A year ago, Mark Kotsay came to the Red Sox as an everyday player and had to take a back seat on a team with World Series aspirations. He embraced the role -- and he even returned this season, taking a leadership role among starters and bench players alike. It was his idea to have "Rescue Squad" T-shirts printed up for the team's reserve position players and relievers, a way of giving those players who didn't play every day a chance to have their own niche in the clubhouse.
"This is a guy that came in last year and immediately became a leader in our clubhouse," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "That's something that we take very seriously and I appreciate very much. It was tough -- he's as professional as they get, but it's hard because you learn quickly to admire people like that. That will certainly never change."
Kotsay's leadership in the clubhouse, though, didn't make up for the fact that he wasn't producing enough at the plate to make him worth keeping around. A nagging calf injury hadn't helped matters, either. He had a line of .257/.291/.324 upon his release, and he looked like a DFA'd man walking in going 0-for-4 against Texas on Wednesday.
It became almost a no-brainer that Kotsay would have to go to make room for Adam LaRoche, a player with a very similar skill set. LaRoche will have to do this year what Kotsay did last year -- take a back seat on a team with a chance to go to the World Series. He provides a lefthanded bat for a team that's had trouble against righties, just like Kotsay, and he'll play first base full-time if Mike Lowell's hip lands him back on the disabled list, just like Kotsay. He even moved right into Kotsay's old locker between J.D. Drew and Jason Bay.
The Red Sox are a better team today than they were with Kotsay on the roster and LaRoche a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. But that doesn't mean they weren't a little sad to see Kotsay go.
Showing posts with label kotsay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kotsay. Show all posts
Friday, July 24, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Be patient, but be aggressive
It's sometimes tough to stay patient at the plate. Walks are great, after all, and walks have set up more than a few Red Sox wins this season. But unless an opponent is pitching like he needs a seeing-eye dog to find the plate, you're going to need to get some hits to score some runs.
That's the dilemma the Red Sox faced against the Seattle bullpen on Sunday. Starter Brandon Morrow had allowed three home runs but not much else in his six innings on the Fenway Park mound. He'd even hit 99 miles an hour on the radar gun in the fifth. It looked as though an error and a bases-loaded triple were going to be enough to earn the Mariners a sweep of the three-game series.
But J.D. Drew worked a one-out walk off reliever Miguel Batista and Dustin Pedroia followed with a line-drive single to left field. Two batters later, David Ortiz went after a 3-0 fastball and singled through the shift to plate the tying run. That's when Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu summoned flame-throwing righty Mark Lowe. Jason Bay was coming to the plate with runners on first and third and two outs.
Lowe missed with a slider. Bay laid off.
Lowe missed with another slider. Bay laid off.
Lowe missed with yet another slider. Bay laid off.
The problem, of course, was that a walk wasn't going to drive in a run. Only a hit would drive in a run. On top of that, Bay had just seen Ortiz pounce on a 3-0 fastball and rope a run-scoring single to right field. That was as good a reason as any to be ready to swing.
Lowe threw a fastball low and away that, according to MLB.com, might have actually been in the strike zone. Bay laid off. Ball four.
But Bay is a patient hitter. He's prone to strikeouts, but he still swings at fewer than 20 pitches of pitches out of the strike zone and has an on-base percentage that rivals that of Dustin Pedroia.
Jacoby Ellsbury, on the other hand, has swung at more pitches out of the strike zone (26.3 percent) than any Red Sox regular except Nick Green (a whopping 39.1 percent). He lost his job as Red Sox leadoff hitter because he wasn't getting on base -- i.e. walking -- often enough. He's even started showing some power -- and he'd hit a long, long home run just the previous inning.
"He's hitting bombs," Pedroia said, laughing. "He said he's like Barry Bonds: He's a speed guy at the start, and then he's going to turn into a power hitter."
That was a solo shot. This time, Ellsbury was coming to the plate with the game tied and the bases loaded. A single would give the Red Sox the lead. A double or a home run would clear the bases and give the Red Sox some much-needed breathing room.
A walk, of course, would give the Red Sox the lead, too.
