Westmoreland's Surgery Successful / Doubront Continues To Impress

Good news from Arizona.

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Ryan Westmoreland, the Red Sox’ 19-year-old outfield prospect, underwent successful surgery yesterday in Phoenix to remove a cavernous malformation in his brain. According to a release by the team, Westmoreland remains in the intensive care unit after the five-hour procedure, but “has come through the surgery well.’’

“Due to the complexity of this surgery, Ryan will face a difficult period initially before beginning his recovery,’’ the release read.

It is to be expected that there will be extensive recovery time following brain surgery, but everything sounds positive so far. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery

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We hear a lot about some of Boston's pitching prospects. Casey Kelly, Junichi Tazawa and Michael Bowden get a lot of press. But there is another young pitcher who is turning some heads in Florida right now.

Felix Doubront was drafted by the Sox in 2004 out of Venezuela. He's a lefty that doesn't really scale the ball in there (he only hits the low 90s on his fastball) but has excellent control and a delivery that disguises his pitches quite well. He throws a great change that breaks to the left and most importantly, he has a great demeanor on the mound.

I had a chance to see him last year when he played in Portland. He went 8-6 with a 3.35 ERA and close to a 2-1 K/BB ratio. He's only 22 years old and looks to me like he could be a back-end starter/long-term reliever for the Sox in a year or so. That's dependent on how he does in the Bucket this year.

Doubront threw three scoreless innings and allowed just one hit against the Rays in Boston's 7-0 loss to Tampa last night. That makes four innings over two games with no runs allowed and two hits. And Doubront wasn't pitching to scrubs; he faced off against guys like Jason Bartlett, Longoria and Carlos Pena. He basically carved up Tampa's starting lineup.

Yes, it is just spring training. Yes, it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. Still, Felix is proving he deserves a little more attention as we enter the 2010 season. And it sure wouldn't hurt to have another strong, young lefty in Fenway sometime soon.

Remembering Baseball Is Just A Game

It's easy to get caught up in the rivalry of the Red Sox and Yankees and forget that, at the end, baseball is not life and death. But then something happens to remind us of that fact. Unfortunately, this time it happens to be Ryan Westmoreland's serious medical condition.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox players friendly with stricken prospect Ryan Westmoreland said the 19-year-old outfielder learned of his rare brain condition after experiencing a series of headaches and other symptoms while working out at the minor league camp last month.

The team announced Saturday night that Westmoreland has a “cavernous malformation’’ of weak blood vessels in his brain and would have surgery tomorrow in Phoenix.

What makes it worse for Westmoreland is that the malformation is apparently located on or near his brain stem. That not only complicates the surgery, but enhances the possibility of lasting neurological issues.

So we are faced with the situation that a talented, gifted teenager (he is only 19) faces a life-altering surgery. It also reminds us that baseball is, at the end of the day, a game. And we need to be reminded of that.

We all have read a story about someone being attacked (or worse) because they wore a Sox cap here or a Yankees t-shirt there. If you wear the visiting colors to Fenway or the Bronx, you're lucky to get away with having your ears burned off by the profanities slung in your direction. All that seems a wee bit ridiculous when presented with a story like this. It shouldn't take a teenager, or a child, being seriously ill to remind us about where the Sox/Yankee rivalry should reside in our lives. Or about what really matters.

Prayers and best wishes to Ryan Westmoreland and his family.

Nomah Retires

If there are two more frustrating words in sports than "unrealized potential" when talking about a player, they don't immediately come to mind. To see rare ability somehow fall short in achieving its full flower can drive a fan .. .a coach ... a team to exasperation. Even when some of it is out of the player's control.

When Nomar Garciaparra broke in with the Red Sox full-time in 1997, he won the Rookie of the Year award in a walk, finished eighth in the MVP voting and made the All-Star team. He hit .306 with an .875 OPS while cracking 30 homers and ringing up 98 RBI. He was a vacuum cleaner at short, making impossible plays seem simple. With Derek Jeter and Miguel Tejada, Garciaparra helped to redefine the shortstop position in the late 90s.

Through the 2000 season, Nomar just improved each year. The fanbase embraced him, worshiped him and yes, loved him. In 2000 he hit .372, the best single-season average for the Sox since 1957 when Williams hit .388.* He put up a 1.033 OPS and continued to make remarkable plays in the field. He won consecutive batting titles in 1999 and 2000, the first right-handed batter to do so since Joe DiMaggio. He was an icon, a legend in the making. People talked about him getting into the Hall of Fame when he retired and no one thought that talk was premature.

The first dent in the armor came in 2001 when he came to spring training with a serious wrist injury. The season was essentially lost. When he came back in 2002, he could still stroke the ball (24 homers and 120 RBI). But his on-base percentage plummeted relative to 2001 (.434 to .352) and his defense began to slip. His decline continued in 2003, albeit at a much slower pace. But now the talk of being a legend, a Hall of Fame lock, of having his number retired...you really didn't hear that anymore.

