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By Jimmy, 6/2/2011 8:00 am

Work has been a little bonkers lately, so I haven’t been posting as frequently as I’d like. This is just as well, considering that Red Sox Nation has been stricken by a tornado of failure in recent days. (See what I did there? Not using “fail” as a noun?  Note to, well, everyone on the internet under the age of 40: feel free to emulate that.  I promise, it will be cool in a hip, retro sort of way.) It’s amazing how the confidence index can plummet so quickly. We were flying high on Memorial Day, were we not?

The bad news reached a crescendo last night when a report from Japan claimed that Daisuke Matsuzaka has opted for Tommy John surgery (this has yet to be confirmed by Daisuke himself).  Apparently, the second opinion on his shoulder from Dr. Lewis Yocum didn’t paint a very bright picture for the right-hander.

If Matsuzaka does indeed go under the knife, he will be sidelined for at least twelve months, and quite possibly more.  He could return for a few starts late in the 2012 season if his rehab goes as planned, but since his contract expires after next year and his relationship with team management doesn’t seem to be ironclad at this point, the main purpose behind this decision would be to prepare him for a career with another franchise.

I’ll save the post mortem writeup on Matsuzaka’s Red Sox career until that surgery report is actually confirmed. To summarize it in one sentence as best as I can: the team spent a boatload of money on a guy who was very inconsistent and injury prone, however, it could have been much, much worse.

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By Jimmy, 4/27/2011 9:30 am

Normally these matters are above my pay grade, but since the Red Sox are playing the Orioles this week I figured I’d quickly touch on the subject.

Baltimore left fielder Luke Scott is a notorious nutcase, and has been in the news quite a bit for spewing his swamp muck encrusted opinions in front of any microphone within spitting distance.

For example, here’s a Luke Scott gem regarding the current President of the United States: 

“He was not born here”.

Well, it turns out that he sort of was.

If you are interested in heckling this guy (it’s your constitutional right as a Real American, dag nabbit!) there are plenty of empty seats in Camden Yards.  I think my undergraduate alma mater baseball team drew a bigger crowd that the one on Eutaw Street last night, and I went to a shitty Division II school.

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By Jimmy, 4/23/2011 9:43 am

Lester Crosses-Up Angels on Good Friday

Box Score

Two weeks ago, the Red Sox were 1-7 after a 9 to 4 loss to the Yankees.  If a genie had materialized out of your empty metallic blue Bud Light bottle (if you were to Google Image-search for the term “Red Sox fan”, I imagine it would bring you a photo of a 25-year-old Caucasian male drinking out of one of these) and offered you a deal where the Sox would be 8-11 two weeks later, you probably would have taken it, right?

Top 5 Heroes

We see here another quirky attribute for WPA; if you hit a lazy fly ball that happens to be completely bungled by the outfielders, you are credited with the WPA from that situation.  A better system might be to penalize the outfielders instead?  WPA doesn’t acknowledge good defensive plays at all, so I can see why there might be inconsistencies if it were to penalize defenders for making errors.

Anyway, if you were to take Crawford’s name off the list, Saltalamacchia would pop up in the 5th spot an account of his double and run scored (which again would be a problem, since he had a costly defensive mishap that isn’t considered by WPA).

Buzz Kill

Carl Crawford continues his struggles.  He’s now at .135/.190/.162 after going 0 for 4, despite the runs scored on his fly ball error.

Quote of the Day

“It was kind of a ‘tweener, but it was up there long enough that somebody should have been camped under it. [It was] not a Bermuda Triangle.”

- Mike Scioscia, on the Crawford fly ball that dropped in for a 2-run error.

Prospect Watch

• AAA – After bring sent back to Pawtucket, Felix Doubront made his 2011 AAA debut by pitching three shutout innings, allowing only 1 hit and striking out 3.  Michael Bowden is off to a good start in his new role as the team’s closer, notching his third save.
• AA – Stolmy Pimentel, considered one of the better pitchers in the organization, got rocked for 6 runs over 4.1 innings.  He’s now 0-2 with an 8.03 ERA.
• High A – Third baseman Kolbrin Vitek went 2 for 4 with a double and a triple, and is hitting .447/.533/.711 in his last 10 games. Chris Balcom-Miller improved to 3-0 with an 0.60 ERA.
• Low A – Starter Manny Rivera went 5 strong innings, striking out 7.