Ellsbury took two 98-mile-an-hour fastballs out of the strike zone -- one just low and inside, and one just high. He then took a 97-mile-an-hour fastball right down the middle. The next two pitches barely, barely, barely missed: One was just low, and one was just outside.
Ellsbury never took his bat off his shoulder. Ball four. Pedroia trotted home from the third base with the go-ahead run.
"We needed to be patient," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "They were having trouble finding the strike zone. We talk all the time: 'Get a good pitch and whack it.' But in that situation, we needed to be patient because you don't want to help them. Even if you line out or something, you're coming back with a nice at-bat but nothing to show for it."
Said Pedroia, "In that situation, when a guy's having a hard time throwing strikes, the best thing to do is not swing. I know it's tough -- especially with the kind of stuff (Lowe) has. He throws almost 100 miles an hour every pitch. The biggest thing is to try to get to 3-2 or have him walk you. If you get to 3-2, you know it's going to be a battle because he's so good."
Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair then made a visit to the mound -- likely to remind Lowe that it helps to throw strikes every once in a while -- while Mark Kotsay was striding to the plate. Kotsay hasn't played regularly this season and thus has become a bit more of a free-swinger than he used to be. The bases were still loaded. A walk would mean another run.
"When the guy in front of you walks and the pitcher's having trouble with location and command, you want to get a good pitch on the plate and force his hand and try to get ahead in the count," Kotsay said. "Once you get ahead in the count, you know that he's not trying to locate -- he's just trying to throw strikes."
Kotsay got himself ahead in the count, fouling off one pitch but taking three others outside and off the plate. He then swung and missed at a 97-mile-an-hour fastball up and away. Full count.
The next pitch came in over the inside corner at 98 miles an hour. If Kotsay had stood and watched it, had been too patient, it would have been a strike -- and the inning would have been over.
But Kotsay got the bat around and got the barrel on the ball and rolled a ground ball between the first baseman and second baseman. The single plated Ortiz and Bay with the two runs that gave the Red Sox a comfortable cushion.
"You can't lose your aggressiveness to the zone," Kotsay said. "If you do that, he makes a great pitch on you and you're standing and looking at it. He throws 97 or 98. You keep your aggressiveness in the zone."
Being patient and being aggressive: It's really, really difficult to do both. But that's what the Red Sox did on Sunday, and that's why they avoided a sweep with their seventh-inning rally.
That's the dilemma the Red Sox faced against the Seattle bullpen on Sunday. Starter Brandon Morrow had allowed three home runs but not much else in his six innings on the Fenway Park mound. He'd even hit 99 miles an hour on the radar gun in the fifth. It looked as though an error and a bases-loaded triple were going to be enough to earn the Mariners a sweep of the three-game series.
But J.D. Drew worked a one-out walk off reliever Miguel Batista and Dustin Pedroia followed with a line-drive single to left field. Two batters later, David Ortiz went after a 3-0 fastball and singled through the shift to plate the tying run. That's when Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu summoned flame-throwing righty Mark Lowe. Jason Bay was coming to the plate with runners on first and third and two outs.
Lowe missed with a slider. Bay laid off.
Lowe missed with another slider. Bay laid off.
Lowe missed with yet another slider. Bay laid off.
The problem, of course, was that a walk wasn't going to drive in a run. Only a hit would drive in a run. On top of that, Bay had just seen Ortiz pounce on a 3-0 fastball and rope a run-scoring single to right field. That was as good a reason as any to be ready to swing.
Lowe threw a fastball low and away that, according to MLB.com, might have actually been in the strike zone. Bay laid off. Ball four.
But Bay is a patient hitter. He's prone to strikeouts, but he still swings at fewer than 20 pitches of pitches out of the strike zone and has an on-base percentage that rivals that of Dustin Pedroia.
Jacoby Ellsbury, on the other hand, has swung at more pitches out of the strike zone (26.3 percent) than any Red Sox regular except Nick Green (a whopping 39.1 percent). He lost his job as Red Sox leadoff hitter because he wasn't getting on base -- i.e. walking -- often enough. He's even started showing some power -- and he'd hit a long, long home run just the previous inning.
"He's hitting bombs," Pedroia said, laughing. "He said he's like Barry Bonds: He's a speed guy at the start, and then he's going to turn into a power hitter."
