CSNNE.com's Sean McAdam reported this week that Mike Lowell likely will open the season with the Red Sox and likely will not be traded during spring training. It makes sense: With so many free agents signing for bargain-basement prices, there's no need for a team to part with prospects for a question mark like Lowell. If Russell Branyan had to settle for a $2 million deal, why would another team assume anything but a fraction of the money owed Lowell?
Should Lowell stick around, the Red Sox bench would seem to be set in stone before exhibition games even begin. Jason Varitek will be the backup catcher. Lowell will back up the two infield corners. Jeremy Hermida will back up the two outfield corners. Bill Hall will back up everywhere else.
But that leaves the Red Sox awfully thin in the middle infield. Hall was acquired as a jack-of-all-trades utility guy. Here's the problem: He last played shortstop in the major leagues four years ago, and he last saw even semi-regular playing time at second base five years ago. He's spent the last three seasons almost exclusively as a third baseman and as an outfielder.
This leaves Hall as an adequate in-game replacement for Dustin Pedroia or Marco Scutaro in the event of a fluke injury like a foul ball off the shin. At the other end of the spectrum, should either Pedroia or Scutaro suffer any sort of long-term injury, Tug Hulett or Jed Lowrie could be called up from Triple-A Pawtucket and jump into the starting lineup.
It's in the middle that things start to get hazy. What happens if Pedroia sprains an ankle and is sidelined for four games? What happens if Scutaro gets the flu and is laid up for a week?
Should either middle infielder suffer an injury that's not quite severe enough to land him on the 15-day disabled list -- and the Red Sox aren't going to deactivate Pedroia for 15 days if he's expected to be back in 10 -- Hall would have to play second base or shortstop every day for a week. He hasn't done that since 2006.
For a team banking its fortune on being able to catch the ball, being so thin at two key defensive positions seems unnecessarily precarious.
Showing posts with label lowrie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lowrie. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Jed Lowrie might need more time
Other than the back end of the bullpen, one could take a pretty accurate crack at what the Red Sox roster will look like on Opening Day. Jason Varitek will be the backup catcher. Mike Lowell likely will be on the disabled list or traded away. Bill Hall and Jeremy Hermida will have spots on the bench.
One of the only toss-ups is in the infield, where either Tug Hulett or Jed Lowrie likely will break camp as the utility infielder who can spell Adrian Beltre, Dustin Pedroia and Marco Scutaro once every couple of weeks apiece.
Hulett got to the plate 19 times with the Kansas City Royals last season but otherwise played most of the season at Triple-A Omaha, playing mostly second base but also a little shortstop, third base and right field. He hit .291 and OBP'ed .384 with 11 home runs and 27 doubles in just shy of 442 plate appearances.
But this doesn't have much to do with Hulett. That has to do with Lowrie and whether the Red Sox believe he could benefit more from regular playing time at Triple-A Pawtucket or whether he's ready now to take over a full-time job should something happen to Beltre, Pedroia or Scutaro.
A wrist injury limited Lowrie to a little over 175 plate appearances combined between the major leagues and minor leagues last season -- and a good chunk of those were rehab plate appearances used less for development than for strength-building. Here's how things break down for Lowrie in the upper levels of the minor leagues:
Double-A: 413 plate appearances
Triple-A: 494 plate appearances
Compare that to another doubles-hitting middle infielder who recently came up through the Red Sox system:
Double-A: 298 plate appearances
Triple-A: 733 plate appearances
In all, Dustin Pedroia played a season and a half at Triple-A Pawtucket before the Red Sox summoned him to the major leagues. He hasn't been back.
Lowrie, on the other hand, made a midseason jump to Triple-A in 2007 and then another midseason jump to the major leagues a year later, finishing with about 400 plate appearances in the process. Even then, though, he was fighting a wrist injury that wasn't resolved until his surgery at the end of April. He hasn't swung a bat without having to think about his wrist for almost two full seasons.
The guess here is that the Red Sox will have him play at least half a season at Triple-A Pawtucket to make up for lost time. He won't turn 26 years old until mid-April, but he's coming off a year in which he didn't get into any sort of rhythm. A full-time bench job this season -- and the irregular playing time that comes with it -- could stunt his development even more.
Three more months in Pawtucket might give him the at-bats he needs to be able to contribute if and when he's called upon.
Update: “You can look at this season as a rebound season, but I’m looking to have a long career. I’m not looking to just have one season,” Lowrie told reporters in Fort Myers. “Every year that I come into camp, I want to be the starting shortstop. I don’t look at it as just this year, all or nothing. I look at it as, I want to build a career. That’s why I want to make sure that I fix this and I get this right. I’m not looking at it from just a this-year standpoint.”
One of the only toss-ups is in the infield, where either Tug Hulett or Jed Lowrie likely will break camp as the utility infielder who can spell Adrian Beltre, Dustin Pedroia and Marco Scutaro once every couple of weeks apiece.
Hulett got to the plate 19 times with the Kansas City Royals last season but otherwise played most of the season at Triple-A Omaha, playing mostly second base but also a little shortstop, third base and right field. He hit .291 and OBP'ed .384 with 11 home runs and 27 doubles in just shy of 442 plate appearances.
But this doesn't have much to do with Hulett. That has to do with Lowrie and whether the Red Sox believe he could benefit more from regular playing time at Triple-A Pawtucket or whether he's ready now to take over a full-time job should something happen to Beltre, Pedroia or Scutaro.
A wrist injury limited Lowrie to a little over 175 plate appearances combined between the major leagues and minor leagues last season -- and a good chunk of those were rehab plate appearances used less for development than for strength-building. Here's how things break down for Lowrie in the upper levels of the minor leagues:
Double-A: 413 plate appearances
Triple-A: 494 plate appearances
Compare that to another doubles-hitting middle infielder who recently came up through the Red Sox system:
Double-A: 298 plate appearances
Triple-A: 733 plate appearances
In all, Dustin Pedroia played a season and a half at Triple-A Pawtucket before the Red Sox summoned him to the major leagues. He hasn't been back.
Lowrie, on the other hand, made a midseason jump to Triple-A in 2007 and then another midseason jump to the major leagues a year later, finishing with about 400 plate appearances in the process. Even then, though, he was fighting a wrist injury that wasn't resolved until his surgery at the end of April. He hasn't swung a bat without having to think about his wrist for almost two full seasons.
The guess here is that the Red Sox will have him play at least half a season at Triple-A Pawtucket to make up for lost time. He won't turn 26 years old until mid-April, but he's coming off a year in which he didn't get into any sort of rhythm. A full-time bench job this season -- and the irregular playing time that comes with it -- could stunt his development even more.
Three more months in Pawtucket might give him the at-bats he needs to be able to contribute if and when he's called upon.
Update: “You can look at this season as a rebound season, but I’m looking to have a long career. I’m not looking to just have one season,” Lowrie told reporters in Fort Myers. “Every year that I come into camp, I want to be the starting shortstop. I don’t look at it as just this year, all or nothing. I look at it as, I want to build a career. That’s why I want to make sure that I fix this and I get this right. I’m not looking at it from just a this-year standpoint.”
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Scutaro deal leaves room for Lowrie
Marco Scutaro is on the verge of signing a two-year deal with the Red Sox, both ESPNBoston.com and the Boston Herald are reporting. The career utility infielder likely will go into next season as the starting shortstop and No. 8 or No. 9 hitter in the Red Sox lineup.
But that doesn't mean the Red Sox have given up on Jed Lowrie.
The wrist surgery Lowrie underwent in April turned last season into a lost season for the versatile infielder. A couple of rehab stints and a couple of returns to the major leagues yielded nothing but a hard-hit infield single to help win a dramatic game against the Angels in September.
"It’s something that you hope goes away as soon as possible, but the reality of it is it hasn’t," Lowrie told the Providence Journal this week. "The wrist and hand is so important to playing the game of baseball that it can’t be swept under the rug. It has to be something that’s addressed."
Don't forget: Lowrie didn't go into last season as the clear-cut starter at shortstop. With Julio Lugo still under contract and reportedly balking at filling a utility role, it actually seemed pretty likely for most of the spring that Lowrie would begin the season as Terry Francona's utility infielder.
With Scutaro on board, it seems likely that Lowrie will begin next season in the same role until he can demonstrate that his wrist is healthy. (He's not even swinging a bat yet, he told the Journal.)
That might not, however, last for all that long.
The Red Sox think very highly of Lowrie. They see him as Dustin Pedroia Lite, in some ways, a capable defensive player who can hit 40 or 50 doubles a season with an on-base percentage up over .350. They wouldn't have waited so patiently for him last season if they didn't see him as someone who could play shortstop for them for the next 10 years.
Scutaro, on the other hand, is a No. 9 hitter whose ability to work counts is his greatest asset at the plate. The building hype swirling around him might have built up expectations among fans, but if he draws his share of walks and plays consistent defense, he'll have done his job.
And while Scutaro likely has the job this season, he'll be 35 years old on Opening Day in 2011 -- at which time a presumably healthy Lowrie still will only be 26. Scutaro is fully capable of playing as many positions as Lowrie is, if not more, and would be a perfect fit as a utility guy if Lowrie demonstrates that he's ready to take over the job at shortstop long-term.
(There has been quite a bit of talk about Jose Iglesias this winter and how he'll be ready to take over in 2012. That, though, only means we've all forgotten the lesson of Lars Anderson -- and while no one here is giving up on Anderson, he's a warning sign to those who assume highly touted prospects always will skip merrily through the minor leagues.)
Scutaro is the Red Sox shortstop for the short-term, a slick-fielding defender who can work counts and get on base with any shortstop in the game. A two-year deal for Scutaro, though, doesn't necessarily mean a two-year wait for Lowrie.
But that doesn't mean the Red Sox have given up on Jed Lowrie.
The wrist surgery Lowrie underwent in April turned last season into a lost season for the versatile infielder. A couple of rehab stints and a couple of returns to the major leagues yielded nothing but a hard-hit infield single to help win a dramatic game against the Angels in September.
"It’s something that you hope goes away as soon as possible, but the reality of it is it hasn’t," Lowrie told the Providence Journal this week. "The wrist and hand is so important to playing the game of baseball that it can’t be swept under the rug. It has to be something that’s addressed."
Don't forget: Lowrie didn't go into last season as the clear-cut starter at shortstop. With Julio Lugo still under contract and reportedly balking at filling a utility role, it actually seemed pretty likely for most of the spring that Lowrie would begin the season as Terry Francona's utility infielder.
With Scutaro on board, it seems likely that Lowrie will begin next season in the same role until he can demonstrate that his wrist is healthy. (He's not even swinging a bat yet, he told the Journal.)
That might not, however, last for all that long.
The Red Sox think very highly of Lowrie. They see him as Dustin Pedroia Lite, in some ways, a capable defensive player who can hit 40 or 50 doubles a season with an on-base percentage up over .350. They wouldn't have waited so patiently for him last season if they didn't see him as someone who could play shortstop for them for the next 10 years.
Scutaro, on the other hand, is a No. 9 hitter whose ability to work counts is his greatest asset at the plate. The building hype swirling around him might have built up expectations among fans, but if he draws his share of walks and plays consistent defense, he'll have done his job.
And while Scutaro likely has the job this season, he'll be 35 years old on Opening Day in 2011 -- at which time a presumably healthy Lowrie still will only be 26. Scutaro is fully capable of playing as many positions as Lowrie is, if not more, and would be a perfect fit as a utility guy if Lowrie demonstrates that he's ready to take over the job at shortstop long-term.
(There has been quite a bit of talk about Jose Iglesias this winter and how he'll be ready to take over in 2012. That, though, only means we've all forgotten the lesson of Lars Anderson -- and while no one here is giving up on Anderson, he's a warning sign to those who assume highly touted prospects always will skip merrily through the minor leagues.)
Scutaro is the Red Sox shortstop for the short-term, a slick-fielding defender who can work counts and get on base with any shortstop in the game. A two-year deal for Scutaro, though, doesn't necessarily mean a two-year wait for Lowrie.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Recent moves mean Lowrie is Boston's guy
There aren't many shortstops available on the free-agent market -- or, at least, many appealing shortstops available. If Bobby Crosby or Adam Everett excite you, well, you might want to calm down.
That means, barring a run after blog favorite Marco Scutaro, a slick-fielding shortstop and third baseman coming off a career year, the Twins' acquisition of J.J. Hardy means the Red Sox still see Jed Lowrie as their long-term shortstop.
The report Sunday that the Red Sox had declined their option on Alex Gonzalez, well, that only reinforces the idea.
Theo Epstein told reporters after the season that he didn't envision Lowrie going into spring training as the unquestioned starting shortstop based on his up-and-down health history in his short career in the major leagues.
