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August 17, 2007
Sean McAdam joins us for another version of projo SoxTalk today, as the Red Sox prepare to begin a big four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. Click here to listen to the audio file. The topics of conversation: today's pitching matchups, Dustin Pedroia's Rookie of the Year candidacy, MLB's decision to forgive Jason Giambi, and the 40th anniversary of Tony Conigliaro's gruesome injury at Fenway Park.
Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments. By the way, I want to correct something that I said to Sean -- the anniversary of the Conigliaro play is tomorrow, not today:
On the Rookie of the Year competition: "The number of rookies who have an impact on teams every year seems to grow exponentially. You used to kind of get used to guys getting a lot of playing time for second-division teams ... because they were not in contention and they could afford to run some young players out there. But now, I think in part because of the economics of the game, where even a team with a big payroll like the Red Sox at $135 or $140 million or so sees the value in having one of their starters be a 380,000 a year player. ... I think it's going to be a very close balloting between the pitchers on the Red Sox [Okajima and Matsuzaka], [the Angels' Reggie] Willits and [the Devil Rays' Delmon] Young and Pedroia, and I'm sure one or two others as the season plays out. But it's a pretty crowded and competitve field."
MLB's decision not to suspend Giambi: "I think it's probably the smart thing to do for Bud Selig, because otherwise you'd be sending the message that if you have information to give us that would help us to sort through this mess, we're going to take it and then we are going to turn around and discipline you and punish you for your past involvement in steroids or other enhancements. I think some of these guys need to have the signal that there's a statute of limitations in place here, and that they're not going to be putting themselves in any sort of professional or legal liability or risk by coming clean when they're asked the question."
On Conigliaro: "Everyone remembers that grotesque picture of Conigliaro in the hospital with his eye totally black, and the seams of the baseball visible still a couple of days after. It was as sickening a feeling as you can get. ... Of course the thought that we continue to have some 40 years later is, what sort of career might Tony C. have had? There are people, including Jim Palmer, who believe that Conigliaro -- given his power, the ballpark in which he played and his youth -- was going to be a 500-plus home-run hitter by the time his career was over, and maybe even someone who would threaten the all-time home run record."
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 11:10 AM to McAdam
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