February 9, 2012

Valentine Speaks, Hill Throws Second Session, Lester Mum

Rich Hill threw his second bullpen session since undergoing Tommy John surgery last June.
Everything is going according to schedule. There's a long way to go still. Right now I'm throwing three-quarters sidearm. Prior to this I'd been throwing straight over the top. So we'll see as we progress what the team wants me to do.
Jon Lester, Aaron Cook, and Ryan Sweeney are also in camp. Lester has declined to speak to reporters until the official date for pitchers and catchers to report (February 19).

Bobby Valentine on talent and luck:
[Y]ou need luck with talent. Sometimes it's not the best team that wins but the team that plays the best. When at the end of the day, you're playing the best, a lot of times it means you had a couple breaks go your way. ... You keep building and keep changing as the year goes on. Other teams have won because they got out of the gate and went 35-5. There's all different forms and shapes with championship teams. ... I'm very eager to get down and start talking about players instead of my escapades or other things that have been going around the last month.
Valentine on Daniel Bard and/or Alfredo Aceves as starters:
The conversion thing, I just don't think it's as big a deal as some people want to make it because I lived it for 30 years. That's how people became starters. It's not such a unique physical thing. In our world, it's become more of a mental thing for how long it's going to take for them to get comfortable. ... I can't say that if a guy only threw 90 innings last year that he can only throw some number of innings this year. Now, there's history that can give me a barometer between what numbers he could possibly (achieve). But to just say that there's a limit to the number of innings, I don't agree with that.
Valentine, on the team's changing roster:
I'm comfortable until I'm not comfortable. I like the people we have coming to camp. If nothing changes, if all I can deal with is their past, it's probably not enough. But the world champions evolved as the season went on last year. The American League champions evolved as the year went on. Why should I think that we should see a finished product now?
Tim Wakefield will likely make a decision this weekend about whether he plans to pitch in 2012. The Red Sox have said next to nothing publicly about bringing him back for an 18th season in Boston.

5 comments:

Zenslinger said...

Coke Can Boyd's memoir coming out. Some nice coked-up comments.

Jere said...

"Best seats you get with the Can on the mound," the sloppily dressed, fast-talking man said to my father as he pulled his wallet from his pocket. We later found ourselves sitting behind a pole.

These sentences and more can be found in my book, Obstructed View: Fenway, the Scalpers, and Me.

allan said...

A ballplayer doing coke in the '80s? What a shocker!

laura k said...

Scalpers selling obstructed-view tickets at Fenway! This thread is full of shockers!

Jere said...

True, however the point was supposed to show what a big attraction Oil Can was.