Report from the Fort: Gerry attends Spring Training

Gerry is making the rounds at spring training, as he tends to do ever year. What’s different about this year is that the Red Sox credentialed Fire Brand for one game, which Gerry used for the Baltimore Orioles game Monday. Here one of multiple reports from Fort Myers to come.

With City of Palms Park silent, I drove to the beautiful new Twins stadium and practice fields where the minor leagues of the Red Sox and Twins squared off in the second in a series of nine games which started St. Patrick’s Day and ends April 3. The temperature was in the low 60s with a cold wind blowing off the Gulf at least 20 mph. It was a day for jackets and hoodies, with sparkling blue skies and fast-moving clouds.

Ellsbury and the devil

As we enter 2010 the Red Sox have made large strides to lock up the core of their young players through their arbitration and early free agency years. That raises the question why the Red Sox have apparently made no attempts to start talks to extend him through arbitration starting next season.

Obviously from the title I think the first reason is his agent. Scott Boras as of 2005 had a league average winning percentage in arbitration according to this THT article by Dave Studman. So there isn’t a reason to think he will be tougher to handle in front of an arbitrator. As usual though it will be tough to address his free agency years with Boras who stands strong for getting his clients to free agency as soon as possible.

Perhaps we think Elsbury will be different, but there is a reason he signed with Boras and it won’t be easy. We all know Theo Epstein likes to avoid arbitration, but will he want to lock up Ellsbury and can he? While we make a lot of comments here about Ellsbury’s defense and inability to walk it’s pretty sure the Red Sox think Ellsbury can be the 3.4 WAR player from 2008 again.

Tim Wakefield returns to the bullpen

While Tim Wakefield continues to stand for a spot in the starting rotation as he continues to try for the wins record as a Red Sox pitcher. At this date the Red Sox are ready to give the five starter spots to Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka. That leaves Wakefield asking for a job that doesn’t exist right now. It’s always possible that an injury or other change opens a spot, but I want to suggest why Wakefield might be better served as a reliever.

Since 1993 Wakefield has made 62 appearances as a reliever with an ERA of 3.75 in that role. While that sample size is fairly small there is plenty to see that is encouraging. The most obvious change is a spike in strikeouts, which occurs when most pitchers change from starter to reliever. His K/9 in the starter role has been 5.9, but in the reliever role he holds a 7.9.

The benefits of a knuckle ball pitcher are a drop in BABIP, which he has a consistent rate of .275 as a starter and a reliever. This benefit will be beneficial as his K/BB was a poor 1.76 as a starter and a slightly above average 2.16 as a reliever. This helps him beat his FIP in both roles.

AL Central Sleepers

In a division packed about as tightly as a can be, the emergence or decline of a single player can mean the difference between a playoff berth and an early end to the season.

With the AL Central race as wide open as any division in the MLB, each team will be counting on the contributions of every player on the roster – and praying for the breakout of their sleeper prospects. And, when it comes to those, there is certainly no shortage of potential breakout players.

Cleveland Indians

SP Justin Masterson: Though we could have gone with OF Matt LaPorta here, it just wouldn’t have been as fun as picking the home-grown talent.

Everyone in the Boston metro-area familiar with Masterson – or “Monsterson,” as some like to call him – and his impeccable set of offerings. The 6-6, 250 lb behemoth was the centerpiece that brought Victor Martinez over the Sox, paired with stud reliever Nick Hagadone.

A hefty price tag befitting of the elite catcher, Masterson now turns his sights toward the AL Central as the Indians’ number three starter…

Pawtucket Red Sox manager Torey Lovullo eager to get started

Over the years, the Boston Red Sox have established a track record of promoting from within the organization.

That wasn’t the case when it came time to name a new manager for the Pawtucket Red Sox, after the garrulous Ron Johnson was promoted to Boston as the Red Sox’ first base coach.

The Red Sox reached out to the Cleveland Indians and scooped up Torey Lovullo, who was with that organization for nine years.

“His communication ability, his ability to develop relationships with the players and his teaching ability are the three things we feel very strongly about,” Boston’s director of player development Mike Hazen said while explaining the thought process that went into hiring Lovullo. “He’s a very good baseball man.”

“I’ve known him for about 10 years. We feel very confident that Torey’s the right guy to develop our players and help them reach the next level.”