That was a solo shot. This time, Ellsbury was coming to the plate with the game tied and the bases loaded. A single would give the Red Sox the lead. A double or a home run would clear the bases and give the Red Sox some much-needed breathing room.
A walk, of course, would give the Red Sox the lead, too.
Ellsbury took two 98-mile-an-hour fastballs out of the strike zone -- one just low and inside, and one just high. He then took a 97-mile-an-hour fastball right down the middle. The next two pitches barely, barely, barely missed: One was just low, and one was just outside.
Ellsbury never took his bat off his shoulder. Ball four. Pedroia trotted home from the third base with the go-ahead run.
"We needed to be patient," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "They were having trouble finding the strike zone. We talk all the time: 'Get a good pitch and whack it.' But in that situation, we needed to be patient because you don't want to help them. Even if you line out or something, you're coming back with a nice at-bat but nothing to show for it."
Said Pedroia, "In that situation, when a guy's having a hard time throwing strikes, the best thing to do is not swing. I know it's tough -- especially with the kind of stuff (Lowe) has. He throws almost 100 miles an hour every pitch. The biggest thing is to try to get to 3-2 or have him walk you. If you get to 3-2, you know it's going to be a battle because he's so good."
Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair then made a visit to the mound -- likely to remind Lowe that it helps to throw strikes every once in a while -- while Mark Kotsay was striding to the plate. Kotsay hasn't played regularly this season and thus has become a bit more of a free-swinger than he used to be. The bases were still loaded. A walk would mean another run.
"When the guy in front of you walks and the pitcher's having trouble with location and command, you want to get a good pitch on the plate and force his hand and try to get ahead in the count," Kotsay said. "Once you get ahead in the count, you know that he's not trying to locate -- he's just trying to throw strikes."
Kotsay got himself ahead in the count, fouling off one pitch but taking three others outside and off the plate. He then swung and missed at a 97-mile-an-hour fastball up and away. Full count.
The next pitch came in over the inside corner at 98 miles an hour. If Kotsay had stood and watched it, had been too patient, it would have been a strike -- and the inning would have been over.
But Kotsay got the bat around and got the barrel on the ball and rolled a ground ball between the first baseman and second baseman. The single plated Ortiz and Bay with the two runs that gave the Red Sox a comfortable cushion.
"You can't lose your aggressiveness to the zone," Kotsay said. "If you do that, he makes a great pitch on you and you're standing and looking at it. He throws 97 or 98. You keep your aggressiveness in the zone."
Being patient and being aggressive: It's really, really difficult to do both. But that's what the Red Sox did on Sunday, and that's why they avoided a sweep with their seventh-inning rally.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Bailey, Kotsay could form effective platoon
There's always, always, always a danger with small sample sizes. But the way Jeff Bailey hit over the last two days in Baltimore makes you wonder if he's capable of playing a more-than-capable first base in the absence of Mike Lowell -- particularly if it's as part of a platoon with Mark Kotsay.
Bailey was hitting just .259 at Triple-A Pawtucket but had an on-base percentage of .373. He was -- is -- the only PawSox player to have drawn more than 20 walks while striking out fewer than 40 times. His ability to stay patient and work the count manifested itself in the ninth inning on Wednesday when he worked a five-pitch walk from Orioles closer George Sherrill that moved the runners along; he scored the game-tying run on Rocco Baldelli's seeing-eye single.
But Bailey has some stark left-right splits both in the major leagues and the minor leagues. With the PawSox this season, he had an on-base percentage of .358 against righties and .419 against lefties. With the Red Sox in his career, he has an on-base percentage of .309 against righties and .400 against lefties. The split is even more glaring in a small sample size this season: .262 against righties and .538 against lefties.
Veteran Mark Kotsay, on the other hand, has a better career on-base percentage against righties (.340) than against lefties (.326). So far this season, he's only got eight at-bats agianst lefties -- he's 1-for-8 with no walks -- but has a .389 on-base percentage against righties.
The Red Sox don't need the duo to hit 20 home runs or be capable of hitting fourth or fifth in the lineup. But if Lowell is able to return at some point this season -- be it immediately after the All-Star break or shortly thereafter -- it seems to make no sense to trade a pitching prospect for Nick Johnson or Adam LaRoche when a platoon of Bailey and Kotsay might do the job just fine.
