Fenway West - A Boston Red Sox Blog
Shea Hillenbrand broke into the big leagues with the Red Sox in 2001. About 1/3 the way through the 2003 season he was sent packing to Arizona in exchange for Byung-Hyun Kim. Hillenbrand, who was born and raised in Mesa, AZ, was very outspoken and critical of the Red Sox FO. Despite earning a berth on the AL All Star Team in 2002, the Sox signed free agent Bill Mueller that winter. Hillenbrand was tied for the most errors in the league in 2002, and had a shaky strike zone assessment, which led Theo Epstein to trade Hillenbrand in May of 2003. He bounced back and forth between leagues, from BOS to ARZ to TOR to SFG to LAA and finally to LAD in 2007. After being traded to SFG in 2006, his batting average dropped significantly in this trip to the NL. He had played in at least 134 games in each of his first six seasons, but only 73 games in his last season split between LAA and LAD. Starting with his time with SFG, his BA of .254 with LAA was his highest in his last 133 games spread out over roughly a season and a half. Hillenbrand seemed to have differences with many of the teams he played for and was very vocal about them. In July of 2007, he was replaced by Casey Kotchman and was waived by LAA shortly thereafter. He went unsigned going into the 2008 season, and ended up playing for the independent Atlantic League for 36 games before his season ended prematurely due to a hamstring injury. It should also be noted that in 2003, Hillenbrand hit 3 HR’s in one game while playing for the D-Backs.
NOTE~ While researching information for this post, I was reminded that also in 2003, Bill Mueller, coincidentally Hillenbrand’s replacement at third base, also hit 3 home runs in one game, 2 of which were grand slams. This duplicated Nomar Garciaparra’s same feat in 1999. Mike Cameron hit 4 home runs in one game in 2002 while playing for the Seattle Mariners. Going back to 1991, Jack Clark, John Valentin, Mo Vaughn (2x), Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek, and Kevin Millar all accomplished this as well. Surprisingly, Manny Ramirez did not accomplish this while with the Sox, although he did do it while playing for Cleveland. Mike Lowell and Victor Martinez also knocked three HR’s in one game before they arrived in Boston.
In an interview with ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes Papelbon said the following:
"I had no idea we got [John] Lackey until [trainer Mike] Reinold came down to see me, just a few days ago,'' he said. "I swear to you. I don't know anything about the ballclub." Adrian Beltre deal? He hadn't heard. Casey Kotchman about to be traded to the Mariners? Nope. "Cameron, Mike Cameron?'' he said. "We got him? I swear to you, I didn't know.''
Seems like Paps has been taking the Manny Ramirez approach to the offseason.
no commentsAdrian Beltre must make 640 plate appearances this season to be eligible for the $10 million player option in 2011. If he falls sort of that number the option will be worth $5 million.
Andre Dawson awaits word from the Hall of Fame. You can watch the announcement live at 2 pm Eastern on MLB Network or online. Dawson was a member of the Red Sox forJ the 1993 and 1994 seasons.
Randy Johnson is retiring. Jeff Pearlman and birds everywhere celebrate.
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The Red Sox have traded Casey Kotchman to the Seattle Mariners for Bill Hall. Last season Hall hit .200, but is a career .251 hitter with an OPS of .750. The deal saves the Red Sox some luxury tax money by unloading Kotchman's salary and give the team a backup at third base if Lowrie gets hurt again.
no commentsThere are quite a few updates on unrelated items to report today:
Jacoby Ellsbury will play left field next year and Mike Cameron will be in center. Francona explained the decision to the ProJo:
"The thought being, Cameron has played center most of his career and he's got those long strides. Ells, kind of like [Rays' left fielder] Carl Crawford, has the short burst of speed and I think doing it like this, we're going to have a spectacular outfield. He was worried that it was a demotion, which it is not. I kind of insured him of that. I just think we're tying to put guys where we think they can make the biggest impression."
The Red Sox are close to a deal sending Casey Kotchman to the Mariners for a prospect.
Jason Bay was happy with his time in Boston and has no hard feelings towards the Red Sox.
Truck Day is Feb. 12th. So I guess we now begin the countdown to the countdown to baseball season.
no commentsThe Red Sox did manage to sign Adrian Beltre in a deal that seems to look like Theo got the best of Scott Boras. Beltre even reportedly took less money to play for Boston. It may seem like a great deal to have Beltre at the hot corner for $9 million next season until you consider that Mike Lowell will be making $12 million and is still on the team. (that's $21 million next season for 3B) Don't forget the Sox also now have Kotchman on the bench at $3 million. No team is going to pick up Lowell now and eat all of his salary. The Red Sox have to hope that Lowell shines in spring training so they can move him quickly or they will be paying a huge sum for someone to ride pine.
You can give Theo high marks for landing Beltre on the cheap but you also have to penalize him for giving Lowell a 3-year deal and potentially paying him to play somewhere else, and for giving Kotchman $3 million when V-Mart can play first too.
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The Red Sox are about to sign Adrian Beltre to play third base. The signing will improve the team defensivelly and mean they will most likely try to move Mike Lowell when possible.
The deal is for 1 year at $9 million with a $5 million player option for a second year. The Red Sox obviously benefited by the declining market for Beltre and were able to land him at a much lower than Boras' 4 years at $12 million asking price.
There are new rumors the Sox are actively trying to move Lowell to the Mets:
no comments"I just heard that Red Sox have talked to the Mets about a Mike Lowell-for-Luis Castillo trade. Not sure how serious it is." He adds, "Lowell, expendable with Beltre coming to Boston, could play some 1B in NY. And with Castillo gone, Mets could make a play for Orlando Hudson."
The holidays are over and baseball executives should get back to work this week and once again bring us some news. Theo could still make another move and we still don't know what will become of Mike Lowell. One surprising thing so far is it looks like Manny Delcarmen may survive another offseason after being rumored as trade bait. Here's some interesting tidbits to chew on while the hot stove starts to heat up again.
Jason Bay has his physical for the Mets today, the Sox expressed injury concern earlier. Were they bluffing? News came out that Bay signed with the Mets on Christmas, three days before the deal was announced.
Padres GM Jed Hoyer said that Adrian Gonzalez was not on the trading block. Time will tell.
no comments"So he's certainly not a player we're looking to move. I think that's been the way we've addressed it all winter. Teams have inquired, but we've certainly said the same thing over and over: He's not a player we're looking to move."
When the final payroll numbers are crunched the Red Sox will be above the $170 million threshold and will have to pay a penalty of 22.5% on any salary over the mark. Red Sox principal owner John Henry confirmed the team would pay a penalty in an email to Amalie Benjamin.
The luxury tax makes it unlikely the Red Sox will go after any more high priced free agents this offseason and will have to make any improvement in the lineup via trade. So, unless there is a new breakthrough in a deal for Adrian Gonzalez it looks like Lowell and Kotchman will platoon as corner infielders, and Youkilis will flip from first to third
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