Where are they now: Mike Timlin

The Denver Post reports that Mike Timlin, who filed for free agency at the end of 2008 ending his mostly succesful 6 year stint in Boston, has been working out and throwing bullpen sessions at Coors Field after the Rockies bullpen had some recent troubles. GM Dan O'Dowd invited Timlin and may be offering him a minor league contract soon.

Although he was primarily a middle reliever and set up man, Timlin amassed 27 saves while with Boston, and was a reliable rock in the Sox bullpen for most of his 6 years there. In 2005, he notched a 7-3 W-L record, with a 2.24 ERA. He made 81 appearances and racked up 13 saves. His numbers fell off in 2006, causing many to speculate that his career might be near it's end. However, he rebounded in 2007 with a 2-1 record and a 3.42 ERA in 50 appearances. His numbers fell again in 2008 and he filed for free agency at the end of that season.

Timlin, 43, indicated when he filed for free agency that he may just attempt a return in 2009 after taking a year off.

“Sometimes the time off helps," said Timlin, who stayed in shape by playing catch with former teammate Mike Myers and throwing batting practice for his son’s youth team. “God has given me the strength to do this. I believe I can still pitch at this level."

He remains good friends with Josh Beckett and the two go hunting together in the off season. He was also the leader of the Boston Bullpen Band. We wish him the best of luck in his attempt to return to the big leagues, especially with a team close to his home.

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Mike Timlin Receives Lou Gehrig Memorial Award

Mike Timlin, for the Boston Red Sox, has won this year’s Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, sponsored by the Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity, headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. The award is presented annually by Phi Delta Theta to the Major League Baseball player who best exemplifies the giving character of Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig, who was a member of the Fraternity’s Columbia University chapter. The award was first presented in 1955 and is permanently maintained at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

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Dice-K Rolls as Boston Puts Up a Snowman on Chicago

There are not many ways to put Red Sox Nation at ease more than a game like tonight's. Dice-K earned his 16th win going 8 innings...that is not a typo, he went 8 innings!! He only gave up 2 hits and had 8 K's. Mike Timlin pitched a perfect 9th to seal the deal. Boston only needed one run to win but they put up 8 with 15 hits. Pedroia went 4-4 and Big Papi had 3 hits on the night. Great offense, great pitching, and good news on Beckett; nice way to start a three day weekend.

Red Sox Win 8-0 BOX SCORE

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Mike Timlin

The venerable Mike Timlin pitched a perfect 9th inning tonight, needing only 10 pitches to retire the side in order as the Red Sox shut out the Rangers 10-0. This comes one night after relieving Jon Lester in the 7th inning. Timlin came in with 1 out and 2 on and proceeded to serve up a fatty meatball to Milton Bradley, who promptly deposited it in the CF stands.

Timlin has been a fixture in the Red Sox bullpen since 2003 and has performed admirably. His Sox career year was 2005 when he was 7-3, 2.24 ERA in 80+ innings. His numbers fell off a bit in 2006, but he rebounded the next year to post a 2-1 record, 3.42 ERA, while being a crucial member of the World Series winning team. He has pitched in at least 50 games and 55 innings every season that he’s worn a Sox uniform. His veteran presence is a valuable asset in the bullpen. Unfortunately, he’s not the same pitcher he was in 2003 or 2007. He’s 42 years old and in his 18th major league season. His WHIP has climbed almost a ½ point since last year, his 5.45 ERA is the highest of his career. All the wrong numbers are climbing up.

Timlin is the type of ballplayer I like. He’s not flashy, needy, or greedy. He got the job done, whether it was middle relief, set up, or closer. At least until this year. There comes a time in every ballplayer's career to hang up the spikes, and there may only be 2+ months before his get hung. It would be sad to see his last performance of his career be similar to his performance last night. It is sad when players attempt to play too far past their prime trying to prove they still have it, when they obviously don’t. Mike has been on-again, off-again, on-again this year. If this is indeed Timlin’s last year, it may be that he sees mop up duty for the rest of the season. Let’s hope that Tito uses Mike effectively down the stretch, for both the team's sake and Mike's. He won’t have his number retired, but he will be remembered as one of the best relievers to ever come out of the Sox bullpen.

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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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Timlin Returns, Buchholz Does Not

Mike Timlin will be activated today and Chris Smith will be sent down. It was thought that Clay Buchholz would also be returning to the Red Sox to start against the Yankees but the team is saying that he will stay with Pawtucket and Masterson will get the star.

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Timlin Pitches Well For PawSox

Mike Timlin pitched the 8th inning for the PawSox tonight and retired the side in order. He threw 10 pitches, 7 for strikes. While this is a good sign, he will not be pitching at Fenway any time soon. If he can have 3-4 more outings like this it may hasten his arrival, a few more Oki or Hansen meltdowns might help him too.

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Mike Timlin To DL

Mike Timlin is now on the DL to make room for Dice-K. Timlin has struggled most of this season with a 7.06 ERA and now we may have a reason; tendinitis of the left knee. This is similar to what happened to Keith Foulke when he struggled with the Sox. He will rehab with the PawSox after his knee is rested. If Mike can't do well with Pawtucket he may have reached the end of the line for his baseball career.

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: Big Papi's cast came off today and he can begin the rehab of his wrist. Dice-K had a good rehab start tonight going 5 innings giving up 3 hits and 2 runs. Dustin Pedroia is deffinetly out of the slump after going 3-4 tonight with a home run.

