The Lenny DiNardo Blog

RedSox.com Q&A

Ian Brown, the sole journalist covering the Red Sox for the last few years for the official MLB-site, RedSox.com, answered some questions from his "mailbag." Here's one dealing with Lenny:

Why hasn't Lenny DiNardo been around for Spring Training? I haven't seen or heard his name mentioned. I figured he'd be in there a lot making a bid to be the only lefty in the 'pen.
-- Harry Q., Plymouth, Mass.

DiNardo was out of camp for a while because of his participation for Italy in the World Baseball Classic. As for DiNardo being a lefty out of the 'pen, he's not a true southpaw reliever in the sense that he actually fares better against right-handed batters. DiNardo's best role for the Red Sox at this point would be as a long man. The question is: With all the depth the Red Sox have from a pitching standpoint, will they have enough roster spots to have a long reliever?

This answer is yes. Of course, I'm guessing this "mailbag" was written before the events below transpired. 

This also makes me think about starting my own "mailbag."  Of course, neither Edes, Brown, Simmons, or any other journalists actually get enough mail to actually require a mailbag to be used.  That said, I'm going to start a Red Sox/DiNardo "eBag" - which, of course, is different from a Red Sox D-Bag...which, of course, I am.

UPDATE: Someone emailed and said I should call it the DiBag. Perhaps, I will. Perhaps I will.

Theo on Lenny, WMP trade

Theo's Comments Post-Arroyo-Trade (thanks to Chris from Westboro for the heads up):

We like Lenny DiNardo, Jonathan Papelbon, and Jon Lester, who may be ready to help us at the end of the season. I still think we have enough pitching depth but don’t hold me to it if we’re scrambling for bodies in June.

The SOSH Boards are buzzing about Lenny's new role as well (you're going to have to go through the threads to find these...):

I think this is an excellent point and I completely agree. I was very impressed with what little I saw of DiNardo last season and I think he would be fine as an emergency/spot 7th starter. I bet every team in the majors would love to have someone of his caliber as their 7th starter.
...
PECOTA projected Arroyo for a 4.47 ERA this year, and DiNardo for a 4.78. That's not a huge gap, especially considering DiNardo's projection probably has a higher variance due to his GB tendencies--the IF defense behind him makes a big difference.
...
As others have mentioned, I also like the idea of opening a spot for Dinardo and adding a versatile lefthander into the bullpen mix. He is an ideal swingman.
...
I also agree that it may leave more room for DiNardo to make the squad if one of the relievers does not cut it. Like most, I would like at least one lefty in the bullben.
...
I also think that Dinardo could be Bronson Arroyo from the left side (he was similarly recovered from the scrap heap). Wells and Dinardo give the Sox needed lefty balance on the pitching staff too.

Goodbye Bronson...

They pitched together. They rocked together. The babysat the World Series Tropy together.

But today, Bronson Arroyo is a Cincinnati Red. On a personal level - most Sox fans are probably a little aghast. The guy took a hometown discount to stay with the team, and their response was thanks, but now we have too many pitchers...

On the Lenny level, he's probably upset that his closest friend on the team is gone. But that said, with Bronson out of the picture (read: bullpen), that opens up another spot...and I would have to think that Lenny takes that spot to start the season. Comments?

On an unrelated level, the Sox will never get another hometown discount. Ever. Turns out that Johnny Damon knew what he was doing after all.

To make Bronson feel better, pick up his CD (Lenny is on backup vocals).

Excellent Outing v. Toronto

Here's the line from Lenny's start today: 3 Innings, 2 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BB, 2 Ks, 3.86 ERA. All on 39 pitches.

Of course, that ERA is for the entire spring. On the spring Lenny is now 1-0. He's gotta make the team. Him, and Adam Stern. What a big game that kid plays...

UPDATE: I hadn't noticed this before, but Lenny had another balk. Also, Holtz got a hold, but walked 2. Big Riske who is so good against lefties that we don't actually need a lefty in the bullpen...gave up 4 runs and 4 hits in 1.1 innings, leaving him with a 10.80 ERA for the spring.

Nipper: No Lefty in Pen...

After we cheered for the demotion of other players, Al Nipper and the Bristol Press kicked us in the junk:

The team may not open the season with a southpaw in the bullpen, since righties like Rudy Seanez and David Riske are effective against lefties.

"Obviously if you have a quality lefthander, a big-name guy, that would help," said interim pitching coach Al Nipper. "But there’s been teams that have been successful that didn’t have a lefty. The fact that we do have guys that can get lefties out, that are quality guys, helps us also."

Frickin' Nipper. Spoken like a true RHP asshole. Let's see how Nipper did against lefties during his career. Ok, I couldn't find any of his stats v. left-handed batters. They probably sucked though.

Pre-Game: Last Spring Lenny Start

As I mentioned below, Lenny gets the start today against the Blue Jays.  RedSox.com has a Lenny blurb on its rotating front page (as of 11:19 AM EST, it's #4 if you wanted to see it):

Lenny DiNardo, who is trying to land a job in Boston's bullpen, makes his second Grapefruit League appearance on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 ET as the Red Sox take on the Blue Jays. You can follow all of the action by listening live on Gameday Audio.

You can listen to Gameday Audio (it is only $15 for the year). For my part, I'm going to be listening on my awesome XM radio (Channel 177).

