Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

Pitchers and catchers just got off the field after doing a conditioning test. This was new to the Red Sox, although strength and conditioning coach Dave Page said that the tests were something they did every year in Arizona. The tests that were administered on the field included:
- Two timed 300-yard shuttle runs
- 10-pound medicine ball tosses, one from each side of the body
- Side shuffle for a five-foot distance
- Shuttle run of five yards, 10 yard yards, and five yards, done twice
Tomorrow will be a 1 1/2 mile run which the players will be asked to do in at least 12 minutes.
Some of the stars of the workout included Jason Varitek, Joel Pineiro, and (chalk one up to the 40-year-olds) Tim Wakefield.

Another interesting bit of information came from Director of Baseball Operations Brian 0′Halloran, who had joined assistant general manager Jed Hoyer in Arizona yesterday for Wily Mo Pena’s arbitration hearing.

O’Halloran said the Sox representatives had arrived for the 9:30 a.m. meeting 30 minutes early and were sitting at the table, information in hand, ready to present their case to the three arbitrators. But just before the start of the session, the two sides (which included Pena) started talking. Sensing a deal might be close, the arbitrators allowed the start of the hearing to be pushed back to 10 a.m., allowing an agreement to be reached just before the top of the hour. As Halloran points out, this was the closest, by far, this current regime has ever gotten to presenting an arbitration case.

Before I forget, a question I got to a little late but wanted to answer revolved around minor league reliever Edgar Martinez’s off-speed pitch. His top two pitches are still a fastball and slider, but he did pick up a change-up in the middle of last year which he says he throws without hesitation.

From manager Terry Francona’s media get-together:
- GM Theo Epstein, pitching coach John Farrell, and Francona had one-on-one meetings with every pitcher, something new this year. Francona and Epstein will do the same with position players once they arrive.
- Francona doesn’t think Curt Schilling’s contract negotiations, which the pitcher is executing himself, will affect his performance, saying that the thought of Schilling pitching 200 innings is very realistic. He said if the starting staff totals 1,000 innings they should be in good shape.
- Daisuke Matsuzaka will throw off the mound tomorrow. Others throwing for what figures to be a 5 or 6 minute session include: Josh Beckett, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Wakefield, Schilling, Abe Alvarez, Kason Gabbard, Jon Lester, Kyle Snyder, Bryan Corey, Devern Hansack, Travis Hughes, and David Pauley.
Will be back one more time to answer questions, so get them in now …

Clck here to read today’s column “Closing bell sounds Sox quartet begins tryout for the job”

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