2013 Spring Training

[jung]

I would like to see more of Eck also. Whenever these guys come in for short stints they always rely on their anecdotal stories to pull them through. Invariably, Jim Rice's anecdotal stories are about.....well....Jim Rice. Eck tells you more about the guys he played with and against.

[jacksonianmarch]

Eck also tells it like it is. He's definitely partial in a pro sox fashion, but he'll say outright in game if a guy doesn't belong or pick out a flaw before its evident to most. He might not have the 'entertainment value' of Remy and Orsillo, but I think he's a much better analyst.

[jung]

Yea but I don't put much stock in that sort of on air "honesty" when you hear it from the color guy in the broadcast booth cause it will get a color guy fired. So there is no sense in hoping he will get the job cause he would not keep it if he got it.

 

The organizations have right of refusal and they don't want somebody in the booth telling the world that their latest potential gleaming star is really a flash in the pan. That stuff can be tolerated in small doses from the post game "back at the station desk" but they want no part of a guy using the live broadcast with its ever present immediate replay as a means to tell the audience exactly why said player is a flash in the pan. This is true for all of the organizations though. It is not specific to the Red Sox by any means.

 

The post game show Producer and Director can exercise much more control over the on air talent and that is where you will mostly find a guy like Eck unless NESN has to plug him into the game broadcast booth for some reason. An organization might let a guy like Eck do radio regularly where he does not have the benefit of video to tell you the "truth" as he sees it. All the guys with regular TV broadcast gigs like the jobs Remy and Orsillo have tread the same fine line or they don't get or keep the job. Most of them do not get anywhere near as close to the line as Remy and Orsillo and are much closer to that whack job "Hawk". Heck we are lucky to have Remy and Orsillo as the rest of that NESN broadcast crew including the guys in the truck seems pretty weak.

[NYlove4BoSox]

Eck also tells it like it is. He's definitely partial in a pro sox fashion, but he'll say outright in game if a guy doesn't belong or pick out a flaw before its evident to most . He might not have the 'entertainment value' of Remy and Orsillo, but I think he's a much better analyst.

 

I agree. I've really enjoyed his time in the booth. I love the "I gotta have that!" Remy is entertaining, but doesn't give much baseball insight. At the same time I don't need constant baseball insight, as they do on YES.

 

Is there talk of a third guy being added?

[Bellhorn04]

Eck also tells it like it is. He's definitely partial in a pro sox fashion, but he'll say outright in game if a guy doesn't belong or pick out a flaw before its evident to most. He might not have the 'entertainment value' of Remy and Orsillo, but I think he's a much better analyst.

 

Eck is good. I had 2 issues with him when he filled in for Remy though. 1) He tended to see everything from a pitcher's viewpoint. 2) The lingo wore a little thin after a while.

[BSN07]

If he can't hack it, they can send him back for more seasoning. Wait the 12 days and bring him up if he is doing well. Nava and Sweeney are a very low bar. I don't admire anything about you.

 

I'm not saying Nava and Sweeney are world beaters. Just they can hold down the fort for a couple weeks. You know, like most 4th and 5th OF's have to occasionally do time to time in Majors over the course of a season.

 

And the fact you admire nothing about me will not cause me to lose sleep at night. I'm not even sure why you had to add that in there after a reasonable post. Do you have some sort of douche clause that doesn't allow you to do otherwise?

[a700hitter]

I'm not saying Nava and Sweeney are world beaters. Just they can hold down the fort for a couple weeks. You know, like most 4th and 5th OF's have to occasionally do time to time in Majors over the course of a season.

If you read my post, I said to wait the 12 days before bringing him up. He is better than Sweeney or Nava wearing an eye patch.

 

And the fact you admire nothing about me will not cause me to lose sleep at night. I'm not even sure why you had to add that in there after a reasonable post. Do you have some sort of douche clause that doesn't allow you to do otherwise?

i guess that you have not read your posts responding to me. You have consistently been a douche. I don't take that from people with clearly inferior intellect -- unless they are "special" , in which case I would let it slide. Are you "special"?

[BSN07]

I haven't seen anything about them adding a 3rd person. I think this is just something they have been doing to change it up in ST. I really enjoyed when they had the Pittsburgh guys in there. There seemed to be a good flow between the two sides that was not there with Rice last night.