"I don’t think we can hand a job to him because he hasn’t proved his health yet at this point," Epstein said. "But at the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re sitting here at this time next year, ... looking back and saying, 'Wow, he really got healthy and proved himself in winning that job or playing his way into a meaningful role.'"
But Lowrie spent most of September telling reporters his surgically repaired wrist would be fine after a winter of rest.
"Going into the offseason," he said, "if I do what I did last offseason, I think I'm going to feel like I did during spring training -- but have a structurally sound wrist as opposed to having a broken wrist."
If the Red Sox didn't share that sentiment, they wouldn't have declined their option on Gonzalez -- and they might have made a harder run at Hardy. Gonzalez seemed like a natural fit as a one-year stopgap for Lowrie, and Hardy looked like a potential long-term solution at the position if he could show that his .229 batting average and .659 OPS a year ago was a fluke.
But neither Gonzalez nor Hardy has ever OBP'ed better than .343 for a single season. Hardy's .368 on-base percentage in a full season in Double-A was his highest as a professional; in five seasons in the minor leagues, his career OBP is .332.
Lowrie, on the other hand, got on base at a .339 clip in his first prolonged action in the major leagues in 2008 and hadn't ever OBP'ed less than .350 in the minor leagues until his injury-plagued season in 2009. In a season split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2007, Lowrie OBP'ed .393 and slugged .503 -- his 47 doubles in fewer than 600 plate appearances a remarkable feat.
(For the sake of comparison, Dustin Pedroia hit 48 doubles for the Red Sox this season but needed 714 plate appearances to do it.)
Two injury-plagued seasons aren't enough for the Red Sox to give up on Jed Lowrie. He might never hit 20 home runs in a season, but he's capable of 40 or 50 doubles a season to go along with steady defense at the infield's most important position.
The Red Sox still might try to bring Gonzalez back at a lower number to provide a little insurance. But if they deemed him critical to the team's success, they'd have picked up his $6 million option -- a relative pittance for a team with a $100 million payroll and World Series aspirations.
Actions speak louder than words. The Red Sox still believe they're a better team with Lowrie at shortstop than with Gonzalez or Hardy -- or just about any of their other options.
That means, barring a run after blog favorite Marco Scutaro, a slick-fielding shortstop and third baseman coming off a career year, the Twins' acquisition of J.J. Hardy means the Red Sox still see Jed Lowrie as their long-term shortstop.
The report Sunday that the Red Sox had declined their option on Alex Gonzalez, well, that only reinforces the idea.
Theo Epstein told reporters after the season that he didn't envision Lowrie going into spring training as the unquestioned starting shortstop based on his up-and-down health history in his short career in the major leagues.
"I don’t think we can hand a job to him because he hasn’t proved his health yet at this point," Epstein said. "But at the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re sitting here at this time next year, ... looking back and saying, 'Wow, he really got healthy and proved himself in winning that job or playing his way into a meaningful role.'"
But Lowrie spent most of September telling reporters his surgically repaired wrist would be fine after a winter of rest.
"Going into the offseason," he said, "if I do what I did last offseason, I think I'm going to feel like I did during spring training -- but have a structurally sound wrist as opposed to having a broken wrist."
If the Red Sox didn't share that sentiment, they wouldn't have declined their option on Gonzalez -- and they might have made a harder run at Hardy. Gonzalez seemed like a natural fit as a one-year stopgap for Lowrie, and Hardy looked like a potential long-term solution at the position if he could show that his .229 batting average and .659 OPS a year ago was a fluke.
But neither Gonzalez nor Hardy has ever OBP'ed better than .343 for a single season. Hardy's .368 on-base percentage in a full season in Double-A was his highest as a professional; in five seasons in the minor leagues, his career OBP is .332.
Lowrie, on the other hand, got on base at a .339 clip in his first prolonged action in the major leagues in 2008 and hadn't ever OBP'ed less than .350 in the minor leagues until his injury-plagued season in 2009. In a season split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2007, Lowrie OBP'ed .393 and slugged .503 -- his 47 doubles in fewer than 600 plate appearances a remarkable feat.
(For the sake of comparison, Dustin Pedroia hit 48 doubles for the Red Sox this season but needed 714 plate appearances to do it.)
Two injury-plagued seasons aren't enough for the Red Sox to give up on Jed Lowrie. He might never hit 20 home runs in a season, but he's capable of 40 or 50 doubles a season to go along with steady defense at the infield's most important position.
The Red Sox still might try to bring Gonzalez back at a lower number to provide a little insurance. But if they deemed him critical to the team's success, they'd have picked up his $6 million option -- a relative pittance for a team with a $100 million payroll and World Series aspirations.
Actions speak louder than words. The Red Sox still believe they're a better team with Lowrie at shortstop than with Gonzalez or Hardy -- or just about any of their other options.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Projecting the ALDS roster
Theo Epstein and Terry Francona this week both deflected opportunities to make any type of announcement about the 25-man roster the Red Sox will take with them into the postseason. Those decisions, both said, will be made Monday or Tuesday, after the season, at a meeting likely to take place after the Red Sox arrive in Los Angeles in advance of Game 1.
There's no reason, though, why we can't go ahead and speculate.
Here, then, is a preliminary look at how the roster might shape up -- and this is independent of which schedule the Yankees choose to play:
Pitchers (10): Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka; Daniel Bard, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Ramon Ramirez, Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner.
The Red Sox, either way, are going to want four starting pitchers on their postseason roster. If they play the shorter of the two ALDS schedules, they'll need to start Matsuzaka. If they play the longer of the two ALDS schedules, they'll need a starting pitcher in reserve just in case: Imagine the nightmare scenario in which Jon Lester takes another line drive off the knee in Game 1, not only torching the bullpen but sidelining him for Game 4.
(The Red Sox could remove him from the roster and replace him, but he'd then be ineligible for the ALCS. If the injury was severe enough to cost him a start but not enough to cost him three starts, they wouldn't want to do that.)
The question, then, becomes how many relief pitchers the Red Sox will need. A year ago, they chose to go with 10 pitchers, total, with Paul Byrd as the long reliever and emergency starter. (He did not appear in a game.) There's no reason they'd change that number this year.
Both David Aardsma and Mike Timlin were left off the roster for the ALDS a year ago, but Timlin was added for the ALCS. It appears that the roller-coaster ride that is Manny Delcarmen will fill the same role: He'll keep throwing and be ready in case someone blows out an elbow during the ALDS, but he likely won't be on the roster until the ALCS.
Catchers (3): George Kottaras, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek.
It might be tempting to go with just two catchers thanks to Martinez's flexibility, but it's far too risky: If Martinez were to sprain an ankle, the Red Sox would have just one true catcher on the roster. Kottaras might not play, but he's necessary insurance.
Infielders (6): Alex Gonzalez, Casey Kotchman, Mike Lowell, Jed Lowrie, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis.
Lowrie earns the nod over Nick Green as a backup middle infielder both because he's healthier and because he's the better player. Green deserves all the praise that has come his way this season for helping the Red Sox tread water at shortstop, but if Lowrie is healthy enough, he should be the guy.
(Note: Gonzalez was hit by a pitch on Saturday night and removed from the game. If it's anything serious and Green still can't go, you might see Chris Woodward fill that spot.)
Outfielders (5): Rocco Baldelli, Jason Bay, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury and Joey Gathright.
Leaving an extra pitcher off the roster means the Red Sox have the luxury of adding Gathright for late-inning substitutions -- he can fill the Dave Roberts pinch-running role, but he also could replace Bay in the outfield late in a close game.
Designated hitter (1): David Ortiz.
The guy has something of a postseason history, it seems.
There's no reason, though, why we can't go ahead and speculate.
Here, then, is a preliminary look at how the roster might shape up -- and this is independent of which schedule the Yankees choose to play:
Pitchers (10): Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka; Daniel Bard, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Ramon Ramirez, Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner.
The Red Sox, either way, are going to want four starting pitchers on their postseason roster. If they play the shorter of the two ALDS schedules, they'll need to start Matsuzaka. If they play the longer of the two ALDS schedules, they'll need a starting pitcher in reserve just in case: Imagine the nightmare scenario in which Jon Lester takes another line drive off the knee in Game 1, not only torching the bullpen but sidelining him for Game 4.
(The Red Sox could remove him from the roster and replace him, but he'd then be ineligible for the ALCS. If the injury was severe enough to cost him a start but not enough to cost him three starts, they wouldn't want to do that.)
The question, then, becomes how many relief pitchers the Red Sox will need. A year ago, they chose to go with 10 pitchers, total, with Paul Byrd as the long reliever and emergency starter. (He did not appear in a game.) There's no reason they'd change that number this year.
Both David Aardsma and Mike Timlin were left off the roster for the ALDS a year ago, but Timlin was added for the ALCS. It appears that the roller-coaster ride that is Manny Delcarmen will fill the same role: He'll keep throwing and be ready in case someone blows out an elbow during the ALDS, but he likely won't be on the roster until the ALCS.
Catchers (3): George Kottaras, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek.
It might be tempting to go with just two catchers thanks to Martinez's flexibility, but it's far too risky: If Martinez were to sprain an ankle, the Red Sox would have just one true catcher on the roster. Kottaras might not play, but he's necessary insurance.
Infielders (6): Alex Gonzalez, Casey Kotchman, Mike Lowell, Jed Lowrie, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis.
Lowrie earns the nod over Nick Green as a backup middle infielder both because he's healthier and because he's the better player. Green deserves all the praise that has come his way this season for helping the Red Sox tread water at shortstop, but if Lowrie is healthy enough, he should be the guy.
(Note: Gonzalez was hit by a pitch on Saturday night and removed from the game. If it's anything serious and Green still can't go, you might see Chris Woodward fill that spot.)
Outfielders (5): Rocco Baldelli, Jason Bay, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury and Joey Gathright.
Leaving an extra pitcher off the roster means the Red Sox have the luxury of adding Gathright for late-inning substitutions -- he can fill the Dave Roberts pinch-running role, but he also could replace Bay in the outfield late in a close game.
Designated hitter (1): David Ortiz.
The guy has something of a postseason history, it seems.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Red Sox might have a postseason utility guy
You don't have to wonder how badly Jed Lowrie wants to be part of the Red Sox roster in the postseason.
"That's why I'm here," he said. "That's why I've done everything I have up to this point. I want to be part of this. From everything I've been told, the only way my wrist is going to get better is with rest. If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't."
The way Lowrie played on Wednesday -- assuming he still feels OK in the morning -- might be the most significant result from an otherwise totally meaningless blowout, a blowout so meaningless Rocco Baldelli played third base and Dusty Brown pitched.
(Sidebar: Brown felt right at home in the ninth inning: He was a closer at Yavapai Community College, his repertoire featuring a fastball in the low 90s and a slider, and he even blew a fastball past Randy Ruiz for his first career major-league strikeout.)
(Sidebar: Baldelli, on the other hand, was so out of place at third base he had to borrow a glove from Kevin Youkilis and a cup from Mike Lowell. But his technique wasn't awful: "On a foul ball into the stands, he had a quick jab step," Lowell said by way of critique. "His reactions looked good. I was actually hoping for him to get an easy, two-hop ground ball, but I think it's better that he didn't get anything.")
Lowrie, though, hit lefthanded in a major-league game for the first time since early August -- and he seemed to come through OK. Nothing else seemed to be an issue. He could hit righthanded. He could field. He could throw. He even could get dirty going to his left and to his right and come up making strong throws.
All he hadn't done, though, was hit lefthanded. It was a lefthanded checked swing that caused his first setback on Aug. 6, and it was another lefthanded checked swing that sidelined him for a week during his rehab stint at Triple-A Pawtucket.
He didn't check his swing against Halladay on Tuesday.
"The checked swing is something that aggravates it instantly," he said, "and the repetitive motion is something that builds up over time."
He couldn't deny a dull pain still lingers.
"It's more than just pain, too," he said. "It's that inflammation that comes into my wrist, and it's the same thing. But I am stronger. I'm able to take better swings. It's just a matter of fighting that inflammation. ...
"I can't say if there's more inflammation or less, but I know that it's there and I can feel it after I (have) three or four at-bats from the left side. Whether it's more than what was happening before, I can't tell you that, but it's there."
But it's something it seems he can play through -- and that gives him a leg up on Nick Green for a roster spot when the playoffs begin next week. He didn't get any hits but made a couple of athletic defensive plays at third base -- including a diving stop to rob catcher Rob Barajas of an extra-base hit in the fourth inning.
That actually was his third diving stop of the game. He didn't get enough strength or accuracy on his first two throws, though, to get outs.
"I felt pretty comfortable at third," he said. "The first throw got away from me just a touch, and I didn't quite get through it. The one that Vernon (Wells) hit down the line, I don't think I had a chance, anyway. That was fun. It was an opportunity to go out there and make some good plays."
