Ben Cherington
Ben Cherington
Benjamin P. Cheringtonis an American former professional baseball executive and current executive in residence in Columbia University's sports management program...
believe career cleaned closer dominant harder knee last mental optimistic phoenix physically point remember season string struggled success touch
We believe physically he is doing pretty well. He had his knee cleaned out after the season and he's been in Phoenix rehabbing and working out. We've been in touch with him. The mental part is harder to answer. Obviously, he struggled last year. It's important to remember that he struggled at another point of his career and bounced back and had a string of success and had dominant years as a closer after he struggled. He's done that before and we're optimistic he can do it again.
area couple course farm focus gray hard hats short system wearing
Personally, it's been a distraction. It's been an interesting couple months. We've been short staffed, we've all been wearing a lot of different hats and there's a lot of gray area that we've never had in the past. Of course it's hard to focus on our farm system through that.
county family living stay wants
More than anything, I think he wants to stay in the Northeast, with his family living in Westchester County (N.Y.).
benefit guys held last team time
Last year's team was a pretty young team. There were guys who got to Double-A for the first time and they held their own. We may feel, by the end of March, they could benefit from a little more time in Double-A.
ability commitment good hard honestly level obviously reason seeing success
That's up to Theo and Tito. It's hard for me to say after only seeing him in one outing. Obviously he has ability and there's a reason why he's here. There's a reason why he had the kind of success in college. There's a reason we made the level of commitment that we made to him. He's going to be a good major-league pitcher. When that happens, I honestly don't know.
bat became clear mound notion point progress putting talked waiting
It became clear that his bat was not going to progress to the point where it would take him to the big leagues. We talked about the notion of putting him on the mound for a long time. Ultimately, we were waiting for him to really want to do it.
asked best both felt knew red solution
I don't think it was much of challenge. When Jed and I were asked to take on that role, we both knew this was an arrangement we were going to try and we were going to see how it works. We were going to do that because we felt that was the best solution for the Red Sox.
chance high reason school second short stanford whatever
He was a shortstop in high school and for whatever reason got into the lineup at Stanford first as a second baseman. He could always go back there, but we feel he has a chance to play short and he really wanted to do it.
closer opportunity spring training
He'll go into spring training as the closer and he'll have every opportunity to be the closer for 2006.
build deeper manager staff trying
We've been trying to build a deeper bullpen. One that is more versatile, one that allows our manager and our staff a little more flexibility.
ability athletic bit consistent excellent fastball good movement needs pitch stuff
He's a big, strong, athletic kid. He's got a good fastball with excellent movement and good sink. He's got a major-league slider. Obviously, the stuff is there and the ability is there. He needs to pitch a little bit more and get consistent outings.
ability center defensive plus skills
He's got on-base skills and the ability to be a plus defensive center fielder.
faces
We may see some of the same faces back this season.
best hottest pitcher
He was our hottest pitcher and we had a real need. We thought it was the best thing we could do for the major-league team.