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Projo SoxTalk: Lester back in Boston next week?

Today's guest on Projo SoxTalk with Art Martone is Steve Krasner, who is down in Baltimore for tonight's scheduled game with the Orioles. We say scheduled because the forecast is for steady rain tonight at Camden Yards, so this short two-game series might become even shorter. Barring an unlikely decision to call a double-header tomorrow, a rainout tonight would probably mean the Sox would throw Beckett, Matsuzaka and Wakefield this weekend in New York, rather than Matsuzaka, Wakefield and Tavarez.

Speaking of Tavarez, Art and Steve spoke a little bit about his precarious position in the rotation following last night's rough start against Toronto. Here's what they said:

Martone: I know you weren't at the game last night, but [Tavarez] didn't really pitch that well, and there's a lot of talk now that his spot in the rotation might be in jeopardy.

Krasner: Yeah, I mean, I would think that talk would come up, because with Lester now pitching for Pawtucket -- 85 pitches I believe he's supposed to throw tonight and then one more start, and then his rehab is actually up, so they'd have to make a designation. They'd have to send him somewhere, so who knows, in a week or so Lester could be in the rotation in Boston.

Martone: That's right. In fact, [the PawSox game will start shortly after noon from Rochester], we're going to have the game on the blog, so we'll be blogging that, but one of the interesting things about this was last night they switched [Lester] back to next Tuesday rather than Monday, which is his normal day, and one of the reasons they did that we believe was that it gets him into the Tavarez spot in the rotation.

Krasner: Ah, well there you go. And what that would also do, though, is actually help out the bullpen, because I think Tavarez could be a more effective relief pitcher than some of the guys they have there.

Krasner and Martone also discuss what's going on with Wily Mo Pena. Click here to listen to the full audio file.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:18 AM to Krasner , Martone | Permalink