Kielty accepts assignment to Pawtucket

Bobby Kielty accepted his assignment to Pawtucket, rather than enter free agency.

The move isn’t unexpected on the Red Sox’ part. There just isn’t room for Kielty on the current roster, seeing as the outfield is already log jammed with Manny, Ellsbury, Crisp, and Drew all qualified to roam the grass on an everyday basis.

Kielty should be a good call up in the case of injury or a Coco trade.

Drew hit grand slam with “broomstick handle”

Rob Bradford wrote an interesting story about the adjustments JD Drew made at the plate in the postseason.

Apparently when David Ortiz digs in at the plate, he leaves craters in the dirt large enough to swallow Dustin Pedroia.  Drew noticed that he was planting his feet in the holes left by Ortiz, who stands really close to the plate.

“He goes in there and digs that trough, and as a hitter you end up falling in between. So the easiest thing to do is stick your toe in the same hole, and that makes you having to open up. I know that was a big thing. Once I figured it out it freed me up a little bit.”

Drew also told a pretty humorous story about how he started using Bobby Kielty’s bat in game 5 of the ALCS.

“Kielty swings a CC271, which is essentially the smallest barrel in the league, and I swing a CC243, which is one of the larger barrels in the game.

“I picked up one of Kielty’s bats and it looked like a broomstick handle, but it felt pretty good. I asked him if I could use one of his and he told me to go ahead. I picked it up, swung it, and thought I had better not, so I grabbed my bat and went out on-deck, but (Mike) Lowell grounded out to end the inning. So when I came back in the next inning I said ‘What the heck, I haven’t been hitting the ball like I wanted to,’ so I grabbed Kielty’s (bat) and went on-deck. I remember almost feeling naked on-deck. This wasn’t the weapon of choice I had been using all season.”

Drew continued to use the bat through the rest of the playoffs, including his 1st inning grand slam in game 6 of the ALCS. 

“The bases are loaded, Manny is up and I figure we’re going to get some runs right off the bat, but he gets out. And then Lowell comes up to bat and he gets out. I’m like, ‘Oh, no. I’m standing on-deck with Kielty’s bat. This is not the right decision. Lightning is not going to strike twice.’ I felt good with it on-deck, but I was still a little uncertain. It turned out pretty well.”

Kielty re-signs with Red Sox

Bobby Kielty has signed a one-year contract to play for the Red Sox in 2008. He’ll earn $800,000 if he makes the roster, with another $300,000 in performance incentives.

If the rest of the Red Sox’ roster remains as is, Kielty would see very limited playing time as the 5th outfielder. He had previously stated that he wouldn’t accept that role, but the market for bench outfielders has pretty much dried up and he wasn’t left with many (if any) options. Regardless, his acquisition seems like little more than a necessary requisite move the club had to make before trading Coco Crisp.

With the exception of being included in the very public Santana offers, any potential trades involving Crisp have been kept quiet. Theo has stated at times that he would have no qualms about using both Crisp and Ellsbury in the outfield.

“I think we’re very lucky to have two very good center fielders on the roster, and they’re not mutually exclusive,” Epstein said. “There can be roles for both guys on the club, and even a little competition in spring training.”

The Rangers and A’s are rumored to be interested in Crisp, but I haven’t heard anything official.

Stay tuned.