The chances of David Ortiz being ready for opening day against the Yankees took a turn for the worst today with news that he will be shut down for the next 5-7 days with heel inflammation, according to WEEI.com.
Manager John Farrell told reporters that the injury is not related to the same Achilles injury that kept Ortiz out of the Boston lineup for most of the second half of the season in 2012.
2012 Record: 69-93, 5th AL East
2012 Pythagorean Record: 74-88
Impact Player: 2B Dustin Pedroia
Impact Pitcher: LHP Jon Lester
Top Prospect: SS Xander Bogaerts
Significant Acquisitions: RHP Ryan Dempster, 1B/C Mike Napoli, RF Shane Victorino, OF/DH Jonny Gomes, SS Stephen Drew, RHP Joel Hanrahan, RHP Koji Uehara, 1B Mike Carp, 1B Lyle Overbay
Significant Departures: OF Cody Ross, RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP Aaron Cook, RHP Scott Atchison, RHP Vicente Padilla, IF Mike Aviles, RHP Mark Melancon, RHP Matt Albers, LHP Rich Hill, OF Scott Podsednik
It’s still hard to fathom that the Boston Red Sox were the best team in baseball in early September 2011. After four months of absolute dominance, the Red Sox fell off a cliff and had the worst collapse in baseball history to end that year. The hangover carried over into 2012 and they had their worst season since 1965 finishing in last place in the AL East.
After the 2011 collapse, ownership decided not to renew manager Terry Francona’s contract and after General Manager Theo Epstein took over the Cubs, ownership stepped in again and hired Bobby Valentine as the new manager. New GM Ben Cherington wanted Dale Sveum—who eventually went to the Cubs—but he appeared to be overridden.
Valentine ended up being nothing short of an unmitigated disaster in his return to managing. He publicly called out players, alienated his entire team and certainly was no help in righting the Red Sox wayward ship.
By August, the front office cashed in its chips and unloaded $261-million in salary commitments by trading Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to the Dodgers for a package of players. That package included high-upside pitching prospects such as Rubby de la Rosa and Allen Webster which is a nice bonus to go along with a lot of financial flexibility. Hopefully there’ll be less drama around the Red Sox this season with the return of former pitching coach John Farrell who was acquired from the Blue Jays for Mike Aviles in November to be the new manager.
Despite all of their problems, the Red Sox still finished fifth in the AL in runs scored. Their problem was their pitching, which ranked among the worst in the league. Cherington had a lot of work to do in the offseason and went about making small additions with short-term deals. He brought in the likes of Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli and Ryan Dempster and did not commit more than three years to any of them. Looking at the complexion of the roster, it’s hard not to see an improvement for 2013.
Your pulse-quickening news of the day. The Boston Red Sox acquire first base/outfield/DH guy Mike Carp from the Seattle Mariners, just days after the M’s DFA’d the 26-year old.
Given the glut of guys who do the exact same thing as Carp, he was the odd man out. In Boston he will be the 25th man, slotting in to spell the Napoli’s and Papi’s of the world. As a cheap fill-in for a slightly oldish team, you could do worse than Carp. It is easy to forget that Mike Carp was actually quite good as recently as 2011, when he posted a 123 wRC+ with 12 homers in 300 plate appearances.
Carp always hit well in the minors, though any and all PCL warning flags might fly high over this .853 career OPS at Triple-A. The Mariners receive a player to be named later or cash considerations, whichever comes first.
Carp told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that Boston is “a better opportunity” for him as he stands to get more ABs in Boston. Not many more, but some. That’s all a quad-A guy can ask for at this point of his career, I suppose.
Curt Schilling vaulted himself back into relevance last week when he regaled us all with a tale of how he was encouraged to use performance enhancing drugs back in 2008 when he was out of action with a shoulder injury. Schilling told ESPN’s Colin Cowherd that a former Boston Red Sox employee suggested that he should use a banned substance to help him recover, to which the outspoken right-hander refused.
Now, Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston, citing unnamed sources, reports that Schilling’s claims are “completely baseless”. Edes’ report states that investigations by both MLB and the Red Sox, conducted “within a week” of the alleged incident, concluded that there was nothing to the three-time World Series champion’s claims. Schilling reported the incident to then Red Sox manager Terry Francona and general manager Theo Epstein, who took the neccesary steps under baseball’s joint drug agreement. The PED conversation, while not confirmed, is believed to have been with former Red Sox rehabilitation coordinator, Mike Reinold.
Nope.
Ken Rosenthal has more on the hold-up, as today marks 18 days since the initial agreement without an official announcement. The problem is believed to be with one of Napoli’s hips. Rosenthal asks the big questions and, only here at Getting Blanked, Napoli answers.
The Boston Red Sox have continued their off-season spending spree, agreeing to terms on a contract with shortstop Stephen Drew. Jon Heyman reports it’s a one year deal worth $9.5 million.
Drew, who suffered a terrible ankle injury in July of 2011, posted a .223/309/.348 slash line in 79 games with both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Oakland Athletics last season. Arizona management criticized the former first round pick in the 2004 draft for his slow recovery and commitment to getting back on the field. Drew didn’t play his first game of the season until June 27th.
Not even the good kind of hysteria, should such a thing exist. Already reeling from the news that deposed folk hero and twitchy weirdo Kevin Youkilis agreed the join the hated New York Yankees, Red Sox fans must now talk themselves off the ledge with news of delays in making the Mike Napoli signing official.
Worse yet, there isn’t actual “news” suggesting a reason for the delay. Instead it is just an information vacuum, greedily consuming all the hopes, fears, and insecurities of a fanbase still grappling with their status as last-place, also-ran ball club.
Dustin Parkes, Andrew Stoeten, Scott Lewis, Craig Robinson, Matt Klaassen, Eno Sarris, Riley Breckenridge
