Have you Heard This One?
I was driving home from work the other day and I heard one of the baseball guys on ESPN Radio's 850AM. It was one of their local (Boston) shows and the radio personality (I didn't catch his name, but it isn't important) said that the Red Sox sent Clay Buchholz to Athletes Performance Institute in Tempe as punishment? This guy said that because he didn't condition properly in 2007, they sent him to Tempe, AZ to learn him some conditioning skills.
All the reports I've read suggest he was disappointed when the Red Sox ended his season in September over fears of hurting his arm. The sent him to Tempe to help him get better, but not for punishment's sake.
Sorry for the lack of details (like who and when), but I thought it a controversial take on the matter.
Anyway, who's ready for a 6:05 am game? It's just 23 days away until opening day for Boston. As you know, they start things off in Japan with two 6:05am starts against Oakland, then fly back to LA to face the Dodgers for 3 more spring training games with starts times of 10:40, 10:10 and 4:10pm. Then they continue with the regular season on April 1st and 2nd with two more games against the A's with start times of 10:05 and 10:05pm. Great, for those with kids and/or jobs, don't count on watching a real Red Sox game until April 4th when they visit the Blue Jays for a 7:15 start, that's game 5 of the regular season.
This schedule could really cause problems. I hope they leave the guys not expected to start in Oakland so as not to screw with their internal clocks.
Anyway, slow news day with the Red Sox. Spring training games this early really don't offer much. If a guy goes 4-4 with 4 HRs or a pitcher gets shelled, is is just an early spring training game. I did read somewhere that Freddy Garcia was seen in camp. Apparently the Red Sox were doing some testing to see if he was worth a contract offer. Garcia had major shoulder surgery in 2007 and likely won't be ready until mid-season.
