Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Okajima is going back to Japan

To the delight of most Red Sox fans, Hideki Okajima will be heading back to Japan to pitch for the Softbank Hawks. Even though he was not a part of the Red Sox organization anymore, the thought of a very slim possibility of him returning was nauseating.

Okajima spent most of 2011 with the Pawsox and most recently failed his physical with the Yankees. The decision was an easy one to make for Okajima, especially at 36-years-old and uncertainty surrounding any further MLB action.

I guess I can say thanks for a brief flash of quality pitching and keeping Dice-K company.

Wakefield to retire

MLBTradeRumors.com is reporting that Tim Wakefield will announce his retirement from baseball later today.

Tim Wakefield will announce his retirement at a press conference later today, according to a Red Sox media release.  The veteran knuckleballer had been considering the decision, saying that while he was interested in pitching in 2012, his first choice would be to return to the Red Sox, who were only offering him a minor league contract.

Wakefield retires with a career 200-180 record, a 4.41 ERA and 2156 strikeouts over 3226 1/3 innings pitched.  He is Boston's all-time leader in starts and innings pitched, and his 186 wins with the Red Sox ranks him third on the franchise's all-time wins list, just six behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young's shared mark of 192.

Despite the fact that this is the outcome we've expected for a few weeks, I'm torn by this announcement.  Like Varitek, Timmy is one of those guys that you just expect to see in a Sox uniform every day.  When you think of the Boston Red Sox, and the successes they've had over the past decade, Wakefield has been a constant.  Regardless of how high his ERA would climb or how flat his knuckleball had become, Wake was a player that you desperately wanted to succeed.

But his successes on the mount have been few and far between in recent years.  He's simply not going to play an integral role on a successful baseball club at this stage in his career.  At the very best, he's a guy you can bring in to eat some innings of long-since-decided games.  The Red Sox are not going to commit a roster spot for a pitcher with such a low ceiling, regardless of his history with the franchise.

We had all hoped that Wake would one day knock Roger Clemens' name out of the record books.  Unfortunately he fell just a few wins short.  But that does nothing to mar the equally brilliant and unspectacular career that Wakefield strung together over the past 20 years.  It's going to be weird not seeing him in the dugout this spring.

Wakefield's retirement isn't the only sad news we have to share today.  It has also been reported that Hideki Okajima has failed his physical with the Yankees, and is no longer part of New York's 2012 plans.  What a shame.  We were *thisclose* to watching the Yankees get Okie-Dokie'd to the bottom of the AL East.  If any of our readers have any contacts in the Rays' front office, would you mind putting in a good word for him?

Yankees make a dumb move

It's about time someone took Okajima off of our hands. The Yankees have signed Okajima to a minor-league deal after he spent most of 2011 with the Pawtucket Red Sox.

CSNNE:

The Yanks signed Okajima, who turned 36 on Christmas Day, to a minor-league contract Wednesday with an invitation to spring training. As you can by clicking the link, it's been a while since Okajima was an effective big-league reliever; we'll find out if a few months if he can recapture the magic that made him so effective in his first few seasons with the Sox.

This may be, what Scott is calling, New York's retaliation to the Sox scoring on Aceves. The only difference is, Aceves didn't suck in his last 2 seasons with the Yankees. This makes me nothing but happy, because Okajima is finally gone, and the Yankees just got that much worse (assuming they are dumb enough to add him to their roster after spring training).  He has nothing left in the tank and he can consider himself lucky that he has another shot to play in the big leagues with a playoff contender. I just wish the Yankees blew more than a minor-league contract on him. If it doesn't work out, Aaron thinks there may be a shot he can land an usher position at the stadium. I would take it if I were him.

Your Morning Dump... Where Hill's done too

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

One pitcher grew up half a world away, the other just miles from Fenway Park.

One was the object of an unprecedented bidding war, the other signed for less than double the major-league minimum salary.

Yet, for all their differences, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Rich Hill are the same in ways they surely don't wish: both seem headed for season-ending -- and potentially career-threatening Tommy John surgery.

And here's the irony: despite the fact that the Red Sox paid $103 million for Matsuzaka and just $700,000 for Hill, it's Hill whom they'll miss the most.

CSNNE - McAdam: Sox will miss Hill, not Dice-K

Clearly George Steinbrenner bought himself a seat at the Baseball Gods table.  There's no other way to explain all the injuries the Sox have been having to deal with.

Did you ever, in a million years, think you'd be bemoaning the loss of Rich Hill?  And trust me, that says much more about how fabulously he's pitched this season than it does about the state of the Sox bullpen.  Rich Hill changed his delivery and morphed himself into a phenomenal left-handed reliever.