Bailey was hitting just .259 at Triple-A Pawtucket but had an on-base percentage of .373. He was -- is -- the only PawSox player to have drawn more than 20 walks while striking out fewer than 40 times. His ability to stay patient and work the count manifested itself in the ninth inning on Wednesday when he worked a five-pitch walk from Orioles closer George Sherrill that moved the runners along; he scored the game-tying run on Rocco Baldelli's seeing-eye single.
But Bailey has some stark left-right splits both in the major leagues and the minor leagues. With the PawSox this season, he had an on-base percentage of .358 against righties and .419 against lefties. With the Red Sox in his career, he has an on-base percentage of .309 against righties and .400 against lefties. The split is even more glaring in a small sample size this season: .262 against righties and .538 against lefties.
Veteran Mark Kotsay, on the other hand, has a better career on-base percentage against righties (.340) than against lefties (.326). So far this season, he's only got eight at-bats agianst lefties -- he's 1-for-8 with no walks -- but has a .389 on-base percentage against righties.
The Red Sox don't need the duo to hit 20 home runs or be capable of hitting fourth or fifth in the lineup. But if Lowell is able to return at some point this season -- be it immediately after the All-Star break or shortly thereafter -- it seems to make no sense to trade a pitching prospect for Nick Johnson or Adam LaRoche when a platoon of Bailey and Kotsay might do the job just fine.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Red Sox draft-day stories
Projected No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg has announced that he will hold a press conference to discuss his selection not at home and not at San Diego State but at the headquarters of the Boras Corporation in Newport Beach, Calif.
My, how times have changed.
With the draft now just a day away, here's a look at some of the draft-day memories of some of the first- and second-round draft picks who wear the "B" on their cap these days:
1980: Terry Francona
Francona was in Omaha, Neb., where he and his University of Arizona team were about to win the College World Series. They'd lost their first game to St. John's but wouldn't lose again; they beat Michigan by an 8-0 score the day before the draft and would beat Hawaii, California and Hawaii again to win the NCAA title. Francona, in fact, hit .458 in six games in Omaha and was named the College World Series MVP.
Francona was drafted No. 22 overall by the Expos -- right in front of future Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane.
"John McHale Sr. called the room at the hotel," Francona said. "You didn't know -- and then the phone rang. That's how I knew. There wasn't a whole lot of communication. There wasn't cell phones. My dad was basically my representative."
Francona had been one of the best college players throughout his junior season and even won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation's top amateur player. But he was only asked to fill out a couple of personality questionnaires, and he wasn't subjected to anywhere near the same scrutiny to which top amateurs now are subjected.
"I knew there were scouts around, but it wasn't quite the same then," he said. "There's a lot more money that you're paying these guys, so there's a lot more homework -- which is probably really good."
With his bonus money, Francona said, "I bought a -- what do you call it? -- a duplex as a rental property. Bad move. And I promised my sister I'd put her through school, but there were two things: One, I didn't think she'd go, and two, I didn't think I'd get drafted that high. I got shafted there.
"I actually bought a little bit of stock that did great -- great in terms of, I bought a couple of vans, but not great, like, I'm going to buy Pepsi."
1996: Mark Kotsay
Kotsay and the rest of the USA Baseball team that would win a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics two months later was in a dorm -- "a military barracks," he said -- in Millington, Tenn., the day of the draft that year. Skip Bertman, the LSU coach who would manage in the Olympics that year, was the one fielding phone calls from big-league teams and relaying the messages to his players.
"We didn't have cell phones -- we had pagers," Kotsay said. "Nobody was following the draft online. Nobody was brought in to do TV."
Bertman was a busy guy, too. Kris Benson (Pirates), Travis Lee (Twins), Braden Looper (Cardinals) and Billy Koch (Blue Jays) were the first four selections in the draft. Seth Greisinger (Tigers) and Chad Green (Brewers) came off the board at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively, and Kotsay went to the Marlins at No. 9.
That high in the draft, there were few surprises.
"Everybody pretty much knew where they were going to get slotted in, for the most part, and what teams had advanced them," Kotsay said. "There wasn't really heckling or any joking around about it."
