Chatting away
Mar 13th, 2007 by Rob Bradford
Just finished a chat over on Sons of Sam Horn which you can check out. It was really cool of them to invite me and allow for some shameless cross-promotion.
Was in communication with somebody with the Red Sox this morning and was told they were very encouraged by the performances of Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen last night. Also touched on the Kyle Snyder and Jon Lester questions, in regards to their closing candidacy. As for Snyder, even though he is being groomed as a reliever there is still some hesitancy on relying on him on back-to-back days, or even too frequent of appearances. That is one reason he is not in the mix. Lester’s value in the organization is simply too great as a starter. It goes back to the discussion many have had regarding how difficult it is to secure a potential top-of-the-rotation starter. If you have one, it is hard to designate him into a spot other than the starting rotation.
There has been no meaningful discussion in the Sox’s circles in terms of using Lester as a closer.
Be back later to answer questions …
12 reader comments to “Chatting away”
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1Ian said:
Rob, I have a topic I wonder if you can get more information on.
Last year, when the Sox signed Taiwanese infielder Chih-Hsien Chiang, they erred by signing him prematurely. Because of this, the Chiang’s high school was penalized by having to forfeit three tournaments this prior year. I was wondering if you could find out the Sox side of this and if this has affected their reputation in the Far East.
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2stephen o'grady said:
With regard to both Hansen and Delcarmen, both looked good, but the best sign to me was Hansen’s slider. I’m no scout, but it looked excellent. The Globe’s notebook today mentioned that a scout had it at a 7, which make sense, but also said that Hansen’s shoulder looked “rigid.”
Any idea what that means?
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3Anonymous said:
I didn’t read the globe, they said his slider was a seven? seven out of what? I had always heard scouts rate from 30-70, 70 being the best you’ve ever seen… if the seven meant 70 we might have our closer
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4Anonymous said:
Hi Rob –
Glad you have this blog — it’s great. Time to go out on a limb:
1) Who do you think will be named closer at the end of ST?
2) Who do you think SHOULD be named closer?
3) Who will be the closer in June?Thanks!
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5Anonymous said:
Rob,
If Hansen and DelCarmen continue to throw strikes and miss bats, do you have any indicaton that Tavarez - who I think many NL teams view as a 4th or 5th starter - and or Snyder, also 5th starter material, would be dealt? Seems like they could both be packaged to a team with immediate starter needs/questions (i.e. Wash, St Louis, Mets, Brewers, Twins, to name a few) for a quality reliever or two.
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6Anonymous said:
Every time I see Breslow he doesn’t blow away batters, he just locates and gets outs. Seems like a natural set-up guy. Is he out of favor with the brass. He almost seems like an after thought, and yet whenever he’s in it seems like ground ball to SS, ground ball to 2nd, k end of inning.
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7Anonymous said:
Hansen’s slider was rated a 7 out of 8, although I don’t know what that means. I’m just repeating what I read.
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8Anonymous said:
Rob,
You seem like you have the right sources. I am hoping you can shed some light on this MLB Extra Innings stuff going on. Why is it so quiet out there? How come there are no leaks. For us out of market people this is an absolute horror movie. Why can MLB make this decision so late in the game? If I wanted I couldn’t even get DirecTV installed by opening day from the timing they left us. In addition now they are allowing cable to drag their feet for the remainder of the month.
Also before you or anyone else recommends MLBTV I do not consider that an option. I bought a HD TV for a reason and it wasnt to leave it off and watch Baseball on a laptop. Thanks
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9tom said:
Hey Rob
Love the blog. I grew up reading the Eagle Tribune and its great to see a local writer getting his name out there.
Few questions
1. How many hits are you getting on this blog per day?
2. From what I’ve read, everyone seems pretty high on Ellsbury. When do you think he’ll be ready, and at what point do you think his development makes Coco Crisp expendable?My feeling is that Coco is the best position player trading chip we have, and that we could get a quality reliever or two in exchange for him.
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10Anonymous said:
Rob–
I think I speak for everyone when I say you are a Godsend to Sox fans! Did anyone on the Sons of Sam Horn site have any thoughts on those adorable kittens that were left homeless in North Andover? I’d love it if you could tell us what we can do to help them.
-a
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11Mike said:
Rob
Don’t have anything real insightful to add, just wanted to thank you for writing such an insightful blog. I heard about you a couple of weeks back on SoSH and have been looking every day, awesome read. You’re on the top of my favorites list and the first site I visit every day. Keep it up!
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12griffin said:
//There has been no meaningful discussion in the Sox’s circles in terms of using Lester as a closer.//
I didn’t think there was, but this is good news nonetheless. Thanks.
I’ve heard Ellsbury is going to at least start the year in Portland. I’d imagine he’d probably stay there most of the season - would you agree?