Unfortunately, it looks like that change in his delivery also lead to his demise. 

Dice-K, despite his salary and attention he receives, is someone the Sox can live without.  We already have two guys with the club that can step in and fill his role (and be just as effective on any given night).  Losing Hill could very well be paving the way for the return of Hideki Okajima.  That's something that no Sox fan wants to see.  And be sure to check out page 2, as that's something Okajima apparently doesn't want to see either.

Related links: Globe - Matsuzaka to have surgery | NESN - Red Sox Lefty Rich Hill Reportedly Headed for Tommy John Surgery

On Page 2, Okie wants to be traded

Sox get Millwood, DFA Okie

Via our partners at CSNNE.com

in the aftermath the 4-3 Red Sox' victory, their sixth straight -- and third straight secured in their final at-bat -- things got really chaotic.

It was then that the Red Sox:

Confirmed the signing of veteran pitcher Kevin Millwood to a minor-league deal.
Announced the acquisition of lefty reliever Franklin Morales from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for a player to be named later or cash.
Designated left-hander Hideki Okajima for assignment to clear space for Morales on the 40-man roster.
Prepared to make two more roster moves Friday before the start of a weekend interleague series with the Chicago Cubs, one of which will involve sending shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias back to Pawtucket.

Peace out Okie. In your honor, I'm going to look away from my screen mid-blog... then look back at it right at the end.

As for Millwood, there's a very good possibility he never sees a pitch at Fenway unless he buys a ticket. He was on a similar minor league deal with the Yankees and he wasn't going to crack their rotation so he asked for his release. He's probably hoping that all the injuries to the Sox arms are his ticket back to the bigs.

The Sox might have been better off signing Aaron Gettings. I hear he's got a wicked splitter... but he can't get lefties out to save his life and he keeps showing up his teammates on the mound.

*grumble,grumble* Good Job Okajima

I've been pretty hard on Hideki Okajima around these parts.  I appreciate all he's done for us, but I just
don't think he's very good at baseball anymore.  Really, he has no one to blame but himself (and his shockingly hittable pitches).  So if you're looking for apologies, you've come to the wrong place.

That all said, I'm man enough to throw the guy a little recognition when he does something anything right.  Okajima pitched two solid innings last night, got the 'W', struck out 3 batters and lowered his ERA to not-quite-yet-respectable 4.32 on the season. 

While it wasn't pretty, he did what needed to be done.  But just don't take my incredibly biased word for it; here are some nice things Tito and Pedey said about him, Via NESN:

"He had been rested for a few days, which is good because we had leaned on Albers and Bard a little bit and wanted to stay away from them," Francona said of Okajima. "Did a good job."

"He was great," second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "He pitched out of some jams and did his thing."

Not exactly gushing over him, are they?

Also worth noting, last night was Okajima's 700th career professional baseball game (including his time in Japan).  When asked about it, he thanked his parents for the way they raised him.

Awwww.... you get a pass from me today, Hideki Okajima.  Job well done.

We were fooled by Okajima

 

Many of us were thrilled when we got the news that Hideki Okajima was optioned to Pawtucket to start the season. There was to be no upset stomach and vomiting in our mouths when Tito came out of the dugout and raised his left hand, signaling Okajima. Since the beginning of the season, there was still the lingering possibility that the Red Sox would call him up, pending signs of improvement.

Okajima responded to the Red Sox with some lights out pitching performances for the Pawsox. He was unstoppable in AAA and thought bubbles of Red Sox fans were filled with "maybe he has turned it around and is back in old form". How could we not think that? In 5 games, Okajima pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, giving up only 2 hits, no walks and striking out 5. When watching him pitch in Pawtucket, I saw 2007 Okajima. I knew it was only a matter of time that the Red Sox would make the call. Seemed like it would be a smart decision.

We were fooled! Okajima was back to the Okajima that we have all grown to hate and despise. He went from that stellar stat line in Pawtucket to 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 40.50 ERA in Boston. I feel like Hideki gave me a nice piece of cake in Pawtucket then kicked me in the balls when eating it last night.

Okajima has lost whatever he had. He is a terrific AAA pitcher and can do wonders for the Pawtucket Red Sox. He would be a great AAAA pitcher, only if that existed, and that translates to crappy MLB performances. Okajima is on a short leash and he did not help his cause much last night. I am just afraid of this vicious cycle coming around again. Oki is sent down, dazzles, gets called up, lays an egg, and we all drink some more. It might happen.

