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Projo SoxTalk with Sean McAdam

Today, Sean discusses Terry Francona's new contract, the Bartolo Colon acquisition, and the prospects for Jed Lowrie. Click the play button below to see and hear the show; we'll post a transcript of Sean's comments later.

TRANSCRIPT

On Francona's extension: "Certainly it wasn't anyting that they wanted to have dragon once the seaon began, or even later into the exhibition season here, so they took the opportunity when it's a litte quieter in the first couple of weeks to get it taken care of. It was said to be a priority of ownership after the World Series win last October, and as these things tend to do, it got put off and really kind of came together over that last week, where they narrrowed some differences and were able to get it done first thing Sunday morning. I think everyone's glad that it's off the plate and they have Francona under control for as many as six more years, if they wish: the final year of the existing deal, three years that are guaranteed and then two additional team options. So it's conceivable that Terry Francona could be the manager of this team all the way through 2013, which would be quite a run for any franchise, but particularly this one."

What should we expect from Colon, and what are his chances of making the team at some point? " think that second one is very difficult to answer, Mike. He has not done a lot in the last three weeks since pitching in the Caribbean World Series, so they kind of have to start him from scratch, from long toss to bullpen sessions to live BP and then ultimately in some games later this month. But it's a project that they think is worthwhile, given that only three years ago this was the American Cy Young Award winner. The last two years he's been limited by injuries and ... I don't think his conditioning is probably going to be working in his favor here. The Red Sox are braced for the fact that he's going to be pretty big. I think the Red Sox have been told as much as a preemptive warning. But he's always been a guy, as Theo Epstein said yesterday, that pitches with a pretty big body and it hasn't affected him. My only comment to that would be, it gets a little difficult as you get into your mid to late 30s to carry that excessive weight. We've seen guys that have struggled with it, guys like Sid Fernandez with the Mets back in the 80s and early 90s, that got so big that he was putting additional stress on his knees, and you know, it becomes problematic. You can get away with that in your 20s; as you get older it makes it tougher."

What does Jed Lowrie need to do to get to the big leagues? "Well, I think it's really just playing time and experience. He's had a pretty quick rise through the organization, last year was at both Double A, then finished up in Triple A the last couple of months. I think the problem with him is that there is no obvious in the immediate future opening for him. You've got Dustin Pedroia, who was the Rookie of the Year last year, is going to be the second baseman for some time. You've got Julio Lugo, who's got three years left plus some options on his long-term deal, and you've got Mike Lowell, who just signed a three-year extension. So the three positions that Lowrie could conceivably help out in are spoken for for the time being, and so for that matter is the utility spot of Alex Cora, who the Red Sox love. He's got a two-year deal that is up after this year, but i think the Red Sox would be very much interested in bringing him back and having him fill that role, so you wonder if there's much of a future here for Lowrie, or if he gets put in a deal. His name certainly came up quite a bit in the offseason in the Johan Santana talks, so it will be interesting to see where he fits in, if at all. But the Red Sox like him; in fact francona the other day was making some comparisons to Dustin Pedroia: they both played at Pac-10 schools, they're both middle infielders and they're both pretty polished players. But the tough part, as I said, is figuring out where Lowrie fits in in the immediate future here."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 1:00 PM to Projo SoxTalk with Sean McAdam | Permalink

Lineups for Thursday announced

The Sox have announced their lineups and pitching plans for Thursday's day-night doubleheader against Boston College and Northeastern.

Against BC, it will be:

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
David Ortiz DH
Mike Lowell 3B
Jason Varitek C
Kevin Youkilis 1B
Julio Lugo SS
Bobby Kielty RF
Brandon Moss LF

The pitchers vs BC:
Justin Masterson
Craig Hansen
Craig Breslow
Hunter Jones
Kyle Jackson

For the night game against Northeastern, here's the lineup:

Coco Crisp CF
Alex Cora 2B
J.D. Drew RF
Manny Ramirez LF
Sean Casey 1B
Chris Carter DH
Doug Mirabelli C
Jed Lowrie SS
Keith Ginter 3B

The pitchers:
Josh Beckett
Kyle Snyder
Javier Lopez
Manny Delcarmen
Bryan Corey

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Colon arrives

AP photo / Steven Senne

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Bartolo Colon has arrived in camp, a day after agreeing to a minor-league contract with the Red Sox.

Regarding his size . . . he made an ill-advised decision to wear a horizontally striped shirt, which was not a slenderizing look.

Posted by Art Martone  at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Waiting....

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Bartolo Colon has not reported yet, but apparently, he'll be hard to miss. According a team official, Colon, in his commuication with the club, warned the Sox that he is....how to put this delicately....big.

Naturally, that has some people concerned. Colon has never exactly been svelte, but if he felt the need to warn them about his size, what does that say about the shape he's in? Colon is well behind other pitchers in camp and is coming off two seasons that were limited by elbow and shoulder woes. If he's as out-of-shape as they fear, that won't help.

A crew from ``60 Minutes'' is here this morning, led by longtime correspondent Morley Safer. The show is preparing a feature on Bill James, who serves as a consultant to the Sox and is the father of the sabermetrics movement and statistical analysis.

Safer plans to interview a number of people from the Baseball Operations staff and manager Terry Francona about James later today.

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 10:31 AM | Permalink