Toucher & Rich: Abraham On Buchholz's Status & The Trade Deadline
The Red Sox are two games up on the Yankees as the trade deadline approaches. Clay Buchholz is making progress and Jon Lester has returned to the lineup and pitched last night.
The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham spoke with Toucher & Rich and the trade deadline, Buchholz's status and Kevin Youkilis' tweaked hamstring.
Youkilis tweaked his hamstring running the bases in the 6th inning last night and did not return to the game. How serious is this injury?
"Well it sounds like that it's not something that's serious. It could be the kind of thing where misses one night and comes back. Youk seems to have one of these every two weeks or so where he hammers his knee or his ankle or his hamstring on something and then misses a game and comers back after that and is fine," said Abraham.
Lester made his first start after being on the DL. What did Abraham think of the start overall?
"The fact that he was throwing 95 in the 1st inning would seem to be a very good sign and he pitched pretty well. There were a few issues here and there, but for a guy who had been out that long he looked good to me," Abraham said.
Everyone has been waiting for Clay Buchholz to return to the lineup. The starter threw a bullpen session last night, how much longer until he return?
"This sort of starts the process, once you get on the mound it'll take him some time to build up to a point where he can go out into a game and throw 80 to 85 pitches. That will probably take, I would think, somewhere in the two week neighborhood. Then they'll need him to go to Pawtucket, throw a game or two there. I would think you'll see him back mid to late August," was Abraham view on the Buchholz situation.
The guys then moved on to needs the Red Sox might want to fill before the trade deadline. The Sox put J.D. Drew on the DL and called up Drew Sutton does this mean anything? Outside of the statistics, is there anyone that the Red Sox might be looking at whose numbers don't tell the whole story?
"If you're talking about the trade market I think one guy who probably did himself some favors last night was Melky Cabrera from the Royals, who had four hits against the Sox and played pretty good outfield," Abraham said.
All that and much more with Peter Abraham:
