Posts Tagged ‘Theo Epstein’
Junichi Tazawa - AP Photo/Kyodo News
Well, I suppose I should write “Welcome to Portland” since that’s where he’ll be starting.
Did anyone see the clips from the press conference? Theo looked really uncomfortable. He usually does at pressers. I don’t think anyone told him that he’d have to make public appearances an awful lot of the time when he initially took the GM job. He seems to absolutely hate it.
I haven’t seen a clip of this, but Ian Browne quotes Theo as saying (among other things):
“He’s only 22 years of age. He has a relatively fresh arm and he’s getting better. He’s trending upwards. We think he will be a good match for our development system.”
“22 years of age”? Did Theo really say that? Who talks like that? Is “22 years old” so tough to get out? I call shenanigans on Ian Browne until I see a video clip of Theo saying this.
I’m always happy to see the team pick up another pitcher, so this pleases me. I’m going to have to try and get up to Portland, at some point in 2009, to see him pitch. It’ll be quite different than seeing Matsuzaka pitch in his first season with the Red Sox. I wonder if the media will follow Tazawa around the way they did Daisuke? And, man, what kind of culture shock do you go through coming from Japan and going to Maine?
Jason Varitek Photo by Kelly O'Connor
Two items of real interest this morning:
Jim Rice is, once again, on the ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Last year, he was 16 votes short of making it in. This 2009 will be his last chance to get voted in (aside from the Veterans voting him in) and I know he’s on the bubble for a lot of folks, but I absolutely believe he should be in. We’ll find out on January 12, 2009.
And the Red Sox only offered arbitration to two of their eligible players – Paul Byrd and Jason Varitek. I have nothing on Byrd. I don’t care either way. Let him stay, let him go. No skin off my nose. But, I’ll come out and say it: I want Tek back in 2009.
So the whole arbitration thing fascinates me. I wonder how this, coupled with the rumors of a one-year offer from the Sox, is going to make other MLB teams balk at trying to sign Tek. I don’t want Theo to give Tek the moon, but I think Theo can come up with something that Tek (if not Boras) can live with. Maybe I’m in denial, but I still see Tek in red socks come March 2009.
Still no news on Kyle’s future. It’s only the beginning of December – we have a long way to go!
Michael Bowden Photo by Kelly O'Connor
So the plan was to watch the Yankees (I almost live-blogged that game too!), write my piece about Kyle and call it a night. Instead, I wrote the piece about Kyle first (and timestamped it so it published after midnight – on his birthday) and then I, pretty much, passed out. So I missed the Yankees lose and I missed Torii Hunter and Ivan Rodriguez mix it up. Oh well. At least I’ll get to work early. 
I’m at Fenway tonight. I’m not sure how the Sox will top Lester’s amazing performance (and Papelbon’s too, for that matter), but I’m looking forward to finding out. What is getting lost in the win, is that the Red Sox only scored three runs last night…in the first inning. They need to kick it up tonight against Scott Kazmir if they want to, at the very least, win this series.
