Toucher & Rich: Abraham On Sox Spring Training
The truck has been sent down to Fort Myers, Florida for Spring Training and Red Sox players are not far behind as they report this Sunday. Although some players like Jon Lester have showed up early in Florida to start getting ready for the season.
Peter Abraham spoke with Toucher & Rich about Spring Training, the compensation for Theo Epstein, Carl Crawford's wrist and Daisuke Matsuzaka's status.
After the epic collapse in September the Red Sox and manager Terry Francona went separate ways and GM Theo Epstein went to the Chicago Cub. The Cubs were suppose to send back some sort of compensation, but nothing has gone through yet.
Is there any word of what the Sox are going to get or when they will get it?
"The whole thing is kind of embarrassing at this point. At one point the commissioner said he would do it then he backed off, then the teams couldn't get anything done. Now the commissioner is back involved, but so far he hasn't done anything. You wouldn't think they're going to get somebody that significant on the eve of Spring Training it's probably going to be a minor leaguer or two, but then again the Red Sox are demanding a significant player and have been doing so for awhile."
The guys moved on to take a look at the bullpen. Pitching was an issue last September, but the Sox didn't really address anything in the offseason.
How does Abraham feel about what things heading into the Spring? Should we be worried about this team?
"Well from a pitching standpoint you should be because they clearly didn't do much to improve their rotation and that was their biggest problem last year, especially in September."
Sox left fielder Carl Crawford had surgery on his left wrist in January. What is is Abraham hearing about his status?
"He's not going to be ready to start in Spring Training and it's probably going to be a little while before he's able to do regular things and maybe even play in games and it seems pretty evident that he's not going to start the season with the team. The question at this point is whether he's going to be on the DL for a couple of weeks or whether it's going to be a month or how ever long it's going to be."
Daisuke Matsuzaka is down in Fort Myers after missing most of the season after undergoing Tommy John's surgery in June. It's thought that he won't return until after the All-Star Break, but word is he's already throwing off the mound.
How close is the starter to returning to the rotation?
"He's nowhere near ready to start in a major league game, that's going to take a long time. He's going to have to go to the minors and work his way up through a couple of levels. I'd be shocked if he was back before the All-Star Break."
The guys also discussed asking players about the collapse in September.
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