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October 24, 2007
Click here to listen to today's edition of projo SoxTalk with Sean McAdam. The topics: the Rockies' past success against Josh Beckett; how to tell if the Rockies are rusty; what to expect from Jeff Francis; surprises on the Sox' postseason roster; the disappointing finish to Tim Wakefield's season; and how the Red Sox are preparing Jon Lester to return to the starting rotation.
Following are excerpts from Sean's comments.
How to tell if the Rockies are rusty: "I think it almost might manifest itself in an opposite form. You might see their hitters being a little more aggressive than they normally would -- swinging early in the count, trying to make things happen -- almost that excess energy that you have when you've had a week and a half-long layoff. ... But I think that once they get into the flow of the game, get through the first inning, you'll probably see that start to settle down."
Postseason roster surprises: "I guess it wouldn't have shocked me, from a talent standpoint, had they replaced Doug Mirabelli with Kevin Cash, who I believe the Red Sox regard as a better catch-and-throw guy than Doug Mirabelli. Obviously Mirabelli's value to the Red Sox is often linked to Tim Wakefield, who will not be on the roster now. I think that maybe that was somewhat of a political move, in that Mirabelli is a popular veteran who's been around a number of years, and it might have been tough to take him off the World Series roster. ... The other one, obviously, is adding the pitcher to replace Wakefield -- they went with Kyle Snyder; I think most people would have expected that spot would have gone to Julian Tavarez. But interestingly, Tavarez was apparently not at the ballpark yesterday. Whether there are some personal issues, whether he was told he would not be on the roster and was upset -- I'm merely speculating there -- but I think the fact that they went with Snyder over Tavarez was something of an upset."
Wakefield: "He's 41 years old, this is his second opportunity to be part of a World Series team, and while he will obviously be part of that team, he won't be taking part in the games. And for someone whose career is probably starting to wind down, although knuckleballers have a history of being able to pitch into their mid-40s, it was a huge blow. He was pretty upset about not being able to compete in the Division Series, but I think that he thought, and so did the Red Sox, that if he took that time off, it would help him later on, and it turned out it did not. The shoulder continues to bother him, and there was a question of, if he made one start, could he make another five days later. And the consensus seemed to be that was unlikely. So it was a tough decision for them and tough for him. I think it's probably the right move for the team, but you could see that he was in a lot of emotional pain yesterday."
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 10:51 AM to McAdam
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