Red Sox Update: Yankees Make a Big Deal
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Why is this bad news for the Red Sox? Because Pettitte only gives the Yankees more options for their starting rotation in 2012. New York already has CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova, Freddy Garcia, Michael Pineda and Phil Hughes battling for spots in their 5-man rotation.
Does Boston have the arms to hang with both the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East race this year? Time will tell.
Bobby Valentine chimed in on Pettite’s return saying that he thought it gave the Yankees more depth for their starting rotation. But Valentine also predicted that Pettitte won’t be the same pitcher he was when he last took the mound in 2010. “I don’t think he’s coming back to where he was,” Valentine said. “Call it a hunch. But he’s a good pitcher. Always respected Andy, always thought it was a borderline Hall of Famer. Add someone like that to your staff and you’re doing good.”
NOTES:
-Carl Crawford swung the bat Friday and reported no pain in his injured left wrist. Given the setback Crawford suffered earlier this spring, he will be forced to take things as a much more deliberate pace this time around so as to prevent another setback.
-Diasuke Matsuzaka (elbow) threw live batting practice Friday and apparently looked good while doing so. Dice-K had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow last year and is not expected to return until sometime around the All-Star break this year.
-Rookie shortstop Jose Iglesias was supposed to be back in the line-up Friday night in Boston’s Grapefruit League game against the Minnesota Twins. Iglesias has missed 5 days of action due to a strained groin. Unfortunately, Iglesias was not moving well in the pregame warm-ups so Valentine decided to hold him out once again.
-The Red Sox made some moves Friday optioning both Will Middlebrooks (3B) and Che-Hsuan Lin (OF) to Triple-A Pawtucket. The team also sent Oscar Tejeda (2B) and Drake Britton (LHP) to Double-A Portland.
-According to Baseball America, Boston also made a very interesting signing Friday adding hard-throwing pitcher Simon Mercedes to the organization. The Sox signed him to a 1-year deal worth $800,000. The interesting thing about Mercedes is that he tried to pass himself off as “Jeffrey Tapia” when he signed a contract with the San Francisco Giants. He also claimed to be 2 years younger than he was. Major League Baseball found out and voided his contract and suspended him for 1 year. That suspension ended on Wednesday. Mercedes is said to have a plus fastball that tops out in the mid to high 90’s as well as a good breaking ball.
-It was not a good night for Jon Lester Friday who needed a whopping 81 pitches to make it through 4 innings of work against the Twins. He allowed 5 hits, 2 earned runs, walked 1, struck out 1 and hit two batters. If you had to describe his performance in one word, it would have to be “ugly.”
-Closer Andrew Bailey pitched a perfect 6th inning striking out 2 of the 3 Twins he faced.
-Lars Anderson also played left field as Valentine predicted he would at some point this camp.
-Once again, the hot-hitting Pedro Ciriaco had a hit and a run scored. The short stop who signed a minor league deal with the team is batting .588 this spring.
-The Red Sox lost to the Twins 2-1 preventing them from clinching the Fort Myers Mayor’s Cup.
-With today being St. Patrick’s Day, expect the Red Sox to be sporting their Kelly green uniforms when they play split squad games against the Baltimore Orioles in Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale.
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