Posts tagged CraigHansen at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.

Bad news for Boston fans Monday night. The Red Sox will place designated hitter David Ortiz on the disabled list after an MRI revealed the slugger had a torn tendon sheath in his extensor carpi ulnaris -- a muscle in the wrist. Ortiz is certain to miss at least a few weeks, though the Boston Herald has reported that he will miss at least a month and could face season-ending surgery.

Manager Terry Francona did not indicate the injury was quite that serious, though he will confer with Ortiz, GM Theo Epstein and the team's medical staff tomorrow in Boston.

Big Papi struggled in April, but he was his usual slugging self in May putting up a line of .318/.409/.617 (AVG/OBP/SLG) over the last month. No team in baseball is prepared to replace that kind of production, but the Red Sox are deeper than any other organization in the game and are prepared to make do while Ortiz gets healthy. Francona said after the game that reserve first baseman Sean Casey would likely see additional time while Ortiz is sidelined, but the most likely lineup Francona will put out there will probably feature Manny Ramirez at DH and Jacoby Ellsbury, Brandon Moss and maybe even Bobby Kielty or Kevin Youkilis splitting time in left field.

When asked about seeing more time as a designated hitter, Ramirez said "I love it. I love to DH," though he then went on to joke that if he played there too much it might hurt his chances at getting the Gold Glove he so covets. "It's nice to give him a blow and still keep his bat in the game," said Francona of playing Ramirez at DH.

If the Red Sox were merely losing Ortiz for a few weeks, there wouldn't be much to worry about, but Big Papi's injury is just at the top of a long list of concerns for the reigning champs.

Boston will miss Ortiz, but they'll do a very good job of filling the void in the short-term

The Red Sox haven't traded him to Milwaukee for a sausage, not yet anyway, but they've designated reliever Julian Tavarez for assignment. If he's looking for someone to blame for his possible unemployment, he might want to talk to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It's not related to budget shortfalls in California but to a quote that inspired the guy who looks like he's taken Tavarez's job in the Red Sox bullpen. Craig Hansen was once a highly regarded first-round pick who flamed out in his first tour of duty with the Sox. I'm not sure if he said "I'll be back" when they farmed him out but he did take solace in other words from the Governator.

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardship and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

Hansen was last seen posting a 6.63 ERA with the Sox in 2006 and spent all of last season in AAA. He credits his work with a pitching coach that lives inside the stomach of another pitching coach for turning his career around. While he's chuffed about his return to the big leagues, it did cause him to break a promise he made to Tavarez.

"Remember, Julian, when I promised to kill your career last?"

"That's right, Hansen, you did!"

"I lied."

Hearing that someone has a snoring problem is inherently funny; actually hearing someone with a snoring problem while you're trying to sleep is not. But fortunately for any teammates who have to share a room with Craig Hansen on the road, snoring will no longer be a problem this year following offseason surgery to correct his severe sleep apnea. In fact, Hansen's snoring had been keeping him up, as well, to the point that he was caught dozing off during team meetings last spring. From MLB.com:

"They brought me into the office and they were like, 'We see you dosing off in the meetings.' I was like, 'I went to a sleep center and they said I have severe sleep apnea. They said I have 56 currencies in an hour.' That's 56 minutes where I'm not sleeping comfortably," said Hansen.

Hansen estimates that on nights he thought he was sleeping for eight hours, he was really only getting about two actual hours of sleep.

He said he now feels completely refreshed in the morning, which may translate to more success on the field. He spent all of last year in the minors but hopes to crack the bullpen this year. As a former college closer, he was thought to be polished and close to being ready for the big leagues when he was drafted in the first round in 2005. So far he's been a disaster in the majors and mediocre in the minors, but that might change now that he's getting more than two hours of sleep a night.

A lot of people have said that Scott Boras is ruining baseball, but usually when they say it they mean it in the economic, "big market vs. small market" kind of way. But Peter Gammons, perhaps the most respected baseball writer in the game, thinks Boras' impact has been far more tangible, that he's literally making players worse.

Here's a transcription of a recent radio interview (mp3) Gammons did on Wednesday. After starting the discussion with talk about Boras' request for Daisuke Matsuzaka's pitch count to be lowered, Gammons alluded to how the coaches at Boras' private sporting institute are responsible for the struggles of Barry Zito and Mark Teixeira this year, and how the instruction of those coaches have "ruined" several former top prospects, including Red Sox prospect Craig Hansen, who's currently sporting a 5.50 ERA in Triple-A. When asked to explain, this was his response:

Craig Hansen, I saw him on the Cape [ed. -- the Cape Cod League] and the only better pitcher I've ever seen was Billy Wagner, and he's going to the Hall of Fame. Hansen was a short-armed out of his delivery guy with a great sinker, slider. And now it's all cross-seamers thrown up high in the zone and extend your arm, you know? And he throws it 98 mph and they hit it out at 198 mph. ...

He needs to be coached by people here and not by the people in California at the Scott Boras clinics. It's the same thing with [Luke] Hochevar last year when Kansas City gave him all that money, they gave him $4 million as a four-seam, curveball guy and they changed him into a two-seamer, slider guy this winter. He's got a 5.80 ERA at Double A which for $4 million doesn't hack it. With these agents there's too much tinkering. Agents don't know more about baseball than the people that coach it.

It's one thing to be called out by some unknown blogger, but it's another thing when a Hall of Fame talent like Gammons starts piling on -- and needless to say, he didn't mince words. There's no doubt that Boras can command top dollar at the bargaining table, but I have to wonder if the advice his private coaches offer his clients will eventually fall on deaf ears.

Update: Thanks to Hacks with Haggs for pointing me to the 890 AM ESPN interview.