For Varitek, position and age are enough to push him slightly into the yellow. he only red light on the team is prodigal DH Ellis Burks as a platooned DH, he's also very unlikely to play so much that he injures himself. Kim's yellow light is cautionary, but again, like last year, there is a greater chance of him breaking out than breaking down. Four years removed from his shoulder surgery, Schilling may surprise people by being a green light player. Baseball Prospectus's PECOTA projection for the AL East: Team Record RS RA Diff Deficitĭevil Rays 64-98 712 900 -188 -454Will Carroll has BP's Red Sox Team Health Report: "Pedro gets a yellow light based on injury history, but honestly, he's much less likely than last year to come up lame. Epstein said he pretty much spent the entire 2002-03 off-season pursuing Kim before acquiring him in late May for Shea Hillenbrand.įrom e.e gammings: "For those Red Sox fans that marvel at what may be the best pitching staff in the game, but fear that pitchers like Tim Wakefield, Derek Lowe - who is so focused on his job that he can never remember to sell his used frog on EBay - and Scott Williamson might get overused so much their arms turn into rhinos, Boston had only nine games in the last four weeks in which they didn't use at least three pitchers.
Maybe they'll be down on him if they go on and lose the World Series and maybe we can trade for him.'". I was watching the game with a couple friends and said, 'Maybe this could be an opportunity. I remember when he gave up those bombs to the Yankees in the World Series. Until he does, we'll all be very anxious to see what he does. He hasn't gone out and done it in that role. Theo Epstein on Byung-Hyun Kim: "He definitely is an X-factor for us because his ceiling is so high.
Colby Cosh created a 2-D projection of the K/Inn, BB/Inn and HR/Inn of each ERA qualifying pitcher from 2003. Jeff at The House That Dewey Built looks at the AL East's catchers. El Guapo's Ghost wonders what that means for Jason Varitek. What if all those guys who had 'career years' in 2003 fall short in 2004?"Ī few weeks ago, Rob Neyer reported that the performance of baseball's 10 greatest hitting catchers dropped a cumulative 31% from age 28-31 to 32-35. Articles We Never Finished Reading: "If you're a Boston Red Sox fan, you worry. Dirt Dogs has an excerpt from Rob Bradford's book "Chasing Steinbrenner: Pursuing the Pennant in Boston and Toronto.".
Chat with Jerry Remy tonight 7:30 pm.īlogWatch: Alex Belth of Bronx Banter presents a two- part roundtable on the 2004 Yankees with Larry Mahnken (Replacement Level Yankees Weblog), Tim Marchman (New York Sun), Buster Olney (ESPN), Alan Schwarz (Baseball America, ESPN), Joe Sheehan (Baseball Prospectus), Joel Sherman (New York Post) and Glenn Stout (Author of Red Sox Century and Yankees Century). If it weren't for bad luck, Bryce Florie would have no luck at all. Pokey Reese talks about growing up poor in Columbia, South Carolina. It's the emotional ride fans went through from the start to finish, with humor and pathos."Ĭurt Schilling is working on his relationship with Jason Varitek as much as his pitching arsenal, which now includes a cut fastball. from the time tickets went on sale, through Opening Day, watching games at home or listening on the radio. Team VP Charles Steinberg: "It is the story of the season through the eyes of about six fans. Pitching coachs Dave Wallace and Mike Griffin (Pawtucket) have nothing but praise for Arroyo.īombo Productions, a New York City sports and entertainment company, was given special access to the Red Sox last year and its as-yet-untitled film about the 2003 season may be in theaters by Opening Day.
Arroyo's first thought when told he'd be facing the Yankees next Sunday? "All right, Terry wants to see what I've got right off the bat.'". Schilling's throwing BBs, Pedro's got 3 pitches working already, Nomar's spraying the ball to right field, Manny looks fierce, and we got Jesus Christ playing centerfield. This time I felt like I could do that, I had the luxury to do that." It's the first time ever that I threw breaking balls on the first time out on the mound. I got a little bit excited today and I actually threw all three pitches and all three seemed to be pretty comfortable. I thought I was going to be more divorced from the mound than I was. For so long without actually touching the mound, I thought it was great. Quality of the stuff after that considerable layoff? In the opinion of, "ridiculous." Martinez threw 49 pitches from the bullpen late Sunday morning and the results were typically sparkling. "For the first time in 135 days, Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez stepped on a pitcher's mound and threw a baseball.