According to Chris Snow and Gordon Edes's Red Sox Notebook, the Red Sox have placed infielder Tony Graffanino on waivers.
Graffanino, who wanted to be traded to a team that he could start for, was struggling this spring at the plate. He was hitting .182 in 33 at-bats this spring, a reason why teams lost interest in Graffanino.
I'm a Graffanino fan, but once we added Mark Loretta and we knew we wouldn't trade Alex Cora, his time in Boston was going to be up. He had his best season ever last year, and you must figure there'd be a few teams after his services, but it just wasn't enough for some teams. Now, however, I'm sure he'll get a contract soon. The issue before was giving a player up for him. Money won't be an issue, I think. Especially if the Mets snag him up.
KEITH FOULKE: "IT FEELS GOOD TO FEEL GOOD AGAIN"
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Foulke, for the second consecutive day, sounded extremely encouraged. He cited "what I like to call pitcher's hacks. [Hitters] were off a bit. So I thought it was successful. It feels good to feel good again."
Foulke said with repetition he believes there'll be less thinking and more easy movement with his arm, which should increase his velocity.
"When I feel comfortable, and I'm throwing a good fastball, my mechanics are good, all my pitches are easy to throw because they're different grips, but they're fastball deliveries," he said. "So when I'm on, that's when I can throw four pitches, and know I'll be pretty good."
When Foulke feels good, I feel good. And he certainly looked good yesterday. He was hitting the corners of the plate, and overall was just locating well. His velocity was visibly down (he touched 87 once, according to the article), but I'm not worried about that. It's only his second outing, so I think that his velocity will just increase with more innings under his belt.
What I worry about with Foulke--when I need to worry about him--is hitting his spots. But he was doing that yesterday pretty well. He's at his best when he can throw that outside changeup on the edge for a strike.
COCO CRISP: LET HIM STEAL!
Coco stole two bases yesterday against the Blue Jays. It's obvious that Terry Francona is just letting him run. If he's letting him run now in spring training, why not let him run during the regular season? The guy has the speed and the ability to get a great jump, so let him run! He could be the next Dave Roberts -- but as a starter.
The rule of thumb for stealing bases is "if you can't have a percentage better than 75, then it's not worth it." I understand that, and I agree. Crisp is a career 65% stealer, but his spring has been a good indication of what he can really do: he hasn't been caught once.
What I'm asking is that if it's a favorable situation, then send him. If he can improve his base stealing (and it looks like he has), then we can benefit greatly from it.