His ability to play third base only increases his possible value to the Red Sox in the postseason. Should his wrist feel good in the morning, though, and should Nick Green not regain the lost strength in his leg, Lowrie might just sneak onto the 25-man playoff roster.
And by next season, knock on wood, he might just be 100 percent.
"Going into the offseason, if I do what I did last offseason, I think I'm going to feel like I did during spring training -- but have a structurally sound wrist as opposed to having a broken wrist," he said.
***
If you're interested in seeing your local Red Sox/Patriots reporter in action -- or, at least, sort of in action -- click here. Just to avoid any confusion, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback and squirer of supermodels is the one on the left.
"That's why I'm here," he said. "That's why I've done everything I have up to this point. I want to be part of this. From everything I've been told, the only way my wrist is going to get better is with rest. If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't."
The way Lowrie played on Wednesday -- assuming he still feels OK in the morning -- might be the most significant result from an otherwise totally meaningless blowout, a blowout so meaningless Rocco Baldelli played third base and Dusty Brown pitched.
(Sidebar: Brown felt right at home in the ninth inning: He was a closer at Yavapai Community College, his repertoire featuring a fastball in the low 90s and a slider, and he even blew a fastball past Randy Ruiz for his first career major-league strikeout.)
(Sidebar: Baldelli, on the other hand, was so out of place at third base he had to borrow a glove from Kevin Youkilis and a cup from Mike Lowell. But his technique wasn't awful: "On a foul ball into the stands, he had a quick jab step," Lowell said by way of critique. "His reactions looked good. I was actually hoping for him to get an easy, two-hop ground ball, but I think it's better that he didn't get anything.")
Lowrie, though, hit lefthanded in a major-league game for the first time since early August -- and he seemed to come through OK. Nothing else seemed to be an issue. He could hit righthanded. He could field. He could throw. He even could get dirty going to his left and to his right and come up making strong throws.
All he hadn't done, though, was hit lefthanded. It was a lefthanded checked swing that caused his first setback on Aug. 6, and it was another lefthanded checked swing that sidelined him for a week during his rehab stint at Triple-A Pawtucket.
He didn't check his swing against Halladay on Tuesday.
"The checked swing is something that aggravates it instantly," he said, "and the repetitive motion is something that builds up over time."
He couldn't deny a dull pain still lingers.
"It's more than just pain, too," he said. "It's that inflammation that comes into my wrist, and it's the same thing. But I am stronger. I'm able to take better swings. It's just a matter of fighting that inflammation. ...
"I can't say if there's more inflammation or less, but I know that it's there and I can feel it after I (have) three or four at-bats from the left side. Whether it's more than what was happening before, I can't tell you that, but it's there."
But it's something it seems he can play through -- and that gives him a leg up on Nick Green for a roster spot when the playoffs begin next week. He didn't get any hits but made a couple of athletic defensive plays at third base -- including a diving stop to rob catcher Rob Barajas of an extra-base hit in the fourth inning.
That actually was his third diving stop of the game. He didn't get enough strength or accuracy on his first two throws, though, to get outs.
"I felt pretty comfortable at third," he said. "The first throw got away from me just a touch, and I didn't quite get through it. The one that Vernon (Wells) hit down the line, I don't think I had a chance, anyway. That was fun. It was an opportunity to go out there and make some good plays."
His ability to play third base only increases his possible value to the Red Sox in the postseason. Should his wrist feel good in the morning, though, and should Nick Green not regain the lost strength in his leg, Lowrie might just sneak onto the 25-man playoff roster.
And by next season, knock on wood, he might just be 100 percent.
"Going into the offseason, if I do what I did last offseason, I think I'm going to feel like I did during spring training -- but have a structurally sound wrist as opposed to having a broken wrist," he said.
***
If you're interested in seeing your local Red Sox/Patriots reporter in action -- or, at least, sort of in action -- click here. Just to avoid any confusion, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback and squirer of supermodels is the one on the left.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Green and Lowrie remain question marks
Red Sox shortstop Nick Green spent some time before Monday's game working out with Red Sox trainers -- jogging and shuffling across the grass and playing catch from a distance of about 100 feet. He did some swinging on a tee, too, just to test out a leg that had almost given out on him thanks to a pinched nerve in his back.
The verdict? He's almost back.
"His hope is that he can maybe get into a game in a couple of days," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We'll see. The good news is that he's actually thinking about getting in a game in a couple of days. ... That might be a little bit quick for me. We'll see. The fact that he thinks he can get into a game means he's going in the right direction."
Green spent much of the season as the Red Sox's starting shortstop, an emergency fill-in for Jed Lowrie (wrist) and Julio Lugo (unacceptably bad defense) until Theo Epstein acquired defensive whiz Alex Gonzalez in mid-August. He's had his moments -- his walk-off home run on Father's Day remains one of the season's indelible memories -- but his batting average had slid from .321 in May to .233 in June and .143 in July.
Lowrie, on the other hand, has endured more than his share of setbacks since he opened the season as the team's starting shortstop. He underwent surgery on his left wrist in late April and has spent all season trying to work his way back. The switch-hitter has no issues hitting righthanded, but he twice has felt numbness in his hand after a lefthanded checked swing and had to shut his rehabilitation back down.
He pinch-hit against Angels lefty Brian Fuentes a week ago and hit a rope down the third-base line that almost went for a double. He made his first start in six weeks against Yankees lefty CC Sabathia on Saturday, and he hit a fly ball to the warning track in center field, another encouraging sign.
But Lowrie and the Red Sox aren't yet ready to risk seeing him swing lefthanded. He has no limitations in the field or hitting righthanded, but he's not nearly as comfortable hitting lefty as he is hitting righty.
"Like I said from the beginning, I told them that hitting righthanded is fine," he said. "(Hitting lefthanded) is progressing. It's kind of been baby steps, but I guess that's still progress."
That poses a problem for the Red Sox. Green won't be 100 percent when the playoffs begin -- but if Lowrie is the utility infielder and something happens either to Gonzalez or Dustin Pedroia, he might not be able to hit in consecutive games against John Lackey, Ervin Santana or Jered Weaver.
It's not the worst problem in the world, but it would save quite a bit of hand-wringing if Green can show this week that he's fully recovered.
The verdict? He's almost back.
"His hope is that he can maybe get into a game in a couple of days," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We'll see. The good news is that he's actually thinking about getting in a game in a couple of days. ... That might be a little bit quick for me. We'll see. The fact that he thinks he can get into a game means he's going in the right direction."
Green spent much of the season as the Red Sox's starting shortstop, an emergency fill-in for Jed Lowrie (wrist) and Julio Lugo (unacceptably bad defense) until Theo Epstein acquired defensive whiz Alex Gonzalez in mid-August. He's had his moments -- his walk-off home run on Father's Day remains one of the season's indelible memories -- but his batting average had slid from .321 in May to .233 in June and .143 in July.
Lowrie, on the other hand, has endured more than his share of setbacks since he opened the season as the team's starting shortstop. He underwent surgery on his left wrist in late April and has spent all season trying to work his way back. The switch-hitter has no issues hitting righthanded, but he twice has felt numbness in his hand after a lefthanded checked swing and had to shut his rehabilitation back down.
He pinch-hit against Angels lefty Brian Fuentes a week ago and hit a rope down the third-base line that almost went for a double. He made his first start in six weeks against Yankees lefty CC Sabathia on Saturday, and he hit a fly ball to the warning track in center field, another encouraging sign.
But Lowrie and the Red Sox aren't yet ready to risk seeing him swing lefthanded. He has no limitations in the field or hitting righthanded, but he's not nearly as comfortable hitting lefty as he is hitting righty.
"Like I said from the beginning, I told them that hitting righthanded is fine," he said. "(Hitting lefthanded) is progressing. It's kind of been baby steps, but I guess that's still progress."
That poses a problem for the Red Sox. Green won't be 100 percent when the playoffs begin -- but if Lowrie is the utility infielder and something happens either to Gonzalez or Dustin Pedroia, he might not be able to hit in consecutive games against John Lackey, Ervin Santana or Jered Weaver.
It's not the worst problem in the world, but it would save quite a bit of hand-wringing if Green can show this week that he's fully recovered.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Three shortstops lift Red Sox to win
One shortstop has missed most of the year with a wrist injury he can't shake. One shortstop could barely swing thanks to a right leg that almost collapsed under him. One shortstop wasn't brought to town for anything beyond his defense.
Sensational at-bats from all three in the bottom of Wednesday's ninth inning lifted the Red Sox to one of their wildest wins of the season.
1. Jed Lowrie
"Selectively."
That's the word Red Sox manager Terry Francona said last week when asked how he expected to use Lowrie, his Opening Day shortstop and a player who has fought through as many setbacks as the Red Sox have gone through replacements. Lowrie began the season with the Red Sox but underwent wrist surgery in late April to resolve an issue that wasn't allowing him to swing the way he wanted to swing. Numbness in his wrist cut short a return in July, and further numbness sidelined him during a rehab stint at Triple-A Pawtucket.
His return to the major-league roster seemed almost a formality, a chance to reward him for his hard work with a pat on the back and a front-row seat for the stretch run. If the right situation presented itself, well, maybe he'd get an at-bat. You know: "Selectively."
It was a heck of a situation to select.
"I realized the situation, and I know what's going on," he said. "It's hard not to recognize that when everyone at Fenway is on their feet. You'd be a robot if you didn't recognize that. But once you get in the box, it goes back to, 'Let's get the job done.'"
Catcher Dusty Brown wasn't going to hit, not when he's only on the 40-man roster as insurance behind the team's two primary catchers. Lowrie has hit lefties far better than righties in his short major-league career, and with lefty closer Brian Fuentes on the mound, the timing seemed right.
"We wanted to get him in a situation where he hit righthanded," Francona said. "They get to Fuentes, so we know they're staying with him."
Lowrie, then, strode to the plate for the first time since Aug. 4 -- and for the first time in a truly meaningful spot since his single through the right side eliminated the Angels from last season's playoffs.
It didn't take long for the deja vu: He jumped on a breaking ball, just like he did last year, and he ripped a worm-burner through the infield, just like he did last year.
But Angels third baseman Chone Figgins dove and got a piece of his glove on the ball to knock it down deep behind third base. All three runners advanced easily, but the acrobatic effort from Figgins prevented a run from scoring and brought the next hitter to the plate.
2. Nick Green
"I was battling for my life," the journeyman shortstop said in an otherwise empty clubhouse late Wednesday night, the divider between his locker and Dustin Pedroia's locker supporting his weight. "I seriously did not think I could get a hit."
It's the simplest thing in the world for a hitter to do upon drawing a walk to toss the bat aside and jog to first base. But Nick Green could hardly do that. A right leg that's bothered him over the last couple of days almost collapsed underneath him while he was flailing at pitches up in the zone from Angels closer Brian Fuentes.
The problem dates back a couple of days. Green can't pinpoint any incident as the source of his injury, but he's felt soreness and weakness in his right leg since the series against the Angels began. It just didn't seem so bad because he wasn't playing in games.
He didn't tell anyone about the soreness. He didn't think it was a big deal. He even hit off a tee in the middle innings just in case he needed to pinch-hit. Headed into the bottom of the ninth, he considered taking a few more swings but decided against it.
He then came to the plate to pinch-hit for lefty Casey Kotchman with the bases loaded and two outs, the Red Sox still trailing by a run.
His first swing wasn't pretty. His second swing was worse.
"I don't think I even could have put the ball in play," said Green, whose playing time has almost evaporated since the arrival of Alex Gonzalez. "Go look at the replay. Go look at all the swings. ... I couldn't really swing."
When he checked his swing on a fastball up at his eyes, he almost fell down, and that only made it worse.
(The irony there is that Lowrie twice aggravated his wrist injury by checking his swing, setbacks that prolonged his absence by close to a month.)
Green still somehow managed to foul off three straight pitches after that. Two were out of the strike zone, but one was right in his wheelhouse.
"There is no reason I shouldn't put one of those balls in play," he said.
The ninth pitch of the at-bat, though, is the one Fuentes and the Angels won't forget. A hurting Green stood with his bat on his shoulder and watched a 91-mile-an-hour fastball cut the plate right in half.
Umpire Rick Reed stood still. Ball four.
"It's a good umpiring crew, and I think we really feel strongly they missed a couple of times we had Green struck out," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "That's the focal point of the game, and it didn't go our way."
Said Green, "I thought it was low, and apparently (Reed) did, too."
He then had to drag himself to first base, something that took more effort than anyone in the ballpark understood at the time.
"I almost collapsed every single swing," he said, "and I almost collapsed walking down to first and almost collapsed when I was leading off."
The call might have been wrong -- replays seemed to indicate that the pitch was right down the middle of the plate -- but the normally free-swinging Green still put up a hellacious battle on one leg. It's not easy to draw a walk when you don't get many chances to swing the bat.