And then came the 2003 off-season, when Theo Epstein looked into trading for A-Rod and moving Nomar to the White Sox. The details of that aren't for this post, except to say that Nomar was less than pleased with that decision. And his disenchantment became abundantly apparent during the first half of the 2004 season. What many saw as the point where Nomar's time in Boston ran out was the three-game set in New York at the end of June. In the last game, Derek Jeter dove into the stands in the top of the 12th inning to make an amazing catch and propel the Yanks to a three-game sweep. Meanwhile, Nomar sat on the Boston bench, asking out of the game to nurse a tendon injury.

We know what happened from there. Nomar was part of a massive trade that brought Boston it's first title in forever. Nomar went to the Cubs, played decently there in his limited playing time as injuries continued to plague him. In 2006 he signed a three-year deal with the Dodgers and was good his first two years, averaging roughly 120 games per season and making the All-Star game in 2006. But then injuries hounded him again in 2008. In 2009 he signed a one-year deal with the A's. And now today, Nomar signs a one-day contract with the Sox as he announces his retirement.

He retires as one of the best shortstops in Boston's history, but also as a player who should have been...more. Granted, injuries played a major role in limiting Nomar. But he also got a little tired of Boston in his last couple of seasons and I think that also impacted his playing. I don't think he'd ever admit it, but the trade action in 2003 affected him mentally and that affected his playing through the rest of his career. In the end, he was a good player that could have been a great player, someone with Hall of Fame talent that got derailed on that ride to Cooperstown.

But he is still, still, one of the most beloved players to ever wear a Boston uniform. And he always will be. I consider myself lucky to have seen Nomar play numerous times at Fenway Park. And he is still a huge part of Boston's history. He is fourth in team history with a .323 career average, fifth in slugging (.553), sixth in OPS (.923) and ninth in doubles (279).

Thanks for the memories, Nomar. And good luck to you.

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* It's still the best single-season average since 1957. No one has come close to it.

Is J.D. Drew Worth All That Money?

That was the big question in the Sunday Boston Globe. Amalie Benjamin put forward the question about whether or not J.D. Drew was as good (or as bad) as fans of the Sox make him out to be.

In comparing him to other outfielders signed at the same time, Amalie says:

According to the value estimations on fangraphs.com, in the three years since those deals were signed, Soriano has earned $33.4 million (8.0 wins above replacement player), while being paid $41 million. Lee has earned $40 million (9.2 WAR), while being paid $43 million. Matthews has earned -$5.2 million (-1.1 WAR), while being paid $26.2 million. Pierre has earned $15.4 million (3.6 WAR), while being paid $25.5 million.

And Drew? Even with a rough 2007 in which he "earned" just $5.6 million (1.4 WAR), Drew has earned $45.4 million (10.3 WAR) in Boston, while being paid $42 million. So, in the warped world of baseball finances, the argument could be made that Drew is underpaid. Or, perhaps, that he is compensated equally to his value.

Now, my argument is not with what Amalie has said here. It's factually accurate; this is what fangraphs.com says. Just as it is also true that Drew has one of the best OBP and OPS number sets for outfielders over the past three years.

My argument about Drew has always been that he is not worth the money he has been paid because he is not on the field enough. I think that it is hard to justify a $14M per year deal when you struggle to even play 130 games a year. Regardless of whether or not people like Soriano or Juan Pierre got ridiculous deals relative to their output, that doesn't justify Drew's deal.

Let me put it this way; in three seasons of 100+ games player, Drew has earned $45.4M and is 10.3 WAR while getting $42M. Those are the fangraphs.com numbers. Here are three more seasons of 100+ games played:

2002: WAR - 2.9 | $$ - 7.5 | Salary - $2.7

2003: WAR - 4.9 | $$ - 13.8 | Salary - $4.0

2005: WAR - 3.5 | $$ - 12.0 | Salary - $7.5

Those are Trot Nixon's numbers (in 2004 he only played 40 games due to injury) over a three-year span where he played 144, 129 and 118 games, or an average of 130 games per season. Drew has averaged roughly 128 games per season, so we are dealing with an equal amount of games played more or less. As stated, over that span Drew has accounted for 10.3 WAR while earning $45.4M and making $42M, putting him $3.4M to the good.

Over a similar three-year span, Nixon accounted for 11.3 WAR and earned $33.3M while making $14.2M. This is the same Nixon that Drew's supporters rag on as being far inferior to Drew. And yet he was +1 WAR over Drew in a similar three-year span.

Drew is a good player and I am almost sure I have never said different. My contention has always been he is not worth the $14M per season that Boston pays him. And this column does nothing to change my opinion. J.D. Drew is one of the most talented players in the game, but he hasn't impacted Boston's win total any more than Trot Nixon did over a similar period of time.

J.D. Drew is a talented right fielder. He is a solid player. But he is not worth $14M per season. Period.