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July 6, 2007
Jeff Bailey, 28, is in his 11th professional baseball season, but tonight he will be spending his first night in the big leagues.
Bailey, as expected, had his contract purchased by Boston from Pawtucket and is in the starting lineup, at first base. Bailey has swapped Red Sox roster spots with outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. Bailey had to be added to the organization's 40-man big-league roster and that spot was opened up by pushing rehabbing right-hander Matt Clement to the 60-day disabled list.
The call-up news took Bailey surprise, especially since it was given to him by Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson at a truck stop between Scranton and Rochester at 1:30 this morning on the PawSox' road trip.
"I was getting a gumball out of the machine. I put the gumball in my mouth and RJ told me and I told him he was lying to me and walked away. He had to tell me a second time," said Bailey a few minutes ago.
To say the news shocked Bailey is an understatement.
"If you had my numbers, wouldn't you be surprised, too? It came out of nowhere," asked a smiling Bailey, who was batting a mere .250 with 9 homers and 40 RBI in 74 games for the PawSox.
There have been times when Bailey, who also has been in the Florida and Montreal organizations, thought this big-league day would never come.
"But getting to play baseball every day at any level is better than going back to school or working in the paper mill at home. I'm still having fun. That's what it's all about. This (promotion) means a lot. Rather than say I played 15-20 years in the minor leagues, now I can say I played 15-20 years in the minor leagues but I made it to the big leagues. And especially being able to say I made it with the Red Sox means a lot more. This is pretty special," he said.
There is no timetable on the length of Bailey's stay in the big leagues. It may be only for these three days in Detroit as the Red Sox try to protect Kevin Youkilis (left quadriceps strain) and feature Bailey's right-handed bat in the lineup (Bailey was batting .301 against left-handers in Pawtucket).
But Boston manager Terry Francona has liked Bailey's swing since first seeing him in camp as a non-roster player in 2005. Welcoming him to the big leagues is a lot better than sending him back to the minor-league camp, which is what Francona has done the last three springs.
"That's pretty cool to be able to do this," said Francona. "We wouldn't make decisions on "pretty cool," but it is, there's no denying it."
-- Steven Krasner
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 4:31 PM | Permalink