"I told Greenie I had a boatload of possible scenarios for his (at-bat)," left fielder Jason Bay said, "and walking wasn't one of them. It's just a testament to him. You don't play that much, and you go up there and you want to do too much. You want to try to win the ballgame. To try to do what he did is even tougher than it looks."
3. Alex Gonzalez
The Red Sox acquired Gonzalez for his glove, plain and simple. Any base hit he mustered would be a bonus. All they needed for him to do was to make every play at shortstop, to make the plays Green and Julio Lugo hadn't made that had cost the Red Sox runs and wins.
Entering play Wednesday, Gonzalez was hitting .287 and had 11 RBI in his first 27 games with the Red Sox. His defense, though, still is what keeps him in the lineup every day.
"What he does out at short, there's not many in the game who can match what he does out there," catcher Jason Varitek said. "That's still a level of importance. But he's come up with some big hits for us."
Said Lowrie, "He's done an amazing job with the bat."
Gonzalez might not have hit for himself if Terry Francona had anyone else available. But with Francona down to fourth catcher George Kottaras, he had no choice but to send his defensive specialist to the plate in the biggest spot of the game.
Gonzalez had provided one encouraging sign in his previous at-bat: He'd walked. He'd gone 99 plate appearances with the Red Sox to that point without managing to draw a walk -- a phenomenal accomplishment particularly when you consider how much the Red Sox stress plate discipline in their hitters. David Ortiz walked more times in Wednesday's game alone than Gonzalez had in his first 27 games with the Red Sox.
But he fought off a couple of breaking balls -- "They were throwing me a lot of breaking balls," he said -- and took ball four when a Darren Oliver fastball ran so far in on him even he couldn't think about taking a swing at it.
"I think I got the ball and the base," he said with a grin.
Fuentes started him in the ninth inning with a fastball (foul ball), a slider (low for a ball) and a fastball (foul ball). He couldn't have been more sure a breaking ball was coming even if catcher Mike Napoli had whispered to him Crash Davis-style.
"I know it's coming," he said. "They've been throwing me a lot of breaking balls last night and tonight."
It wasn't quite a breaking ball: It was a changeup down at the knees. But Gonzalez got under it and lofted it gently into short left field. Left fielder Juan Rivera might have had a chance at it but chose not to dive, and the collision of ball and grass set off a wild celebration.
"When I hit it, I hit it like he throw it: I hit it just soft enough," Gonzalez said. "I don't hit it good, but I hit it in the right spot."
Sensational at-bats from all three in the bottom of Wednesday's ninth inning lifted the Red Sox to one of their wildest wins of the season.
1. Jed Lowrie
"Selectively."
That's the word Red Sox manager Terry Francona said last week when asked how he expected to use Lowrie, his Opening Day shortstop and a player who has fought through as many setbacks as the Red Sox have gone through replacements. Lowrie began the season with the Red Sox but underwent wrist surgery in late April to resolve an issue that wasn't allowing him to swing the way he wanted to swing. Numbness in his wrist cut short a return in July, and further numbness sidelined him during a rehab stint at Triple-A Pawtucket.
His return to the major-league roster seemed almost a formality, a chance to reward him for his hard work with a pat on the back and a front-row seat for the stretch run. If the right situation presented itself, well, maybe he'd get an at-bat. You know: "Selectively."
It was a heck of a situation to select.
"I realized the situation, and I know what's going on," he said. "It's hard not to recognize that when everyone at Fenway is on their feet. You'd be a robot if you didn't recognize that. But once you get in the box, it goes back to, 'Let's get the job done.'"
Catcher Dusty Brown wasn't going to hit, not when he's only on the 40-man roster as insurance behind the team's two primary catchers. Lowrie has hit lefties far better than righties in his short major-league career, and with lefty closer Brian Fuentes on the mound, the timing seemed right.
"We wanted to get him in a situation where he hit righthanded," Francona said. "They get to Fuentes, so we know they're staying with him."
Lowrie, then, strode to the plate for the first time since Aug. 4 -- and for the first time in a truly meaningful spot since his single through the right side eliminated the Angels from last season's playoffs.
It didn't take long for the deja vu: He jumped on a breaking ball, just like he did last year, and he ripped a worm-burner through the infield, just like he did last year.
But Angels third baseman Chone Figgins dove and got a piece of his glove on the ball to knock it down deep behind third base. All three runners advanced easily, but the acrobatic effort from Figgins prevented a run from scoring and brought the next hitter to the plate.
2. Nick Green
"I was battling for my life," the journeyman shortstop said in an otherwise empty clubhouse late Wednesday night, the divider between his locker and Dustin Pedroia's locker supporting his weight. "I seriously did not think I could get a hit."
It's the simplest thing in the world for a hitter to do upon drawing a walk to toss the bat aside and jog to first base. But Nick Green could hardly do that. A right leg that's bothered him over the last couple of days almost collapsed underneath him while he was flailing at pitches up in the zone from Angels closer Brian Fuentes.
The problem dates back a couple of days. Green can't pinpoint any incident as the source of his injury, but he's felt soreness and weakness in his right leg since the series against the Angels began. It just didn't seem so bad because he wasn't playing in games.
He didn't tell anyone about the soreness. He didn't think it was a big deal. He even hit off a tee in the middle innings just in case he needed to pinch-hit. Headed into the bottom of the ninth, he considered taking a few more swings but decided against it.
He then came to the plate to pinch-hit for lefty Casey Kotchman with the bases loaded and two outs, the Red Sox still trailing by a run.
His first swing wasn't pretty. His second swing was worse.
"I don't think I even could have put the ball in play," said Green, whose playing time has almost evaporated since the arrival of Alex Gonzalez. "Go look at the replay. Go look at all the swings. ... I couldn't really swing."
When he checked his swing on a fastball up at his eyes, he almost fell down, and that only made it worse.
(The irony there is that Lowrie twice aggravated his wrist injury by checking his swing, setbacks that prolonged his absence by close to a month.)
Green still somehow managed to foul off three straight pitches after that. Two were out of the strike zone, but one was right in his wheelhouse.
"There is no reason I shouldn't put one of those balls in play," he said.
The ninth pitch of the at-bat, though, is the one Fuentes and the Angels won't forget. A hurting Green stood with his bat on his shoulder and watched a 91-mile-an-hour fastball cut the plate right in half.
Umpire Rick Reed stood still. Ball four.
"It's a good umpiring crew, and I think we really feel strongly they missed a couple of times we had Green struck out," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "That's the focal point of the game, and it didn't go our way."
Said Green, "I thought it was low, and apparently (Reed) did, too."
He then had to drag himself to first base, something that took more effort than anyone in the ballpark understood at the time.
"I almost collapsed every single swing," he said, "and I almost collapsed walking down to first and almost collapsed when I was leading off."
The call might have been wrong -- replays seemed to indicate that the pitch was right down the middle of the plate -- but the normally free-swinging Green still put up a hellacious battle on one leg. It's not easy to draw a walk when you don't get many chances to swing the bat.
"I told Greenie I had a boatload of possible scenarios for his (at-bat)," left fielder Jason Bay said, "and walking wasn't one of them. It's just a testament to him. You don't play that much, and you go up there and you want to do too much. You want to try to win the ballgame. To try to do what he did is even tougher than it looks."
3. Alex Gonzalez
The Red Sox acquired Gonzalez for his glove, plain and simple. Any base hit he mustered would be a bonus. All they needed for him to do was to make every play at shortstop, to make the plays Green and Julio Lugo hadn't made that had cost the Red Sox runs and wins.
Entering play Wednesday, Gonzalez was hitting .287 and had 11 RBI in his first 27 games with the Red Sox. His defense, though, still is what keeps him in the lineup every day.
"What he does out at short, there's not many in the game who can match what he does out there," catcher Jason Varitek said. "That's still a level of importance. But he's come up with some big hits for us."
Said Lowrie, "He's done an amazing job with the bat."
Gonzalez might not have hit for himself if Terry Francona had anyone else available. But with Francona down to fourth catcher George Kottaras, he had no choice but to send his defensive specialist to the plate in the biggest spot of the game.
Gonzalez had provided one encouraging sign in his previous at-bat: He'd walked. He'd gone 99 plate appearances with the Red Sox to that point without managing to draw a walk -- a phenomenal accomplishment particularly when you consider how much the Red Sox stress plate discipline in their hitters. David Ortiz walked more times in Wednesday's game alone than Gonzalez had in his first 27 games with the Red Sox.
But he fought off a couple of breaking balls -- "They were throwing me a lot of breaking balls," he said -- and took ball four when a Darren Oliver fastball ran so far in on him even he couldn't think about taking a swing at it.
"I think I got the ball and the base," he said with a grin.
Fuentes started him in the ninth inning with a fastball (foul ball), a slider (low for a ball) and a fastball (foul ball). He couldn't have been more sure a breaking ball was coming even if catcher Mike Napoli had whispered to him Crash Davis-style.
"I know it's coming," he said. "They've been throwing me a lot of breaking balls last night and tonight."
It wasn't quite a breaking ball: It was a changeup down at the knees. But Gonzalez got under it and lofted it gently into short left field. Left fielder Juan Rivera might have had a chance at it but chose not to dive, and the collision of ball and grass set off a wild celebration.
"When I hit it, I hit it like he throw it: I hit it just soft enough," Gonzalez said. "I don't hit it good, but I hit it in the right spot."
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Lowrie suffers setback, still hopeful of return
There's no truth to the rumor that Jed Lowrie conveniently suffered a setback in his recovery just so he'd be back at Fenway Park for the Red Sox team photo.
A day after he felt a pinch in his wrist on a checked swing at Triple-A Pawtucket, he at least was able to chuckle a little bit about it. His voice, though, sounded wearing with frustration.
"Right at the point I'm trying to stop my swing, I feel a pinch and can't really stop it," he said. "Within the next two minutes, the finger is dead and there's a lot of soreness, a lot of numbness.
It hasn't gone away, either.
"I can still feel it today," he said. "But I relate it to, after my first at-bat in New York, it felt like it did right now. When I took my second at-bat, it got exponentially worse. After my first at-bat when it first happened against Oakland here, that's the way it felt. It took a couple of days until it felt OK. The one in New York, after the second at-bat, took a week. It's been a guessing game."
The setback was all the more frustrating considering he'd hit three home runs in his previous two games with the PawSox.
"It just kind of justified that when I'm feeling good, I've still got it," he said. "I don't think that's a question. It's just a matter of figuring out how to get it healthy. At this point, your guess is as good as mine."
He had played all nine innings in those games -- 10 innings, in fact, in one of them -- and had felt like he was back in baseball shape and ready to go when the Red Sox called for him. The latest setback came completely out of the blue.
"My legs felt great," he said. "I was moving great. I felt find as far as baseball-wise goes. The checked swing felt like I went right back to square one."
You might wonder if he's ready to hang it up for the season and rest his wrist and target spring training next year as a return date. He might still have to do that, but he's not giving up yet.
"I'm still going to try," he said. "I don't feel ready to stop trying this year -- especially after doing what I did in Pawtucket for a couple of days. I know it's only a couple of days and I haven't played in a week and it's not a finished product, so to speak, but at least there's something there. Hopefully, I can build on it and take it from here. Like I said, I don't even really know at this point. ...
"Of course, it's more in jeopardy, but I'm not ready to give up yet. I'm going to continue to do what I need to do to get back and see where that leads me. I'm not ready to give up on it."
The only silver lining was that he seems to have identified what causes the problem. Everything about the way he plays baseball feels good except for when he has to check his swing when he's hitting lefthanded.
"I know what's causing it now," he said. "After New York, I wasn't real sure. The first time it happened, it was a righthanded swing where I rolled over a ball. In New York, it was a lefthanded checked swing. Now I know that it is a lefthanded check swing. Whether the righthanded thing was the swing or me diving back, that's a little up in the air. But I do know that the lefthanded checked swing is causing that. From talking to people coming off wrist surgeries, coming off wrist injuries, the checked swing is the final hurdle. ... I know there is light at the end of the tunnel, but that being said, hopefully we're moving closer."
A day after he felt a pinch in his wrist on a checked swing at Triple-A Pawtucket, he at least was able to chuckle a little bit about it. His voice, though, sounded wearing with frustration.
"Right at the point I'm trying to stop my swing, I feel a pinch and can't really stop it," he said. "Within the next two minutes, the finger is dead and there's a lot of soreness, a lot of numbness.
It hasn't gone away, either.
"I can still feel it today," he said. "But I relate it to, after my first at-bat in New York, it felt like it did right now. When I took my second at-bat, it got exponentially worse. After my first at-bat when it first happened against Oakland here, that's the way it felt. It took a couple of days until it felt OK. The one in New York, after the second at-bat, took a week. It's been a guessing game."
