The Man(ny) upstairs
Feb 28th, 2007 by Rob Bradford
The ultimate cross-promotion alert (actual first part of today’s story in the Eagle-Tribune):
Manny Ramirez talked yesterday â?? to Bill and Rose Quayle.
At about 11 a.m. yesterday, the kindly elderly couple from Westlake, Ohio was let through the restraining ropes on Field No. 5 at the Red Sox minor league training complex. And with the admittance, the Quayles were also privy to a side of Ramirez certainly not focused on since the sluggerâ??s tardy arrival at camp, Monday.
â??Weâ??re very fond of him,â?? said Bill Quayle, the 82-year-old husband of Rose.
â??Heâ??s really a nice, nice young man,â?? echoed Quayleâ??s wife.
Watching the hugs and conversation between the Ramirez and two of his biggest fans offered an interesting look into the side of the player which tends to disappear at first sight of a media member.
It is a persona the Quayles were first introduced to in the late-1990â??s when Ramirez lived upstairs from the couple in an apartment complex on Peppercorn Drive. The then-Cleveland Indian befriended the pair, often joining them for meals and conversation.
â??It wasnâ??t baseball,â?? said Rose regarding what was talked about at the dinner table, â??I remember that.â??
You will have to try and ride out what I’m sure will be a sleepless night until you can view the rest of this story on www.eagletribune.com. But let me give you another tease: When you don’t know someone’s last name leaving tickets at Will Call can be challenging … unless you’re Manny Ramirez.
Clck here to read today’s column “Relationship with elderly couple shows Manny’s softer side”
There was a question in regards to Tim Wakefield’s health/status. Wakefield reports that he is completely healed from his rib injury of last year. The best news for the knuckleballer was that by the time he began his offseason workouts (he did take a few extra weeks off) the ailment wasn’t a hindrance at all. Listen, anybody who can play golf like Wakefield did last week would appear to be spry enough to throw a knuckleball. And remember, the camp’s taskmaster strength and conditioning coach Dave Page reported after the team’s conditioning tests that Wakefield was one of the stars. And for the record, he never previously had anything like the injury sustained last year.
In a week of intriguing appearances (Schilling, Matsuzaka, Beckett), one of the ones I’m looking forward to is Kyle Snyder’s start on Friday. Touched base with him again today and he continues to be more optimistic than ever about his health. He made a good point: This is the first of his eight spring trainings in professional baseball that he is completely healthy. “I’m able to bounce back quicker,” he said. “This time I can focus more on execution instead of worrying about what is going to hurt next.” Snyder has thrown five side sessions this spring training, including 40-pitch and 50-pitch batting practices.
I know you can’t get enough of Bryce Cox, so I’m going to give you more. Cox, who I found out could start as high as Double A Portland, will begin the season as a reliever. The reason for this is partly because of his history. In case you don’t know the story, Cox was a fairly solid pitcher for Rice University up until his senior season, good enough to be taken in the 13th round by the Angels after his junior season. But sometime during his senior campaign the reliever was fooling around, making throws from third base, when he discovered an arm slot that opened a whole new door of potential. The new motion led to domination in the College World Series and increased interest from the Red Sox, who were already locked in on a draft and follow with Cox’s teammate Eddie Degerman (who ultimately landed with the Cardinals).
Surreal sight of the day came when Cox, Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden and some of the other top prospects participated in their first live batting practice at the same time the media was taking its one time only BP one field away. The participation of the media event was an all-time high thanks to the presence of the Japanese media. While all corners of the Red Sox media-following universe have got along famously throughout this most unusual spring training, the relationship was tested yesterday when MLB.com crack reporter Ian Browne was hit between the shoulder blades with a pitch from an unnamed Japanese BP pitcher. Browne, who had been brushed back on previous offerings, kept his wits about him, insisted the entire collection of participants join hands, and burst out in a chorus of “We Are The World.” (Maybe an exaggeration, but it shows just how strong our bond has become.)
To answer some quick questions:
- Wily Mo Pena is a tough read. Two things to watch for: 1. His left hand/wrist. The Hamate bone surgery can be a tricky thing, and sometimes forces some adjustments. Eric Hinske, for example, now uses a bat without a knob at the end after his surgery. Former Sox general manager had mandated back in the late ’90’s that all Red Sox minor leaguers not be allowed to hold the bat with their finger hanging over the end of the bat after a rash of Hamate bone injuries. 2. His defense. It was referenced on the blog before about how Wily Mo was going to make defense a priority this spring after working on it in the winter. Judging by how many times I’ve seen him tagging along his fielding mentor, DeMarlo Hale, it looks like Pena has been diligent in accomplishing his goal.
- Jon Lester was supposed to find out yesterday about which game he would be first appearing in. When asked just before he left the clubhouse Jon said he hadn’t heard yet. I would think if you are in Fort Myers until Sunday there would be good chance at seeing Lester.
- David Murphy and Jacoby Ellsbury are both in the lineup for the first game. Much like Dustin Pedroia’s memory of suffering a shoulder injury in his first spring training game, the moment will be an anniversary of sorts for Murphy, as well. In his first spring game last year he struck out four times before coming on strong. In regards to Ellsbury, caught up with his manager from the Arizona Fall League, Luis Alicea, who reiterated the organization’s desire to get the center fielder to bunt more. Alicea took it upon himself to guide Ellsbury in that direction in Arizona, going so far as instructing him to bunt a mandatory three times in various games just to get the work in.