Kotsay would hit two home runs in a mercy-rule win over Italy in the opening round of the Olympics that year, but Team USA eventually fell to a Japanese team featuring, among others, Kosuke Fukudome and Tadahito Iguchi.
2000: Rocco Baldelli
The suspense ended quickly for Baldelli, whose Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) high school baseball team was scheduled to play in a playoff game the day of the draft. He spent the early part of the day over at a buddy's house, shooting pool and watching TV, thinking more about the playoff game than the draft. School was over and graduation was next on the horizon, so Baldelli didn't have to think about much other than baseball and hanging out with his friends.
The outfielder had gone into his senior season as a draft prospect, but he didn't expect to be drafted high enough to forgo a scholarship offer from Wake Forest and turn pro right away. As his senior season progressed, though, he became aware he'd started to climb up draft boards. By the time draft day arrived, he was well aware he'd go pretty early in the first round.
Still, though, he wasn't following along when the draft began. There wasn't any way to follow along.
"I didn't follow it at all, to be honest with you," he said. "There was definitely no TV -- the most it probably was at the time was that the top five picks probably scrolled across on the "Bottom Line" on TV. That was probably the most we were going to get."
While he was still hanging out at his buddy's house, he got a call with a hint that the Devil Rays, picking No. 6 overall, were planning to draft him if he still was available. It wasn't until he got to Bishop Hendricken for his team's game, though, that he was notified by local reporters that he'd officially been picked.
He and Bishop Hendricken then went on to win their fourth straight Rhode Island state baseball title.
2004: Dustin Pedroia
Pedroia's junior season at Arizona State had come to an abrupt end at the hands of Cal State-Fullerton two days earlier; the then-shortstop had gone 0-for-3 with a walk as the Sun Devils bowed out before even reaching the Super Regional stage. (Arizona State was the top seed in the regional and No. 7 seed overall but had to travel to Fullerton, Calif., for the regional. Don't think that didn't grate on Pedroia.)
Pedroia had hardly given any thought to the draft. He was still too upset about the defeat. Just like the year before, his Sun Devils had been beaten by Cal State-Fullerton short of the College World Series.
Unlike the players at the very top of the board, players who had a pretty good idea who might draft them, Pedroia had no idea. He'd had almost no contact with the Red Sox, and he'd done little homework on the other players with whom he was competing.
"There's so many players, you know what I mean?" he said. "There's so many players and so many picks. You can't wrap up in, 'Oh, this guy's picking here,' and 'That guy's still out there.' There's so many players -- and you don't even know the high school players. There's a ton of them. Anything can happen in the draft, and that's why it's fun."
Still, though, he and a couple of teammates gathered in the office of Arizona State coach Pat Murphy to follow the draft. Pedroia had reasonable expectations of being drafted in the first round, but it wasn't until after the 64th pick that the phone rang. It was the Red Sox. "Like two seconds later," Pedroia said, they called his name to make it official.
2006: Daniel Bard
Bard's first draft party did not go well.
The 6-foot-4 righty was a highly touted prospect as a senior pitcher at Charlotte (N.C.) Christian High School, and he had 10 high school friends over at his house to follow the draft. Based on talent, he had a shot to be drafted in the first couple of rounds -- but his commitment to pitch at North Carolina ended up dissuading far more teams than he expected.
"I didn't go until the 20th round," he said with a chuckle, "so the party didn't last long."
Three years later, there were no worries about him sliding to the 20th round. He'd had a few conversations with teams that were drafting at the top of the first round, in fact, and he fully expected to hear his name called early. He and his family went to a restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C., and set up a laptop on a table in a quiet corner to wait for his name to be called.
But then he started to slide again.
The online ticker and audio broadcast weren't quite synced -- "The audio was way behind the ticker," he said -- and that made the draft difficult to follow. Either way, though, the first 10 teams all passed on Bard. So, too, did the next 10 teams. All of a sudden, there was a long line of teams set to pick who'd had very little contact with Bard just because they never expected him to last beyond No. 15 or 20 overall.
