The Pirates May Want To Give Hansen Back

I was one of the people who believed that the Red Sox gave up too much for Jason Bay but Craig Hansen's performance since he has been in Pittsburgh has changed my opinion. Boston paid Manny's salary to L.A. and now it looks like they should have paid Pittsburgh to take Hansen too. Last night Craig Hansen pitched 1/3 of and inning and gave up 3 runs blowing the save in the 8th inning. Since going to the Pirates he has an ERA of 10.45 with 3 K's and 14 walks.

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I Think Theo Knew Something We Didn't

Former Red Sox reliever Craig Hansen, who was traded to Pittsburgh in the three-team trade that sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers and brought Jason Bay to Boston, has been demoted to AAA by the Bucs. Two days ago, Hansen issued free passes to walk in the tying and go-ahead runs during the Cubs' seven-run, eighth-inning rally that helped Chicago win 14-9 and sweep a three-game series. Hansen was 0-2 with a 8.10 ERA in nine games with Pittsburgh. He was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis on Wednesday.

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Hansen and Moss are Gone, Who's Up Next?

Quick look at who is lurking down in Pawtucket.
Last week I wrote about knuckleballer Charlie Zink who is now 13-3, 2.76 ERA.
Pitchers:
Bowden, 0-2, 5.17
Pauley, 12-4, 3.40
Smith, 1-3, 2.24, 13 SVS
and I don't think we'll see Kyle Snyder back soon: 1-3, 6.28

Position players:
Thurston, 2B, .316
Bailey, OF, .300, 24 HR's
Carter, OF, .299, 23 HR's
Van Every, OF, .272, 24 HR's

Pawtucket is doing well in the International League with all this talent.

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Bad Trade For Red Sox

I can understand the need to trade Manny at this point, even for a lesser quality player like Jason Bay, but to throw in Hansen and Moss is way too much. The Sox have bullpen problems and did nothing about it, they could have sent Moss to KC for Mahay and now they have one less arm in the pen. This is a tough deal to understand right now, I hope another trade for some help in the pen has been made and we have not heard about it yet.

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Something big is going to happen

I can just feel it. Can you feel it? With Aardsma going on the DL, and the rest of the middle relief guys having rollercoaster seasons, I have this feeling that Theo is going to do something big and unexpected. There are only 10 days left before the trade deadline, and let's face it, Hansen, Delcarmen, Okajima, Timlin, and Lopez are not having the seasons they had last year. They've been surprisingly sub-par for most of the season. They've had their good moments, no doubt, but as a whole, they've been disappointing.

Theo is up to something, I just know it.

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Craig Hansen Called Up

Relief pitcher Craig Hansen was called up to fill the roster spot vacated when Brandon Moss went on the DL after surgery yesterday.

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The Joy Ride Runs Out of Gas

The Red Sox could not come from behind tonight, the winning streak ends at 6. It was bound to happen sooner or later with all of the injuries and players out sick. Lester took one for the team and pitched on three days rest when Dice-K was unable to go. He pitched well enough to keep the Sox in the game before he was replace by Hansen in the 6th. Hansen, who had been called up earlier in the day because Delcarmen was sick, gave up a go ahead home run to the Angels and got the loss.

Youk missed the game with a sore back so Lowrie had to play third again. Offensively the Sox still did fairly well managing 10 hits. Lugo kept his hit streak alive with 2 hits and Big Papi had a home run. J.D. is starting to look like the hitter he was last year and went 0-4. K-Rod came in the 9th and got the Sox out in order, there would be no joy in Mudville.

Sox Lose 6-4 BOX SCORE

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Sox Option Hansen and Carter to Pawtucket

The Red Sox optioned pitcher Craig Hansen and outfielder Chris Carter to Pawtucket after yesterday's game against the Yankees.

Terry Francona said the following about moving Hansen down:
"With the shortened spring, we didn't want to send him down yet.
Now we had to, because we're leaving. We told him he had a good camp. He's growing up. He's one of those other kids that's growing up right in front of our eyes. It wasn't the [most enjoyable] news for him, but he's going to be the Manny Delcarmen of this year. He'll go back and do it right and come back and help us."

Chris Carter was one of the surprises of this spring after coming over from the Nationals in the Willy Mo trade. With the abundance of outfielders on the Red Sox there is no room for him on the team but he is nice insurance to call up when someone gets hurt.

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