Your Morning Dump... Where it's not Lackey's fault

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Lackey, whose last turn in the rotation was skipped following a rainout at home, tossed six innings and allowed just one run on four hits against the Oakland A's.

The Sox were shut out, 5-0, resulting in a tough-luck loss for Lackey, who fell to 1-2.

"I felt pretty good," said Lackey. "I was locating pretty well. I was able to throw my breaking pitches over for strikes and my fastball location was definitely better than it was the first two times."

Asked if he had ever had a layoff that long that wasn't related to a physical issue, Lackey said: "I've never been skipped before, no."

When asked if the decision hurt his pride some, Lackey thought for a second before saying: "It was not fun."

"I thought he did tremendous," said Terry Francona of his starter. "I thought he was terrific. The problem was, we didn't score. But I thought he bounced back [well]. It's been a long week for him. The layoff was tough for him and he did a great job."

CSNNE - Lackey sparkles in return

There are two members of the Boston Red Sox that I openly despise.  Johnathan Archibald Lackey (probably not his real name) and Hideki Okajima.

Somehow, someway, Lackey actually pitched a gem.  Not that the Oakland Athletics swing the mightiest of bats, but you can't ask for much more of your starter than holding a club to 4 hits and 1 run over 6 solid innings.  If you don't remember how God-awful Lackey was in his previous two starts, all you need to know is that after last nights game his ERA dropped to 9.82 on the year.  Yeah, he's been that bad.

So I'll give credit where credit is due.  John Lackey did all he could to put the Red Sox in a position to win the game.  Unfortunately, no one, not even Jed Lowrie, could do much to help Lackey's cause.

Which brings us to Okajima.  You know how you have that apple at your house, one that your best friend gave you years ago, and at one point it was a great apple?  But you've held on to it for far too long and it's now rotting and covered in mold?  It has a terrible smell and anyone that even gets near it begins to vomit uncontrollably?  Well, gather a whole bushel of those apples and that's how bad Hideki Okajima is at baseball.

I beg of you, please don't let him throw pitches for the Red Sox organization ever again.

Related Links: WEEI: Anderson, A's shut down Red Sox | CSNNE - McAdam: Calls go unanswered on road | Herald - Red Sox open trip with fall

On Page 2, the Yankees are getting sued.

Your Morning Dump...where JD Drew is your leadoff hitter today.

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Right fielder J.D. Drew will serve as the Red Sox' third leadoff hitter in as many days against the Toronto Blue Jays on Patriots' Day. Drew has enjoyed tremendous success against Jays starter Ricky Romero (.450 average, .560 OBP). Meanwhile, Carl Crawford is 2-for-14 against the Toronto southpaw and has struggled to a 3-for-32 mark from the leadoff spot with the Sox.

RED SOX LINEUP

Drew, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, 1B
Youkilis, 3B
Ortiz, DH
Lowrie, SS
Crawford, LF
Varitek, C
Ellsbury, CF

WEEI: Drew leading off, Crawford seventh

Three leadoff hitters in as many days? Why not?! If we keep winning, it doesn't matter if Ortiz is leading off. It's actually a bit surprising that Drew has good numbers against a lefty. He's usually batting seventh or eighth vs southpaws.

Crawford is batting seventh and hopsfully he stays away from the leadoff spot. He has some tremendous pressure on him to produce and it's affecting him at the plate. He's been swinging at anything that looks decent and  hasn't drawn a walk yet from the top spot of the order. He's better slated batting second but until he picks up the batting average, seventh is a good spot for him.

 

On Page 2, get ready for the return of the Oki-Doki!

Maybe the Pawsox will have a better start

The Pawtucket Red Sox will open their season tomorrow, April 7th at 7:05pm against the Rochester Red Wings. Opening day in Pawtucket will now be known as "Ben Mondor Day" in honor of the late owner of the Red Sox who passed away in October.

Ben Mondor saved baseball in Pawtucket in 1977 when he purchased the bankrupt Rhode Island Red Sox. He then again rescued baseball in Pawtucket in 1998 when McCoy Stadium needed major rennovations and seating upgrades to remain a AAA team. Mondor invested $6 million out of his pocket to make McCoy one of the best places to watch baseball.

This year, the Pawsox are stacked with great talent (we've heard that before) and we got a first look at the team at yesterday's media lunch at McCoy to introduce the team. The opening day roster will include Alfedo Aceves, Scott Atchison, Daniel Nava, Ryan Kalish, Josh Reddick, Jose Iglesias, Lars Anderson and this guy...

Hideki Oka-notgonnabepitchingfortheSoxthisseason