Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

Woke up this morning, realized it wasn’t 70 degrees and sunny, and discovered another newbie into the bloggerific blogdome. Here it is.

The one thing that I have come to realize in my relative young tenure as a blogger is that the cool thing to do is to welcome our new blogtastic fireballing friend with open arms. Curt and I actually have talked a bit about the blog world in recent weeks and he clearly has a great idea and focus for the site. It’s nice to know that somebody else is searching for answers regarding this medium in the same way I find myself.

As for this space, I hope to, while back home for a while, encourage some good discussions about the world of baseball. I also have some interesting posts arriving soon. For now, let’s answer some questions:
- The best way to send me tips, questions, etc. is rbradford@eagletribune.com. (And if it is a good tip, I’ll give you my home address.)
- Five years from now I think you will see the Red Sox in the middle of a lineup full of four-year contracts and a smattering under-control youngsters. Believe it or not, the Yankees are in the midst of executing exactly what the Red Sox want to do. They have dealt Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson for young players who are going to be bringing their payroll/average age down a notch. Both Humberto Sanchez (from Detroit) and Luis Vizcaino (Arizona) are possible closers down the road. They have also been able to sprinkle in their own prospects (Robinson Cano, Chien-Ming Wang) into positions of importance. This is the Red Sox plan. Scouting director Jason McLeod, by most accounts, has done a very good job in the draft in recent years, but, as he will be the first to admit, the ultimate judgement won’t come until the guys named Buchholz, Bowden, and Place make their presence felt. But clearly, other than relying on their own prospects, this front office is keen on identifying players entering their prime and locking them up slightly before the enticement of the open market makes an appearance.

Speaking of potential closers, when I did the story on Manny Ramirez hitting in the offseason I asked Marlins minor league catcher Greg Brown what he thought of two of his former Jupiter Hammerheads teammates, Jesus Delgado and Harvey Garcia, who each came over in the Josh Beckett trade. He said both had closer capability, were hard throwers, and were impressive, although often hampered by offensive and defensive support. Both had solid seasons, with Garcia notching 21 saves and Delgado finishing with a 2.58 ERA in relief.

- I guess I jinxed Brendan Donnelly yesterday, as he had a rough outing today. This is the danger of spring training. Billy Beane’s first bit of advice to Theo Epstein was not to get too caught up in the worries that come with spring training performances. Terry Francona (rightfully) points to Keith Foulke’s 2004 spring in which he couldn’t get anybody out. This is why deciphering a closer in the spring is so difficult because you don’t want to be too reactionary. I think we shouldn’t dismiss all the things I pointed out about Donnelly yesterday (strikeout rate/mentality), but at the same time come away encouraged by Pineiro’s outing yesterday. The thing about Pineiro is if he can lock his arm angle/mechanics in, adjust to a different trajection on his slider, and worry solely about executing against individual batters, you might see the closer race in a new light.

- I noticed in Daisuke Matsuzaka’s outing the other day that he was still adjusting to relying on Jason Varitek. As it was explained to me, Matsuzaka is very much a “touch pitcher,” often going by how he feels. What he will have to adjust to is relying somewhat on the game-plan put in place by Varitek and the Red Sox. The game-plan is strictly a guideline, but is a different approach to what he is used to.

Keep the questions coming and I’ll track them down for you …

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