Click the play button below to hear Sean's comments, recorded this morning as he was driving to Fenway Park. He discusses the plan for opening day, Bartolo Colon's trip to the disabled list and the continued challenges of juggling Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments:
On today's pregame ceremonies: "The bar has been set pretty high from past pregame extravaganzas, specifically in '05 -- they'll be hardpressed I think to top that from an emotional standpoint, given that that was the first [championship celebration] in 86 years -- but I don't think Red Sox ffans are tired of the ceremonies yet."
On changes at Fenway: "They've done the best with a less than optimum situation. ... I still think -- and maybe this makes me a heretic among Red Sox fans -- but I still think they'd be better off with a new ballpark. But I think financially, they decided that was not viable, so they decided to do the best they can with this, and indeed they have. ... For the first time, this year we can assume that the Red Sox will draw more than 3 million fans, and that's something I think that few people ever imagined possible at Fenway."
On Colon: "I think people got a little too amped up when he had a couple good performances, both for the Red Sox in Los Angeles and, more recently, opening Pawtucket's season. ... I don't think it's going to be much of a setback. I think that it's still quite possible that Colon will be in the rotation by the end of the month."
On Crisp and Ellsbury -- will they continue to get equal playing time? "I don't think it will be equal. I still think that they envision Ellsbury as the guy who is going to take over the job sooner rather than later, but I think early in the year it's smart to keep both of them sharp. It's also not a bad idea to showcase Crisp for some scouts who might be interested in dealing for him. ... Given that Crisp missed so much time in spring training, that sort of made it more difficult to move him, as did the whole Japan and travel and timing issues. So i think eventually they'll get to that, but until they do, they've got to find a way to work it out."
