Jason Varitek (AND Manny Delcarmen) to the DL
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 12:12 am on July 2, 2010
Filed Under 2010 Season, Injury Watch | 2 Comments
If ever there was a time for me to quote some emo lyrics, now is that time..
I want to read good news,
I want to be innocent again;
I want to read good news,
But nothing good is happening.. – Something Corporate
The Red Sox will place their only healthy remaining Major League catcher, Jason Varitek, on the disabled list. Varitek somehow managed to break his foot on Wednesday night but details are kind of sparse on how it actually happened.
Boston GM Theo Epstein showed former shades of himself on Thursday as he snagged up a short term replacement behind the dish for Tek. All it took was a trade of infielder Angel Sanchez to the Houston Astros and former Red Sox catcher Kevin Cash was on his way back to Boston. So the catching platoon now consists of journeyman Kevin Cash and minor league wannabe journeyman Gustavo Molina.
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Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that Manny Delcarmen is joining them on the DL with a right forearm strain? There has been no mention of who is going to take his spot on the roster yet.
Chase Utley is in my kitchen
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 5:11 pm on July 1, 2010
Filed Under Merchandise | Leave a Comment
A few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative from the website Fathead. If you haven’t heard of them before, they provide life-size replicas of athletes to stick on your wall. The man I spoke to asked me if I would like to make a post about their product in exchange if they sent me a freebie. I figured that I could have some kind of a give-away on the site so I agreed to hit him up with a little free promotion. I replied and told him that I’d do a post if he sent me something to do with the Red Sox.
My house is decked out with Boston sports gear so how could I turn down this offer?
A few days passed by until I received a cardboard cylinder outside my door. I opened it up and this is what it looks like on the inside:
Yep. In case you’re wondering, that blank silhouette is where a large sticker of Chase Utley was affixed. I, the owner and author for SOX ADDICT, was sent a Fathead set of Philadelphia Phillies stuff and a 3.5 foot tall sticker of Utley swinging a bat.
A few days went by while I was trying to figure out what to do with my newly acquired NL East merchandise. I debated on putting it on my wall and using it as a dartboard but I don’t really hate the Phillies that much and my landlords might frown on a hundred little holes dotting the walls of my apartment but then one day I was out getting the mail and I saw a busted old Buick Regal across the street. I took a closer look and someone had done a few modifications to the car. They had affixed the Mercedes symbol on the front of it and on the back they had some metal work done to try and pretend they were driving a Benz. I knew then what had to be done.
Chase Utley (Click the image for a closeup)
I had to make my own kind of transformation. All it took was a printout of JD Drew’s head, some scotch tape, and a huge red sharpie.
JD Drew (Click the image for a closeup)
Perfect. When life hands you lemons (or a bunch of Phillies stickers), make lemonade (or a bunch of Red Sox stickers.) Anyway, if you can manage to get the correct team then I think the product would be pretty cool for a child’s bedroom or a college dormroom. It won’t really fit the decor for anyone else’s house unless their wife lets them have some sort of awesome mancave. The quality of the actual stickers seems pretty solid. They seem like they can take some abuse from an air conditioner or heating vent. I also moved them around a few times so if you happen to order some and decide you don’t want them anymore then don’t worry about it peeling the paint off of your wall.
If you’re interested in purchasing a Chase Utley Fathead Jr then be my guest but if you’re like me then you might want to check their selection of Red Sox merchandise rather than ghetto rigging it like I did.
The good news is that now I have something physical to punch every time JD Drew takes a called third strike. The bad news is that my wall may still end up with a hundred holes in it by the end of the season.
Victor Martinez to the DL
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 9:53 am on June 30, 2010
Filed Under 2010 Season, Injury Watch | Leave a Comment
I had a bad feeling while I was writing the Red Sox injury update article that Victor Martinez would be joining the All-Star cast of players on the disabled list. My suspicions were confirmed yesterday as the Sox placed him on the 15-day (retroactive to June 28th) for a fractured left thumb.
The team has called up catcher Gustavo Molina (thanks to zero catching depth with Dusty Brown and Mark Wagner both out of commission.) Molina, not related to the other three catchers with the same last name, has a very low ceiling as a hitter. He has hopped around from team to team over the last few years and has struggled in his limited big league experience: 34 AB, 1 2B, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .118 AVG, .162 OBP, .309 OPS
Jason Varitek is expected to make the majority of the starts until V-Mart is healthy; however, the team has announced that Molina will be catching Tim Wakefield. Molina has previous experience catching knuckleballer Charlie Haeger in the minors so hopefully the box score won’t be full of passed balls and wild pitches.
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In other Red Sox transaction news, the team designated Boof Bonser for assignment and he refused so he has become a free agent. I was completely against trading for him in the first place so I can’t say I’m surprised that he failed in Boston (18.00 ERA in 2 innings pitched.)
They have also DFA’ed pitcher Fabio Castro. Castro was only on the big league roster for 4 days and never even got to throw a pitch.
Clay Buchholz on Tosh.0
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 9:06 pm on June 29, 2010
Filed Under Baseball Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment
I know that this is a pretty old video but since we won’t see Buchholz for another week+ thanks to his torn hamstring, I figured it was time for a little dose of Clay. He comes in near the end of the video but the beginning is pretty amusing anyway.
| Tosh.0 | |
| Web Redemption – Phillies Fan | |
Huge Red Sox injury update
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 6:10 pm on June 28, 2010
Filed Under 2010 Season, Injury Watch | 3 Comments
Somehow the Red Sox have the 4th best record in all of baseball. This is without a healthy starting rotation and an Opening Day outfield that hasn’t even played 10 full games together. The injury situation only got worse over the weekend as three more players went down in the series against the Giants. It’s time to take a step back and look at Boston’s ouchies:
Player: Josh Beckett
Injury: Lower-back strain. Josh hurt his back swinging in preparation for interleague play and then made things worse a short while later when he slipped on a wet mound at Yankee Stadium. He was placed on the 15-day DL on May 19th.