The Red Sox had met in the fall with Bard and North Carolina teammate Andrew Miller -- Miller was drafted at No. 6 overall by Detroit and now pitches for the Florida Marlins -- almost as a formality. Both pitchers filled out a questionnaire, but that was it.
The first time Bard's phone rang, it was an old coach who was working as a scout for St. Louis. The Cardinals had the No. 30 pick, and the scout wanted to know if Bard would sign for "slot" -- the bonus recommended by the commissioner's office recommended for each draft pick -- if he lasted until No. 30 and the Cardinals drafted him.
"Um, man, I can't really give you a definite answer on that," Bard said.
Before Bard could even finish his sentence, though, the scout cut him off.
"Whoops, sorry -- congratulations, man," he said -- and hung up.
"Congratulations for what?" Bard said, but he already was speaking to emptiness.
"I didn't know what he was saying, 'Congratulations,' for," the rookie relief pitcher said this weekend. "I looked and they were on, like, pick 18. I didn't end up going until 28, so that's how behind our (computer) was."
My, how times have changed.
With the draft now just a day away, here's a look at some of the draft-day memories of some of the first- and second-round draft picks who wear the "B" on their cap these days:
1980: Terry Francona
Francona was in Omaha, Neb., where he and his University of Arizona team were about to win the College World Series. They'd lost their first game to St. John's but wouldn't lose again; they beat Michigan by an 8-0 score the day before the draft and would beat Hawaii, California and Hawaii again to win the NCAA title. Francona, in fact, hit .458 in six games in Omaha and was named the College World Series MVP.
Francona was drafted No. 22 overall by the Expos -- right in front of future Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane.
"John McHale Sr. called the room at the hotel," Francona said. "You didn't know -- and then the phone rang. That's how I knew. There wasn't a whole lot of communication. There wasn't cell phones. My dad was basically my representative."
Francona had been one of the best college players throughout his junior season and even won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation's top amateur player. But he was only asked to fill out a couple of personality questionnaires, and he wasn't subjected to anywhere near the same scrutiny to which top amateurs now are subjected.
"I knew there were scouts around, but it wasn't quite the same then," he said. "There's a lot more money that you're paying these guys, so there's a lot more homework -- which is probably really good."
With his bonus money, Francona said, "I bought a -- what do you call it? -- a duplex as a rental property. Bad move. And I promised my sister I'd put her through school, but there were two things: One, I didn't think she'd go, and two, I didn't think I'd get drafted that high. I got shafted there.
"I actually bought a little bit of stock that did great -- great in terms of, I bought a couple of vans, but not great, like, I'm going to buy Pepsi."
1996: Mark Kotsay
Kotsay and the rest of the USA Baseball team that would win a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics two months later was in a dorm -- "a military barracks," he said -- in Millington, Tenn., the day of the draft that year. Skip Bertman, the LSU coach who would manage in the Olympics that year, was the one fielding phone calls from big-league teams and relaying the messages to his players.
"We didn't have cell phones -- we had pagers," Kotsay said. "Nobody was following the draft online. Nobody was brought in to do TV."
Bertman was a busy guy, too. Kris Benson (Pirates), Travis Lee (Twins), Braden Looper (Cardinals) and Billy Koch (Blue Jays) were the first four selections in the draft. Seth Greisinger (Tigers) and Chad Green (Brewers) came off the board at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively, and Kotsay went to the Marlins at No. 9.
That high in the draft, there were few surprises.
"Everybody pretty much knew where they were going to get slotted in, for the most part, and what teams had advanced them," Kotsay said. "There wasn't really heckling or any joking around about it."
Kotsay would hit two home runs in a mercy-rule win over Italy in the opening round of the Olympics that year, but Team USA eventually fell to a Japanese team featuring, among others, Kosuke Fukudome and Tadahito Iguchi.
2000: Rocco Baldelli
The suspense ended quickly for Baldelli, whose Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) high school baseball team was scheduled to play in a playoff game the day of the draft. He spent the early part of the day over at a buddy's house, shooting pool and watching TV, thinking more about the playoff game than the draft. School was over and graduation was next on the horizon, so Baldelli didn't have to think about much other than baseball and hanging out with his friends.
