RED SOX : News & Notes March 9,2014.

RED SOX : NEWS & NOTES
March 9,2014.




~Victorino to give up switch-hitting ? :  Red Sox manager John Farrell said to reporters Saturday morning in Sarasota -- where the Red Sox and Orioles played the first game of a split-squad, home-and-home, day-night doubleheader -- that Shane Victorino may consider not batting as a switch-hitter this season and just bat right-handedAfter a hamstring issue last season, Victorino batted mostly right-handed in August and September. As a right-handed hitter against right-handed pitchers, he hit .300, going 30-for-100 with six home runs and an .896 OPS. As a righty against left-handers, he hit .314, going 53-for-169, with six home runs and an .861 OPS.Any decision, though, may have to wait. Victorino has yet to appear in a Grapefruit League game this spring, delayed after surgery on his right thumb in December."It's almost going to be a game-time decision. I think he has his viewpoints on it and where his confidence is," Farrell said, according to Boston.com. "He hasn't told me that he's eliminating switch hitting."Back in Fort Myers Saturday afternoon, Victorino said he has not yet made a decision.
"We've discussed it," Victorino said, of the possibility of hitting only right-handed. "Farrell said that it depends on how I feel and that's right. I haven't even played yet."He still considers himself a switch-hitter, though."I took five swings right-handed and left-handed [in batting practice] the other day, so yes, I'm still a switch-hitter," Victorino said.Farrell has said he hopes Victorino can get into games early next week."I don't know," Victorino said. "[But,] we're going in the right direction."

~Book signing at JetBlue Park : Ben Bradlee Jr., author of the best-seller "The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams" will be at JetBlue Park on Monday for a book signing during the Rays-Red Sox game.Details will be available at the ballpark.

~Farrell not happy with defence : Were this the regular season, Red Sox manager John Farrell would have convened a team meeting and aired out the players a bit.The Sox allowed 20 runs and committed eight errors in Saturdays'doubleheader debacle against the Orioles. They were out-hit 26-9 and were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. The second game was a 13-2 embarrassment that featured six errors.
Daniel Nava, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Mike Napoli, A.J. Pierzynski, Jonny Gomes, and Xander Bogaerts were 0 for 16.
The Sox are now 2-7-1 after 10 games and have been outscored by 31 runs. Yikes.But a team meeting is pretty useless at this stage of spring training. Players usually go home after they come out of games and there are still 33 players in camp who will be cut before Opening Day. How a team looks in early March isn't much of a read on how they will play in April.But Farrell isn't happy about the defense."Long day, we got our reps in. We can do much better defensively, there's no question about it," he said."I can't say that there's a common thread. You're looking at guys who have played the positions that they're at, particularly in tonight's game where things got away from us defensively. And yet we're working each day to shore the infield defense up."

~1st Cuts may come Wednesday : In addition to Saturday's split-squad games, the Red Sox have split-squad games Tuesday against the Marlins and at the Orioles. After that, they could have their first round of cuts.

~Catcher of the future : Christian Vazquez continues to show why his is the catcher of the future. With two outs and his team down, 13-0, in the bottom of the ninth inning, Vazquez worked the count against Orioles reliever Troy Patton before crushing a two-run homer to left field.That says a lot about Vazquez's improvement offensively and his perseverance. He may have been the only person in the ballpark who wanted that game to continue.