YankeesRedSox.com

Such harsh words about Mike Timlin, eh?  I am a big fan of Timlin, but I’m beginning to wonder if it’s time to take old Mike out behind the barn.  As baseball players go, he is old at 42 years old.  He did put together a good 2007, but that was after a bad start (ERA’s of 5.87 in April, 9.00 in May and 5.59 in June).  He finished very nicely in 2007 and was a contributor in the playoffs, but I think the writing is on the wall.

Not being able to rely on Timlin early in the season due to whatever various injury he has puts a major strain on Terry Francona.  Additionally, you typically sign a pitcher to give you 6 and hopefully 7 months of service, not 3-4 months.

His 2008 has been dreadful:  6 IP, 14 H, 9 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 13.50 ERA, 2.83 WHIP, 2-2 record.  That is a fairly small sample size and certainly not the definitive sign his career is over, but it isn’t a good trend.

If I’m Theo Epstein, I DL Timlin right now with the idea of working with him to fix whatever physically ails him and to best position him for the remainder of the season.  If John Farrell and others feel Timlin can contribute, great, let him prove it in an extended rehab assignment at Pawtucket (he’s already pitched 2 scoreless innings there this year before he was activated).  If they feel he can’t contribute, let him go.  Of course, he is a popular player and just cutting him might not sit well, so the organization should give him some options to allow him to exit gracefully and with class, something he is worthy of.

To replace Timlin, let’s give Craig Hansen another look.  Hansen has gone 15.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 17 K, 1.72 ERA, 0.64 WHIP at Pawtucket and finally seems to have found his slider.  In his 1.2 IP appearance in Boston this year, despite giving up a HR, he had sharp break to his slider and struck out 3.

One other quick observation:  The Red Sox can’t hit right now!!!  Last 7 days:  .212/.275/.278 as a team, hence the 1-5 record over that time.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 09:45 AM | Permalink

I wasn't kidding the other day when I said the future is now.

The Red Sox called up Justin Masterson for a spot start from AA Portland today.  The move was necessitated by what appears to be the plague making its way from Red Sox player to Red Sox player.

Masterson has been dominating so far at AA and after today, he might go straight to AAA Pawtucket.

With Josh Beckett (neck), Daisuke Matsuzaka (flu), Jason Varitek (flu) and Manny DelCarmen (touch of the flu) incapacitated lately, the team is really flying on 1 wing.  Anyway, if you have TV nearby, tune into the game and see a potential future star.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am not being original here, but the sight of Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Jed Lowrie scoring on David Ortiz's granny Friday was nice to see.  Here's my line-up and rotation prediction in 2012:

c - George Kottaras - swinging a nice back at Pawtucket thus far

1b - Kevin Youkilis

2b - Dustin Pedroia

3b - Jed Lowrie - hot start in the majors

ss - Will Middlebrooks - might be a stretch as he has yet to play a professional game

lf - Ryan Kalish

cf - Jacoby Ellsbury

rf - Josh Reddick - who you ask?

dh - Lars Anderson - Will probably be in Portland later this year in just his 2nd pro season

sp - Clay Buchholz

sp - Justin Masterson

sp - Dustin Richardson

sp - Nick Hagadone

sp - Michael Bowdon

This exercise is obviously nonsense, but there is some reason to expect 30% of this prediction to come true given what we've seen lately.  I will say that having Lancaster, an extreme hitters park, as your high-A team is probably not a good idea and not going to last.  I believe Boston signed a 2 year deal with them as they were lacking options.  They will drop this quickly and necessarily.  Lancaster, using limited data, is inflating offensive numbers and killing pitching numbers.  I don't think the Red Sox want that static in their minor league system.

The Red Sox are playing surprisingly well given their tough schedule.  New York is having trouble with their starting pitching and their Yankee Stadium contractors.  I expect that both will continue for the Yankees.  In all seriousness, the Yankees are really scuffling with Ian Kennedy and Phillip Hughes while the Red Sox are trying to get Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester on track.  I would like to think that both Lester and Buchholz will settle down.  If Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield can keep the ship righted, Boston will allow Lester and Buchholz keep cutting their teeth regardless of the outcome.

With all my talk of the future, it is really nice to see Manny swinging a hot bat.

Happy Patriots Day all you Massachusettsans (or Bay Staters if you prefer).