The outfielder had gone into his senior season as a draft prospect, but he didn't expect to be drafted high enough to forgo a scholarship offer from Wake Forest and turn pro right away. As his senior season progressed, though, he became aware he'd started to climb up draft boards. By the time draft day arrived, he was well aware he'd go pretty early in the first round.
Still, though, he wasn't following along when the draft began. There wasn't any way to follow along.
"I didn't follow it at all, to be honest with you," he said. "There was definitely no TV -- the most it probably was at the time was that the top five picks probably scrolled across on the "Bottom Line" on TV. That was probably the most we were going to get."
While he was still hanging out at his buddy's house, he got a call with a hint that the Devil Rays, picking No. 6 overall, were planning to draft him if he still was available. It wasn't until he got to Bishop Hendricken for his team's game, though, that he was notified by local reporters that he'd officially been picked.
He and Bishop Hendricken then went on to win their fourth straight Rhode Island state baseball title.
2004: Dustin Pedroia
Pedroia's junior season at Arizona State had come to an abrupt end at the hands of Cal State-Fullerton two days earlier; the then-shortstop had gone 0-for-3 with a walk as the Sun Devils bowed out before even reaching the Super Regional stage. (Arizona State was the top seed in the regional and No. 7 seed overall but had to travel to Fullerton, Calif., for the regional. Don't think that didn't grate on Pedroia.)
Pedroia had hardly given any thought to the draft. He was still too upset about the defeat. Just like the year before, his Sun Devils had been beaten by Cal State-Fullerton short of the College World Series.
Unlike the players at the very top of the board, players who had a pretty good idea who might draft them, Pedroia had no idea. He'd had almost no contact with the Red Sox, and he'd done little homework on the other players with whom he was competing.
"There's so many players, you know what I mean?" he said. "There's so many players and so many picks. You can't wrap up in, 'Oh, this guy's picking here,' and 'That guy's still out there.' There's so many players -- and you don't even know the high school players. There's a ton of them. Anything can happen in the draft, and that's why it's fun."
Still, though, he and a couple of teammates gathered in the office of Arizona State coach Pat Murphy to follow the draft. Pedroia had reasonable expectations of being drafted in the first round, but it wasn't until after the 64th pick that the phone rang. It was the Red Sox. "Like two seconds later," Pedroia said, they called his name to make it official.
2006: Daniel Bard
Bard's first draft party did not go well.
The 6-foot-4 righty was a highly touted prospect as a senior pitcher at Charlotte (N.C.) Christian High School, and he had 10 high school friends over at his house to follow the draft. Based on talent, he had a shot to be drafted in the first couple of rounds -- but his commitment to pitch at North Carolina ended up dissuading far more teams than he expected.
"I didn't go until the 20th round," he said with a chuckle, "so the party didn't last long."
Three years later, there were no worries about him sliding to the 20th round. He'd had a few conversations with teams that were drafting at the top of the first round, in fact, and he fully expected to hear his name called early. He and his family went to a restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C., and set up a laptop on a table in a quiet corner to wait for his name to be called.
But then he started to slide again.
The online ticker and audio broadcast weren't quite synced -- "The audio was way behind the ticker," he said -- and that made the draft difficult to follow. Either way, though, the first 10 teams all passed on Bard. So, too, did the next 10 teams. All of a sudden, there was a long line of teams set to pick who'd had very little contact with Bard just because they never expected him to last beyond No. 15 or 20 overall.
The Red Sox had met in the fall with Bard and North Carolina teammate Andrew Miller -- Miller was drafted at No. 6 overall by Detroit and now pitches for the Florida Marlins -- almost as a formality. Both pitchers filled out a questionnaire, but that was it.
The first time Bard's phone rang, it was an old coach who was working as a scout for St. Louis. The Cardinals had the No. 30 pick, and the scout wanted to know if Bard would sign for "slot" -- the bonus recommended by the commissioner's office recommended for each draft pick -- if he lasted until No. 30 and the Cardinals drafted him.
"Um, man, I can't really give you a definite answer on that," Bard said.
Before Bard could even finish his sentence, though, the scout cut him off.
"Whoops, sorry -- congratulations, man," he said -- and hung up.
"Congratulations for what?" Bard said, but he already was speaking to emptiness.
