*official 2007 red sox thread*

[NT!]

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Tavarez skipped due to the rainout, good to get some rest for everyone early in the season and see the starters going deep and saving the pen.

How many losses do we give Tavarez before giving Snyder a shot or calling someone up? Personally I'd like to see Hansack get the next shot if Tavarez blows it, looks like they're trying to trade Snyder anyway (showcasing him out of the pen a lot). Hansack has picked up right where he left off last year in AAA. He's not getting any younger (he's 29) so it's time to [censored] or get off the proverbial pot IMHO.

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agreed on hansack, but i doubt they'd call him up from now until the time jon lester is ready, forcing a release (if i am not mistaken, papelbon and pedroia are the only ones left w/ options, and neither are going anywhere). with the rainouts, tavarez will only get 2(?) more starts until lester's target return, thats acceptable.

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Where are you getting a targeted return for Lester any time before the ASB? He hasn't even moved back to AAA yet. They'll be retesting him to make sure the cancer's not back around the end of April. With how disastrous the Hansen and MDC callups were last year, I'd be surprised to see the Sox rush Lester back.

Re: making room for Hansack. As I said I think the Sox will trade Snyder sometime in the near future, or if Tavarez isn't working out they may deal him. I'm still holding out hope for a Lowell/Tavarez/B-prospect for Helton deal, but that probably won't happen.

It's also pretty likely that somebody will end up on the DL before May, either for real or not, in which case I'd expect to see Hansack come up for sure. He did well in his brief ML stint and he is just eating AAA alive right now.

It's hard to judge Lester's callup last year - other than to say he has got balls of titanium and I love the kid to death - because who knows how much the cancer was affecting him. However I'd like to see him get his BB/9 under 4 in AAA ball for a while before he gets called up again. He needed 100 pitches to get through 5 innings almost every time out last year, which just isn't going to work.

I would hope (and expect) to see both Hansack and Lester this year. Probably Hansack first. If somebody gets hurt we have both of those guys who can step in and compete as MLB starters, and Hansack can also move to the pen if need be.

[gehrig]

hansack has been sick so far this year but its just 10 IP and he wasnt great in AA last year. pecota thought he was terrible a month ago

his track record is so short that every single great AAA start he has really increases his stock. ppl loved him in spring training apparently altho he still didnt make the team

[NT!]

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hansack has been sick so far this year but its just 10 IP and he wasnt great in AA last year. pecota thought he was terrible a month ago

his track record is so short that every single great AAA start he has really increases his stock. ppl loved him in spring training apparently altho he still didnt make the team

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He looked great last year in his late-season callup as well. He's such a weird case (out of pro ball for a while etc) that I'm not sure Pecota knows quite what to make of him.

The problem this spring with young guys making the team was there were too many older guys, guys with guaranteed contracts, guys who are friends with Manny, Rule 5 guys we have to keep or lose, etc. Corey probably deserved to make the club too, as did Hansack. And Lopez pitched well before he got sent down. It was just a question of who had options.

Snyder has showed flashes but I'm not optimistic, I think their best bet is to trade him and that's what they're working on. Romero and Pineiro are probably junk and at least one will be DFA'd or traded before the ASB.

What I like about calling up Hansack is that he's old (29), he's hot right now and most of the league hasn't seen him before. He's not a prized prospect, so if you call him up and he falls apart, oh well. So give him a shot and send him back down if he sucks.

[zer0]

re: lester's return

a couple places have mentioned that after 4 rehab starts, he is going to be "re-evaluated":

from a gordon edes chat:

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Tito said Jon should be up to 80-85 pitches by the 20th of April, and then I would think the team will have a decision to make. Do you put him on Pawtucket, or do you pass "Go" and bring him directly to the big leagues?

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http://chats.boston.com/n/pfx/forum....=bc-gordonedes

from the herald:

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Lester will be making the first of four planned starts for Greenville before having his status reevaluated. The lefty is due to pitch four innings in each of his first two starts for the Drive, followed by five frames in the next two outings.

“Before he knows it, by April 20, he’ll be up to about 85 pitches, so he’ll be OK,” manager Terry Francona said.

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http://redsox.bostonherald.com/redSo...ticleid=192960

another thing of note is that he is not actually in the minors, he is officially on rehab assignment while being on the 25 day DL. he can't just sit down there forever, if they want him to stay past the maximum rehab days, they have to use one of the option years on him, which they apparently do not want to do.

[gehrig]

i really hope they put lester in aaa. he wasn't very good last year in AAA or the majors and then he got cancer. i think putting him in the rotation right away is just setting him up to fail.

[gehrig]

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another thing of note is that he is not actually in the minors, he is officially on rehab assignment while being on the 25 day DL. he can't just sit down there forever, if they want him to stay past the maximum rehab days, they have to use one of the option years on him, which they apparently do not want to do.

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i dont think this matters

if the sox ever regret not having another option on lester, then lester will have never turned into a good pitcher and he would've sucked this year.

[zer0]

i dont really think it matters either, but why not just option him from the get go? they're paying him more to be on the ml roster (maybe thats the reason? good gesture?)

edit: also, the "if he's not ready by ___ then he's a bust" isn't really fair, its always good to still have option years (especially for a kid coming back from cancer).

what happens next year if manny delcarmen is having a big spring, but the team is scrambling cause he's out of options? is it "tough [censored], your fault"?

[gehrig]

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i dont really think it matters either, but why not just option him from the get go? they're paying him more to be on the ml roster (maybe thats the reason? good gesture?)

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this was my first guess too

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edit: also, the "if he's not ready by ___ then he's a bust" isn't really fair, its always good to still have option years (especially for a kid coming back from cancer).

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well sure all things being equal you'd rather have another option, but if he's not ready to stick in the majors in 2009 then he's just another JD Durbin and the sox pick up a couple JD Durbins for free every season

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what happens next year if manny delcarmen is having a big spring, but the team is scrambling cause he's out of options? is it "tough [censored], your fault"?

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i don't think that's a very good comparison. delcarmen is a pretty good major league right now IMO, so if the sox lose him they'll have really screwed up.

[NT!]

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well sure all things being equal you'd rather have another option, but if he's not ready to stick in the majors in 2009 then he's just another JD Durbin and the sox pick up a couple JD Durbins for free every season


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i agree in general about the option but i think there's a big difference between lester and a guy like durbin, or even hansack for that matter. lester's 23 and he's already shown he can get ML hitters out. he basically needs to get his BB/9 down, get a little more consistency and he's a good bet to stick. if he gets called up later in the year and does no better than last year, i'm not THAT worried. he's still very young, he was called up too soon last year, and he's recovering from f'in CANCER. whereas hansack and durbin are guys who have intriguing stuff, but they're both a good bit older and have had multiple setbacks or obstacles.

lester is also a lefty which definitely counts for something. a left handed starter who can throw 93, walk and chew gum will have a hard time not finding a job somewhere.

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i don't think that's a very good comparison. delcarmen is a pretty good major league right now IMO, so if the sox lose him they'll have really screwed up.

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judging from his peripherals, delcarmen got fairly unlucky last year in some regards. but i'm pretty sure he was also the worst in the majors at stranding inherited runners. i don't think either he or hansen was ready, and now hansen's head seems to be even more screwed up. watching him in spring training was painful. between those guys and meredith complaining about the coaching after he was traded, i have been less than thrilled with the sox' use of young pitching. as i said, i think lester got called up too early too. papelbon has been the only big success so far (albeit a huge one).

delcarmen's got major league stuff for sure. i thought, and continue to think, he's more promising than hansen. but he's not close to being mentally ready.

[Scary_Tiger]

Very solid game all around, as we make quite the homestand, outscoring our west coast opponents 39-9 over 5 games, never allowing more than 3 runs, and only losing to Felix's great game.