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 06:42 AM | Permalink

The Red Sox and Yankees are battling in the bottom of the 3rd as I write this...and it's 9:45pm EST...in a game that started at 8:05pm EST.

At this rate, 10% of the original viewers will be asleep, or deceased (natural causes).

I love this rivalry, obviously, but the one drawback is that both teams know how to draw a walk and apparently both teams know how to give up a walk.

That is all.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Bill Buckner, doesn't owe Red Sox fans anything.  There’s no need to apologize and there no need for any forgiveness.  The Red Sox blew the 1986 World Series, not Bill Buckner.

I could not have been happier at the sight of Buckner walking towards the mound from left field to throw out the first pitch.  I was quite surprised he accepted, but I’m glad he did.  For years, Buckner has let it be known that he wasn’t interested in accepting forgiveness because he always felt he didn’t need any, because he didn’t do anything wrong and he is right.

Now before I go too far here, any real Red Sox fan knows that it wasn’t Buckner that caused the Red Sox to lose game 6.  There were many events and bad plays in that game that collectively led to the Red Sox defeat.  Real Red Sox fans know how games are won and lost and realize it is a team sport.

The media, on the other hand, had to take Buckner’s game 6 error and run it up the flag pole for the past 21 years.  They made money off of that play, but they didn’t convince real Red Sox fans.  Buckner has nothing to apologize for.

Yesterday after the game, Kevin Youkilis had some interesting words about Buckner and Red Sox fans.

I’ve probably never almost been in tears for somebody else on the baseball field.  I think it was just the most unbelievable thing.  It shows how great of a man Bill Buckner is.

There’s not too many people that can do what he did today and face thousands of people that booed him, threatened his life.  For a man to step out there on the field, it shows how much of a man he is.  I tip my cap.  I just wanted to shake his hand because that’s a true man in life.

I appreciate his feelings toward Buckner, but I’m not sure I agree about the fans booing him and threatening his life.  Now I have to cut Youkilis some slack, he was 7 years old when game 6 of the 1986 World Series was played, so he really can’t be considered a reliable witness, but if he were to investigate things, he’d realize Buckner never was booed at Fenway Park.  In fact, he played 75 games for Boston in 1987 and returned again in 1990. He didn’t get booed.  Sure perhaps by a select for nitwits, but not as a whole.

The media grew the storyline about him being hated here in Boston, not the fans.  Youkilis needs to research this a bit.

Buckner said as much himself.

I really had to forgive, not the fans of Boston per se, but I would have to say in my heart, I had to forgive the media for what they put me and my family through.  So you know, I’ve done that and I’m over that.

Well Bill, maybe the media will let this one die too.  But if not, who cares, you have always known and will continue to know that Red Sox fans appreciate all you gave to the Red Sox and baseball and you’ll never have to apologize for a thing around here.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Finally, a Red Sox home opener.  Today marks the 4th time the Red Sox have participated in a home opener of the season.  One in the Toyko Dome, at Oakland, at Toronto and now at Fenway.

Let's hope an extra cup of coffee can help the home team get on base and score some runs.  The wounded Detroit Tigers are in town and off to an 0-6 start.  The are a bit hurt, but are too good a team to rollover and play dead.

No matter the competition, it is nice to have the local team home.

Expect Coco Crisp in CF today.  As reader blmeanie pointed out, the Red Sox really need Crisp to hit a bit in order to trade him.  If he keeps up his .235/.235/.294 (yes, a whopping .529 OPS) numbers, they'll have to cut him.  "Time to put some lipstick on this pig."  Either way, time to say goodbye to Coco.  I know, I'm beating a dead horse here.

Play ball!

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

If seems as if the Red Sox are finally feeling the effects of a 19 day, 3 country and 16,000 miles road trip.  The bats are asleep and the middle relief is missing.  With all of that in mind, the Red Sox designated 6' 8" reliever Kyle Snyder for assignment.  They have 10 days to decide what to do with him (trade or outright release).  He is out of options, so sending him to Pawtucket wasn't possible.

Too bad too, Snyder from all reports was a good teammate, but that's not enough to win/hold a roster spot.  Of course Snyder was moved to make room for Josh Beckett, not just because he had a 21.60 ERA.  Beckett's arrival couldn't have come sooner.  The Red Sox are just playing lousy baseball right now.  Perhaps lousy isn't apt, uninspired baseball?  That sounds better.

