| 05 February 2009
Theo Epstein recently talked with WEEI's Dale and Holley... The Boston Globe typed up most of the interview. Here a few of the key talking points along with my thoughts... Tell us what you think in the coments section!
On losing out on the bidding for Teixeira, who signed with the Yankees for eight years and $180 million:
You can read the whole asnwer at Boston.com, but I like this comment at the end:
I thought it was a good signing by the Yankees, Mark did really well for himself, and we'll have to figure out how to get him out over the next eight years now. We've actually done a pretty good job of getting him out throughout his career, so hopefully we can continue that."
BL: After being traded to Los Angeles, Teixeria onlt got four regular season at-bats against the Red Sox... he went 0 for 4 with a walks and 2 strikeouts. But in The ALDS, Tex went 7 for 15 (.467) with four walks... so I'm not sure whay Theo thinks the Sox have held him in check.
Overall, Teixeira has a .232 BA with 142 career at-bats against Boston... that's not great, but if the ALDS is a sign of what we can expect from him as a Yankee, the Red Sox are going to have their work cut out for them over the next eight years.
On whether he's comfortable with Kevin Youkilis as a cleanup hitter:
Epstein: "Oh, yeah. And it's not my responsibility. I think Tito [manager Terry Francona] is open to hitting him all over the lineup. When people say that Youkilis isn't a traditional cleanup or middle-of-the-order hitter, I think they haven't quite noticed how he's evolved as a player. When he first came up, his clear strength as a player was plate discipline, he had a way above-average walk rate . . . and only had power sporadically, only on certain pitches he could drive. He's really changed, you've probably noticed, over the last couple of years, last year in particular. He's still got an above-average walk rate, he's still got above-average plate discipline. But he's sacrificed a little bit of that patience to drive the ball earlier in the count. He's adjusted his approach where there are a number of different places in the strike zone he can drive the ball. . . . So if you take the Kevin Youkilis of 2008, that guy can probably hit cleanup for any team in baseball any day of the week."
BL: After reading our Q&A with Kevin Youkilis earlier this offseason, Tim at FBAL took a closer look at Youk's "selective aggression" in 2008:
Could Youkilis' 29 home runs and .569 SLG, good for third in the American League, really be a result of wielding his batting eye and ability to make contact more aggressively?The stats do in fact bear out that Youkilis was more aggressive at the plate as measured purely by percentage of swings at pitches both in and out of the strike zone. Compared with 39.5% in 2007 and only 36.7% of pitches swung at in 2006, Youkilis took a rip at 42.4% of the pitches thrown his way in 2008.
On the prospects of signing Jason Bay to a long-term deal:
Epstein: "Yeah, we said at the beginning of the offseason that we weren't going to talk about who we wanted to lock up, we were just going to let you know when they got done. I probably don't want to get into specifics, but the offseason is not over. I think with prospective free agents a year from now or with other players a few years down the line, it makes sense to make this year's free agent market [sort itself out] so that you have a reliable recent set of datapoints before you embark in those negotiations. There's still a lot of position players out there who haven't signed yet, so that might push some negotiations later in the offseason."
BL: With Manny, Adam Dunn, Bobby Areu and other outfielders still looking to be signed, the Red Sox are waiting to see what the current market is for outfielders. Bay will make $7.5M this year, but that is a bargin for a .285/30/100 player. Bay and Matt Holliday will be the top free agents in the 2010 class and the Red Sox would be wise to extend Bay now and avoid a bidding war for either player. That said... I remind you that we discussed both players earlier thsi offseason... I think Holliday will prove he can hit outside of Coors Field this season. If he does, he would prove to be the better player. But Scott Boras is his agent, and that alone may convince the Red Sox to focus on re-signing Bay instead of going after Holliday.
On whether he is concerned that Jon Lester's innings jump from 2007 to '08 could affect him this season:
Epstein: "Yeah, I think anytime a pitcher has that kind of jump in innings you want to be concerned, but there were a lot of factors that went into that. The total last year was a little bit artificially high because the season began so early. So his first outing in Japan, for instance, would have been an outing anyway, but we would have called it spring training. And he was so efficient with his pitching that he got deep in games while maintaining his delivery without having stressful innings, those things factor into the equation. With our young pitchers, we want to have a more natural progression, but with Jon, he was so strong last year and so reliable that we had to push a little bit past where we wanted to go. . . . He's young, strong, we're not going to do anything irresponsible with him, and he's a guy you can feel pretty good about betting on for the long haul."
BL: Lester was 7-2 with a 4.76 ERA in 81.1 innings in 2006. He was 4-0 with a 4.57 ERA in just 63 innings in 2007. In 2008, he jumped to 210 innings, while his ERA dropped to 3.21. At 25, I don't expect Lester to be "tired" in 2009 after his 2008 season. He's already in Florida and seems really focused on his routine. The Red Sox trainers were careful with him during his illness and his recovery and I have full convidence that 2008 was just the tip of the iceberg for this kid. He and Josh Beckett seem to be close friends and I expect them to challenge each other in 2009...
Click here to listen to the entire interview with WEEI.
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