the Cubs…
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