The Bad: Bartolo Colon had a stiff back forcing him to leave tonight' game early, this could be a nagging injury for the remainder of the season and limit any trade value he might have. Curt Schilling has been given some time off after a few bad bullpen sessions. It is unclear if this is a temporary setback or a sign that he will not return this season.

The Ugly: Mike Timlin gave up 4 hits, 2 walks and 4 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning to the Phillies tonight.

Sox Lose 8-2 BOX SCORE

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Colon Dazzles, Timlin Not So Much

Bartolo Colon earned his 150th career win tonight at Fenway with a win over the Orioles. He went 6 innings only giving up 1 run (homer to right) and striking out 7. Aardsma and Lopez kept the O's off the board until the ball was handed to Timlin in the 9th. The wheels came off quickly for the veteran reliever who gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning and had to be rescued by Papelbon. The Sox offense only had 7 hits but with a few rallies and 2 big homers by Varitek and Lowell they were able to score 6 runs. Before the game started several Hall of Famers were on hand at Fenway to celebrate the Baseball as America exhibit at the Museum of Science. Bobby Doerr, Carlton Fisk, Wade Boggs and Dennis Eckersley represented the Sox and Eddie Murray was there for the O's. Fisk joined Remy and Orsillo later in the game. Speaking of Orsillo, that suit and tie were hideous tonight, somebody at Century 21 wants their jacket back.

Sox Win 6-3 BOX SCORE

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Injury Update

Mike Lowell- The thumb injury is not season ending but could force Lowell to go on the DL. Lowell thought he felt his hand separate when he rolled on it. The Red Sox have to make a roster move when the activate Timlin and Corey is the likely candidate but if Lowell is not greatly improved today he may be the choice. It looks like he will be out about a week.

Mike Timlin - he pitched well for Pawtucket last night going 1 inning and getting three ground outs. He will be activated from the DL tomorrow forcing Brian Corey or possibly Lopez down.

Bartolo Colon- is said to be improving (oblique strain) but was told not to resume throwing for 2 days. He is doing other activities to get into playing shape.(hopefully not lifting cheeseburgers) From the sound of it Colon will not be up with the Sox before May.

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Saturday Sox Roundup

The Red Sox lost 3-1 to the Dodgers in an exhibition game last night in L.A.

Colon pitched very well but was sent to AAA after the game. The Red Sox want him to get more in shape and get his pitch count up in the minors before rejoining the team. The Red Sox also save money if he starts the season in the minors. He is proving to be a good pickup for Boston.

Mike Timlin is headed to the 15 day DL for his finger injury retroactive to March 20.

Tek's bat has all but disappeared. In the last 3 games he is 0-11 with 9 K's. He has barely been able to get a foul tip lately. Let's hope he can get some quality at bats before Tuesday to work this out.

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Injury Update

J.D. Drew said he is feeling better but still has stiffness in his back and will most likely miss tonights game, his ultimate goal is to start on Tuesday.

Josh Beckett pitched great yesterday and should be ready to go for the Toronto series on April 6.

Mike Timlin has still not thrown after getting a cut on his finger and may head for the DL.

Coco is ok to play but Jacoby should get the start tonight.

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Timlin Going on the DL?

The Boston Herald is reporting that Mike Timlin won't pitch against the A's on Tuesday or Wednesday. The Herald says there is a chance that the Sox will put Timlin on the DL to start the season.

Timlin has two stitches in his finger, and the Sox want to be cautious with him. According to the Herald, another reason for a possible DL move is to give the Sox more time to figure out the final bullpen roster spot. Bryan Corey, David Aardsma and Javier Lopez are battling for the final spot.

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Timlin Talks About White House Visit

Reliever Mike Timlin spoke to WBZ Radio about yesterday's visit to the White House.

Listen to him here.

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Timlin the Ageless One

Someday Timlin is going to age. Isn't he? The fans worry about it. Tito worries about it. Pitching coach John Farrell worries about it. But Timlin doesn't.

Timlin told the Boston Herald, “I’m still the same old guy, I’m just two years older"(than he was when the Sox worried that he was overdoing it by playing in the World Baseball Classic).

“But I’m not going to change anything. I’m going to approach the game, play the game, any game, like I’m supposed to play the game - as hard as I can, as long as I can. When I can’t do it any more,” he said, “I’ll stop."

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Timlin Is Back

The Red Sox and Mike Timlin agreed to a one year deal for $3 million. By re-signing Timlin the Sox have most of their off-season work done. They still need a backup catcher, a bench corner infielder, and fourth outfielder if Coco gets traded. But the bullpen is mostly done. Mike has been a fairly solid reliever and one of the few players who was on both championship teams.

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Arbitration for Timlin and Gagne

Dec. 1 is the deadline for teams to offer arbitration for players and according to the Boston Herald the Red Sox are going to offer arbitration to relief pitchers Mike Timlin and Eric Gagne. This means it is likely the Sox will get Timlin next year at a slightly higher salary for what will most likely be his last year in baseball. With Eric Gagne the Sox are rolling the dice; if he accepts arbitration they are stuck with him next year but if another team signs him they get draft picks. Texas will likely sign Gagne so the Sox should be off the hook.

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Kerry Wood Inks 1 Year Deal With Cubs

Kerry Woods had been in the Red Sox radar for the past few weeks as a setup man for Papelbon. Theo is now going to have to look elsewhere for bullpen help also making the re-signing of Mike Timlin an important thing to get done ASAP.

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