Rookie closer gets start on pro career
CHICAGO -- Craig Hansen touched down in Fort Myers, Fla., yesterday, beginning what he and the club believe could be a stellar career, and a career that might not have to wait too long to be launched in Boston.
''It was great to see my name with the little Boston Red Sox emblem next to it," said Hansen, the closer out of St. John's University drafted 26th overall in June and signed Saturday to a major league contract. ''That's pretty sweet. Especially with that team."
Hansen was listed as the No. 1 overall prospect on at least one team's draft board but that team passed, knowing that Hansen and agent Scott Boras would demand significant money and a major league contract. The Sox met those demands, signing Hansen to a four-year deal valued at $4 million.
Hansen said he'll receive $1.3 million up front, with the rest of the money distributed rather evenly over the life of the contract. With that settled, he now turns to pitching, which he said he hasn't done in a game situation since June 4.
''After the season was done I rested my body," he said. ''I continued conditioning and lifting weights, but I didn't pick up a baseball for 2 1/2 weeks. I've always felt like whenever I was at the end of a season, I'd take time off and I'd come back stronger [later in the summer]."
Despite the inactivity, Hansen's soaring profile, coupled with a big-name agent, have produced speculation that he might be able to help the Boston bullpen this summer.
''I've heard all those things," said the 21-year-old. ''I've heard I could get moved up [to Boston] as soon as August. I have to do my job on the field. If I do, then that's basically all I can do to help myself out."
Indications are that Hansen is unlikely to join the Sox this season in any other capacity than as a September call-up. More immediately, he doesn't yet know where he'll report following a conditioning stint in Fort Myers, though he's likely to land in either Single A Wilmington or Double A Portland.
''I really haven't heard anything," he said. ''I just know I'm down here with a trainer. I'm going to throw a little with him, get a conditioning, workout program. I'm going to go out there and give it all I've got, and we'll see. It's not my decision on how quick or how slow I move up."
Hansen began throwing again ''about two weeks ago," though he didn't have all that formal an arrangement.
''One of my buddies said, 'Hey, I want to catch you. I've got a glove,' " said Hansen, who reportedly can reach 97 to 98 miles per hour and mix in a hard slider. ''I said, 'You're going to need more than a glove.' "
Hansen gathered some catching gear and pulled up to a field one day, meeting his buddy, Mike Marino.
According to Hansen, ''He jumped out of his car with little kid's white baseball pants, expandable waist, the kind you buy in a little plastic bag, and said, 'I'm ready.' "
Certainly, this would suggest that Hansen is in suboptimal pitching shape. Asked if he's legitimately aired out any pitches during his sessions with Marino, Hansen said, ''I'd say I was throwing about 90 percent. I was making sure my mechanics stay fresh. I'd throw a couple in there with something on it."
Meaning vs. interpretation
Curt Schilling said Thursday he felt healthy enough to ''go back and start right now" adding, ''I want to go back in the rotation as soon as I possibly can." But, realizing that the team needs him to close, he added, ''Me going back in the rotation is not solely dependent on me." Schilling felt that publicly, his points were taken to mean he was asking back into the rotation immediately. In the wake of his comments, manager Terry Francona was forced to answer questions about why Schilling can't return to the rotation since he sounds ready and willing. Schilling wants it to be known that he never intended to put his manager -- and team -- in such a position. ''In no way shape or form was I impying that I want to be in the rotation now, ASAP," Schilling wrote in an e-mail. ''I understand that me going back to the rotation entails a lot of other things happening, and that's fine. Whatever they need me to do now, wherever they need me to do, it is fine by me. What was printed in the paper was not meant in any way, shape or form to be me complaining about my role on this team or what I want my role to be. It's July, I have a 7 ERA, I have two wins, this team's in first place; my only concern is to pitch in games and help this team get back to October, then help them move forward from there." . . . Manny Ramirez went 1 for 5 with three strikeouts, but it's hard to find much fault with the savant slugger. Ramirez, in 34 games leading into yesterday, had homered 16 times, or once every 7.5 at-bats . . . David Ortiz's first-inning homer followed a 9-for-49 slump (.184) dating to July 8 . . . Cubs shortstop Nomar Garciaparra could begin his minor league rehab stint as soon as tomorrow, according to yesterday's Chicago Tribune. The paper pegged this weekend's series vs. Arizona, or a series at Philadelphia Aug. 2-4, as logical return dates for the former Sox star. Garciaparra hasn't played in a major league game since tearing his groin muscle off the bone April 20.
Pole vault
It was nice of the Red Sox to name a pole after Carlton Fisk -- the yellow one atop the Monster -- but the White Sox are going one better. On Aug. 7 they'll unveil a statue of Fisk at U.S. Cellular Field. ''It's unbelievable," Fisk told reporters . . . Edgar Renteria received a day off for rest purposes, giving Alex Cora (2 for 3 with a sac fly) a start at shortstop. ''That's probably the hardest thing for fans to understand, players not playing every day, especially when they start making a lot of money," Francona acknowledged. ''That's when I have to step in and say, 'What's in the best interests of our ballclub?' "
