Walpole Joe Juggles Lineup
t'Riuurren, Hotta Headed Back to Pawtucket
Boston Red Sox Field Manager Walpole Joe Morgan today announced at a midafternoon press conference that 2nd squad All-Anna (SS) Alleish t'Riuurren and (CF) Koharu Hotta had been sent down to Pawtucket. Both players were off to horrendous starts through four sims and the defending World Series Champion Red Sox were struggling under .500 and in last place in the AL East.
Boston Red Sox Manager Walpole Joe Morgan addressing the media.
Said Morgan, "I'm the manager of this nine, and six, nine and eleven these girls ain't hitting. I need some players who can put the ash on the horsehide, and these kids ain't doing the job. So we're gonna ship em out till they does it."
Red Sox Director of Minor League Operations Keiko Himuro confirmed that this was indeed an unusual move for the Boston organization, saying "Usually we are very patient with slumping players and allowing them to work out their kinks at the big league level. But with us out of April, Joe was concerned that the big club would fall too far behind in the toughest division in baseball, so he insisted on making the move now, and Alleish and Koharu will be in the starting lineup at Pawtucket for the forseeable future."
Stepping in at short will be utilitywoman Battle Herring, who spent most of 2010 and 2011 recovering from a torn ACL. Herring has played all over the place for the Sox in 2012, but now she'll settle in at shortstop while the Red Sox shortstop of the future t'Riuurren gets some more at bats at AAA.
Veteran outfielder Joe Dimaggio will slide back over to CF, a position he played until he moved to LF to make room for Hotta last year. Moving out to patrol the Green Monster will be firstbaseman Chris Snelling, who has won a gold glove in left for Boston. Replacing Snelling at first will be Rebecca Wheeler, who gets her second crack at the majors and will try and stick with the big club this go round.
Making their major league debuts this sim will be outfielders John McGraw and Bud Why, 28 and 26 years old respectively, who will take over the DH spot that Herring had been filling this past sim. Both McGraw and Why will be making their AWBL debuts.
Notable by her absence is outfielder Stephanie Eyce, who got off to such a hot start for Arizona before she and Little Mo Vaughn were acquired in the Jose Colon deal. When asked why Eyce was demoted and playing at pawtucket, Himuro said, "We feel she needs one more year at AAA in order to develop fully. Steph is going to be a superstar, and we don't want to do anything that messes that up. We expect her to spend the rest of the year at Pawtucket."
Boston Farm Director Keiko Himuro wasn't altogether happy with the moves.
No doubt this will upset a number of Red Sox fans who were counting on the Sox running away and winning back to back World Series this year. Many Red Sox fans are still stunned that Jose Colon was unceremoniously dealt away after Boston's slow start, and were underwhelmed that he was replaced in the rotation by Shigeki Noguchi.