Will be back around dinner time tomorrow. Access starts at 2 p.m. and Terry Francona talks at 3:30 p.m. If there is some morning questions I can try and get to them earlier than that.
I also want to thank the entire blogging community for their welcoming me to their world in the past two weeks. It’s been blogtastic. (OK, someone bet me a dollar that the last word I uttered before heading to bed was “blogtastic.”) …. I win … (Just to be safe) Blogtastic!
14 reader comments to “The Man(ny) upstairs”
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1hurricane said:
Rob,
This my first year reading your stuff regularly. I’d like to say I think you’re doing a great job, very readable, personable and a refreshing change from the sometimes negativity and muck-creating journalism that sadly appears on the “Big Two” Boston dailys.
Thanks
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2Hugh said:
If any other baseball writers are watching this, please take notes: this is how it should be done! Reports that are personal yet ego free. And that are responsive to the readers and genuinely informative.
I’ll chime in with a question after all that soft soap, if I may. Do you expect this to be Wakefield’s last season? It seems people are already presuming a 2008 rotation of Schilling (when he’s re-signed), Matsuzaka, Beckett, Papelbon and Lester/Buchholz/AN Other. The good news about Wake’s progress (d’you see what I did there?) would suggest he’s not done just yet.
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3lwinlc said:
Blogtastic indeed!!! This being my first experience with blogging, it says something that I’m not shy about commenting! You’re great. Love it when you’re on The Big Show, too. Glad to hear that Wake is healthy - I was worried after last year. Haven’t been hearing much about Beckett. Is he on track? Looking forward to Donny O and the Remdawg tonight. This is definitely the best time of the year!
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4Jonathan Singer said:
Rob,
More good minor league stuff that is much appreciated especially at soxprospects.com
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5Bryan said:
Rob, well done. Your writing brings a fresh perspective to the common “all negative-all the time” formula that sports reporting has become these days. Please do not change a thing.
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6Anonymous said:
I’m new and I love the informative approach. You’re walking down the path not taken but finding stuff of interest about players we don’t know and it is exciting. You’re point of view is almost fan-like and allows us to virtually be in Fort Myers.
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7Lockland said:
Outstanding stuff as always Rob. Keep it up.
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8BriVT said:
I’d even say this has been Bloggerific!
Good stuff, as always … cross-promotion (also known as “pimping” in the blog world) is a time-honored tradition, so don’t be shy.
Finally, a real point: it seems like Wily Mo Pena at first base would be a really useful thing moving forward with Lowell on his last year and no top corner IFs in the system, and yet the Sox haven’t really tried it since a brief experiment in … I don’t remember where. Was the experience watching him at first so horrible and traumatizing that they don’t even want to make the attempt again?
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9BeantownBasher said:
Great stuff as usual Rob! This blog has become the donut to my coffee in the morning. I love the prospect reports and the personal tidbits you share with us….I can almost feel the warm breeze whisking my cheek as I peruse your blog.;) Nice to see there might even be a POSITIVE article being written about Manny, much to CHB’s chagrin I am sure. I am sure he will dissect the article accordingly in hopes of finding some way to put a negative spin on it..as we know..negative feedback is still feedback!
You are quickly setting the standard Rob! Keep up the great work!
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10bostongraf said:
Thanks, as always, Rob. Great job, and we appreciate it.
Couple questions:
Since Manny was not present for most of the fitness portion of ST, have you been able to discern the shape he is in? He has a reputation of a good personal routine, but I haven’t heard how he looks so far this session.You breifly mentioned the rule change to promote less time between pitches (20 secs down to 12). Have you heard any thoughts or opinions on this? Is it an actual rule, or more of a guideline?
Thanks, again!
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11AusSox Fan said:
Love it, Rob Blogford … your site has become a twice-daily stop for me (and please let your employers know that the cross-promotion works, as I and many others do follow your links to “real stories”). Anyway - you mentioned Cox’s teammate and a “draft & follow” — I’ve heard this expression before, but don’t exactly know what it means … can you please explain? Thanks mate!
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12brando said:
you need to master the art of the link…there should be a link to your manny article in today’s eagle-tribune, it helps lazy guys like me get there
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13Tom said:
Aussox, just in case Rob doesn’t get to your question: A draft-and-follow is a player drafted in the June amateur draft (often in the later rounds) that the team wants to get a better look at before opting to sign to a contract. So, they “follow” him as he plays in the Cape Cod league or at a junior college in the spring before the next draft. As long as the player has not attended class at a 4-year institution, if the team likes what it sees and if they can come to terms on a contract, the player is eligible to be signed up until draft day the following June.
The Sox have a few interesting draft-and-follows this year, including 11th-round pick Brandon Belt, a promising LHP out of Texas. But this is the last year for draft-and-follows, because the new CBA requires all draft picks to be signed by mid-August of their draft year, or they go back into the hopper.
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14bobh said:
“Reports that are personal yet ego free.”
They’ll be ego free when he stops saying “I learned this” and “he told me.” Take out the first-person stuff and just report.
And enough with the sucking up. It’s one thing to not be negative, another to have your lips secured to the players’ butts.
