Manny Ramirez has donated his 1967 Lincoln Continental 4 Door Convertible to the Franciscan Hospital for Children, a special needs Pediatric Hospital in Boston. The hospital is auctioning the Lincoln on e-bay.
It was only a matter of time. Sooner or later Manny was going to talk about his future with the Red Sox. He gave a glimpse into his thinking about his '09 plans yesterday.
If you believe the leaked testimony of Brian McNamee to Congress this week, Sports Illustrated may have to add an asterisk to Debbie Clemens' swimsuit photo. McNamee said he supplied HGH to Roger's wife* before the 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit photo-op.
From debbieclemens.com: "Roger came to me one day and told me that we had been asked to do a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated. I had major anxiety! I was a 39-year-old mother of 4! Once I realized that this WAS going to be a reality, I decided I had to give it everything I had. My mind was set. I am not a risk taker, but have since learned that with great risk, sometimes comes great reward. The responses from that experience have been wonderful and I feel it was a turning point in my life. It’s nice to have a goal for yourself and to see it through. The goal kept me motivated and focused. Using common sense and my ability to balance my life, I achieved that goal."
Debbie, you forgot to mention the HGH.
If you get a chance go to www.debbieclemens.com and check out the butterflies all over the place and cheesy music....it almost makes you feel sorry for Roger.*
Update 2/15/08: The Debbie Clemens website has been taken down after the Congressional Hearings...I wonder why?
When the Red Sox open the 2008 Season against the Oakland A's in Japan they may end up facing their former closer Keith Foulke. The Oakland A's today signed Foulke to a one year deal to return to their team. The last time the Sox faced Foulke was in Oakland in the 2003 Division Series where they got the best of him. It is unclear how he will be able to pitch after sitting out a year and having suffered injuries to both knees.
The Associated Press spoke to Doctor Craig Morgan, the doctor who operated on Schilling's shoulder in '95 and again in '99. Morgan said he knows Schilling's shoulder, "better than anybody who breathes on this planet."
Morgan says that the only way Schilling will be able to pitch again is by having surgery. He gave rehab no chance of working. With sugery, Morgan says that Schill could be back by the All-Star break.
The Sox team physicians have said that they want Schilling to embark on a rehab program. Schilling has agreed.
There's got to be more to this story. It seems that the Sox physicians would be the first ones to do whatever is best to get Schilling pitching as quickly as possible. Why are they ruling out surgery?
Now that Schilling is out for an extended period of time, possibly for good, it is time to get another starter as insurance. Pitchers have a habit of not staying healthy all season long and that will be the case this year. At some point in the 2008 season Wake, Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, or Buchholz will end up on the DL and when one of them does the Red Sox will be in trouble. Boston needs to trade Coco before they get into a jam and while his value is still high. If they do not prepare for an injury Kyle Snyder or Tavarez will end up being the number 5 guy at some point during the season.
Read more...Curt Schilling finally responded to the reports of his shoulder injury tonight on his blog 38pitches.com. He had the following to say about his shoulder:
"Please understand that a lot of what has been reported is not true. When the club feels it’s appropriate to further discuss the details of this issue publicly I will elaborate but I need to make it clear that Dr Morgan did NOT diagnose me with a tear of the rotator cuff at any time during this process, nor did he recommend rotator cuff surgery.".....At this time I have agreed to abide with the clubs wishes in hopes that will provide the results they believe it will."
He did not discuss the seriousness of the injury or how long he will be out....it does not sound very promising.
The Globe reported Schilling will be out until at least the All-Star break.
AP says Schilling contacted the player's union about his rights: "I have been consulted by Curt and his representative," said Michael Weiner, a lawyer for the players association. "The Red Sox have no basis to take any action against Curt."
No response from Schill on 38pitches.com
Theo was contacted by reporters and wrote back "No Comment"
Red Sox Released the following statement: Curt Schilling was examined by Red Sox doctors in January after he reported feeling right shoulder discomfort. Curt has started a program of rest, rehabilitation and shoulder strengthening in an attempt to return to pitching.
