A quick update on Boston’s activity in the MLB draft, on this rainy cold Tuesday morning (since when was it February?).

The Red Sox had pick numbers 24, 31 and 37 to play with last night.  The first pick is theirs, and the second and third picks both derive from Jonathan Papelbon going to Philadelphia (the second pick is compensation from Philadelphia, and the third pick is compensation for Papelbon leaving Boston).

The Sox made an interesting pick at #24, selecting Arizona State University shortstop Deven Marrero.  Marrero, according to the Boston Globe, is one of the best defensive players in the draft.  After pulling in 2011 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors, 2012 had him a little off offensively.  He explains his dip as playing through a sprained ankle.  Regardless, the Red Sox seem impressed with his play in the venerable wooden-bat Cape Cod League – he hit .326/.360/.413 for Cotuit.

As the Globe notes, the last Arizona State shortstop the Sox drafted was Dustin Pedroia, and that’s worked out well for them.  Marrero projects to stay at shortstop, which could give Jose Iglesias the competition – and maybe the kick in the pants – he’s been sorely missing.

With the #31 pick, the Sox took lefthanded pitcher and first baseman Brian Johnson from the University of Florida.  The Globe’s rundown on Johnson also seems promising – in 16 starts for Florida, he went 8-4 with a 3.56 ERA, and struck out 68 while allowing 79 hits over 86 innings.  On the other side of the plate, Johnson had a .310/.350/.455 campaign with five home runs and 40 RBIs in 187 at-bats.  He played for Yarmouth-Dennis in the Cape Cod League, and went 2-0 with a 4.30 ERA in three starts.

With the #37 pick, the Sox took Pat Light, a righthanded pitcher out of Monmouth University.  Light went 8-3 and posted a 2.40 ERA over 14 starts for Monmouth.  He struck out 102 hitters over 101.1 innings, and only walked 16.  The Globe points out – and, I mean, it’s true – that Monmouth isn’t exactly in a power conference.  Light didn’t face elite competition in college, but he proved himself a little bit on the Cape – he posted a 3.77 ERA in four starts for Chatham last summer.  Who knows – maybe he’ll be good.

Today, the second round of the draft gets underway.  We’ll keep you updated on any notable picks.

Also today, the Red Sox get home to Fenway to start a series with the Baltimore Orioles.  Tonight, Jon Lester (3-4, 4.79 ERA) faces Jason Hammel (6-2, 3.06).

The Red Sox opened the dreaded interleague play last night on the road in Philadelphia. It would be their first meeting with the Phillies since closer Jonathan Papelbon jumped ship last off-season and took a sweet deal in the City of Brotherly Love. The Sox felt no love in game one, losing 6-4.

Daniel Bard, in his seventh start of the season, had a case of the yips in the first inning, walking three of the first four batters he faced. After a single, a sac fly and a double, the Red Sox were quickly in a 4-0 hole. Coming back from a four-run deficit is never easy, but throw in having to face (5-1) Cole Hamels and it gets a lot more difficult. Hamels struck out nine batters in his seven-inning outing.

Both Mike Aviles and Cody Ross had two hits, including a solo home run from each off Hamels. Adrian Gonzalez also went yard, although a day late on his promise to hit one out of the park. That’s ok. Better late than never, right?

With the Phillies up by two runs going into the ninth, you knew what was going to happen. Yup, the always fiery and often vocal Papelbon came in to close it out. Kelly Shoppach singled to lead off the inning and went to second on a ground out by Daniel Nava. Marlon Byrd followed with a ground out to the shortstop but when it appeared that first baseman Ty Wigginton was pulled off the bag, Bobby Valentine came out to argue the call.

Who knows if Bobby came out because he actually thought Byrd was safe, or if he was just trying to get into Papelbon’s head and throw him off his game. Whatever the reason, the only thing Bobby accomplished (besides losing his gum) was getting tossed out of the game. Nick Punto struck out to end the game. It didn’t phase Pap in the least as indicated by his post-game remarks:

“No man, Valentine can’t distract Cinco, man,’’ Papelbon said. “Cinco has ice water in his veins.’’

