« Baseball Today: Monday, July 23
Main
Giambi resumes batting practice »
July 23, 2007
Sean McAdam joins us once again today for another edition of projo SoxTalk (Mike McDermott is filling in for Art Martone for the next two weeks while Art is on vacation). Click here to listen to the full audio file. Sean discusses a good weekend for the Red Sox offense, David Ortiz's shoulder injury, tonight's season debut of Jon Lester, and the trade rumors involving Wily Mo Pena and Salomon Torres.
Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments:
Good news for the Sox' offense: "It certainly seems as if, if the first 10 games into the second half is any inidcation, that Manny Ramirez is ready to get on one of his hot streaks, and that couldn't come at a better time, first because he's always important in that lineup, and second because they're going to have to do without David Ortiz for the next couple of days."
On Ortiz's strained shoulder: "There's a fear that this is something that could linger if they don't give it enough time, which is why I don't think you'll see him until at least Wednesday or Thursday, and it wouldn't surprise me if they kept him out of the entire Cleveland series to have him ready to go for the weekend in Tampa Bay. ... The last thing they want is for this to further inhibit his swing for the final two-plus months of the season."
On the news of Lester's call-up: "I was a little surprised ... I think it was kind of a confluence of events. You've got Julian Tavarez struggling to not win a game over his last five starts, with an E.R.A. of about 6, and they saw this as the opportunity to give Lester a couple of starts. I don't think it necessarily is anything permanent, because when Curt Schilling returns to the rotation in early August, probably the sixth in Anaheim ... they're going to have to choose between Gabbard and Lester."
On the Pena-for-Torres rumors: "In a lot of ways that makes sense. I'm not sure that Pena is enough, because I've heard the Pirates have a perhaps unrealistic expectation level as to what they can get for Torres, but I do know that the Red Sox are interested."
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 11:30 AM to McAdam
| Permalink
john burns | July 23, 2007 3:22 PM link
Gabbard is a perfect left handed ground ball pitcher for Fenway Park so Lester has to be very good in order to stay on the roster when Schilling comes back. However, there is no such thing as too much pitching.