Other Notes

• Kevin Youkilis will likely be in the lineup today.
• An MRI on Ryan Kalish revealed a shoulder sprain.  Not good, but not the worst-case scenario either.  They’ll reevaluate the injury after two weeks of rehab.

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By Jimmy, 4/22/2011 6:36 am

Sox Win First Extra-Inning Game of 2011

Box Score

I’d imagine that most fans here passed out after an arduous Bruins playoff victory.  If that’s the case, they’ll wake up to the news that the Red Sox also won in overtime.

Josh Beckett was outstanding again, giving up only 3 hits over 8 innings of work.  However, he received a no-decision, as the Sox squandered several scoring opportunities against rookie Tyler Chatwood.  Luckily, the bullpen came up big with 3 scoreless innings, and the Sox managed to score a couple of runs in the 11th.

Kevin Youkilis was removed from the game after hitting a foul ball off of his foot, but fortunately, x-rays were negative.  He’s probably day-to-day at this point, but I’ll update this if anything changes.

Top 5 Heroes (Fangraphs WPA)

WPA is an interesting stat to use when determining how “big” or “clutch” a player came up over a period of time.  However, one of my problems with the metric is manifested in last night’s numbers posted above.  Intuitively, you’d think that Josh Beckett’s contribution (8 excellent innings) was more crucial to the win than Dan Bard’s (a scoreless 9th inning).  Much of WPA is determined by situational environments outside of the player’s control.  Sometimes, to earn a good WPA, you just have to be in the right place at the right time.  It should never be used to figure out how good a player really was.  It can, however, be used to determine how good a player was when it counted.

Buzz Kill:

I do admire Jason Varitek’s accomplishments over the course of his career in Boston, but right now he looks like someone who should no longer be playing professional baseball.  Yes, I probably wrote that same exact line two years ago, but at that time my statement was 50% hyperbole.  The hyperbole in my words are now gone.  After going 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts and a walk last night, the Captain is now hitting .043/.185/.043.  It’s a small sample (26 plate appearances), but it’s not like you can really rely on Saltalamacchia to give him a rest when he’s hitting like this.

Luckily, Varitek has some sort of magic catcher’s mitt that can transform pitchers like Josh Beckett from perpetually injured underachievers to a front-line aces.  In that sense, he might be worth keeping around.  Speaking of which…

Quote of the Day:

“Oh, I’m freaking locked in. … Fortunately I can help us win in other ways right now.”

- Jason Varitek, on his slump

Prospect Watch

• AAA – Bad news from Pawtucket as Ryan Kalish, considered by many to be the heir apparent to J.D. Drew in right field, hurt his arm while making a diving play.  It could be minor, but it could also be very bad; remember, Kalish missed most of the 2007 season after breaking his wrist.  In better news, Lars Anderson had three hits and is now hitting .320 with a .462 OBP.
• AA – Catcher Tim Federowicz, known primarily for his defense, is hitting .341/.375/.523 after going 2 for 4 last night.  Given the issues in Boston, he is absolutely someone to keep an eye on.
• High A – Kolbrin Vitek went 3 for 4 with a double, now hitting .341/.431/.500.  No, I’m not just copying and pasting this from yesterday’s recap.  He’s Lowrie-esque right now.
• Low A – Brandon Jacobs went 2 for 3 with a double, and is hitting .353/.452/.686.

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By Jimmy, 4/21/2011 1:58 pm

As the Sox travel south on the Pacific Coast Highway and pull into Anaheim, they will prepare to face a pitcher whom they’ve never seen before, 21-year-old right-hander Tyler Chatwood.  Chatwood was the #4 prospect in the Angels organization, according to Fangraphs.

Now, maybe I’m falling into some sort of a heuristic bias trap here, but it seems like the Red Sox have generally struggled against this type of pitcher in recent years (a somewhat highly-touted rookie making one of his first few starts in the Majors).  This could be all in my head, or it could be a genuine trend attributable to the lack of data available for our hitters to use in preparation for the game.

In any event, here’s a quick scouting summary on Chatwood:

• 92-94 MPH 4-seam fastball
• Decent curveball
• Can be wild (3.7 BB/9 last year, combined)
• Isn’t a big strikeout pitcher (6.3 K/9 last year, combined)
• Was able to get lots of ground ball outs in the minors
• Pitched very well in Chicago in his last start (7 innings, 5 hits and 2 walks allowed)

It seems like the Red Sox might do well against this guy if they are patient and force him to throw strikes.  However, if the usual suspects get up there and choppity-chop-chop at everything in the zone, it could be a long, frustrating night with a lot of weak ground balls.