The setback was all the more frustrating considering he'd hit three home runs in his previous two games with the PawSox.
"It just kind of justified that when I'm feeling good, I've still got it," he said. "I don't think that's a question. It's just a matter of figuring out how to get it healthy. At this point, your guess is as good as mine."
He had played all nine innings in those games -- 10 innings, in fact, in one of them -- and had felt like he was back in baseball shape and ready to go when the Red Sox called for him. The latest setback came completely out of the blue.
"My legs felt great," he said. "I was moving great. I felt find as far as baseball-wise goes. The checked swing felt like I went right back to square one."
You might wonder if he's ready to hang it up for the season and rest his wrist and target spring training next year as a return date. He might still have to do that, but he's not giving up yet.
"I'm still going to try," he said. "I don't feel ready to stop trying this year -- especially after doing what I did in Pawtucket for a couple of days. I know it's only a couple of days and I haven't played in a week and it's not a finished product, so to speak, but at least there's something there. Hopefully, I can build on it and take it from here. Like I said, I don't even really know at this point. ...
"Of course, it's more in jeopardy, but I'm not ready to give up yet. I'm going to continue to do what I need to do to get back and see where that leads me. I'm not ready to give up on it."
The only silver lining was that he seems to have identified what causes the problem. Everything about the way he plays baseball feels good except for when he has to check his swing when he's hitting lefthanded.
"I know what's causing it now," he said. "After New York, I wasn't real sure. The first time it happened, it was a righthanded swing where I rolled over a ball. In New York, it was a lefthanded checked swing. Now I know that it is a lefthanded check swing. Whether the righthanded thing was the swing or me diving back, that's a little up in the air. But I do know that the lefthanded checked swing is causing that. From talking to people coming off wrist surgeries, coming off wrist injuries, the checked swing is the final hurdle. ... I know there is light at the end of the tunnel, but that being said, hopefully we're moving closer."
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Francona made wrong call by hitting Ortiz for Lowrie
The beauty of baseball is that you never need a home run.
To win a football game, you sometimes need to score a touchdown and not kick a field goal. To win a basketball game, you sometimes need a 3-pointer. To win a hockey game, you sometimes have to take a slapshot from the neutral zone with seconds ticking off the clock.
In baseball, you never need a home run.
Home runs are great, of course. There is never a bad time for a home run. But even a team that's losing by three runs can be just as victorious with seven or eight straight singles as it can be with three straight singles and a home run.
Time doesn't run out. Only outs run out. If you keep an inning alive with hits, be they singles or home runs, you're eventually going to score runs.
That brings us to Wednesday's eighth inning. The Red Sox went into the inning trailing by four runs, but a collision in the outfield and a Mike Lowell sacrifice fly cut that deficit to three. J.D. Drew then followed with a line-drive single to center field, and after Adam LaRoche bounced into a fielder's choice, Jason Varitek drew a walk.
(As an aside: How in the world does a third-base coach send Jason Bay -- a guy with mediocre speed who had just been thrown out at home plate in a costly play the night before -- on a shallow fly ball with no outs in a game in which his team trailed by four runs? Bay was safe -- but the single by Drew only emphasized the ludicrousness of the decision. You don't risk outs at home plate down four runs in the same way you don't steal bases down four runs. Had Bay been thrown out, fans everywhere would be screaming for the head of DeMarlo Hale.)
Jed Lowrie was due up next.
Terry Francona called him back and sent up David Ortiz.
The thought behind the move was obvious. Lowrie is a shortstop who hits line drives, a hitter coming off wrist surgery whose bid for a home run on Sunday died just in front of the warning track. Ortiz is Big Papi, the Greatest Clutch Hitter in Red Sox History, a slugger who has made a living out of distributing souvenirs to the fans in the bleachers behind the bullpens in right fields.
A home run would tie the game. Francona wanted a home run.
But Francona didn't need a home run. With the lineup set to turn over behind Lowrie, he really, really didn't need a home run. All Lowrie had to do was get a base hit, drive in a run, keep the line moving. If he hit it into a gap somewhere, even better. But all he had to do was get a hit or get on base and keep the line moving.
(Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia opened the ninth inning with back-to-back hits. Ellsbury hit a slap single into left field, and Pedroia beat a ground ball down the third-base line with which Adam Kennedy had trouble. Everything would have been different had they come to the plate in the eighth inning, of course, but it certainly drives the point home.)
Francona went for the gusto. He called for Ortiz.
Ortiz hit a pop fly on the infield that Kennedy squeezed for the third out of the inning.
The Red Sox ended up losing the game by an 8-6 score and fell 3 1/2 games behind the victorious Yankees.
Ortiz had a huge month of June, breaking out of his early-season slump in a big way. He hit .320 and OBP'ed .409 and slugged .653 and hit seven home runs and just generally looked like the old Big Papi. Since the calendar turned to July, though, he's looked quite a bit like the Big Papi that drove Red Sox fans crazy in April and May:
At-bats
April: 87
July: 81
Hits
April: 20
July: 18
Walks
April: 8
July: 6
Strikeouts
April: 22
July: 21
Home runs
April: 0
July: 5
Those five home runs are all that separate Slumping Ortiz in April from "He's Back!" Ortiz in July. His batting average and on-base percentage actually are worse in July than they were in April. When he's not homering, he's doing pretty much what he did back when all of Boston was clamoring for him either to be benched or released or drawn and quartered in Kenmore Square.
In 18 at-bats since the start of this particular homestand, Ortiz had just three hits -- and seven strikeouts.
Lowrie, on the other hand, is working his way back from wrist surgery and has hit the ball hard all week long. His numbers don't reflect it -- his batting average for the season still is just .125 -- but he's hit the ball hard.
One indicator: He's hitting the ball in the air four out of every five times he puts it in play, but he's hardly hitting anything on the infield. He's hitting the ball hard into the outfield. He's just seeing everything get run down.
Another indicator: Entering play Wednesday, his BABIP -- batting average on balls in play -- was .107, a number that's so unsustainable it's laughable.
Everything Lowrie been hitting had been going right to fielders. All he had to do is keep hitting. You could almost already see him yanking a single to right field or hitting a line drive up the gap in left-center, a hit that would score at least one run and keep the inning alive for Ellsbury and Pedroia.
Francona instead called upon Ortiz to tie the game with one swing of the bat, called on a power hitter who is a .188 career hitter coming off the bench cold. Oakland manager Bob Geren went to the bullpen and called upon lefty specialist Craig Breslow, a pitcher who seemed to be warming for no other reason than to be ready when Ortiz pinch-hit for someone.
Ortiz stayed patient at the plate. He did what he usually does. He watched a pair of fastballs miss and then took a slider for a strike. He then took a cut at a 92-mile-an-hour right at his hands, and he hit it straight up.
Inning over.
For all intents and purposes, game over.
Francona actually had sent pinch-hitters to the plate just 31 times this season -- well below the American League average (39). He's not a manager who normally likes to pinch-hit.
He should have stuck to his instincts on Wednesday. Like Ortiz, he swung for the fences and ended up with a feeble pop fly.
To win a football game, you sometimes need to score a touchdown and not kick a field goal. To win a basketball game, you sometimes need a 3-pointer. To win a hockey game, you sometimes have to take a slapshot from the neutral zone with seconds ticking off the clock.
In baseball, you never need a home run.
Home runs are great, of course. There is never a bad time for a home run. But even a team that's losing by three runs can be just as victorious with seven or eight straight singles as it can be with three straight singles and a home run.
Time doesn't run out. Only outs run out. If you keep an inning alive with hits, be they singles or home runs, you're eventually going to score runs.
That brings us to Wednesday's eighth inning. The Red Sox went into the inning trailing by four runs, but a collision in the outfield and a Mike Lowell sacrifice fly cut that deficit to three. J.D. Drew then followed with a line-drive single to center field, and after Adam LaRoche bounced into a fielder's choice, Jason Varitek drew a walk.
(As an aside: How in the world does a third-base coach send Jason Bay -- a guy with mediocre speed who had just been thrown out at home plate in a costly play the night before -- on a shallow fly ball with no outs in a game in which his team trailed by four runs? Bay was safe -- but the single by Drew only emphasized the ludicrousness of the decision. You don't risk outs at home plate down four runs in the same way you don't steal bases down four runs. Had Bay been thrown out, fans everywhere would be screaming for the head of DeMarlo Hale.)
Jed Lowrie was due up next.
Terry Francona called him back and sent up David Ortiz.
The thought behind the move was obvious. Lowrie is a shortstop who hits line drives, a hitter coming off wrist surgery whose bid for a home run on Sunday died just in front of the warning track. Ortiz is Big Papi, the Greatest Clutch Hitter in Red Sox History, a slugger who has made a living out of distributing souvenirs to the fans in the bleachers behind the bullpens in right fields.
A home run would tie the game. Francona wanted a home run.
But Francona didn't need a home run. With the lineup set to turn over behind Lowrie, he really, really didn't need a home run. All Lowrie had to do was get a base hit, drive in a run, keep the line moving. If he hit it into a gap somewhere, even better. But all he had to do was get a hit or get on base and keep the line moving.
(Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia opened the ninth inning with back-to-back hits. Ellsbury hit a slap single into left field, and Pedroia beat a ground ball down the third-base line with which Adam Kennedy had trouble. Everything would have been different had they come to the plate in the eighth inning, of course, but it certainly drives the point home.)
Francona went for the gusto. He called for Ortiz.
Ortiz hit a pop fly on the infield that Kennedy squeezed for the third out of the inning.
The Red Sox ended up losing the game by an 8-6 score and fell 3 1/2 games behind the victorious Yankees.
Ortiz had a huge month of June, breaking out of his early-season slump in a big way. He hit .320 and OBP'ed .409 and slugged .653 and hit seven home runs and just generally looked like the old Big Papi. Since the calendar turned to July, though, he's looked quite a bit like the Big Papi that drove Red Sox fans crazy in April and May:
At-bats
April: 87
July: 81
Hits
April: 20
July: 18
Walks
April: 8
July: 6
Strikeouts
April: 22
July: 21
Home runs
April: 0
July: 5
Those five home runs are all that separate Slumping Ortiz in April from "He's Back!" Ortiz in July. His batting average and on-base percentage actually are worse in July than they were in April. When he's not homering, he's doing pretty much what he did back when all of Boston was clamoring for him either to be benched or released or drawn and quartered in Kenmore Square.
In 18 at-bats since the start of this particular homestand, Ortiz had just three hits -- and seven strikeouts.
Lowrie, on the other hand, is working his way back from wrist surgery and has hit the ball hard all week long. His numbers don't reflect it -- his batting average for the season still is just .125 -- but he's hit the ball hard.
One indicator: He's hitting the ball in the air four out of every five times he puts it in play, but he's hardly hitting anything on the infield. He's hitting the ball hard into the outfield. He's just seeing everything get run down.
Another indicator: Entering play Wednesday, his BABIP -- batting average on balls in play -- was .107, a number that's so unsustainable it's laughable.
Everything Lowrie been hitting had been going right to fielders. All he had to do is keep hitting. You could almost already see him yanking a single to right field or hitting a line drive up the gap in left-center, a hit that would score at least one run and keep the inning alive for Ellsbury and Pedroia.
Francona instead called upon Ortiz to tie the game with one swing of the bat, called on a power hitter who is a .188 career hitter coming off the bench cold. Oakland manager Bob Geren went to the bullpen and called upon lefty specialist Craig Breslow, a pitcher who seemed to be warming for no other reason than to be ready when Ortiz pinch-hit for someone.
Ortiz stayed patient at the plate. He did what he usually does. He watched a pair of fastballs miss and then took a slider for a strike. He then took a cut at a 92-mile-an-hour right at his hands, and he hit it straight up.
Inning over.
For all intents and purposes, game over.
Francona actually had sent pinch-hitters to the plate just 31 times this season -- well below the American League average (39). He's not a manager who normally likes to pinch-hit.
He should have stuck to his instincts on Wednesday. Like Ortiz, he swung for the fences and ended up with a feeble pop fly.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Lowrie finally gets a break
Jed Lowrie's first swing on Monday night came with two outs and a runner on second in the bottom of the second inning. He jumped on a changeup down and away and laced a sinking line drive into shallow right field -- where Ryan Sweeney ran it down, snagging it at his knees before sliding into the grass.
It's been like that for the last few days for Lowrie: Fly balls into the gaps and line drives all over the plate with nothing at all to show for it. He even ripped a fastball to the warning track in right field on Sunday, a pitch right over the middle of the plate that he couldn't have hit much harder than he did.
"I thought it was out," he said that afternoon. "I hit that ball pretty well."
When he came to the plate with the bases loaded in Monday's seventh inning, he was hitting .111 since his return from the disabled list and .083 for the season. His BABIP -- batting average on balls in play -- was a "This is not a typo"-low .054.