 

I'm hoping Ecks is being groomed to take over for Remy at some point. One of the best things is Ecks has that ability to make Orsillio go off on one of his uncontrollable fits of laughter at any point, which is always good stuff

[BSN07]

If you read my post, I said to wait the 12 days before bringing him up. He is better than Sweeney or Nava wearing an eye patch.

 

i guess that you have not read your posts responding to me. You have consistently been a douche. I don't take that from people with clearly inferior intellect -- unless they are "special" , in which case I would let it slide. Are you "special"?

 

I don't disagree that he is better then the two. But to make an impact that is so above and beyond what they can provide for two weeks would have to be Trout like. And you have decades of watching baseball, how often does that happen?

 

Yes, I'm window licking special.

[a700hitter]

I don't disagree that he is better then the two. But to make an impact that is so above and beyond what they can provide for two weeks would have to be Trout like. And you have decades of watching baseball, how often does that happen?

 

Yes, I'm window licking special.

You must be special. How many times do I have to say wait the 12 days before bringing him up?

[BSN07]

You must be special. How many times do I have to say wait the 12 days before bringing him up?

 

So if he can't hack it, they send him down for two weeks and try again? Do I have that correct?

[a700hitter]

So if he can't hack it, they send him down for two weeks and try again? Do I have that correct?

No. As usual you don't have it correct.

[BSN07]

I don't see the reason in starting the season with plan B(Bradley) in the OF if there isn't a reason to think plan A(Gomes platoon, Ellsbury and Victorino) isn't going to work.

[BSN07]

If he can't hack it, they can send him back for more seasoning. Wait the 12 days and bring him up if he is doing well. Nava and Sweeney are a very low bar. I don't admire anything about you.

 

So if he can't hack it, they send him down for two weeks and try again? Do I have that correct?

 

No. As usual you don't have it correct.

 

Ok I'm going to need an explanation then. Is anyone else seeing this? Am I in the twilight zone or something?

[a700hitter]

Ok I'm going to need an explanation then. Is anyone else seeing this? Am I in the twilight zone or something?

If he can't hack it, they can send him back for more seasoning, but Wait the 12 days at the beginning of the season and bring him up if he continues doing well. Nava and Sweeney are a very low bar. I don't admire anything about you.

There. Does that make it easier for you to understand. Although my post was very poorly worded, your interpretatiom that i was suggesting to have him start the season in Fenway, then sending him down if he couldn't hack it and then bringing him up again in 2 weeks just didn't make sense, especially since I posted this on the previous page:

 

If that is the rule and it is only 9 games, wait it out to save the year, but tell him not to unpack at Pawtucket. Please stop with smug ******** if you know how to do that.

this last point is the key. This was my response to you a page earlier. In case you couldn't tell, I was agreeing with you.

[VA Sox Fan]

Eck is good. I had 2 issues with him when he filled in for Remy though. 1) He tended to see everything from a pitcher's viewpoint. 2) The lingo wore a little thin after a while.

 

I like Eck and think he's good too but agree 100% with your points. You hit the nail on the head.

[BSN07]

There. Does that make it easier for you to understand. Although my post was very poorly worded, your interpretatiom that i was suggesting to have him start the season in Fenway, then sending him down if he couldn't hack it and then bringing him up again in 2 weeks just didn't make sense, especially since I posted this on the previous page:

 

this last point is the key. This was my response to you a page earlier. In case you couldn't tell, I was agreeing with you.

 

I will admit I missed the post on the previous page. And it would have probably helped a bit explaining the next one. I knew it seemed off for some reason. Now I know why.

[BSN07]

I like Eck and think he's too but agree 100% with your points. You hit the nail on the head.

 

Ecks will have to develop his secondary stuff before being able to produce in the booth for a whole season

[BSN07]

Just throwing this out there but Angels are looking for a back up catcher. Red Sox are probably a logical partner with their C depth. Ross can't be traded until June 1 without permission. That wouldn't make a lot of sense. Lavs and Salty both could possibly be available. Especially with Vazquez showing he's probably a ML C at least behind the dish. But he's in AA for a reason. They could be interested in Salty as it wouldn't be a long term commitment. I really don't know what the Angels have that could help?