Here’s the pitcher vs. batter data:

Several of those Angels hitters have pounded Beckett in the past, but at this point you have to consider his split personality.  Were they facing the overweight Beckett who can’t throw his curveball without pulling an oblique muscle?  Or were they facing the current iteration of Beckett?  The differences are staggering.

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By Jimmy, 4/20/2011 9:52 am

One of the (very few) problems with being a sports fan in New England is the fact that this region is a barren wasteland when it comes to big-time college sports.  Much of that has to do with the fact that the hyper-popular professional teams eat up most of the market share.

For example, let’s assume an average two-parent household in New England grosses $100,000 in earnings per year, and spends $2,000 of that on the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins (merchandise, television, tickets, concessions, etc.).   This same family is not likely to cough up an additional $1,000 to follow a local college team who happens to be playing well.  Think about all the other expenses their income will be allocated towards.

Now, let’s take a very similar family who lives in, say, Oklahoma.  This family is likely to spend very little on professional sports teams per year; maybe $100 for some Dallas Cowboys t-shirts and hats.  Thus, if a local college team is playing well, they are able to devote much more attention, and money, to the cause.

With these obstacles in place, it’s really cool to see that the University of Massachusetts football team will be moved up to the FBS (a.k.a Division 1-A) next season, and will play part of their schedule at Gillette Stadium.  There really aren’t many options if you’re a college football fan here.  The Harvard games can be interesting and competitive, but lower-tier in terms of talent.  BU’s team was stripped away in an unfortunate budgeting decision (this would not happen today).  And yes, there’s BC, but they are sort of like the Vatican: they’re geographically located here, but they’re not really part of the community.

If you had asked me last week “Who is your favorite college football team?”, I probably would have answered “South Carolina Gamecocks”.  It feels good to have a local option.

Go Minutemen.

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By Jimmy,

Brett Anderson Continues his Reign of Terror over the Red Sox

Box Score

Boston finds themselves in the highly unexpected position of being 0 and 7 on the road, as Oakland’s man-child lefty once again dominated the Red Sox lineup, yielding 4 hits and striking out 8 over 8 scoreless innnings.  While John Lackey pitched very well against his old nemeses, he can thank his teammates’ offensive impotence for his second loss of the season.

One thing I should note as I go on: I’ve decided to scrap “Victory Shares / Pie of Shame / etc.” since Fangraphs.com and BaseballReference.com both have the tools and the capacity to track this sort of thing much better than I ever can.  I think it would be best for everyone involved to just summarize the key players here by listing their daily WPA (Win Probability Added).  FG and BBref both have their own unique calculations for this metric, and while I like BBref’s version a bit better (they use park factors in their analysis), on most days I’ll be using the Fangraphs version only because they typically publish their numbers earlier in the morning.  In any case, I’ll always let you know which version I’m using.

Top 5 Goats (Fangraphs WPA):

The Ellsbury WPA is very questionable, since the official MLB box score (the one I’m linked to up top) list the “Ellsbury CS” as a batter interference on Cameron.  It appears that the umpires weren’t exactly sure what had happened themselves.  The replays do show that Ellsbury was in fact safe, so if it actually is an interference call on Cameron, his name would jump to the top of the Goat list with a whopping -21.4% WPA.

Silver Lining:

John Lackey is the obvious bright spot here, throwing 6 quick, clean innings against a relatively tough opponent.  According to PitchFX, the main difference between last night and his previous start (the 4/8 bombardment from the Yankees where he actually got the “win”) was that he relied much less on his curveball.  Only 17 thrown out of 93 pitches last night, compared to 38 thrown in 93 pitches against New York.

Quote of the Day:

“I just work here” – John Lackey, on the staff’s decision to pull him after 6 innings.

Prospect Watch

• AAA – Not a prospect, but Matt Albers threw 2 scoreless innings of relief in his rehab outing.  He’s heading to Anaheim to join the team on Thursday, which means that Alfredo Aceves is most likely on his way back to Pawtucket.
• High A -  One of last year’s 1st round picks, Kolbrin Vitek, went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and a triple, while pitcher Chris Hernandez gave up 1 unearned run over 5 innings.
• Low A – Anthony Ranaudo, the organization’s top pitching prospect, continues to toy with Sally League opponents.  He gave up 3 hits and one run while striking out 6 in 6 innings.

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By Jimmy, 4/15/2011 9:46 am

As everyone suspected, the actual long-term contract between 1B Adrian Gonzalez and the Red Sox was just a formality.  Until now.

Per multiple reports, the Sox will announce Gonzalez’ seven year $154 million contract today.  The slugger’s average annual salary of $22 million dollars makes his the highest paid player on the team.

Based on what we believe Adrian can do offensively, I’d say the money is worth it.  Like everything else, we just need to see those paper projections converted to real-life performance.  The first few weeks of the season have been a glaring reminder that this doesn’t always happen.

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By Jimmy, 4/13/2011 4:15 pm

Good news: the Red Sox will not lose tonight.

The rubber match against the Rays will be played at a date yet to be determined.  Technically, the Sox were just swept for the third time this season.

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By Jimmy, 4/12/2011 8:54 am

It’s not a good sign when you watch a starting pitcher go up in flames in the second inning and you find yourself not surprised in the slightest.

To those who have asked why Dice-K “nibbles” so often with his pitches, last night was a very blunt answer to that question.  He wasn’t nibbling, and as a result, the game was over within 20 minutes.  It’s clear that Matsuzaka is at his best when he is walking the fine line between balls and strikes, not trying to toss two-seam fastballs down the heart of the plate.

I honestly felt bad for the guy as he walked off the mound amidst heavy boos.  Matsuzaka isn’t one to show emotion, but in this case, you could tell he was extremely embarrassed.

Quote of the Day:
“The good news is that [Jon] Lester is tomorrow.’’
-Terry Francona

Pie of Shame:
1.00 – Matsuzaka

Silver Lining:
Jacoby Ellsbury, a guy who was in serious need of a decent game at the plate, went 2 for 4 with a HR.  It wasn’t a cheap HR, either.  He legitimately cranked it into the RF bleachers.

Minor Threat:

• AAA: The Pawsox offense ran wild for 15 runs, highlighted by Juan Carlos Linares going 3 for 5.  Linares turned quite a few heads during spring training, and will probably be seen in Fenway at some point this year.
• Low A: DH Miles Head (settle down, Beavis) went 4 for 4 with two home runs.  He only had one home run in 229 at-bats last season in Lowell.

Odds & Ends:

• Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s wife gave birth to a daughter last night.
• For those who are into such things, Curt Schilling’s first video game is on display.  As a casual RPG fan, I’m pretty impressed.

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By Jimmy, 4/8/2011 4:24 pm

Some breaking news on the Red Sox radio broadcast: Manny Ramirez, on the roster of the Tampa Bay Rays, has announced his retirement from professional baseball.

More on this later.

Update: There’s been some murmuring regarding a drug-related issue.  If this is actually a second violation, and not some residual issue from the first time he was caught, then a) he’s officially pissed away his Hall of Fame chances, and b) he’s officially the dumbest player in baseball history.

Update 4:40 pm:  It is a new violation.  Manny failed another drug test during spring training.  He was facing a 100 (one hundred) game suspension, so he decided to instead retire. Sigh…

Here’s an old piece I wrote on Manny, ranking the top “Manny Ramirez Moments” during his time in a Red Sox uniform.

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By Jimmy,

…reliever Matt Albers, who is suffering from a strained back.  Also, the Sox have DFA’d Dennys Reyes, apparently no longer trusting the portly lefty in close games.  Replacing them are Felix Doubront and Alfredo Aceves.

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By Jimmy, 4/7/2011 6:51 am

Isn’t baseball great?!  The crack of the bat!  The pop of the catcher’s mitt!  The overwhelming urge to jump in front of a speeding train, and embrace sweet, painless oblivion!

In all honestly, my mental health is beginning to deteriorate here, so there’s a good chance that I transform this website into a cooking blog or something over the next few days.  I’m already maxed out on my daily antidepressant dosage, so I’ll need to find some non-pharmaceutical ways of dealing with this.

Anyway, Red Sox lose their fifth straight game due to inefficient starting pitching, a disastrous bullpen performance, and some incredible untimely squanders at the plate.

Pie of Shame:
.40 – Dennys Reyes: Hey, he looked great in spring training.
.30 - Daisuke Matsuzaka: The bullpen was already taxed; they needed a clean outing from Daisuke and didn’t get it.
.30 - Kevin Youkilis: A dreadful game at the plate for Kevin, who managed to strike out twice with a guy on third and less than two outs.