Evidently, Mr. Papelbon, who wears #58, now has an alter ego called Cinco Ocho. Um… yeah… that’s original. I am so glad I never heard him refer to himself in this manner when he was with the Red Sox. That’s embarrassing. Please, please, please let him legally change his name to Cinco Ocho. Because we all know how well that’s worked for #85.

The list of injuries seems to grow daily for the Sox. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was hit in the ear with a ball that ricocheted off the batter in the seventh and left the game with an ear laceration. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution to make sure he didn’t suffer a concussion. Cody Ross also got dinged up last night, fouling a ball off his foot in the eight inning. He also went to the hospital for x-rays. No word yet on whether either injury will result in a roster move.

For yet another uninspiring box score, click on over to here, courtesy of the Red Sox. Game two of the three game set with the Phills is tonight at 7:15pm. Jon Lester, coming off his best start of the season so far, will face off against Joe Blanton. Lester has had great success against Philadelphia in the past — he’s 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA in three career starts. Normally this would make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but the current unpredictability of the starting five has sent my warm fuzzies on an extended vacation.

The Boston Red Sox came back from Wednesday’s loss to Tampa Bay with a vengeance, beating the Rays 5-3 last night.  In a game that manager Bobby Valentine told the Globe he was “going after,” the Sox used five pitchers to get the last ten outs of the game.  Starter Felix Doubront went 5.2 strong innings.  He walked four, but he also only allowed one run while strking out seven.  For a fourth starter (or any starter, really), you take that every time.  Rich Hill, Scott Atchison, and Andrew Miller each took over for one out, before Vicente Padilla and Alfredo Aceves wrapped up the win.

Credit where credit is due: the Rays staff also pitched a good game.  Rays starter Matt More turned in the definition of a quality start, allowing three earned runs over six innings.  The bullpen held the Sox to one more run the rest of the way, but the damage had already been done.

There were some fireworks last night.  Mike Aviles got ejected in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes.  If this surprises you (it surprised me, Aviles seems like a laid-back, cool guy), it should: this was Aviles’ first career ejection.

Also, as is de rigueur these days, Twitter wars commenced.  On Wednesday night, Adrian Gonzalez – who hadn’t hit a home run since April 17 – told reporters that he would hit one the next day, in last night’s game.  A Tampa Bay fan apparently didn’t realize Gonzalez was mainly joking (if it was that easy to predict when you’d hit a home run, then Marlon Byrd – who hit his first home run of the year last night – probably would have had a lot more to say).  The fan tweeted that Moore, the Rays starter, should hit Gonzalez with a pitch.  Tampa pitcher David Price retweeted the tweet, thus supporting the suggestion according to the Unspoken Rules of Tweeting.

PS – Mom, if you’re reading this, I know you’re confused – I’ll explain Twitter to you later.

Anyway, Moore went ahead and hit Gonzalez with the first pitch of Gonzalez’s first at-bat, with runners on first and second.  The HBP loaded the bases, so it was a terrible time to hit someone intentionally.  Then in the third inning, Doubront hit Luke Scott with a pitch with two outs and a runner on first (still not a great time to hit a batter, but not as bad as the Gonzalez beaning).  Scott trotted down to first base, and yelled at Doubront from there.  The jury’s out on whether or not the Twitter wars actually escalated into grown men, millionaires and role models no less, trying to purposefully hit each other with baseballs, but Valentine seems a little mystified.  He told the Globe:

If it was [intentional], it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in baseball. But it might have been. I doubt it. If we have to resort to that kind of stupidity then maybe the game has passed me by. It might.

Oh, Bobby V. – when the team is winning, your post-game interview quotes sound more endearing and fuddy-duddy-grandfather than they sound clueless and impotent.  Let’s keep it that way, ok?

Here’s a link to the box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.

