« Astros Watched Clemens' Workout | Main | Quick Hits: Melky, Cruz, Red Sox, Cardinals »

Red Sox Notes: Crawford, McClure

The latest news on the Red Sox who, at 59-63, are currently on pace to suffer their first losing season since 1997...

• Clay Buchholz told the Boston Globe's Peter Abraham that he was surprised by the decision to let McClure go (Sulia link). Buchholz said he had a good relationship with McClure and spoke to him daily.
• Carl Crawford will undergo Tommy John surgery on Thursday, the team announced via press release. The surgery will be performed by Dr. James Andrews. Two seasons into the seven-year deal Crawford signed with Boston, he'll have appeared in just 161 games and batted .260/.292/.419. As a position player, Crawford will likely have a shorter recovery time than pitchers who undergo the procedure. For example, Reds shortstop Zack Cozart had Tommy John last August and was ready for Spring Training this season.
• In a second press release, the Red Sox announced that they've fired pitching coach Bob McClure. Assistant pitching coach Randy Niemann will take over the position in the interim. Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal tweets the following quote from Boston GM Ben Cherington: "This wasn't working out. We felt like we need to make a change. The best thing to do was to give everyone a fresh start." Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com adds that the decision was performance-based, not because of clashes with manager Bobby Valentine (Twitter link).
• Troy Renck of the Denver Post tweets that McClure will be a candidate to take over the Rockies' pitching coordinator. As Renck points out, McClure is familiar working with pitchers at an altitude. McClure spent seven years as a pitching coach with the Rockies between Triple-A and the Major League club from 1999-2005.

---

Lijit Search

---

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner