August 26, 2009

Wagner Will Join Sox Thursday; Lowell Makes Doubles History

ADDED: a bit on Josh Papelbon.

Theo Epstein on Billy Wagner, who will join the team on Thursday:
We were looking to add another left-handed reliever ... Coming off [elbow ligament replacement] surgery, we understand there are limitations, but we think with the depth of our bullpen, with rosters expanding in September, that's something we can manage around ... We think he's going to help. There's no guarantee of present benefit or future benefit, but there's a chance for both.
And Theo on Jonathan Papelbon's recent comments about adding Wagner:
[He] went out of his way to make sure Billy knew that he was more than welcome here ... I think Pap feels like he was misunderstood. He's not a Rhodes Scholar to begin with, obviously.
Mike "Dr. Doubles" Lowell's fourth inning two-bagger last night gave him 25 or more doubles in each of his last 10 seasons, the longest-ever such streak for a third baseman. George Brett, Wade Boggs, Brooks Robinson and Harlond Clift each had nine seasons in a row.

Jed Lowrie has gone 3-for-8 with three home runs in two rehab games with Pawtucket.
Example
Terry Francona:
[Monday] night on the way home, it was a late night, we were talking about the Wagner stuff and all that, Victor [Martinez] is texting me at 1:15, saying, "Let me play [on Tuesday]". I finally wrote back and I said, "Leave me alone, you'll come in, pinch hit and get the game-winning hit." And he said, "OK, good night."
Martinez's pinch-hit single in the seventh tied the game, and he added an RBI double in the eighth for some insurance.
Example
Papelbon says his younger brother, Josh (who is a 26-year-old reliever for Salem (A)), is unhappy at not being promoted -- he has not allowed an earned run in seven of his last 10 outings and has an ERA of 3.32 -- and wants to pitch for a different organization. Bot: "We've talked to Theo about it. It's already out in the open. ... He's ready to move on."

10 comments:

johngoldfine said...

Gotta figure out how to link--thought I had it!

Here's the post without my feeble html.

"He's not a Rhodes Scholar to begin with, obviously."

Theo is a smart guy--why do something as gratuitously dumb as call Bot a dummy? After all, even David Vitter is a Rhodes Scholar!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vitter.com

Anonymous said...

Good Lord. Is there a worse possible advocate for a young pitcher than Jonathan Papelbon?

"Why are you promoting my brother yet?"

Patrick said...

I can imagine it would be worth it for Theo to trade Pap this offseason, for this reason alone.

laura k said...

If we want and need Bot on the team, he should stay despite his stupid flapping mouth. If not, then ship him out. Whatever Theo does or doesn't do, he should do it on baseball considerations only.

An unkind remark by Theo, but I think Papelbon had it coming. Obviously Theo is smart, and he's striking back at Papelbon where he thinks it might hurt.

John:

[a href="URL HERE"]link name[/a]

and substitute < > for the square brackets.

johngoldfine said...

thx, l-girl--i'll save that....

I don't doubt that he had the remark coming, just that it was injudicious to insult him. I'm thinking of myself getting back to work next week and of the absolute need to ride herd on my mouth. I just can't say every snappy thing that comes to mind if I want to work with my students. As everyone is suggesting, maybe Theo no longer wants to work with Bot....

allan said...

I did not see anything malicious in the comment. I did not hear Theo say it, but I'm thinking it was a off-hand paranthetical remark, said with a wink and smile. Though he could certainly have not been pleased with Bot's comments; MDC's were a bit less pointed.

allan said...

I just can't say every snappy thing that comes to mind ...

In game threads, however ...

Zenslinger said...

said with a wink and smile

Not having heard the audio, I would tend to agree. There has been lots of joking from Terry about Papelbon not being so smart, Pedroia's baldness and height. Why not from Theo? It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say when you're trying to calm the waves, but I doubt he'd make a dig at Papelbon in public to hurt him.

9casey said...

L-girl said...
Whatever Theo does or doesn't do, he should do it on baseball considerations only.




RE: Manny and Nomar

allan said...

I would argue the decision on Nomar was very baseball-related.