2d Round of Cuts: Bye-Bye Breslow

Well, Lenny Nation, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Yesterday (St. Patty's Day), the Sox pared their major league camp down to 40 players.  Among those reassigned to Pawtucket? Breslow, Bumatay, and Seibel. Those are three of the non-roster invitee, left-handed relief pitchers we had identified as the major competition for the big league job. The remaining 2 lefties? DiNardo & Holtz.

Edes is high on Holtz and seems to think that Lenny will end up as a Starter in Pawtucket:

There are only two lefthanded relievers still in camp: Lenny DiNardo, who is scheduled to start today against the Blue Jays and could wind up in Pawtucket's starting rotation, and Mike Holtz, the 33-year-old journeyman who pitched in Japan last season. Holtz has made an impression by striking out 12 and walking just one in six innings.

It is true that Lenny has been starting a lot more than I had expected - including today. A strong performance could bump him ahead of Holtz. Then again, who the hell knows. This could just be Edes talking out of his ass. Laytah!

1st Round of Cuts/Wells Factor

Well, the good news out of Fort Myers today is that Lenny survived the first round of cuts which were made today. Lefties Jon Lester and Abe Alvarez were optioned to Pawtucket, along with Edgar Martinez, David Pauley, and Jermaine Van Buren.  This wasn't really surprising -- the real surprise would be if DiNardo actually was sent down this early.

The other big news (from last week) was that David Wells decided that it was in his best interest to act like he enjoys Boston and his huge success at Fenway.  This throws our previous analysis to the wind...and throws a possible wrench into Lenny's prospects for making the team early on this year. (how many other cliches can I *throw* into this paragraph?).

Consider that the Francona may only take 10 pitchers into opening day (due to an open schedule during the first week). If that's the case, Arroyo and Papelbon are likely to end up in the bullpen...which bumps another guy out of the major league club. Here's how it's looking right now:

Starters: (I'm way into this rotation)
Beckett
Wakefield
Schilling
Wells
Clement

Bullpen:
Arroyo
Papelbon
Foulke (possible - could be held out to continue rehab)
Timlin
+1 (and then another 2 after the first weeks of the season)

The Plus-One/Three?:
DiNardo
Riske (shelled this spring - 10.80 ERA in 4 games)
Seanez (shelled - 15.75 ERA in 4 games)
Tavarez (has pitched one inning for the DR, allowed 3 runs on 3 hits)
Meredith
Breslow (not currently on the roster)

The good news (though I'm sure I'm reading way too much into this) is that the RedSox.com depth chart lists Lenny ahead of Tavarez and Seanez, though behind Riske.  However, I really think that you need to come into the season with at least ONE lefty in the bullpen. Now that Alvarez and Lester are serving more time in Pawtucket, Wells is the only other lefty on big league club.

If they go with Lenny, he'll be the only non-closer, non-meant-to-be-starter, not named Timlin in the bullpen.  He'll get a lot of chances in that case.

The Italian Job

So, I'm back from Belize. It. was. way. cool.

To the Lenny Biz:

As you may have heard, Lenny started Team Italy's second game of the WBC Tourney, which was against the Venezuela powerhouse. From all accounts, it was a pretty good outing and if the offense had actually come through when they had the bases loaded, Lenny wouldn't have gotten the loss. Alas, he did.

The good stuff:

• Faced 13 batters, retired 8.
• Got Miggy Cabrera to fly out and Magglio Ordonez to line out.
• Mike Piazza on Lenny:
  

  • "The kid that pitched," Piazza said, looking over at DiNardo, "he's going to inspire some Italian kids to pitch. And maybe some day one of those kids makes it to the major leagues . . . The reason we're playing is we're trying to get some interest to continue to grow baseball in

    Italy."

• Skipper Matt Galante on Lenny:

• "One thing about starting pitching in this series -- it's the first outing of the spring. When you talk about command, you're probably not going to have your best command in the first outing. I thought [DiNardo] kept us in the game. That's all we want from our starters, is to keep us in the game."

The Less-Than-Good Stuff:

• He got the loss (0-1 on the WBC).
• 6.75 ERA
• Wild Pitch.
• Balk (which put a runner in scoring position who then scored).
• 54 pitches, 28 strikes, 26 balls

This Dayton Beach News-Journal article had a really good take on Lenny's time with the Italian team. On his chances with the Red Sox after taking time off from Spring Training to play in the WBC:

"You never know. I feel like I'm getting a great experience out here throwing," DiNardo said. "I wouldn't have come out if I didn't get their blessing.  I talked to (general manager) Theo (Epstein), talked to (manager Terry Francona) during last season when I heard about this.  They thought it was a great opportunity.  I'll still be getting innings.

"They've seen me throw the last couple of years, so they know what I have.  If I was just signing on with the Red Sox this year it might be a different kind of story."

Now that Italy (1-2) didn't advance to Round 2, Lenny has re-joined the Sox.  His next stop, we will see...

UPDATE: The Herald had a short article on Lenny's 2 2/3 for Italy. Also, the pic above comes from the Herald article.

I'm off to Belize for a week - I'll be back on Sunday 3/12.

In the meantime, I'm missing the WBC first-round games. And let's be honest, Italy's got a tough pool and may not make it out of the 1st Round. We'll see what happens. Let's hope Lenny has some stong innings and doesn't hurt himself.

Again, here's Italy upcoming Schedule:

Tues. March 7	8:00 pm	Australia v Italy
Wed. March 8	7:00 pm	Italy v Venezuela
Thurs. March 9	1:00 pm	Italy v Dominican Republic

 

Go Lenny! Talk to you all in a week!