Is Dice-K Out of 5?

Is Daisuke Matsuzaka out of the rotation? I do not believe that is the case. I feel he will be the number five starter on this year’s team as does many others. It looks as if Dice-K would rather think that he is competing for this spot according to an article from WEEI.

"At this stage there is no promise to be in the rotation,” Matsuzaka said using his interpreter Kenta Yamada following his first spring training start today.

Dice-K gave up a solo homerun in today’s game against the Minnesota Twins in two innings of work. He is hoping that this spring will be improvement in the past. The past two seasons with the Red Sox have not been very good to him. In 2009 following the World Baseball Classic Matsuzaka was physically not where he needed to be for the season and he never really got there. His 2009 record with a poor 4-6 record in 12 starts. In 2010 he showed up to spring training in what looked to be his best shape he had ever been in during his tenure as a member of the Red Sox. Though he looked to be in shape he was sidelined from a neck strain injury from March until May. The 2010 campaign ended poorly again with a 9-6 record with 25 starts. Playing with these injuries has not worked out well for Dice-K, who was once looked at to be a front of the line starter for the Sox.

This season Matsuzaka feels he is in competition for the fifth spot even if this is not so. If he helps him prepare to have a better year than I am all for thinking that way as long as it works. It looks as if the right hander plays better when he has something to compete for and he feels he is competing with Alfredo Aceves for the final spot in the rotation.

“It’s actually very important for me to be in competition,” Dice-K said.

Matsuzaka has two years left with the Red Sox each of those seasons worth $10 million a piece that tells me he will be in the line up come hell or high water. Hopefully this season will be a flash back to his 2008 season when he went 18-3 and be able to live up to this contract he signed.

Beckett Suffers From Minor Concussion

After what some call a bad season for Josh Beckett in 2010 this was going to be the season he lived up to his big dollar contract. Well this is not how Beckett wanted to begin this season. According to ESPNBoston.com Beckett was struck in the head on the left side during today’s batting practice. Following the hit he was showing signs of a minor concussion.

Following the hit Beckett went down to one knee in which led teammates to get the Red Sox training staff out on to the field. He was looked at by the trainers and attended to at the Red Sox facilities and a trip to the hospital was not required.

It looks as though since this happened Beckett has been experiencing conditions that are signs of the concussion therefore he was sent home to rest.

This incident occurred when Red Sox staffer Ino Guerrero was in the outfield during batting hitting snag balls back to a bucket with a fungo bat when one got away and struck Beckett who was in left field.

Concussions have been a serious part of the sports community as of late all that is going on in the NFL for player safety as well as in the world of baseball. Last season Justin Morneau suffered a season ending concussion in July which put an end to his MVP type run. MLB has done things to prevent concussions with a new type of helmets that can handle the faster pitches which are currently thrown by pitchers today.

Though his was a freak accident concussions is a very serious matter and hope that this minor concussion doesn’t have a long term effect on Beckett’s year. He will be checked out again tomorrow by the Red Sox and they will provide a better status on how he is doing.

Ellsbury and Cameron back as Red Sox defeat Northeastern

The nightcap game for the Red Sox bring two outfielders back on to the field after missing over half the 2010 season. Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron combined for a whopping 66 games together. But tonight’s win over Northeastern,13-2 got them back into the game.

The Red Sox trailed the first half of the game 2-0 going into the fourth inning when the bats decided to wake up. The Sox went on to score five runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and six and sixth. Ellsbury batted in the leadoff spot in the lineup and worked the count in both of his at bats earning a walk. While Cameron played as the DH he had two at bats and was unsuccessful at reaching base. Jed Lowrie also had two at bats and made it on base once with an error.

Ellsbury suffered from fractured ribs in 2010 says that “It felt good getting out there getting some at-bats and getting some innings. …It was nice to go out there and feel normal.”

As for Cameron who went hitless said, "I was hoping I could hit a ball somewhere so I could run a little bit, but it was just good running down the first-base line," said Cameron. "I haven't been in the box since July 30."

After the near no-hitter against Boston College earlier in the day, it would not go this way again. One pitch into the game Ryan Maguire knocked a line drive home run out to left off of a fastball from Kyle Weiland and the other run for Northeastern Ricky Salvucci knocked in a run off of Rich Hill in the fourth inning.
Hill and Weiland are Red Sox prospects. Hill who is competing this spring for a bullpen spot with the Sox and Weiland will most likely start the season with AAA Pawtucket.