He then got under a 90-mile-an-hour fastball on the inner half of the plate and lofted a harmless pop fly behind third base.
It fell to the grass between three Oakland defenders.
It hopped into the stands.
Two runs scored, and Lowrie cruised into second base.
When asked about the bloop hit, the 25-year-old shortstop couldn't help but laugh.
"Once again, I thought I hit a couple balls real well tonight -- and I got one down," he said. "Baseball's a funny game. You take them where you can get them."
"Line drive in the book!" center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury said with a grin from the locker stall next to Lowrie. "With the baseball gods, with three lineouts, something was bound to happen. He definitely earned it."
Lowrie got to the plate 58 times in his rehab stint in the minor leagues, including 40 at Triple-A Pawtucket. He now has gotten to the plate 21 times in the major leagues since his wrist surgery. His swing still is a work in progress just the way everyone else's swing was a work in progress in mid-April. But the way he was hitting the ball right into defenders' gloves wasn't helping.
"Sometimes you just need a ball to fall in for you, and it gets you off and running," second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "It's tough. But he's got, what, 30 at-bats so far under his belt? Everyone else has three or four hundred. It's only a matter of time until he gets back into the flow and swings the bat good."
Lowrie can tell he's hit the ball hard. Everyone in the dugout can tell he's hit the ball hard. But that doesn't make it any easier to walk up to the plate and and see ".083" on the scoreboard in center field. Everyone goes 2-for-20 at some point every season -- likely American League batting champion Joe Mauer, for example, went 2-for-25 in the three games before and three games after the All-Star break.
It just looks worse when you don't have much else on the back of your baseball card other than those 20 at-bats.
"When you have 25 or 30 at-bats, every hit raises or lowers your average by 50 points or 100 points," he said. "You can get off to a great start and on your next 100 at-bats do terribly, and you're right back to where it should be. It's definitely been -- I don't want to say 'frustrating' because I've tried to stay with the approach because I've been having good at-bats. I just haven't had anything drop."
And that's why he's not about to give back Monday night's bloop double -- a hit that raised his batting average all the way to .108.
"We'll take being good or being lucky," Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "More often than not, that's not going to work. But we'll sure as hell take it."
It's been like that for the last few days for Lowrie: Fly balls into the gaps and line drives all over the plate with nothing at all to show for it. He even ripped a fastball to the warning track in right field on Sunday, a pitch right over the middle of the plate that he couldn't have hit much harder than he did.
"I thought it was out," he said that afternoon. "I hit that ball pretty well."
When he came to the plate with the bases loaded in Monday's seventh inning, he was hitting .111 since his return from the disabled list and .083 for the season. His BABIP -- batting average on balls in play -- was a "This is not a typo"-low .054.
He then got under a 90-mile-an-hour fastball on the inner half of the plate and lofted a harmless pop fly behind third base.
It fell to the grass between three Oakland defenders.
It hopped into the stands.
Two runs scored, and Lowrie cruised into second base.
When asked about the bloop hit, the 25-year-old shortstop couldn't help but laugh.
"Once again, I thought I hit a couple balls real well tonight -- and I got one down," he said. "Baseball's a funny game. You take them where you can get them."
"Line drive in the book!" center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury said with a grin from the locker stall next to Lowrie. "With the baseball gods, with three lineouts, something was bound to happen. He definitely earned it."
Lowrie got to the plate 58 times in his rehab stint in the minor leagues, including 40 at Triple-A Pawtucket. He now has gotten to the plate 21 times in the major leagues since his wrist surgery. His swing still is a work in progress just the way everyone else's swing was a work in progress in mid-April. But the way he was hitting the ball right into defenders' gloves wasn't helping.
"Sometimes you just need a ball to fall in for you, and it gets you off and running," second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "It's tough. But he's got, what, 30 at-bats so far under his belt? Everyone else has three or four hundred. It's only a matter of time until he gets back into the flow and swings the bat good."
Lowrie can tell he's hit the ball hard. Everyone in the dugout can tell he's hit the ball hard. But that doesn't make it any easier to walk up to the plate and and see ".083" on the scoreboard in center field. Everyone goes 2-for-20 at some point every season -- likely American League batting champion Joe Mauer, for example, went 2-for-25 in the three games before and three games after the All-Star break.
It just looks worse when you don't have much else on the back of your baseball card other than those 20 at-bats.
"When you have 25 or 30 at-bats, every hit raises or lowers your average by 50 points or 100 points," he said. "You can get off to a great start and on your next 100 at-bats do terribly, and you're right back to where it should be. It's definitely been -- I don't want to say 'frustrating' because I've tried to stay with the approach because I've been having good at-bats. I just haven't had anything drop."
And that's why he's not about to give back Monday night's bloop double -- a hit that raised his batting average all the way to .108.
"We'll take being good or being lucky," Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "More often than not, that's not going to work. But we'll sure as hell take it."
Monday, July 13, 2009
Green or Lowrie? There's no debate
One of the oldest baseball adages goes something like this: No matter how you start the season, if you're a .300 hitter, by the end of the season, you're going to hit .300. No matter how you start the season, if you're a .250 hitter, by the end of the season, you're going to hit .250. That's just the way it goes.
Nick Green came into this season as a .240 hitter with a .656 OPS in 799 major-league plate appearances. He's a .240 hitter. Maybe he's a .250 hitter. But that's it.
He hit .275 in April and hit .321 in May. His batting average, at that point, was .298. His OPS -- on-base plus slugging -- was .783.
But, as we might have expected, he's regressing to the mean. He's 20 for 106 (.189) since June 1, and his OPS has slowly dwindled:
May: .784
June: .698
July (so far): .580
He has six hits in his last 45 at-bats (.133) with a .264 on-base percentage -- and his on-base percentage is only that high because he faced Bruce Chen and Robinson Tejeda on Sunday. (When a pitcher goes 0 for his first 13 in trying to throw strikes to Jason Bay, you have to take Green's three walks, a career high, with a grain of salt.)
Green's overall numbers, thanks to his hot start, still don't look terrible: He's hitting over .250 and OPS'ing over .700. That's led many to believe there's a debate afoot: Who's going to play shortstop full-time upon Jed Lowrie's return?
Green remains a valuable asset as an infielder. He can play at least three positions and has seen his defense at shortstop improve by leaps and bounds since a rough start to the season. (His UZR/150 was minus-16.6 in early June but is now plus-12.2, and he's gone more than a month without making an error.)
But Lowrie can hold his own defensively. A year ago, in fact, he had an UZR/150 of plus-24.6 and made zero errors in 49 games at shortstop. He's also a better hitter when he's healthy -- even with the wrist injury that plagued him last year, he put up better numbers (.739 OPS) than Green has this season (.721 OPS).
Green will allow the Red Sox to work Lowrie back slowly, but there's no question who should be starting the majority of games at shortstop at Fenway Park.
Nick Green came into this season as a .240 hitter with a .656 OPS in 799 major-league plate appearances. He's a .240 hitter. Maybe he's a .250 hitter. But that's it.
He hit .275 in April and hit .321 in May. His batting average, at that point, was .298. His OPS -- on-base plus slugging -- was .783.
But, as we might have expected, he's regressing to the mean. He's 20 for 106 (.189) since June 1, and his OPS has slowly dwindled:
May: .784
June: .698
July (so far): .580
He has six hits in his last 45 at-bats (.133) with a .264 on-base percentage -- and his on-base percentage is only that high because he faced Bruce Chen and Robinson Tejeda on Sunday. (When a pitcher goes 0 for his first 13 in trying to throw strikes to Jason Bay, you have to take Green's three walks, a career high, with a grain of salt.)
Green's overall numbers, thanks to his hot start, still don't look terrible: He's hitting over .250 and OPS'ing over .700. That's led many to believe there's a debate afoot: Who's going to play shortstop full-time upon Jed Lowrie's return?
Green remains a valuable asset as an infielder. He can play at least three positions and has seen his defense at shortstop improve by leaps and bounds since a rough start to the season. (His UZR/150 was minus-16.6 in early June but is now plus-12.2, and he's gone more than a month without making an error.)
But Lowrie can hold his own defensively. A year ago, in fact, he had an UZR/150 of plus-24.6 and made zero errors in 49 games at shortstop. He's also a better hitter when he's healthy -- even with the wrist injury that plagued him last year, he put up better numbers (.739 OPS) than Green has this season (.721 OPS).
Green will allow the Red Sox to work Lowrie back slowly, but there's no question who should be starting the majority of games at shortstop at Fenway Park.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Lowrie healthy, just needs at-bats
In case you're wondering why the heck Jed Lowrie isn't back yet: His wrist appears to be fine and his knee is mostly healed from the pitch that hit him a couple of weeks ago. The key now is getting at-bats. He tried to play at Triple-A Pawtucket and was rained out on back-to-back nights.
He was activated today from the 60-day disabled list and optioned to Single-A Lowell -- his call-up, though, will depend less on his health than on how his swing feels.
After playing for Double-A Portland and going 3-for-5 with a double on Monday, he left the SeaDogs to join Single-A Lowell to have a better chance at playing today. He then doubled in the bottom of the first.
He was activated today from the 60-day disabled list and optioned to Single-A Lowell -- his call-up, though, will depend less on his health than on how his swing feels.
After playing for Double-A Portland and going 3-for-5 with a double on Monday, he left the SeaDogs to join Single-A Lowell to have a better chance at playing today. He then doubled in the bottom of the first.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Lowrie likely to start rehab stint next week
Shortstop Jed Lowrie "did really well" against live pitching in Lowell on Monday and Tuesday. Lowrie hit both lefthanded and righthanded against some of the team's recent draft picks, which meant he saw quite a few pitches out of the strike zone as well as quite a few pitches he could hit.
"(Lowrie saw) a lot of balls, which you can expect from young kids facing a major-league player," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "They're probably nervous."
The erratic pitching, though, probably helped Lowrie more than batting-practice pitching would have. He hasn't had to judge the strike zone since spring training.
"He's a smart enough kid to use it to his advantage," Francona said. "He said he felt a little rusty, and if he's going to feel rusty, that's a good place to have it."
Lowrie will fly to Fort Myers, Fla., tomorrow, and play in extended spring training games on Thursday and Friday. (The Gulf Coast League, a short-season league for newly signed draft picks, doesn't get going next Wednesday.) The informal nature of those extended spring games means he can jump in and out of the lineup to get some extra at-bats and speed up his trip back to the major leagues.
"He can hit nine, 10 times if he wants," Francona said, "and after two days down there, he'll be wanting to get out of there. Every once in a while, they'll throw a ball at your neck. ... He can take a bunch of grounders. He can lead off an inning. He can hit third. He can do a lot of things by design that we can't do once he starts getting into Triple-A games."
After that, he'll likely head for Pawtucket to get some real swings in real games. If he plays 10 days' worth of games with the PawSox -- Francona said a week "might be a little quick" -- he'd be ready to be activated right around July 1.
"(Lowrie saw) a lot of balls, which you can expect from young kids facing a major-league player," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "They're probably nervous."
The erratic pitching, though, probably helped Lowrie more than batting-practice pitching would have. He hasn't had to judge the strike zone since spring training.
"He's a smart enough kid to use it to his advantage," Francona said. "He said he felt a little rusty, and if he's going to feel rusty, that's a good place to have it."
Lowrie will fly to Fort Myers, Fla., tomorrow, and play in extended spring training games on Thursday and Friday. (The Gulf Coast League, a short-season league for newly signed draft picks, doesn't get going next Wednesday.) The informal nature of those extended spring games means he can jump in and out of the lineup to get some extra at-bats and speed up his trip back to the major leagues.
"He can hit nine, 10 times if he wants," Francona said, "and after two days down there, he'll be wanting to get out of there. Every once in a while, they'll throw a ball at your neck. ... He can take a bunch of grounders. He can lead off an inning. He can hit third. He can do a lot of things by design that we can't do once he starts getting into Triple-A games."
After that, he'll likely head for Pawtucket to get some real swings in real games. If he plays 10 days' worth of games with the PawSox -- Francona said a week "might be a little quick" -- he'd be ready to be activated right around July 1.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Lugo might be done in Boston
The only thing loud about Julio Lugo on Thursday was his suit.
Every Red Sox player in the locker room pulled out their travel ensembles after polishing off a sweep of the Yankees. Ramon Ramirez looked particularly sharp in a gray suit with a pink shirt underneath. But Lugo pulled out all the stops, starting with the red pants and continuing with the blue coat he wore over a dress shirt with red and white stripes.
Lugo, of course, didn't play an inning in the Red Sox's sweep of the Yankees this week. He hasn't appeared in a game in a week -- not since he failed to make a routine-looking play up the middle the last time Penny took the mound. He hasn't gotten a hit since May 29 -- a span in whch he's only had seven plate appearances.