[Bellhorn04]

Just throwing this out there but Angels are looking for a back up catcher. Red Sox are probably a logical partner with their C depth. Ross can't be traded until June 1 without permission. That wouldn't make a lot of sense. Lavs and Salty both could possibly be available. Especially with Vazquez showing he's probably a ML C at least behind the dish. But he's in AA for a reason. They could be interested in Salty as it wouldn't be a long term commitment. I really don't know what the Angels have that could help?

 

The Sox have depth at catching but it's very unclear who will be the #1 going forward. Salty is having a very good spring with the bat so far and Lavarnway is having a poor one on top of his poor numbers last year. Maybe Salty will establish himself this year, who knows. I've been as hard on him as anyone over the CERA stuff, but 2013 is a new year and a big one in his career.

[Dojji]

Vazquez is going to stay in the minors because he has at least an outside chance of developing a borderline starting caliber bat if he does, which combined with his arm makes him a starting catcher. Think Yadier Molina's early years. They're not going to throw a shot at getting that guy away in order to rush Vazquez to the big leagues 2 years too early.

 

He has a truly impressive arm, and if I didn't think he could develop offensively I'd be calling for him to supplant Ross this year because I think the kid could easily back up in the bigs right now. But that bat is good enough that if he works on it hard enough he could get into position where he could let his arm carry his bat as a starter. Right now he's not there. The team has got to let him work and get there if he can. The upside is worth the wait.

[jung]

Some of the younger guys are probably starting to run outta' time to impress. Lavs has gotten more AB's than any other catcher in camp and has once again done nothing with them. You bounce his spring against Salty's and the offensive gap is simply too great. While you can argue that it is just ST, Salty has just completely overwhelmed Lavs offensively. So while I don't expect much more improvement by Salty defensively or as a battery mate, the Sox are in a box. I have been as critical of Salty as I can possibly be and Lavs just won't help me out a lick. Arghhhhhhh

[BSN07]

Some of the younger guys are probably starting to run outta' time to impress. Lavs has gotten more AB's than any other catcher in camp and has once again done nothing with them. You bounce his spring against Salty's and the offensive gap is simply too great. While you can argue that it is just ST, Salty has just completely overwhelmed Lavs offensively. So while I don't expect much more improvement by Salty defensively or as a battery mate, the Sox are in a box. I have been as critical of Salty as I can possibly be and Lavs just won't help me out a lick. Arghhhhhhh

 

Ya Lavs hasn't done much to push Salty. I fully expect him back in AAA to start the season or if someone offers the right piece I wouldn't be shocked to see him moved.

[seabeachfred]

If he can't hack it, they can send him back for more seasoning. Wait the 12 days and bring him up if he is doing well. Nava and Sweeney are a very low bar. I don't admire anything about you.

 

My fear is that if Bradley is sent down he just might get injured a la Kalish. As long as we can get seven years out of him before Boras bores in with his ridiculous money first and only demands we should take full advantage of it. Bradley may not be ready as some say but is Sweeney or Nava or Carp? The best way most likely is to take our chances with these bottom feeders for a two week stretch and hope Jackie is raking down on the farm and physically in one piece----and then bring him up. We're thinking of Bradley as a good hitter but he can run to give us some added speed and he can field terrifically in the outfield. He gives us a solid player.

 

BTW Ted, I know the "dead arm" stage of ST is about to hit us, but am I wrong is saying that our starting pitchers have done a pretty damn good job so far, surprisingly very good? You've seen them. Are you impressed and when are getting back home?

[seabeachfred]

Yea but I don't put much stock in that sort of on air "honesty" when you hear it from the color guy in the broadcast booth cause it will get a color guy fired. So there is no sense in hoping he will get the job cause he would not keep it if he got it.

 

The organizations have right of refusal and they don't want somebody in the booth telling the world that their latest potential gleaming star is really a flash in the pan. That stuff can be tolerated in small doses from the post game "back at the station desk" but they want no part of a guy using the live broadcast with its ever present immediate replay as a means to tell the audience exactly why said player is a flash in the pan. This is true for all of the organizations though. It is not specific to the Red Sox by any means.