One major disappointment for me was the play of Sean Casey on Saturday.  Casey was giving Kevin Youkilis a rest at first and made a big 2-run error in the 4th inning, then pulled a Manny at the plate later in the game.  Casey hit a ball he thought was ultimately fielded in foul territory near home plate and decided not to run to first base.  Well replays seemed to indicate the ball was fielded in fair territory (the home plate ump could not have been closer to the play).  It was a very disappointing display by Casey.  What made it worse was that the throw to first from the catcher was off and pulled the first baseman off the bag and might have allowed a hustling Casey to reach base.  Put your head down and run Sean.  This is Major League Baseball.  Not a very good first impression.

With a day off Monday, the Red Sox can see their families again and get some well earned rest.  They'll need it because Detroit comes to town for Tuesday's home opener.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Red Sox are finally going to play a game at a reasonable hour.  Tonight marks the first game in which I'll be able to watch most, if not all 9 innings.  6AM starts, 10PM, 3:30pm (on a weekday).  Please, I am fairly grumpy that I have had to wait until game 5 to see a regularly scheduled Red Sox game.

I've been finding it difficult to post of late, so I'll try and dump as much in to this one as possible (difficult b/c I'm spending most of my time surfing the channel line-up looking for Red Sox games which start at 6AM...).

MLB announced payrolls for 2008 and the Red Sox are in 4th place with $133.4mm, behind the Yankees - $209.1mm, The Tigers - $138.7mm and the Mets - $138.3mm.  Individual salaries for the Red Sox breakdown like this (taken from the Boston Globe):

Manny Ramirez -- $18,929,923
J.D. Drew -- 14,000,000
David Ortiz -- 13,000,000
Mike Lowell -- 12,500,000
Jason Varitek -- 10,442,031
dl-Josh Beckett -- 10,166,667
Julio Lugo -- 9,250,000
Daisuke Matsuzaka -- 8,333,333
dl-Curt Schilling -- 8,000,000
Coco Crisp -- 5,083,333
Tim Wakefield -- 4,000,000
Julian Tavarez -- 3,850,000
dl-Mike Timlin -- 3,000,000
Kevin Youkilis -- 3,000,000
Alex Cora -- 2,000,000
Hideki Okajima -- 1,275,000
Javier Lopez -- 840,000
Kyle Snyder -- 835,000
Sean Casey -- 800,000
Jonathan Papelbon -- 775,000
Dustin Pedroia -- 457,000
Kevin Cash -- 450,000
Jon Lester -- 421,500
Manny Delcarmen -- 421,000
Jacoby Ellsbury -- 406,000
Bryan Corey -- 405,000
David Aardsma -- 403,250
Clay Buchholz -- 396,000

Bartolo Colon had a 5 IP, 1H s, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K outing last night in Pawtucket's home opener.  I said it before, and Peter said he hoped for it too, that I think Colon will settle in as the #5 (and eventually be the 3 or 4) sometime this season.  The Globe reported that his fastball topped out at 96mph and his last pitch of the night hit 95mph.  Colon was the Cy Young winner just 3 seasons ago and if he is healthy, he could be a significant contributor.  No knock against Clay Buchholz, but I want the best option in there.  It can't hurt Buchholz to spend some time in Pawtucket this year.

Fenway Park, set to host the Red Sox home opener this coming Tuesday, has had some work done.  Along with a tummy-tuck, it also underwent an "enhancement" shall we say.  Wait, what am I talking about?  With the addition of 975 seats and standing room only tickets, the Red Sox now have an official capacity of 39,928.  Wow, almost at the 40k figure.  Gone are the giant Coke bottles and in their place is an old-timey Coca-Cola sign.  Visit RedSox.com for more details on all the changes/improvements.

Ok, one last item.  Coco Crisp.  I think I wrote something similar last year, but I have no faith in him right now.  He just seem to take weak cuts at the plate.  His defense is not an issue, in fact it is great, but his offense is just non-existant.  Such a major disappointment since his arrival.  Time to send him packing and call up Bobby Kielty or Brandon Moss.

Kevin Cash catches Tim Wakefield tonight in Toronto.  It's about time we get to see some primetime Red Sox coverage.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)