Tag: Paw Sox

Who Was the Red Sox Prospect You Thought Couldn’t Miss But Flamed Out?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

The Globe raised this question and I immediately shouted CRAIG HANSEN at my computer. I’ll never forget seeing a guy walking around in a legit stitched Hansen jersey one summer weeks before the kid even got called up. People, including myself, were that confident in the St. John’s closer. Welp, he never really panned out. Him and Manny Delcarmen were supposed to lock down the 8th and the 9th at Fenway for a decade but it just didn’t happen. Craig Hansen only played four seasons and finished with an 6.34 ERA and now is literally an insurance salesman. One of my old buddies always theorized Hansen didn’t work out because of the stitches on the baseball. Supposedly he was so dominant in college because college baseballs have stitches that are more raised so it was easier to throw wicked breaking balls. Whether thats true or not I have no idea, but it was interesting to ponder. Well what about you? Who were you CONVINCED was going to be a stud but never made it? Cla Meredith? Anderson Espinoza?

Root Root Root for the Worcesters?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Image result for awful gif

The correct answer, of course, is “None of the above.”

I know it’s trendy for Minor League Baseball teams to adopt crazy names like Rumble Ponies, Rubber Ducks, and Jumbo Shrimp. Even the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre jumped on this bandwagon a few years ago and dumped the most famous pinstripes in the world to become the RailRiders. I respect the Pawtucket Red Sox for not giving into this trend.

At least Scranton/Wilkes-Barre may have had some Phillies or Pirates fans who didn’t want to go root for the Yankees. Worcester is just as deep in Red Sox Nation as Pawtucket is, though. Why give up that Red Sox brand name? [Unless the big league team has asked you to.] Of course they can’t be called the Paw Sox after they leave Pawtucket, but Woo Sox or Wor Sox would be better than the nicknames some marketing firm came up with. And you could still wear all sorts of crazy uniforms and come up with one-day team names like the Omaha Potholes.

Speaking of which, I feel bad that Larry Lucchino probably actually had to pay money to some marketing firm to come up with names like the Worcester Worcesters. Whatever he paid them was too much. $25 million for three years of Matt Clement’s services was a better deal.

FIRE FLAMES JERSEY ALERT: PawSox to Become Osos Polares de Pawtucket

By on • ( Leave a comment )

MILB – In partnership with Minor League Baseball, the Pawtucket Red Sox today announced a new initiative with the Latino community. The PawSox will change their name for virtually all of their Tuesday home games to Osos Polares de Pawtucket. The name Osos Polares de Pawtucket, “Polar Bears of Pawtucket” in English, was revealed this morning at a press conference at Ella Risk Elementary School in Central Falls, RI (a school that has about a 78% Hispanic student population)…The PawSox are honored to be selected as one of 33 teams among the 160 in Minor League Baseball to participate in this new form of outreach to the Hispanic Community. This initiative is specifically designed to embrace the culture and values that resonate most with participating teams’ local U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities…To distinctively launch this exciting new program, MiLB and each participating team created culturally-relevant on-field personas that honor their respective U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities. All “Copa” teams will adopt these new personas via on-field jerseys and caps to be worn during designated “Copa de la Diversion” games during the 2018 season.

I’m not quite sure what a Polar Bear in Pawtucket has to do with Hispanic heritage, but I am fully on board if it gets me this fire flames hat and jersey combo.

Minor League sports crushing it per usual with the jersey selection. Being a farm team’s marketing department must be the best job in sports. The players are there to get experience and improve plus oftentimes they’re getting sent up to the next level halfway through the season so winning isn’t really a top priority for the team. Just sell some tickets, bring some families out to the ballpark, and come up with 25 different jersey promotions. I’m in.

Machine Gun Joe Kelly Goes 0.2 IP, Immediately Goes on DL

By on • ( Leave a comment )
Courtesy of ESPN

Courtesy of ESPN

I tweeted this last night from the game, but having a mound visit with one out in the first inning is a microcosm of the 2016 Red Sox season. Just slow, sloppy, poorly executed baseball. A couple batters later, Kelly pauses, another mound visit, Kelly reaches for his shoulder and even Hanley knows something’s off, immediately waving to the dugout for the trainer. Placed on the DL a couple of hours later. Hey, at least it was Mookie bobblehead night.

I will say the bullpen pitched admirably, Heath Hembree in particular, with 9+ innings of shutout ball, but for Barnes to then give up 3 in the top of the 10th is absolutely brutal. At that point you’re onto your 5th option coming out of the pen because of Kelly’s disastrous outing.

Can’t win without hitting the ball though and the Sox managed all of ONE hit. They went down 1-2-3 in 9 out of 10 innings. Zero baserunners after the 3rd inning. That is absurd and absolutely cannot happen for a team with this kind of payroll. The worst part is that this taxes the bullpen for the rest of the series since Machine Gun’s start required 10 IP from the pen. With Eduardo Rodriguez still a couple of weeks away from returning, the Sox will fire up the I-95 Express to poach someone, anyone from Pawtucket. Only a couple games out of first place still, but another poor week or two and they could easily be 5-10 games out by May. Again. Buckle up boys.