Tim Wakefield went out and pitched a gem for the Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon and left with a chance to get his first win of the season. Instead, the bullpen imploded and the Red Sox finished up their 10-game homestand with a 7-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
And that’s not even the best part.
After the game, skipper Terry Francona made the official announcement that Wake will be heading to the bullpen to make room for Daisuke Matsuzaka in the starting rotation. Francona did say this was a “temporary move” and that Wakefield is still a starter.
As I said the other day, I’m surprised the Red Sox didn’t send Clay Buchholz to Triple-A as he still has an option left. The Red Sox must have felt that Buchholz in Triple-A would have hurt his development as he showed last year he had nothing left to prove at the level.
Someone had to go though from the rotation and it’s unfortunate. You have to think part of the reason behind adding Dice-K to the rotation are financial. They have over $100 million invested in him. Let’s just hope that Dice-K can return to his form of the 2008 season when he won 18 games.
There are reports this morning that the Red Sox have signed Cuban free agent catcher Adalberto Ibarra to a major league deal. It’s believed to be a 5-year deal worth $4.3 million with a signing bonus of $1.5 million.
Ibarra has played first, second and third base for the Cuban club Camagüey but the Red Sox see him as a future catcher. Interestingly enough, the Red Sox already have prospects Mark Wagner, Dusty Brown, Luis Exposito and Tim Federowicz in the minors.
We’ll be back later with the lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day.
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal and WEEI websites.
And if you must read the enemy paper, head over to the Baltimore Sun website. Or you can check out our Bloguin brother, the Oriole Post.