Northeastern and the Red Sox have met nine times playing regularly for the past seven seasons. The first time the two teams matched up took place in 1977 at Fenway Park and the starting pitcher for that match up was the beloved, Luis Tiant.
The Red Sox being Grapefruit League play tomorrow against crosstown rival Minnesota Twins to being the Mayor’s Cup, Boston is hoping to defend their title this season. This game will put Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz on the mound. Kevin Youkilis will be playing in the game as well and possibly Mike Cameron, since J.D. Drew and Carl Crawford taking the day off.

Photo from ESPN

Gonzalez and Crawford talk hitting

The two newest members of the Red Sox sit down with Lou Merloni of Comcast New England to discuss hitting. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez discuss how they face left handed hitting and there time with the Red Sox.

If the video does not fit in the screen click it and it will take you to the direct source

Red Sox defeats Boston College in a one hitter

Today the Red Sox started spring training play. The Sox took on Boston College this morning and defeated them 6-0 in a one hit game. The only hit of the game come in the seventh inning by BC’s Jim Laufer.

The Red Sox carried a no hitter into the final inning using six different prospect players. Laufer’s hit came off of lefty Randy Williams, he hit a soft line drive hit and was thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double.

If you are looking at the Red Sox line up you would think this was going to be a regular season game as you have four regular season starters in this game. Those guys include Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Marco Scutaro and David Ortiz. The reason for putting these guys in action against a college team is to give them some extra at bats as all of the guys except Ortiz are coming off an injury pelage season.

In Youkilis’ first game as the full time third baseman for the Sox he was controlled the first inning. Youkilis had to test his ability to play third as BU’s Garret Smith hit strong hit that had the potential to be an extra base hit but Youkilis made an amazing diving play to throw him out at first. Then later in the inning Youkilis knocked out a three run homer into right field.

The starters only played only played three innings and the game also brought several familiar faces in Darnell McDonald, Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson, and Josh Reddick

The Red Sox and Boston College first started playing each other in 1916 and this was this is the 21^st meeting and the 19^th straight year playing between the Red Sox and BC and the start of play for the year for the Sox.

Epstein Creeped out Crawford

As you guys know the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford to the Red Sox this past offseason. What you might not know is that the Sox have had their eye on him for a good amount of time. Theo Epstein the General Manager of the Sox has had scouts watching Crawford on and off the field during the 2010 season even went as far to say “as if we were private investigating him.” Then went back to say that was a bad choice of words.

Well it looks like this creeped Crawford out a bit about Epstein watching him. Not only on but off the field but I would say that this is necessary when you about to sign a player to a seven-year deal worth $124 Million the largest contract the Sox have ever issued.

"I thought that was a little weird," Crawford said Tuesday. "I guess that's what they have to do when they're making that kind of investment."

After hearing of these comments and the media’s reaction to them, Epstein sent an E-mail out that read, "Our scouts just did a real thorough job on background, that's all. [We] felt like we got to know him real well, that's all. I told him we got to know him real well and we really respected the decisions he made, even away from the park. We told him we trusted him with a long-term contract because of his work ethic and his decision-making, so we'd be involved in the bidding."

As we know the Red Sox have had players in the past that have not been model citizen or model players such as Derek Lowe, Manny Ramirez, or Mo Vaughn. Seven years is a long commitment and you don’t want a guy who will cause problems in the club house on your team so this may have been the best course of action. This isn’t always the best thing to do without letting the player know what you are doing.

"I didn't say nothing, but I'm from an area where if somebody's doing that to you, they're not doing anything good," Crawford said. "I get paranoid when I hear those kind of stories, so I definitely take a different approach when I do things now. It did have an effect on me, let me put it that way."

We are still a month out from opening day and Crawford has not even had an at bat in a Red Sox uniform and it has lefty a strange filling on him. This kind of situation normally doesn’t happen they try to keep information in house. Epstein is normally like a vault nothing comes out of him but Epstein talking about the situation on WEEI should not have happened. This should have a private conversation with Crawford.

"I definitely look over my shoulder now a lot more than what I did before," he said. "Just when he told me that, the idea of him following me everywhere I go, was kind of, I wasn't comfortable with that at all. I don't know how they do it, how much distance they keep from you when they watch you the whole time. I definitely check my back now, at least 100 yard radius. I'm always looking over my shoulder now. Now I look before I go in my house. I'd better not see anything suspicious now."

Hopefully this relationship between Crawford and Epstein does not go sour as they will be working together for a long time now.