"I didn't know what he was saying, 'Congratulations,' for," the rookie relief pitcher said this weekend. "I looked and they were on, like, pick 18. I didn't end up going until 28, so that's how behind our (computer) was."
Friday, January 9, 2009
Red Sox roster appears to be set
And that's it.
With the reports that Mark Kotsay is set to re-sign with the Red Sox as a fourth outfielder and backup first baseman, the team's 25-man roster appears to be set before the season even begins. All the Red Sox need now is a catcher -- be it a chastened Jason Varitek, who has found no interest on the free-agent market thanks to his status as a Type A free agent, or a young catcher like Miguel Montero or Jarrod Saltalamacchia, acquired by trade.
Other than that, though, everything is all set. Here's how it looks:
Catchers (2):
Josh Bard
Varitek/Montero/Saltalamacchia/George Kottaras
Infielders (6):
Kevin Youkilis
Dustin Pedroia
Jed Lowrie
Mike Lowell
Julio Lugo
David Ortiz
Outfielders (5):
J.D. Drew
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jason Bay
Rocco Baldelli
Mark Kotsay
Starting pitchers (5):
Josh Beckett
Jon Lester
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Tim Wakefield
Brad Penny
(John Smoltz, opening the season on the DL)
Relief pitchers (7):
Jonathan Papelbon
Hideki Okajima
Manny Delcarmen
Justin Masterson
Javier Lopez
Ramon Ramirez
David Aardsma
*At first, I counted this as six relief pitchers. I apparently need to repeat the first grade.
That's it. It's done.
The Red Sox entered the offseason needing only to strengthen their bullpen and to find a catcher to match the production of Varitek; now, either they'll bring back Varitek or be dealing from a position of strength in negotiations involving one of their young pitchers. And as far as the bullpen is concerned, Ramirez is an impressive young power arm and Masterson will get a chance to pitch a full season at Fenway rather than taking the I-95 shuttle back and forth to Pawtucket all season.
Look at that roster one more time. That roster won 95 games last season -- yes, Manny Ramirez was in the lineup for two-thirds of the season, but the Red Sox actually had a better winning percentage (.642) after Ramirez was traded than they did before he was traded (.560).
I don't know about you, but I'm just about ready for Opening Day.
With the reports that Mark Kotsay is set to re-sign with the Red Sox as a fourth outfielder and backup first baseman, the team's 25-man roster appears to be set before the season even begins. All the Red Sox need now is a catcher -- be it a chastened Jason Varitek, who has found no interest on the free-agent market thanks to his status as a Type A free agent, or a young catcher like Miguel Montero or Jarrod Saltalamacchia, acquired by trade.
Other than that, though, everything is all set. Here's how it looks:
Catchers (2):
Josh Bard
Varitek/Montero/Saltalamacchia/George Kottaras
Infielders (6):
Kevin Youkilis
Dustin Pedroia
Jed Lowrie
Mike Lowell
Julio Lugo
David Ortiz
Outfielders (5):
J.D. Drew
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jason Bay
Rocco Baldelli
Mark Kotsay
Starting pitchers (5):
Josh Beckett
Jon Lester
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Tim Wakefield
Brad Penny
(John Smoltz, opening the season on the DL)
Relief pitchers (7):
Jonathan Papelbon
Hideki Okajima
Manny Delcarmen
Justin Masterson
Javier Lopez
Ramon Ramirez
David Aardsma
*At first, I counted this as six relief pitchers. I apparently need to repeat the first grade.
That's it. It's done.
The Red Sox entered the offseason needing only to strengthen their bullpen and to find a catcher to match the production of Varitek; now, either they'll bring back Varitek or be dealing from a position of strength in negotiations involving one of their young pitchers. And as far as the bullpen is concerned, Ramirez is an impressive young power arm and Masterson will get a chance to pitch a full season at Fenway rather than taking the I-95 shuttle back and forth to Pawtucket all season.
Look at that roster one more time. That roster won 95 games last season -- yes, Manny Ramirez was in the lineup for two-thirds of the season, but the Red Sox actually had a better winning percentage (.642) after Ramirez was traded than they did before he was traded (.560).
I don't know about you, but I'm just about ready for Opening Day.
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