Nick Green, meanwhile, sparked the eighth-inning rally with a single up the middle and helped preserve the lead with a sensational stab of a ground ball up the middle in the top of the ninth, spinning and throwing just in time to nip Derek Jeter by a step.
"That was awesome," second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "Obviously, the ball is probably all wet, and Jeter runs well. To get that leadoff guy out, that's huge for us. ... He's got a lot of range, and obviously a great arm, too, so when he gets to it, it's going to be an out."
Green hit .364 (4-for-11) with a double and a home run in the three games against the Yankees. Even better, he's gone more than a week without making an error -- an impressive feat given that he made nine errors in his first 37 games. His spin-and-throw gem on Thursday and his throw to double up Nick Swisher on Wednesday were two of the biggest defensive plays in the three-game series.
Where does that leave Lugo?
It's not hard to connect the dots.
Jed Lowrie went with the Red Sox to Philadelphia last night but will head to Lowell on Monday to take live batting practice against some of the draft picks. If all goes well, the Red Sox could send him out on a rehabilitation stint as early as Thursday. He could be back in the lineup within two weeks.
The Red Sox, though, can't carry three shortstops. Someone has to go once Lowrie returns.
It isn't going to be Green.
Terry Francona, of course, refused to take the bait Thursday afternoon when a reporter asked him about his shortstop situation. There still are too many variables -- not the least of which is the health of Lowrie.
"I don't they're going to let us carry 26 players," he said. "You're getting way ahead of me. Why in the world would I make out our lineup for July? I'm happy I just got through tonight's. I'd never do that. ...
"I just want to get (Lowrie) healthy. When he gets healthy, I'll be really healthy to have him back -- and then we'll figure out what the hell to do."
Lugo is owed $9 million this season and $9 million next season. The Red Sox, though, aren't adamantly opposed to eating contracts if it means making their team better.
Francona won't say anything -- but his actions, as they say, speak louder than words. Green is his starter at shortstop right now. Lowrie, you have to assume, is ahead of Green on the depth chart when he's healthy.
That leaves Lugo as the odd man out. His Red Sox career easily could be over by the end of this month.
Every Red Sox player in the locker room pulled out their travel ensembles after polishing off a sweep of the Yankees. Ramon Ramirez looked particularly sharp in a gray suit with a pink shirt underneath. But Lugo pulled out all the stops, starting with the red pants and continuing with the blue coat he wore over a dress shirt with red and white stripes.
Lugo, of course, didn't play an inning in the Red Sox's sweep of the Yankees this week. He hasn't appeared in a game in a week -- not since he failed to make a routine-looking play up the middle the last time Penny took the mound. He hasn't gotten a hit since May 29 -- a span in whch he's only had seven plate appearances.
Nick Green, meanwhile, sparked the eighth-inning rally with a single up the middle and helped preserve the lead with a sensational stab of a ground ball up the middle in the top of the ninth, spinning and throwing just in time to nip Derek Jeter by a step.
"That was awesome," second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "Obviously, the ball is probably all wet, and Jeter runs well. To get that leadoff guy out, that's huge for us. ... He's got a lot of range, and obviously a great arm, too, so when he gets to it, it's going to be an out."
Green hit .364 (4-for-11) with a double and a home run in the three games against the Yankees. Even better, he's gone more than a week without making an error -- an impressive feat given that he made nine errors in his first 37 games. His spin-and-throw gem on Thursday and his throw to double up Nick Swisher on Wednesday were two of the biggest defensive plays in the three-game series.
Where does that leave Lugo?
It's not hard to connect the dots.
Jed Lowrie went with the Red Sox to Philadelphia last night but will head to Lowell on Monday to take live batting practice against some of the draft picks. If all goes well, the Red Sox could send him out on a rehabilitation stint as early as Thursday. He could be back in the lineup within two weeks.
The Red Sox, though, can't carry three shortstops. Someone has to go once Lowrie returns.
It isn't going to be Green.
Terry Francona, of course, refused to take the bait Thursday afternoon when a reporter asked him about his shortstop situation. There still are too many variables -- not the least of which is the health of Lowrie.
"I don't they're going to let us carry 26 players," he said. "You're getting way ahead of me. Why in the world would I make out our lineup for July? I'm happy I just got through tonight's. I'd never do that. ...
"I just want to get (Lowrie) healthy. When he gets healthy, I'll be really healthy to have him back -- and then we'll figure out what the hell to do."
Lugo is owed $9 million this season and $9 million next season. The Red Sox, though, aren't adamantly opposed to eating contracts if it means making their team better.
Francona won't say anything -- but his actions, as they say, speak louder than words. Green is his starter at shortstop right now. Lowrie, you have to assume, is ahead of Green on the depth chart when he's healthy.
That leaves Lugo as the odd man out. His Red Sox career easily could be over by the end of this month.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Jed Lowrie will be back before July
Let's clear up a misconception right now: No matter what Peter Gammons says, Jed Lowrie expects to be playing before the All-Star break. His return, in fact, is probably a month away.
The original time frame, before Lowrie went to visit a wrist specialist in Arizona in mid-April, was for him to return after the All-Star break. Ever since his surgery, though, he and the team have been saying he's expected to start playing again "six to eight weeks" post-surgery -- and that would put his return somewhere around mid-June.
Here are the facts:
1. Lowrie underwent wrist surgery on April 21.
2. Lowrie was told, upon undergoing surgery, he'd be playing again in six to eight weeks. Six weeks puts his return on June 2. Eight weeks puts his return on June 16.
3. Any rehab assignment, barring setbacks, couldn't last longer than a week or 10 days. (This one isn't a fact, per se. But given that Lowrie participated in spring training and started the season, it's incredibly unlikely he'd need more than 30 at-bats against live pitching to be ready to go again.)
4. He's progressing quickly. He was taking ground balls several days ago; he'll start hitting off a tee Monday. (See below.)
5. Everything he and Terry Francona say, in fact, point to Lowrie being ahead of schedule rather than right on time.
Rampant trade speculation has the Red Sox poking around for a shortstop -- but that's all based on the theory that Lowrie is out until the All-Star break. MLB Trade Rumors is stating it as fact: "Jed Lowrie is expected back from wrist surgery after the All Star break." Even Nick Cafardo of the Globe threw it out there as an accepted fact: "He had wrist surgery and is out until after the All-Star break."
That, though, would put his return three months post-surgery. He originally was told he'd be out for eight weeks, tops, and that was before he made such encouraging progress with his strength and flexibility work.
***
But speculation -- even based on the facts -- still is just speculation. You can't really know anything unless you go straight to the source. Here's what Lowrie had to say today after the homestand-ending win over the Mets:
There are a lot of reports out there saying definitively, "Jed Lowrie is out until the All-Star Break." Is that generally accurate?
"When is the All-Star Break?"
Mid-July.
"So two months?"
Does that seem long to you?
"Yeah, that seems long to me. But you've got to remember, too, that I'm going through this, so all I can tell you his how I feel today. Today, I feel good. Today, it felt good. The idea is that tomorrow I'm going to take swings off a tee. Hopefully, it feels good on that. As far as timelines are concerned, that's something the training staff and people who have dealt with this before are probably better to ask because I'm going through this for the first time."
So the way they talk to you is basically, 'Tomorrow, we'll do the tee, and Wednesday, we'll do this,' and they don't look much beyond that?
"Right. I think it's good that way because it makes me focus on what I need to do to get to that point. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to be out there playing, but right now, I just need to strengthen and get the range of motion back."
But that six to eight weeks, what was that a target date for?
"What I understood was that in six to eight weeks, I'd be playing. That's what the doctors tell me. That's the professional opinion of people who have done this before. All I can do is put in the work and put in the rehab to get better. That's the best answer I can give you. I don't have the answers -- I'm just going through it."
The original time frame, before Lowrie went to visit a wrist specialist in Arizona in mid-April, was for him to return after the All-Star break. Ever since his surgery, though, he and the team have been saying he's expected to start playing again "six to eight weeks" post-surgery -- and that would put his return somewhere around mid-June.
Here are the facts:
1. Lowrie underwent wrist surgery on April 21.
2. Lowrie was told, upon undergoing surgery, he'd be playing again in six to eight weeks. Six weeks puts his return on June 2. Eight weeks puts his return on June 16.
3. Any rehab assignment, barring setbacks, couldn't last longer than a week or 10 days. (This one isn't a fact, per se. But given that Lowrie participated in spring training and started the season, it's incredibly unlikely he'd need more than 30 at-bats against live pitching to be ready to go again.)
4. He's progressing quickly. He was taking ground balls several days ago; he'll start hitting off a tee Monday. (See below.)
5. Everything he and Terry Francona say, in fact, point to Lowrie being ahead of schedule rather than right on time.
Rampant trade speculation has the Red Sox poking around for a shortstop -- but that's all based on the theory that Lowrie is out until the All-Star break. MLB Trade Rumors is stating it as fact: "Jed Lowrie is expected back from wrist surgery after the All Star break." Even Nick Cafardo of the Globe threw it out there as an accepted fact: "He had wrist surgery and is out until after the All-Star break."
That, though, would put his return three months post-surgery. He originally was told he'd be out for eight weeks, tops, and that was before he made such encouraging progress with his strength and flexibility work.
***
But speculation -- even based on the facts -- still is just speculation. You can't really know anything unless you go straight to the source. Here's what Lowrie had to say today after the homestand-ending win over the Mets:
There are a lot of reports out there saying definitively, "Jed Lowrie is out until the All-Star Break." Is that generally accurate?
"When is the All-Star Break?"
Mid-July.
"So two months?"
Does that seem long to you?
"Yeah, that seems long to me. But you've got to remember, too, that I'm going through this, so all I can tell you his how I feel today. Today, I feel good. Today, it felt good. The idea is that tomorrow I'm going to take swings off a tee. Hopefully, it feels good on that. As far as timelines are concerned, that's something the training staff and people who have dealt with this before are probably better to ask because I'm going through this for the first time."
So the way they talk to you is basically, 'Tomorrow, we'll do the tee, and Wednesday, we'll do this,' and they don't look much beyond that?
"Right. I think it's good that way because it makes me focus on what I need to do to get to that point. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to be out there playing, but right now, I just need to strengthen and get the range of motion back."
But that six to eight weeks, what was that a target date for?
"What I understood was that in six to eight weeks, I'd be playing. That's what the doctors tell me. That's the professional opinion of people who have done this before. All I can do is put in the work and put in the rehab to get better. That's the best answer I can give you. I don't have the answers -- I'm just going through it."
Friday, May 22, 2009
Lowrie progressing quickly
Jed Lowrie was back in short right field at Fenway Park early Friday afternoon, playing long-toss and even taking a ground ball or two. In contrast to a Peter Gammons report that had Lowrie sidelined until the All-Star Break at the earliest, Lowrie appears to be ahead of schedule.
Lowrie stayed behind on the last road trip the Red Sox took, meeting with Red Sox trainers at 7:30 a.m. every day to work on the strength and flexibility in his wrist. He began his throwing program using a lefthanded glove on his right hand to minimize impact on his left wrist; he's now using his regular righthanded glove when he plays catch.
Barring any setbacks, he'll accompany the team on its upcoming road trip to Minnesota, Toronto and Detroit -- and he might just be ready for a rehab stint before that road trip ends.
"It was a little lonely here," Lowrie said on Tuesday.
When the 25-year-old Lowrie originally underwent surgery on April 21, he said doctors had told him he'd be back playing between six or eight weeks after the procedure. That would set the range between May 26 -- next Tuesday -- and June 9.
"He's young and a very hard worker, and he's very diligent in what he's doing," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Young kids heal quicker than older guys. That's just the way it is. I wouldn't be surprised if he's right on time or a little early."
Taking ground balls was one big step. Taking batting practice will be another big step. A week ago, he was hitting balls off a tee with one hand and had just started to take dry swings with two hands, just to get the motion back.
Well, that's not true. He started taking dry swings with two hands well before last week -- unofficially, of course.
"When I'm not looking, I'm not sure what he's doing," Francona said. "One day, I went down to go to the bathroom in the fifth inning -- this was back a few weeks -- and he had the bat in his hands. He gave me that look, like, 'I got caught.' But all good players do that."
Lowrie stayed behind on the last road trip the Red Sox took, meeting with Red Sox trainers at 7:30 a.m. every day to work on the strength and flexibility in his wrist. He began his throwing program using a lefthanded glove on his right hand to minimize impact on his left wrist; he's now using his regular righthanded glove when he plays catch.
Barring any setbacks, he'll accompany the team on its upcoming road trip to Minnesota, Toronto and Detroit -- and he might just be ready for a rehab stint before that road trip ends.
"It was a little lonely here," Lowrie said on Tuesday.
