Lost in the blog
Feb 14th, 2007 by Rob Bradford
Regarding Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka; Yesterday I drove down Edison Avenue in Fort Myers, drawing the hopeful, and subsquent disgusted, looks of a half a hundred Japanese media members. They wanted me to be Matsuzaka. Heck, I wanted to be Matsuzaka. I couldn’t deliver. But it did allow for a dose of enlightenment — if there was ever a player who needed to be covered 25 hours a day, eight days a week it was this guy. That’s where this blog thing is going to come in handy.
It is because of this blog that I can sit here after a morning of picnic table-sitting over at the Red Sox minor league complex and unleash whatever information cyberspace deems worthy.
If it wasn’t for this space you might never know that Jonathan Papelbon’s father has been hired by the Ted Williams Museum. Discovering that top prospect Clay Buchholz has decided his out-pitch is a recently-mastered change-up, not a well-publicized 95 mph heater might have had to wait. Or how about the offseason-related knowledge that Josh Beckett’s prize catch was a six-point buck, while Kyle Snyder went fishing in Costa Rica with Bronson Arroyo, and Craig Hansen spent hours winding up in front of a mirror trying to close up a delivery which exposed the ball to hitters a few seconds too early.
Heck, if we just had this a little earlier we could have charted former Sox reliever David Riske’s quest to secure every model of Air Jordan sneakers in Size 11.
And just in case you thought I forgot, here’s your Matsuzaka update: Press conference, 5 p.m., in the third base dugout at City of Palms Park. And a bit of not-well-known, potentially useless information: His translator, Masa Hoshino, is a Canadian resident who, at last check, was still stuck in his home country due to weather issues. Oh, and potential closer Joel Piniero showed up and dropped his stuff off in the Sox locker room when nobody (at least not the media) was looking.
Good times.
One more thing … if anybody has any questions over the course of the day please put them under comments and I will devote a post to answering them at the end of the day.
Clck here to read today’s column “All Matsuzaka, all the time”
14 reader comments to “Lost in the blog”
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1Tim said:
Congratulations, Rob — your plaintive cries (and those of Tomase, Seth Mnookin and countless others) have finally been heard. Welcome to the age of the Internet!
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2Tim Daloisio said:
Are you at all surprised that Lenny Dinardo was the guy the Red Sox tried to sneak through waivers to add J.D. Drew to the roster and not someone else? I would have thought Kyle Snyder, who I believe is out of options, would have been a candidate.
Did the Red Sox place Dinardo on waivers knowing that he would most likely be taken?
If so, they must not have had any plans for him at the major league level or see any trade value in him?
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3Anonymous said:
Hey Rob, what ever happened to that writer from the Hartford paper? He was so negative.
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4Shelly said:
Hey Rob!
So glad that you finally got a blog. You are one of the few Boston baseball writers that I like.
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5Troy said:
Hi Rob,
I’m psyched you have a blog. I hope you use to campaign against Steve Buckley and permanently take his seat on the Big Show next to McAdam for all things baseball.
BTW, I don’t think you look like Fred Flintstone. Iâ??m more inclined to say you bear a passing resemblance to a young Abe Vigoda.
Good luck,
Troy -
6El Guapo's Ghost said:
Rob,
Welcome! Has Buchholz gotten better command and control of his change? He said that the command of his fastball puts it ahead of his other pitches in an interview for Baseball Prospecuts.
I also echo Tim’s question. Synder inked to above min. major league deal and out of options should have been placed on waivers not Leapin’ Lenny. It would have been the only reason why they offered Snyder arbit.
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7the rooster said:
Hey Rob:
Does this mean you can start totally unsubstantiated trade rumors? How ’bout we float Chad Cordero for Manny Delcarmen & Craig Hansen? -
8Rob said:
That Buchholz comment is the stuff I love hearing about..
More please
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9Anonymous said:
Rob,
Great to see that you have a blog now! I think your coverage of the Red Sox is the best out there. Your piece on John Deeble and the Matsuzaka journey was the best piece of this offseason. Us die-hards love those type of pieces - the stories behind the story.
This blog is at the top of my Sox bookmarks. Best of luck.
PS. Us die-hards want to know everything about our top prospects. Give us anything you get!
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10Anonymous said:
Looking forward to the blog Rob. I read you all the time.
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11StuckAtTheCask said:
Rob — Congrats on the blog! I echo the comments of others here in telling you that this page has been bookmarked and will be refreshed often. Enjoy the Florida sun, and keep the tidbits comin!
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12Greg Lantz said:
Dice looked fat as hell. Is that his normal playing weight? Is it his usual routine to come in heavy and work it off in spring training and the early part of the season?
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13DirtyBeagle said:
great work - love the new blog!
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14RedSoxGal said:
Hi Rob,
I was wondering why the Red Sox just released Dinardo? Couldn’t they have moved one of the predominately minor leaguers off the roster without them having to clear waviers?