Silver Lining:

• Carl Crawford looked like the guy who’s been making us tear the hair out of our scalps for the last 9 years in Tampa Bay.
• Adrian Gonzalez continues to rake.
• Miserly loves company, and the Tampa Bay Rays (also considered a “good team” by those in the know) are 0 and 5 as well.

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By Jimmy, 4/6/2011 10:26 am

The Sox can officially cross “But, we’re playing a good team!” off the list of available excuses, as the lowly Cleveland Indians silenced the high-priced Sox lineup in front of a rowdy group about 60 or 70 Indians fans.  Josh Beckett pitched fairly well despite some control issues, but the  brunt of this loss falls squarely on the primarily left-handed lineup that was dominated by a mediocre soft-tossing AAAA-caliber righty.

Pie of Shame:
.40 – Carl Crawford: 0 for 4 and a weak attempt to throw out a tagging runner from shallow LF.
.25 - Adrian Gonzalez: 0 for 4 against the aforementioned right-hander.  These are the types of pitchers that Gonzo and Crawford should be feasting on.
.25 - Jacoby Ellsbury: he’s started off well, so last night was certainly a buzzkill.
.10 - Josh Beckett: He wasn’t bad, but 100 pitches in 5 innings isn’t a good thing in terms of bullpen preservation.  Remember, Dice-K is pitching tonight.  Those relievers might be needed.

Silver Lining: The bullpen was magnificent again, striking out 8 hitters (!) in 3 innings of work.  Daniel bard seems to have recovered nicely from his disastrous appearance in Texas.

Notes: If you’re craving some baseball that won’t give you the urge to put the barrel of a shotgun in your mouth, there is good news; the minor leagues begin play tomorrow.

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By Jimmy, 4/4/2011 8:19 am

In poetic fashion, the Red Sox (widely billed as the preseason favorite) were swept by the Texas Rangers in the opening series of the 2011 season.  They not only lost each of the three games, they had their asses giftwrapped and handed to them.  There was not one point after the top of the first inning in the very first game where the Red Sox had the slightest whiff of victory.

I have to run to a meeting, but we’ll talk more about this later.  That is, assuming I don’t find myself near any tall bridges on my way back to the office.

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By Jimmy, 3/28/2011 9:03 am

I’m sure you’ve heard about this one already, but Orioles manager Buck Showalter (known as a bit of an oddball for quite some time now) issued some bold statements in a recent interview with a men’s magazine:

“I’d like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll,” he barked. “You got Carl Crawford ’cause you paid more than anyone else, and that’s what makes you smarter? That’s why I like whipping their butt. It’s great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying ‘How the hell are they beating us?’”

Okay, a few quick points:

• The Red Sox payroll was $168 million last year, and will be around $180 million this year
• In 12 years as a MLB manger, Showalter has had 1 postseason appearance and zero championships
• In 8 years as GM of the Red Sox, Theo Epstein has 6 postseason appearances and 2 championships
• Showalter is 18-24 in his career against Epstein’s Red Sox

In all honestly, the comments don’t bother me a bit.  The Orioles play Boston roughly 18 times per season, and the games tend to be among the dullest on the schedule, aside from the fact that it gives Red Sox fans a chance to visit Fenway South and help themselves to some crab legs and Yuengling.  If Buck wants to play the Rex Ryan role and fire up the rivalry a bit, it’s fine by me.

Coming up: a blitzkrieg of team previews.

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By Jimmy, 3/17/2011 9:09 am

"Stay sharp, rookie. It's gonna be a busy day..."

We’re about midway through spring training, so let’s take a quick look at a few things:

• Lefty Andrew Miller, whose stock has plummeted over the past 5 years, is reportedly throwing around 5 MPH faster than he did last year.  This is more rumor than fact at this point, as there isn’t any PitchFX data for the games he’s been appearing in.  However, we could be seeing a diamond in the rough.  Miller could fill in as the left-handed reliever in the bullpen, but I have a feeling that Theo Epstein will want to use him as a starter in AAA.
• I realize that Spring Training stats for regular players are useless, so just for novelty’s sake: Jacoby Ellsbury is hitting .414/.452/.724.  What isn’t useless, however, is that he appears completely healthy.  At this time last year, I predicted a career year for Ellsbury in 2010.  Of course, he had the opposite of that (due to a freak injury, in my defense).  Maybe I was just a year early?
• Since I cited Ellsbury’s spring numbers, I’d be remiss to not mention that Carl Crawford is hitting .172/.200/.207 in roughly the same amount of plate appearances.  Again, spring stats for guys who are locked in as starters have very little correlation to regular season performance.  For guys like Ellsbury and Crawford, all that really matters is health.

