Q&A With New Red Sox Beat Writer Peter Abraham

Peter Abraham will be joining the Boston Globe to cover the Red Sox very soon, and he was nice enough to answer a few questions for us.

FW: Will you have your own blog with the Globe or will you blog as a part of Extra Bases?

Peter Abraham: I will be blogging for Extra Bases but the plan is to really ramp it up with plenty of content, new features, multi-media, etc.

FW: Who was your favorite player growing up?  

Peter Abraham: Probably George Brett, who I really admired as a hitter. I also watched a lot of Braves games on cable and liked Dale Murphy. And like every kid in New England of a certain age, I tried to make diving catches in my back yard like Freddy Lynn did.

FW: What are you most excited about in the new job?

Peter Abraham:  I've wanted to work for the Globe since I started in the newspaper business when I was a 16-year-old part-timer at The Standard Times in New Bedford. The additional benefit if I get to live close to my parents and sisters and their respective families. Plus I have a lot of friends in New England from college and previous jobs.

FW: Do you think the Red Sox and Yankees will meet in the ALCS?

Peter Abraham: I actually do and I wrote that before I got my new job. I think they have the two best teams in the league — assuming Beckett and Lester are healthy.

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The Heavy

It's no secret that Tim Wakefield has been my favorite Sox player for a long time (followed by Pesky, DiMaggio, Pedroia, Yaz, Tony C, and yes Manny, too.) I thought Wake should have been on the All Star Team last year, as he had a formidable stretch in his last 7 games before the ASG (7+ innings each game, 1.98 ERA), but since Tito was the manager, and there were several Sox already on the team, he had to pass on Wake. (He had to pass on Lester, too, who was also having a monster year.)

In today's Boston Globe, Adam Kilgore tells the great story of Wake's success and difficulties in Pittsburgh back in '92 and '93. Pittsburgh released him after going 6-11, with a 5.61 ERA in '93. Dan Duquette, as GM of the old Montreal Expos, had seen him pitch in his rookie year of '92, when he went 8-1, 2.15 ERA, and snatched him up on opening day '94. He firmly believed that Wake was the difference in Pittsburgh making it to the post-season that year and not the Expos. Wake has been with the Sox ever since, quietly going about his business. Kilgore tells of Wake learning from Charlie Hough, his friendship with another well respected Sox, Mike Timlin, his team leading community appearances, and his charitable work for The Franciscan Hospital for Children.

Wake has had some up years and some down years along the way, and while his numbers may not get him into the MLB HoF, he most certainly be will be in the Red Sox HoF. He is bearing down on a couple of notable milestones: he has 189 career wins right now, 2910+ IP, and 1968 K's. Knuckleballers historically have pitched well into their mid and late 40's, so here's hoping that we still see Wake in a Sox uni for a few more years to come.

As an aside, my brother in RI, yard sale and flea market wiz that he is, gave me a Wakefield Pittsburgh shirt years ago, but my ex-wife.....

Ah, what are exes for anyhow? Who knew? Who could have known?

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Papelbon and his attempt at damage control

So, Papelbon should seriously have a guy on his payroll whose job is to follow him around and stop him from saying stupid things. It would be well worth the money. I adore Pap, we know this....but the concept of thinking before you speak is a foreign concept to the boy.

As Matt reported yesterday Papelbon stated in a radio interview that he would consider playing for the Yanks once he became a free agent in 2011. I guess Pap realized that making such statements in 2009 when you are currently playing for their rivals, the Red Sox, might not be such a fantastic idea.

So, Pap has now backed away from said comments in a new article over at the Boston Globe.

"I don't want to go (expletive) play for the Yankees," he said. "I've been on a team for the past five years that's been in first place more than any other (expletive) team otherwise. Why would I want to leave?"

"For me, I want to go to a place where I'm happy," he said. "For me, the only thing that's important is that, A, it's like a family and B, I have manager and a GM that's going to protect me, and I know that here."

OK. So, Pap needs to learn some PR and business lessons. His agent should really be calling him and giving him some much needed tips.

Do I think if things are ideal...Pap wants to resign with the Sox? Absolutely. I think he is honest when he says he is happy with the Red Sox. The dude loves his job, loves that the Sox win, loves the culture and attention in Boston, etc. However, I also think it is bull to the shit when he says that the only thing that is important is to be happy when he becomes a free agent. He hasn't spent YEARS now talking about contracts and his love of the benjamins to not have money be the prime factor. The guy is out to set the standard for contracts when it comes to closers and I think he realizes he might not be able to do that with the Sox.

I love me some Papelbon. I think he's not only incredibly talented, but also highly entertaining to watch as an "ath-a-lete." I want him to stay with the Sox until he is old and gray. However, if he doesn't sign with the Sox...I think the only team who can give him the type of contract he wants is the Yankees....he knows....we know it...the Red Sox knows it.

But seriously Pap. Shut your mouth. At least for right now.

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Pedey & Tek Adorableness.

Sometimes I get annoyed at people's constant talk about just how small Dustin Pedroia is. I think it takes away from the natural talent the guy has.

However, I have to say....is this picture from the Globe not absolutely freakin' adorable? It was taken just after Pedey hit a ball that just cleared the wall for a 3 run homer. It screams father/son baseball game. LOVE IT!

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Amalie Benjamin & Tim Kurkjian on Scouting

Amalie Benjamin of The Boston Globe wrote a nice piece on Blair Henry, the Northern California and Nevada scout for the Boston Red Sox. Blair Henry was the scout who found Lars Anderson. In her article, she describes not only the Henry's discovery of Anderson, but also gives us a glimpse into the life and travels of MLB scouts, seemingly a dying profession in the aftermath of Billy Beane's Moneyball approach to scouting. She describes the Red Sox's approach to homegrown scouting and it's relationship to filling out the roster with trades and free agents.

Tim Kurkjian of ESPN also told some great scout stories in his book, "Is This A Great Game, or What?" I'll leave you with a passage from that book:

Ellis Clary was an old-time scout for several teams. “He had a heart attack and was basically pronounced dead,” said Farmer. “He was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital when he came to. He asked, “Where the hell are we?” The ambulance guy said, ‘On the way to the hospital in an ambulance.’ Ellis asked, ‘Where is the ballpark?! Get the mileage from the ballpark to the hospital! I’m going to need that for my expense account!”

(Hey, I was a bookkeeper! It was funny to me!)

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Pitching Order For 1st Spring Games

The Boston Globe put up this list of pitchers from Tito's press conference yesterday:

• Feb. 28 vs. Boston College (1:05 p.m. at City of Palms Park)
  Scheduled starter: Josh Beckett
  Also likely to pitch: Kyle Snyder


• Feb. 28 vs. Northeastern (6:05 p.m. at City of Palms Park)
  Scheduled starter: Justin Masterson
  Also likely to pitch: Craig Hansen, Michael Bowden, and some other young pitchers


• Feb. 29 vs. Twins (7:05 p.m. at Hammond Stadium)
  Scheduled starter: Daisuke Matsuzaka
  Also likely to pitch: Julian Tavarez, Hideki Okajima


• March 1 vs. Twins (1:05 p.m. at Hammond Stadium)
  Scheduled starter: Jon Lester
  Also likely to pitch: Devern Hansack, David Pauley


• March 2 vs. Twins (1:05 p.m. at City of Palms Park)
  Likely to pitch: Tim Wakefield, Clay Buchholz

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Sox in '08 NESN Video Clip

Bob Ryan and Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe talk about the expectations for the Red Sox in '08 and focus on Tek and J.D. Drew.

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