 

The post game show Producer and Director can exercise much more control over the on air talent and that is where you will mostly find a guy like Eck unless NESN has to plug him into the game broadcast booth for some reason. An organization might let a guy like Eck do radio regularly where he does not have the benefit of video to tell you the "truth" as he sees it. All the guys with regular TV broadcast gigs like the jobs Remy and Orsillo have tread the same fine line or they don't get or keep the job. Most of them do not get anywhere near as close to the line as Remy and Orsillo and are much closer to that whack job "Hawk". Heck we are lucky to have Remy and Orsillo as the rest of that NESN broadcast crew including the guys in the truck seems pretty weak.

 

Well said my friend and I just wonder if it is just us or whether the rest of the crew here understands that Orsillo and Remy are about as good a one-two punch of announcers as there is in the game? Out here in Southern California, we have Vin Scully, the best baseball announcer in history but he is a one man show and doesn't have a broadcast partner. The Dodgers regular duo suck and the Angels aren't any better, certainly not in the class of Don and Jerry.

 

I've been listening to these guys since 2004 and appreciate what they bring to the mike, but one place where we may have a slight disagreement is that I've seen Remy get very critical of some of the play he's seen over the years and Orsillo usually amplfied what Jerry said with some well placed barbs of his own. I don't see these two guys as house men at all.

[BSN07]

Well said my friend and I just wonder if it is just us or whether the rest of the crew here understands that Orsillo and Remy are about as good a one-two punch of announcers as there is in the game? Out here in Southern California, we have Vin Scully, the best baseball announcer in history but he is a one man show and doesn't have a broadcast partner. The Dodgers regular duo suck and the Angels aren't any better, certainly not in the class of Don and Jerry.

 

I've been listening to these guys since 2004 and appreciate what they bring to the mike, but one place where we may have a slight disagreement is that I've seen Remy get very critical of some of the play he's seen over the years and Orsillo usually amplfied what Jerry said with some well placed barbs of his own. I don't see these two guys as house men at all.

 

Remy and Orsillo are a great duo with good chemistry, like you said, probably one of the better tandems in the league of broadcasting. I'm not advocating they split them up. I just hope if Remy decides to retire the consider Ecks because he brings a different energy to the booth that I thought flowed well with Orsillo when he was filling in.

[a700hitter]

If that is the rule and it is only 9 games, wait it out to save the year, but tell him not to unpack at Pawtucket. Please stop with smug ******** if you know how to do that.

 

I will admit I missed the post on the previous page. And it would have probably helped a bit explaining the next one. I knew it seemed off for some reason. Now I know why.

If you could drop the personal animosity for a minute, you might be surprised that I do agree with you on occasion, and in this instance you convinced me that you were right to wait the 12 days.

[Bellhorn04]

Single and triple for Iglesias today.

[BSN07]

If you could drop the personal animosity for a minute, you might be surprised that I do agree with you on occasion, and in this instance you convinced me that you were right to wait the 12 days.

 

I thought we sorted that out like 2 hours ago?

[a700hitter]

BTW Ted, I know the "dead arm" stage of ST is about to hit us, but am I wrong is saying that our starting pitchers have done a pretty damn good job so far, surprisingly very good? You've seen them. Are you impressed and when are getting back home?

I liked what I saw from Lester. I don't know if he recovered his movement and raw stuff, but he and Buchholz have both picked up the pace and established better rhythms which I think is a key to success for both of them. Lester has always had trouble when he labors and slows his pace since he first came to the majors. Once he started to quicken the pace and attack the zone he was successful. The same goes for Buchholz. In the last couple of years, I think Beckett had a very negative influence on both of them in this regard.

 

If Dempster has found a new life with the splitter, maybe he will be effective despite subpar velocity. There has been more good news than bad with the starters. Lackey has had some bumps. Doubront has the stuff, but does he have the command to improve over last year. We don't have depth if any of these guys falter. Morales is having back trouble and he is not ready to take starts any time soon. He's not even ready for the pen. De La Rosa is not ready to be an MLB starter. I guess that Webster is first on the depth chart at this point.