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By Jimmy, 3/15/2011 9:58 am

It’s been assumed over the past few months that the Red Sox had some sort of verbal contract agreement in place with Adrian Gonzalez’ camp, and they were delaying the announcement in a clever (and possibly unethical) attempt to dodge additional luxury tax penalties.  However, according to the slugger’s agent, that’s not true.

There’s two ways of looking at this:

1. There actually is a loose deal in place, and the agent is just playing ball.  He’s saying the right things in order to not upset Bud Selig, who I assume would go apeshit if it was revealed that the Red Sox postponed a contract announcement to evade luxury taxes.  Selig has already fined John Henry $500,000 (the equivalent of $100 for you and me) for speaking out against MLB’s socialism this winter; the Sox are clearly on his radar screen.
2. The agent speaks the truth.  There is no deal in place, and it’s quite possible that Adrian will test the market in the fall.

I happen to think that scenario #1 is more likely.  However, if I’m wrong and we’re looking at scenario #2, remember that Albert Pujols will be a free agent along with Gonzalez.  Since the Yankees are completely set at first base for the next few years, the Sox would have to be the front-runners to sign him, right?  At the very least, it gives the team a little bit of leverage at the negotiating table.

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By Jimmy,

My apologies for the long hiatus (again), but this time I have a legitimate excuse, as I was in lovely southwest Florida. Mostly, I was eating lots of grouper and drinking lots of Yuengling, but concurrent with those activities I was also checking out the Red Sox.

I have several observations and opinions I’ll be sharing from my time there, along with finishing the team previews. Work is hectic, so I’ll leave you with this:

2-minute Survival Guide to Southwest Florida (helpful for people who have never been there):

• When I say that I was “in Fort Myers” what I really mean is that I was about 20 miles south of Fort Myers, in an area that is not a third world nightmare. You don’t need to be staying anywhere near the stadium. The new park will be in a slightly less run down area near the airport, but this rule of thumb will still apply in 2012. The further south on Route 75/41, the better. No, really…you are safer in the Everglades.
• I was raised in Rhode Island and now live in Boston, two areas where the residents proudly and ignorantly proclaim “We have the worst drivahs!”. This is of course nonsense, since the worst drivers in the country (and possibly, the Western world) are located in south Florida. The misconception comes from the fact that Florida is much less densely populated than RI/MA/NY/NJ, but do not let this fool you; the drivers down there are dangerously bad. Not in an “I’m aggressive and I’m going to cut you off” way, but in more of a “This machine frightens and confuses me, what’s this pedal do?” sort of way. This is compounded by the fact that the locals seem to prefer large American automobiles, thereby putting that Hyundai Accent you rented at severe risk. Be vigilant!
• Italian food in Florida? It doesn’t exist. Don’t bother trying. There are a couple of nice wine bars if you need something to pacify your travel companion, but in general you want to stick to seafood. The grouper in particular is amazing.
• Now that I’ve highlighted the dark underbelly of the area, I’ll finish by saying that I absolutely love it down there. The beaches, the weather, the non-claustrophobic atmosphere at baseball games, the seafood. The hundreds of beach bars where you can simultaneously watch an NCAA tournament game and the sunset over the Gulf. Southwest Florida in March is as close to paradise as you can get.

Next: A note on the battle for the last bullpen spot (we might have a surprise there), and the continuation of the team previews.  At this pace, I should finish the 2011 previews sometime in April of 2013.

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By Jimmy, 2/9/2011 4:31 pm

Adrian Gonzalez, who wore #23 during his tenure in San Diego, has told reporters that he has no connection to his old number (currently taken by Mike Cameron) and will be wearing #28 for the Red Sox.

That’s pretty cool. I fully expected him to negotiate for #23 with Cameron, offering a Rolex or some suits as barter. By not giving a shit about his uniform number, he displays an air of selflessness and humbleness; good traits for a new teammate.

I know I’m reading way too much into this. It’s February, cut me some slack.