Tonight, the Red Sox head to Philadelphia to start an interleague set against the Phillies.  I’m not a huge fan of interleague play in general, for two reasons.  First, I think it’s unfair to American League teams who can’t use their DH in NL parks, and gives an advantage to NL teams who suddenly have an extra lineup option in AL parks.  Whether you agree with the DH or not, the AL teams structure their rosters around having a DH, and it’s not fair to suddenly make them play without the DH in games that count towards their standings.  Second, I don’t think it’s fair that the interleague schedule is unbalanced.  I compare it to how the NCAA measures strength of schedule.  Some AL teams play the Pirates, the Cubs and the Padres.  Some AL teams play the Braves, the Cardinals and the Phillies (who are a great team, despite their early-season slump).  But each game counts the same in the standings.  Unfair.

That being said, this series should be fun.  First of all, we have the natural delight of David Ortiz having to play first base (would you take the guy out of the lineup?).  Gonzalez says he’ll play right field this series, so that they can both stay in the lineup.  Ortiz and Gonzalez playing first and right?  Hold on to your hats, Sox fans.  Ortiz seems mildly confident, or at least not NOT confident, telling the Globe:

I just don’t want to be in the wrong place when it comes down to catching a fly ball or catching a ground ball.  I try to mark a territory where I can be at and after that let the guys who are out there every day take over.

Good luck, Dustin Pedroia.  I hope you stretch before the game, because I sense you’ll be making a lot of sprints towards first and right field to track down some hit balls.

Also, there’s this closer named Jonathan Papelbon.  Ever heard of him?  I think maybe he was in the Red Sox minor league system once.  He’s closing games for Philadelphia now, and he’s also getting more comfortable in the clubhouse.  Amalie Benjamin – one of the best female sportswriters out there – took an early flight to Philadelphia to catch up with Papelbon.  She has a great piece in the Globe today about the ex-Sox’s adjustment to a new league, a new team, and a new fan base.

Daniel Bard (3-4, 4.30 ERA) takes on Cole Hamels (5-1, 2.28) tonight.  Both teams are currently in last place, but I have a feeling these will be some intense games.

UPDATE: Alfredo Aceves is your new Red Sox closer, the Globe reports.  Bard will stay in the rotation and Melancon will set up Aceves.

First, the good: Josh Beckett, who put a scare into Red Sox Nation when it was announced earlier this week that he was secretly spiriting off to San Antonio to get a mysterious thumb issue checked out, appears to be ok.  After Beckett got a second opinion in Cleveland, Bobby Valentine announced that Beckett does, in fact, intend to start the second game of the season in Detroit on Saturday.  So, the rotation is back on track – Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, Doubront, Bard.  We’re rolling.  And, Buchholz pitched well in his last tuneup before the regular season, leading the Red Sox to an 8-7 win over the Nationals.

This is a problem. c/o http://www.chanorthopaedics.com.

Second, the bad: newly-minted Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey will need surgery on his thumb.  The pitcher, who has a history of injury problems not related to his thumb, needs reconstructive surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament.  According to the team, Bailey will be out between three and four months – maybe even five months, which would put his return sometime in August.  The injury was confirmed yesterday, also in Cleveland.  The doctor that’s performing the surgery today also operated on Kevin Youkilis’s thumb and Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s thumb, and both recovered well.  Salty recovered early, but his surgery was on his non-throwing hand.

When asked about Bailey, Clay Buchholz said what you’d expect a professional athlete with media training to say in this situation:

“He’s going to play a big role on our team as soon as he’s back, but it’s tough. There’s going to have to be a couple of guys on this team step up and fill some shoes. It’s going to be big shoes to fill, but I think we have enough guys and we’re deep enough out there that we can do it for sure.’’

Third, the ugly: so, Red Sox, whose going to close until Bailey gets back?  The top two candidates appear to be Mark Melancon and weary traveler Alfredo Aceves (who will be available and won’t be starting any games in the near future now that Beckett’s healthy – strangely, Aceves didn’t seem to have any commentary on this new situation).  Billy Beane, the sabermetrics master general manager of the Oakland A’s, says that closers exist on every team, and the manager just needs to find them.

Melancon and Aceves both have the numbers and the history to show that they can close out games.  It’s just… that doesn’t seem to sit well with a lot of Sox fans, who are used to big-name, dynamic closers like Jonathan Papelbon and, to some extent, Mariano Rivera, who they’ve been watching for an entire generation of baseball.  There are rumblings about putting Daniel Bard – yes, the same Daniel Bard that just finished getting stretched out and locking down the fifth spot in the rotation – into the closer role, following a pretty dominant bullpen season last year.

