Older scout: The summer that had begun so long ago had ended, and another summer had taken its place, and Daniel Bard had come out.
Other Red Sox observations, both good and bad, from various scouts:
• On Cody Ross: “With him, (Ryan) Sweeney and (Jarrod) Saltalamacchia at the bottom of the lineup, that reminds (me) of their lineup in 2004, when they had (Trot) Nixon, Bill Mueller and (Jason) Varitek. Those bottom three can be really good because once pitchers get through the first six, they may think they have it easy. And Ross looks like a great pickup. There’s no pressure on him to be ‘the guy.’ ”
• On Bobby Valentine’s influence: “I’m seeing a lot more hit-and-runs, more aggressive baserunning, pickoffs whenever there’s a guy on second, the infield playing back then running in, delayed steals — I guess it’s more of a National League style, but once the season starts, the Red Sox have to score a lot of runs. The small ball’s just to show other clubs what they have in their back pocket.”
• More on Valentine: “I see more aggression on the basepaths, more steals, more hit-and-runs — that’s interesting to see, but their lineup’s so good, why run into outs? If they keep it up, I’ll throw them out at second, thank you.”
• On Sweeney: “I’m concerned about his bat. When (Carl) Crawford is healthy and comes back, I think I’d want Darnell McDonald’s bat in there; he’s played better.”
• On Andrew Bailey and Mark Melancon: “I haven’t seen anything to get excited about yet. I think (Alfredo) Aceves will be in the back of the bullpen eventually.”
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1. Matt Clement of Alexandria Posted: March 18, 2012 at 07:29 AM (#4083425)But there is a time for a sac bunt even with a great lineup in a hitter's park, and a time for a squeeze and a hit-and-run, and there are always times for steals with the right runners and right opponents. What Valentine is doing, I assume, is making the Sox practice these plays in game situations.
What's weird is that Tito didn't do this in spring. Shouldn't this be the perfectly normal best practice of every manager? (Or is it, and people are noticing here not because Valentine is an outlier, but because Tito was an outlier?)
Uh, really? Maddon has been there a year longer and is significantly older.
Uh, there's never been pressure on Cody Ross to be "the guy." There were 5 magical games in October of 2010 where he was, but no one assumed he would be.
Well, they've only pitched about 5 innings between them, anonymous scout. Bailey got a little knocked around, but he was up in the mid-90s, so I'm less worried about his stuff being there or not. As long as he's healthy, he'll probably be ok.
I wouldn't refer Maddon to be 'grizzled', there's even a teddy bear made in his likeness!
Can't argue with that since Tropicana Field is in St. Petersburg!
Edit: I'm keeping the damn Cokes for myself so I'll give Dan one of my post-biking recovery chocolate milks instead.
I'm joking of course.
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