In the first of two press conferences on Yawkey way today, the Red Sox welcomed outfielder Mike Cameron to the family.
With almost childlike excitement, Cameron, at the age of 36 still known for being one of the best defensive Center Fielders in the game, joined Theo Epstein and Terry Francona to discuss his role on the team.
Now I didn't manage to watch the whole press conference, I tuned in about halfway through it, so I'm sure I missed some good bits here, and would love anyone who did catch it to chime in with any other information they thought was useful.
The first and biggest thing that I noticed were that a lot of questions centered around where Cameron was going to play in the field- this has been a question here, with some people thinking he will be in left so that the Sox give Jacoby Ellsbury time to develop in center, and other people thinking it is vital to shore up the defense now, moving Ells to left and keeping Cameron in center.
Theo Epstein seemed somewhat non-commital, saying that he knows that Cameron plays great Center field and would also be capable of his plus defense all throughout the outfield.
Cameron himself was a little less reserved, saying that he certainly could take his skills to the corners and use what he has learned at center there, but also saying that he is looking forward to bringing his center field abilities over to the Red Sox. The other thing he was very unreserved about was he wants to win- he is here to win and he is going to play his hardest.
Personally, I would like to see something like they did with Coco Crisp when he and Ells were both around- keep Ells in left when Cameron is in the lineup, and if he gets a day off, move Ellsbury over to center and have Hermida come into left. This will give Ellsbury some chance to develop his skills as a center fielder- and with Cameron's veteran tutelage, while dramatically improving our defense in 2010.
One other thing worth mentioning was that Theo wouldn't specifically say that they were shutting the door on Bay, however did state that whichever team gets him will be getting a great ballplayer.
Remember, if you're on the internet but not a TV, you can still catch John Lackey's press conference live at www.MLB.com/LIVE. I may have to be off working, but I hopefully will be able to catch it, and if not, I look forward to everyone's thoughts on it.