Nick Cafardo and Peter Abraham have dueling posts up on the Boston Globe’s Red Sox blog on the Bard as closer issue.  Cafardo argues that Bard’s better suited for the role than any of the other internal options, and suggests that Bard might have a more lucrative career if he commits to being a dominant closer now, than he might have if he takes the risk of trying to become a notable starting pitcher over time.  Cafardo also points out that Daisuke Matsuzaka is set to return to the rotation soon, and notes that giving Bard the closer role could help Alfredo Aceves, who would get his wish to start after all.

Meanwhile, Peter Abraham counters that Bard’s ready to go as a starter – throwing him back into the bullpen smacks of the Yankees’ disastrous treatment of Joba Chamberlain (and, even recent horrific injury aside, Joba’s career prospects are not what they used to be – at all).  Abraham also argues that good pitchers – and Bard in particular – are more valuable to an organization as starters than as closers; especially this year, the Sox will have a problem with finding pitchers that can go six strong, not with finding a pitcher to get three outs at the end of the game.  Abraham also notes that Melancon, even though he closed for the lackluster Astros last year, actually put up some pretty good numbers.

I agree with Abraham, and I think the Sox should let Melancon close (with an assist from Aceves, if necessary) and let Bard start.  It’s closer to the roles everyone expected all spring, and it’s in the best immediate and long-term interests of the organization.  Plus, the Sox can always pick up some bullpen help later on, but it will be hard to find a starter that’s worth the king’s ransom Boston will probably have to pay to get him.

What do you think?

Dropkicks = Boston

Earlier this month, Deadspin reported that the Dropkick Murphys publicly said they wouldn’t allow former closer Jonathan Papelbon to use “Shipping Up to Boston” (which happens to be my ringtone) as his entrance song now that he no longer pitches for the Sox. The popular, bagpipe-driven tune had become synonymous with Pap’s determined trot into a game to shut it down. There wasn’t much that excited me more when I made the trip to Fenway Park.

The report claimed that Murphys’ frontman, Ken Casey said, “He can’t use “Shipping Up to Boston.” That’s a Boston song.” Evidently, this isn’t true – Casey says ESPN took his comments out of context. Which kind of bummed me out becaause after Pap’s comments on Boston fans, I wanted someone to knock him down just a wee little bit.

But really, why would Papelbon even want to continue using a song that is so obviously Boston through and through. Maybe he should adopt Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” instead. Because that’s a manly and baseball-y number.

In the midst of all this musical hubub is new Red Sox closer, Andrew Bailey. Sadly without a closer’s song. Despite suggestions that he just adopt Pap’s old song, he has made the decision to venture out and find his own song. One that speaks to him.
» Continue reading “New Red Sox Closer, New Closer’s Song”

For me, spring training marks the beginning of green grass, blue skies, and bright white lines.  It also marks the beginning of what I like to call the Spring Training Gossip Non-Story, Story.  Like this morning’s breathless news from Fort Myers: Jonathan Papelbon, Boston’s ex-closer, pandered to his new Philadelphia base by saying Phillies fans are more knowledgeable than Boston fans.  No sir, you did not.

c/o the Boston Globe, Reuters

I think most Red Sox fans have mixed feelings on Jonathan Papelbon.  On one hand, he dazzled the Nation for most of his time in Boston, anchoring the bullpen and staring down many an opposing hitter.  On the other hand, he became less effective over time, and it seems, started to substitute his mouth for his pitching arm.  Papelbon left Boston in his dust this off-season, signing as a (very wealthy) free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies.

So, life moves on.  The Red Sox reloaded their bullpen, signed closer Andrew Miller, and started to get ready for 2012.  Papelbon was happy in Philly, the Red Sox were happy in Boston, everything was fine.  Then, yesterday, Papelbon dropped this gem during a sports radio interview in Philadelphia:

“The difference, I would say, between Boston and Philadelphia, is that, you know, I think that the Boston fans are a little bit more hysterical when it comes to the game of baseball. I’d say the Philly fans, I think they tend to know the game a little bit better, being in the National League, the way the game is played.”

Huh.  He also mentioned that once someone in the Fenway stands took off his prosthetic leg and threw it into the bullpen, for what that’s worth.

You see what I mean about Non-Story Stories?  This is one of them.  Are we supposed to expect a free agent, who needs to ingratiate himself with a new fan base, a fan base that’s widely known as being one of the most intense in professional sports, to NOT say that the fans of his new team are better than the fans of his old team?  This is really not news – this is something to talk about for a few days while we wait for starting pitchers to throw more than 30 pitches at a time.  Plus, this is Jonathan Papelbon talking: as the Globe’s Chad Finn put it awesomely: “this is a guy who closed out the clinching game of the 2007 World Series, and yet arguably his most iconic moment with the Red Sox might be doing a jig in bicycle shorts while wearing a Bud Light case on his head.”

At any rate, it fell to Bailey, the new Red Sox closer (also trying to ingratiate himself with a new fan base), to answer Papelbon’s shot across the bow:

“Growing up a Phillies fan, they’re great, too. But so far the Nation is pretty good,” Bailey said. “There’s no reason to cause drama from my perspective. Your fans are the ones who go out and support you. For me, I loved them all … The Red Sox have a very intelligent fan base.”

Done.  I think it’s safe to say Papelbon got owned.

In other news, there was also a game yesterday.  The Sox lost to the Cardinals, 9-3, but Josh Beckett pitched three scoreless innings without walking a batter.  Most of the damage came care of a six-run eighth inning, four of those runs at the hands of Boston reliever Not That Chris Carpenter.    Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias impressed with a triple, and also wowed Josh Beckett with a nice diving stop to get David Freese at first.  Beckett, never one to mince words, summarized it thusly: “Yeah, he’s pretty sick.  I can see why they gave him all that money.”

The Sox hit the diamond again tonight for a 7:05 start.  Clay Buchholz takes the hill for Boston, as they face the Pittsburgh Pirates for the first time in Grapefruit League action.

Where the magic happens.

My favorite radio morning team, Dennis & Callahan on WEEI, are down at the brand spanking new JetBlue Park in Fort Meyers for the start of Red Sox spring training and they’ve been busy interviewing some of the new guys. I love D&C! They keep me company while I get ready for work every morning. I may have professed my love for them before…. and @JohnDennisWEEI and I are total Twitter bffs so there’s that.

This morning they interviewed a couple of the bullpen newbies — Mark Melancon and Andrew Bailey. I’ll admit, I don’t know a lot about them other than they played on teams visiting Fenway Park so it was nice to hear them chat with D&C. I learned some good stuff.

Mark Melancon is a soft-spoken guy who evidently is a giant thrill seeker during the off-season. He didn’t really sound like a crazy who swims with great white sharks but turns out he is! This past winter, while teaching at a baseball camp in New Zealand, Mark and his wife had the opportunity to make pretend they were shark bait. Sounds like he’s prepared to face the AL East now!

Click HERE fo the Mark Melancon WEEI interview.

Andrew Bailey, on the other hand, was also a treat — mostly because he talked about controlling the pace of the game as a closer. Jonathan Papelbon was another big offender being painfully slow between pitches. Bailey? Not so much.

“That,” said Kelly Shoppach, the catcher who was behind the plate for Bailey’s first side session of the spring, “was the fastest 35 pitches I’ve ever caught. He got up on the mound, he got ready to go, he threw it, it was right on the money.”

He’s like the Bizarro Papelbon. He waits for the batter to get in the box and he throws the ball. I think I’m going to like this guy!

Click HERE for the Andrew Bailey WEEI interview.

Welcome to the jungle boys… I hope you’ve been practicing your bullpen music skills.

This will no longer be seen at Fenway Park.

According to Jim Salisbury of Comcast Sports Philadelphia, Jonathan Papelbon has completed a deal with the Phillies which is only pending on a physical. I highly doubt he won’t pass the physical.

The deal is rumored to be for four years and in the neighborhood of $50 million.

More information will be added to this post as it comes out.