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sleep apnea and the state of the pen.
word on the streets is that craig hansen is undergoing surgery to correct what is considered by some the reason for his inflated ERA.... sleep apnea. what is sleep apnea? well, its basically when you stop breathing for a couple of seconds while your asleep... meaning: you dont sleep well. is this the reason he's slid from "closer of the future" to near obscurity? i guess we will find out soon enough. id imagine not being able to get a good nights sleep could play a major role in an athletes performance over the course of a long season... so you know what? im giving this the benefit of the doubt.
what does this leave us, as the fans to look forward to next year? well, basically if hansen comes through or not... a ridiculous bullpen.
it appears that IF someone is traded for pitching, it will be EITHER buchholz or lester... not both. leaving the sox with a possible 6 man rotation. beckett, matsuzaka, schilling, wakefield, lester, buchholz.... im assuming it will for the most part be 5 so whats that mean for the pen?
well, tavarez has asked to be traded to a national league team so he will have a chance to start. (worked for piniero didnt it?) fair enough. ill miss him though. add one or two prospects back into the sox minor league depth chart, ill take it.
that leaves snyder as long releif and the 6th starter (lester, buchholz, or wakefield) as spot starter/long releif (not that the rotation looks like it will have many short appearances) the rest of the pen?
papelbon is a definite for the ninth
okajima and lopez = 1.75 great lefties, enough to go batter to batter in a tough 8th at least
delcarmen and timlin as the righties, plug them in 7th or 8th.
then you have hansen... could he finally become what he was supposed to be? will keith foulke try to earn a spot in the pen out of spring training? what about breslow, masterson, and corey? they all have shots too. anythings possible with a great pitcing coach, and the sox definitely have that.
regardless if johan, bedard, or haren come to the sox or not, the pitching staff wont be depeleted or lacking at any level. the staff looks great.... could it be improved? i suppose.... but why spend the money on something you dont need when there are some young players who need to be locked up long term! plus schilling and wakefield are not going to be around forever. why not keep lester AND buchholz so the sox dont have to scramble for a starter in '09?
bostons staff AS IS, is unequaled in the mlb today and id dare anyone to show me another team with a pitching staff that comes even close. sox= #1 era in '08!
-elmedius
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