When the 25-year-old Lowrie originally underwent surgery on April 21, he said doctors had told him he'd be back playing between six or eight weeks after the procedure. That would set the range between May 26 -- next Tuesday -- and June 9.
"He's young and a very hard worker, and he's very diligent in what he's doing," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Young kids heal quicker than older guys. That's just the way it is. I wouldn't be surprised if he's right on time or a little early."
Taking ground balls was one big step. Taking batting practice will be another big step. A week ago, he was hitting balls off a tee with one hand and had just started to take dry swings with two hands, just to get the motion back.
Well, that's not true. He started taking dry swings with two hands well before last week -- unofficially, of course.
"When I'm not looking, I'm not sure what he's doing," Francona said. "One day, I went down to go to the bathroom in the fifth inning -- this was back a few weeks -- and he had the bat in his hands. He gave me that look, like, 'I got caught.' But all good players do that."
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Ellsbury thriving with Lowrie's bats
(This didn't make the Union Leader's site thanks to the David Ortiz hubbub, so it made sense to post it here.)
Jed Lowrie’s bat has been doing plenty of damage in the Red Sox lineup over the past few weeks. Lowrie just hasn’t been the one swinging it.
Jacoby Ellsbury and Lowrie were talking shop in the Red Sox clubhouse the day before Lowrie was set to fly to Arizona to visit the specialist who would recommend and eventually perform surgery on his left wrist.
Ellsbury wasn’t feeling comfortable with his bats. Lowrie handed him one of his. It wasn’t all that different, but it had a little more heft and a little more thickness to the barrel.
“You probably wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference picking it up,” Ellsbury said.
But it was love at first swing.
“Guys do it all the time – they’ll pick it up and it’ll feel better in their hand, and they’ll make a switch,” he said. “It just felt good in my hand, so I decided to test it out.”
More than a month later, Ellsbury is still swinging Lowrie-model lumber. He was hitting .194 with zero extra-base hits when he made the switch; he’s hit .336 with seven doubles, a triple and a home run since. And with a fifth-inning single on Tuesday, Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 14 games, four shy of his career best.
Despite his rough start, Ellsbury now leads the Red Sox and ranks among the American League leaders in hits (50).
“He’s using more of the entire field,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He’s pulling the ball with authority. He’s slapping the ball to left field. He’s hitting the ball up the middle. He’s gotten hits everywhere.”
Said left fielder Jason Bay, “Early on, he was hitting a lot of balls in the air, and now it’s more line drives and hard ground balls. It’s easy to say and not easy to do, but for him, it’s pretty important.”
Even better, Ellsbury has cut down on his strikeouts – a key for a guy who’s a threat to beat out just about any ground ball he hits. He struck out five times in his first 39 plate appearances (12.8 percent) but has fanned just 11 times in 134 plate appearances (8.2 percent) since he made the switch. (He struck out in 13.1 percent of his plate appearances a year ago.)
Among Red Sox regulars, only Dustin Pedroia (6.9 percent) is striking out less frequently than Ellsbury (9.3 percent).
The new lumber itself might not make much of a difference – “I don’t think you’re going to see a guy hit a buck-fifty and switch bats and be a .500 hitter,” Bay said – but anything that helps a hitter feel better about himself at the plate helps him be more productive.
There might even be a few hits left in the bats when Lowrie returns from his wrist surgery.
“I told him I’d keep them warm for him,” Ellsbury said.
Jed Lowrie’s bat has been doing plenty of damage in the Red Sox lineup over the past few weeks. Lowrie just hasn’t been the one swinging it.
Jacoby Ellsbury and Lowrie were talking shop in the Red Sox clubhouse the day before Lowrie was set to fly to Arizona to visit the specialist who would recommend and eventually perform surgery on his left wrist.
Ellsbury wasn’t feeling comfortable with his bats. Lowrie handed him one of his. It wasn’t all that different, but it had a little more heft and a little more thickness to the barrel.
“You probably wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference picking it up,” Ellsbury said.
But it was love at first swing.
“Guys do it all the time – they’ll pick it up and it’ll feel better in their hand, and they’ll make a switch,” he said. “It just felt good in my hand, so I decided to test it out.”
More than a month later, Ellsbury is still swinging Lowrie-model lumber. He was hitting .194 with zero extra-base hits when he made the switch; he’s hit .336 with seven doubles, a triple and a home run since. And with a fifth-inning single on Tuesday, Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 14 games, four shy of his career best.
Despite his rough start, Ellsbury now leads the Red Sox and ranks among the American League leaders in hits (50).
“He’s using more of the entire field,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He’s pulling the ball with authority. He’s slapping the ball to left field. He’s hitting the ball up the middle. He’s gotten hits everywhere.”
Said left fielder Jason Bay, “Early on, he was hitting a lot of balls in the air, and now it’s more line drives and hard ground balls. It’s easy to say and not easy to do, but for him, it’s pretty important.”
Even better, Ellsbury has cut down on his strikeouts – a key for a guy who’s a threat to beat out just about any ground ball he hits. He struck out five times in his first 39 plate appearances (12.8 percent) but has fanned just 11 times in 134 plate appearances (8.2 percent) since he made the switch. (He struck out in 13.1 percent of his plate appearances a year ago.)
Among Red Sox regulars, only Dustin Pedroia (6.9 percent) is striking out less frequently than Ellsbury (9.3 percent).
The new lumber itself might not make much of a difference – “I don’t think you’re going to see a guy hit a buck-fifty and switch bats and be a .500 hitter,” Bay said – but anything that helps a hitter feel better about himself at the plate helps him be more productive.
There might even be a few hits left in the bats when Lowrie returns from his wrist surgery.
“I told him I’d keep them warm for him,” Ellsbury said.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Lowrie back, optimistic about wrist rehab
Jed Lowrie was sporting two new accessories when he made his first appearance in the Fenway Park clubhouse since his April 21 wrist surgery: A cast on his left wrist to keep everything immobile while he's not rehabbing -- and a goatee.
Neither is likely to be featured on the bobblehead doll that will be given to Portland SeaDogs fans on June 17; Lowrie, who hadn't yet been told that the promotion was officially on the schedule, said he's just hoping that his bobblehead would be more accurate than that of Jacoby Ellsbury -- a bobblehead that was "righthanded and blond," he said.
Lowrie could see for himself if he wants, but he might not be available. Doctors have told him he'll need between six and eight weeks to recover enough to play again, and June 17 will be the day after he hits the eight-week mark.
For now, he's working on strength and range of motion; he's been getting massages and doing stretching exercises to work on both of those things. If all goes well, he expects to start swinging a bat by the end of the month.
"That's really dependent on how it feels," he said. "That's not something that's they can set in stone; it's really how my body reacts to the operation and the procedure and the rehab."
He had a chance to watch the Red Sox on TV a couple of times while he was in Arizona -- and that often was as much torture as it was fun.
"I want to see how everybody's doing and I want to keep updated," he said, "but it was hard watching. My stomach's churning because I want to be out there."
The big question, of course, remains unanswered: Is the wrist issue that plagued him last fall and into this spring fixed for good?
"You can never be 100 percent sure with surgery," he said. "But I feel confident going forward that what I did was the right decision considering that I tried every other option. I tried rest. I tried rehab. I tried cortisone. They worked, but I don't have the luxury of waiting for six months or a year to let the scar tissue form around that bone. I feel like after all of my options were extinguished, this was the right choice."
In theory, surgery could have fixed the issue over the winter so he wouldn't have to be doing his rehabilitation during the season.
But that's not something he's thinking about now.
"It looks like that now, that it would have been a lot easier to do that then," he said. "But surgery is not something I want to just jump into. I hadn't tried the rehab and rest over the offseason, and that worked. It was getting better. But I didn't have the luxury of waiting as long as it takes for it to completely heal.
"Regretting what I did this offseason is a waste of time at this point. All I can do is go forward from here."
Neither is likely to be featured on the bobblehead doll that will be given to Portland SeaDogs fans on June 17; Lowrie, who hadn't yet been told that the promotion was officially on the schedule, said he's just hoping that his bobblehead would be more accurate than that of Jacoby Ellsbury -- a bobblehead that was "righthanded and blond," he said.
Lowrie could see for himself if he wants, but he might not be available. Doctors have told him he'll need between six and eight weeks to recover enough to play again, and June 17 will be the day after he hits the eight-week mark.
For now, he's working on strength and range of motion; he's been getting massages and doing stretching exercises to work on both of those things. If all goes well, he expects to start swinging a bat by the end of the month.
"That's really dependent on how it feels," he said. "That's not something that's they can set in stone; it's really how my body reacts to the operation and the procedure and the rehab."
He had a chance to watch the Red Sox on TV a couple of times while he was in Arizona -- and that often was as much torture as it was fun.
"I want to see how everybody's doing and I want to keep updated," he said, "but it was hard watching. My stomach's churning because I want to be out there."
The big question, of course, remains unanswered: Is the wrist issue that plagued him last fall and into this spring fixed for good?
"You can never be 100 percent sure with surgery," he said. "But I feel confident going forward that what I did was the right decision considering that I tried every other option. I tried rest. I tried rehab. I tried cortisone. They worked, but I don't have the luxury of waiting for six months or a year to let the scar tissue form around that bone. I feel like after all of my options were extinguished, this was the right choice."
In theory, surgery could have fixed the issue over the winter so he wouldn't have to be doing his rehabilitation during the season.
But that's not something he's thinking about now.
"It looks like that now, that it would have been a lot easier to do that then," he said. "But surgery is not something I want to just jump into. I hadn't tried the rehab and rest over the offseason, and that worked. It was getting better. But I didn't have the luxury of waiting as long as it takes for it to completely heal.
"Regretting what I did this offseason is a waste of time at this point. All I can do is go forward from here."
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Lowrie undergoes surgical procedure containing many big words
Shortstop Jed Lowrie underwent successful surgery on his left wrist in Arizona today and could start swinging a bat again in about six weeks.
"I don't want to get too specific because I can't (because of medical privacy laws)," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said without a hint of irony in his voice. "But I'll give you my version."
Francona then read from a slip of paper in his hand -- and still needed a little help to get through the whole explanation:
* Doctors repaired the scapholunate ligament, the main ligament binding the scaphoid bone to the lunate bone in the lower wrist, the two bones in the wrist closer to the forearm than to the hand. (As if you didn't know that.)
* Doctors also excised the distal end of the ulna styloid in the wrist. No one in the room had any idea what that meant. Good thing he didn't get too specific.
"The big good news for us is that there's no damage to the TFCC (triangular fibrocartilage complex, which is to the wrist what the meniscus is to the knee), which is a potential problem," Francona said. "Everything that was done today puts him right on track to start swinging a bat at six weeks. ...
"Those are some big names that can be explained to you better with medical people. But I think it's exactly what they thought and what they hoped wouldn't be, so that's good news."
***
Outfielder Rocco Baldelli, who tweaked his hamstring going to third on an error on Monday, was placed on the disabled list this afternoon after a conversation with Francona and the team's medical staff.
Jeff Bailey was recalled from Pawtucket to replace Baldelli.
The move adds another righthanded bat but doesn't help much with depth in the outfield; Bailey, like Chris Carter, is a first baseman first and an outfielder second and has virtually no experience playing center field. J.D. Drew, it appears, is the backup center fielder and would move over if anything happened to Jacoby Ellsbury.
"I don't want to get too specific because I can't (because of medical privacy laws)," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said without a hint of irony in his voice. "But I'll give you my version."
Francona then read from a slip of paper in his hand -- and still needed a little help to get through the whole explanation:
* Doctors repaired the scapholunate ligament, the main ligament binding the scaphoid bone to the lunate bone in the lower wrist, the two bones in the wrist closer to the forearm than to the hand. (As if you didn't know that.)
* Doctors also excised the distal end of the ulna styloid in the wrist. No one in the room had any idea what that meant. Good thing he didn't get too specific.
"The big good news for us is that there's no damage to the TFCC (triangular fibrocartilage complex, which is to the wrist what the meniscus is to the knee), which is a potential problem," Francona said. "Everything that was done today puts him right on track to start swinging a bat at six weeks. ...
"Those are some big names that can be explained to you better with medical people. But I think it's exactly what they thought and what they hoped wouldn't be, so that's good news."
***
Outfielder Rocco Baldelli, who tweaked his hamstring going to third on an error on Monday, was placed on the disabled list this afternoon after a conversation with Francona and the team's medical staff.
Jeff Bailey was recalled from Pawtucket to replace Baldelli.
The move adds another righthanded bat but doesn't help much with depth in the outfield; Bailey, like Chris Carter, is a first baseman first and an outfielder second and has virtually no experience playing center field. J.D. Drew, it appears, is the backup center fielder and would move over if anything happened to Jacoby Ellsbury.
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