| 15 March 2010
And now... our first Weekend Update of the 2010 season:
Today's lineup against the Orioles is an interesting one. Mike Lowell will make his spring debute and play first base - something he hasn't done since 1998, but will likely be asked to do going forward to increase his trade value. Third base coach and infield instructor Tim Bogar says Lowell is a natural at first:
“He’s fine. That transition’s not a problem for him,” Bogar said. “His big thing was working on picking balls in the dirt and footwork stuff. We did that a couple of days. He’s a natural at it. Great hands. Two days we’ve hit him buckets of balls at first base with low throws and stuff. He’s just professional. We had to talk about a couple of technique things, ways he likes to do things and way he doesn’t but other than that he took right to it.”
And Bill Hall will attempt to prove that he can still sling it from shortstop today with Jed Lowrie dealing with a lingering illness. Hall is expected to be the utility man in 2010, but he hasn't played a game at shortstop since he played 127 games there in 2006. If he struggles, the Sox may be foreced to keep Angel Snachez on the roster or maybe even give Tug Hulett a shot.
Francona talked about Lowrie's mysterious illness and said the Sox are being overly cautious, but that there's nothing wrong with that:
"He just feels runs down and he said he's had this feeling during the winter at times. So we just want to get him kind of back on his feet and eliminate anything it could ever be. The safest way to go about that is run a bunch of tests," Francona said. "They did a bunch of stuff the other day, stress test and things like that. They'll do some things tomorrow and hopefully we'll get him back on the field as soon he gets all the results back."
The tests were administered in Florida. The stress test was in reaction to trainers noticing an accelerated heart beat.
"We're probably being overly cautious but I'm not sure you can be," Francona said.
Lowrie was all but a lock to start the year in Pawtucket, but this kid just can't catch a break. There has been a bug floating around Fort Myers, so hopefully Jed is back to 100% in a few days.
That same bug forced the Sox to scratch Josh Beckett from his scheduled start over the weekend, but all indications ar that he is fine and will pitch again soon.
The same cannot be said for Daisuke Matsuzaka who was forced to cut a bullpen session short due to a stiff neck after finally getting close to pitching in a Spring Training game. There's really no way he will start the season on the major league roster, so Tim Wakefield abnd Clay Buchholz can realx... for now.
In more serious injury news, top prospect and local boy Ryan Westmoreland has been diagnosed with cavernous malformation in his brain. He will meet with specialists this week and could have surgery within a few days if it is deemed necessary. It sounds scary, but WEEI.com has a link to more info and it sounds treatable.
Speaking of prospects... the Red Sox sent 12 youngsters back to their minor league programs yesterday: Casey Kelly, Adam Mills, Kyle Weiland, Randor Bierd, Kris Johnson, Robert Manuel, Lars Anderson, Luis Exposito, Jose Iglesias, Yamaico Navarro, Ryan Kalish, and Che-Hsuan Lin. All of the players were reassigned to minor league camp with the exception of Iglesias, who was optioned to Double-A Portland.
Finally, Tim Wakefield will start today's game. He's been untouchable so far this spring, allowing three hits and zero runs in five innings of work, while walking no one. Matsuzaka can take his time getting healthy, IMO.
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