Prognosis: He is slowly working his way back (he threw 75 pitches in a bullpen session on June 26th) but team sources don’t expect him to join the big league club until late July. The return will be after he has pitched 3 or 4 minor league rehab starts for Pawtucket. To be quite honest, Beckett was pitching pretty poorly before he hurt himself so hopefully he can make the most of those rehab starts and try to get back to form.
Replacement: Tim Wakefield had been delegated to the bullpen before Beckett got hurt but was slipped back into the starting rotation. Of his 7 starts since then, only 1 of them was under 6 innings.
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Player:: Jacoby Ellsbury
Injury:: Fractured ribs. Ellsbury originally fractured a rib colliding with Adrien Beltre in the early days of the season. Once he returned from the disabled list, he tried playing with the discomfort of his not fully healed injury but had to pack it in and go back on the 15-day DL.
Prognosis:: Ellsbury made his second trip to the 15-day DL on May 28th. He is eligible to come off it but it was announced on June 10th that his conditioned had worsened so there is no set timetable for his return.
Replacement:: Darnell McDonald and Daniel Nava are currently rotating positions in the outfield in hopes that Ellsbury can return and Mike Cameron can finally go back to full-time duty.
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Player: Jeremy Hermida
Injury: Fractured ribs. Tell me if this sounds familiar.. Jeremy Hermida was going for a flyball in LF and collided with Adrian Beltre. Hermida ended up with fractured ribs and was officially put on the 15-day DL on June 10th.
Prognosis: He’s started swinging a bat again and hasn’t admitted to any pain but if his fractured ribs are anything like the ones suffered by Jacoby then I wouldn’t hold my breath (pun!) for a quick return to the lineup.
Replacement: Ironically, Hermida was Jacoby Ellsbury’s replacement in LF. Now Darnell McDonald and Daniel Nava are covering for him as well.
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Player: Mike Lowell
Injury: Strained right hip. Lowell has been dealing with this hip problem for the better part of the last 3 years. There is nothing new to say about it other than the pain has finally gotten to the point where he had to be placed on the DL on June 23rd.
Prognosis: To be honest.. I’m not sure. He wasn’t playing much before he was placed on the disabled list and he probably won’t play much when he returns. The team is going to just see how he feels but this hip setback probably just killed any trade value that he previously had.
Replacement: Again, he rarely played as it was. Bill Hall and Kevin Youkilis are both listed as back-ups at 3rd when Adrian Beltre needs some time off.
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Player: Dustin Pedroia
Injury: Broken left foot. This is arguably the biggest injury on the team. Last weekend Pedroia fouled a ball off his foot hard enough to break something. He was placed on the DL on June 26th.
Prognosis: The team thinks that Pedroia will miss about six weeks of playing time. That means a return around early August as long as everything heals correctly.
Replacement: Bill Hall is suited to take Pedroia’s place in the infield (yikes) but the Sox aren’t happy enough with that so they have traded for utility infielder Eric Patterson as well as calling up Angel Sanchez from the minors.
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Those are only the people on the disabled list at the moment. The problems don’t stop there:
Clay Buchholz suffered a minor hamstring tear while running the bases the other day; however, it doesn’t look like he’ll have to miss a start because of the Sox’ off-days. They could theoretically go 9 days without using him as a starter.
Victor Martinez broke his thumb yesterday and the club still isn’t sure if he will have to go on the DL or not. It will be a pretty big problem if he does. Jason Varitek will takeover as the every day catcher but both suitable replacements in Pawtucket (Mark Wagner and Dusty Brown) are on the disabled list as well.
Don’t leap off the ledge yet Sox fans, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. Jed Lowrie (remember him?!) is finally a week or so away from beginning a rehab assignment. I don’t see any reason why he can’t take over at 2B while Pedroia is out. I refuse to give up on Lowrie so early in his career.
Jason Varitek Celebrity Putt Putt
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 4:07 pm on June 28, 2010
Filed Under Baseball Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment
It’s that time again! On July 1st (this Thursday), Jason Varitek and his pals are going to be holding the fifth annual ‘Jason Varitek Celebrity Putt Putt.’ If you haven’t heard of it in years past, Tek gets a player or other celebrity to host each of the 18 custom made holes while you and the rest of your foursome play through. So far the confirmed celebs are: Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Jonathan Papelbon, Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield, and Cole Wright (I guess he sort of counts.)
All it costs is $15 a person for this dream scenario to come true: You place your bright orange ball on the fake green grass mat and sneak a peak at Jonathan Papelbon to make sure he is watching. Inhale then exhale as you lightly tap the ball off the wall, past the mini sand trap, and into the hole. Papelbon smiles at you and you grimace at him and ask politiely if he would throw more strikes (but not the kind that get blasted out of the park by Jason Giambi.) You politely bow after your mini-golf prowess has been shown to the world and as you walk off you mutter ‘it wouldn’t hurt to throw more splitters either Paps..’
I mean, this probably WON’T happen but it could. You’ll never know unless you buy tickets and go. The event is Thursday and it takes place in the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell.
If you’re not doing it for fun then do it for the charities: ‘Celebrities for Charity’ and ‘Journey Forward.’
Link: Facebook Event Page
Link: Purchase Tickets