Curt Schilling has a rotator cuff injury that may require surgery, this is causing a problem because the Red Sox and Schilling have not agreed on treatment plan. The Sox may be trying to void his new contract. This is going to develop into a major story and throw a wrench into what had been a successfull off-season. If Schilling is done the Sox still have 5 quality starters assuming Lester and Buchholz are both ready to pitch the entire season. It is not clear when Schilling was injured or why team doctors did not catch it. If the injury had been known earlier it is very likely the Sox would have gone after Santana harder than they did. This is bad news all around.
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Jason Varitek is not getting any younger and Doug Mirabelli is in his last season in a Red Sox uniform, so Boston is looking for their catcher of the future. It is believed they are looking at Japanese catcher Hayato Doue. He is 25 years old and was chosen as the league MVP for the second half to 2007, he is also said to be a good defensive catcher with a strong arm. You can find more info on him here.
In other Sox news: Eric Hinske has signed with the Rays and Bendan Donnelly has signed with the Indians.
Brian McNamee has given the Justice Department vials of HGH, bloodstained gauze and syringes as part of the steroids investigation. McNamee's lawyer said the following on the evidence that was turned over: "“This is evidence the government has that we believe will corroborate Brian in every significant way.” Sorry Roger*.....game over.
When you read the tea leaves of the Kielty signing it can only mean one thing; Coco will be traded soon. As great as it would be to have Coco as a backup outfielder, he also could be a major negative influence on the team if he can not handle being a reserve player. As I have mentioned before, the Red Sox are over the luxury tax mark and would like to unload Coco's salary even if he is only making $4 million a year. This would be a good time for Boston to trade for the catcher of the future and let him play in AAA for half the season and slowly bring him up. There is also a need for a starter for next season when Wake and Schilling retire. Coco's value is not going to get any higher if he is not the starting center fielder so look for him to go before the end of the month.
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The Red Sox continue to add sign project pitchers in the hope of getting a bargain. Today they signed former Indians reliever Matt Miller. With a history of injuries, Miller has compiled a career record of 6-1 in 106 innings with a 2.72 ERA. He is a good pitcher when healthy but has only pitched in 16 games in the last 2 seasons.
With an abundance of pitching on the Red Sox, John Lester is not taking any chances. He has arrived in Ft. Myers early to begin throwing and told mlb.com: "I had a full offseason this year to work out and didn't have any [chemotherapy] drugs going through me, I feel good. I just put on a little weight -- I'm about 225 now. Hopefully, I can maintain it and not lose it the first week I'm down here in the sun. Maybe [I'll] be a little stronger for the long haul this year." Lester is not an automatic for a spot in the rotation and will most likely have to compete with Clay Buchholz to become one of the starters. There is still a chance Boston will go with a 6 man rotation keeping both Lester and Buchholz as starters.
Even though the Red Sox are returning most of the players from last year's championship team there will still be a few things to watch for at Spring Training:
-The Coco-Jacoby tryout for the center field starting job
-Kolb, Miceli, and Aardsma competing for a spot in the bullpen
-Lowrie putting a little pressure on Julio Lugo
-Lester and Buchholz....who goes to the pen? or do the Sox go with 6 starters?
-Manny's official arrival date
Peter Gammons cited an undisclosed Red Sox executive as saying " "We'd better enjoy Beckett the next three years, because we won't be able to sign him after his deal is up after 2010." This comes after the precedent set by the huge dollars the Mets gave up in the Johan Santana deal. Who knows what the pitching market will be like in a few years but I think it is too early to say the Red Sox would not be able to afford to re-sign Beckett after giving up the money they did for Dice-K.
Read more...In November I posted some reasons why Francona's contract needs to be extended beyond 2008. With such a quiet off-season it is troubling that this has not happened yet. The Globe reports that it will not take long to work out once each side sits down but that has yet to occur. There are risks involved in long term contracts for coaches (Charlie Weis) but there is also a risk of managers not making the tough choices if they have to worry about their contract and what the execs might think. Tito's contract needs to be worked out before the Sox get to Florida for spring training.
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