From Vegas To Lowell...

The Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, land of casinos, money and just about everything (except winter), remains quiet, all quiet on the western front, I guess. But Nick Carfado of the Boston Globe, while stolling through the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel, gathered these observations from Theo Epstein and Sox manager Tito Francona. Here you go. First up is Theo Epstein, the main architect of so many great Red Sox transactions...

"We're not really optimistic about our chances of getting anything done while we're here,'' Epstein said just a short time ago. "We're not really close to anything. I wouldn't expect anything to come out of these meetings, to be honest with you. Prepare to be underwhelmed,'' Epstein said.

And now manager Terry "Tito" Francona's take on the recovery from surgery of our third baseman, Mikey Lowell...

“He had a sparkling report, which was really nice to hear,” the manager said. “I think the timetable is that he’ll probably be hitting by the middle of January. I think everybody, from the medical people on down, think that when the season starts, he’ll be ready to go. The report today from trainer Mike Reinhold is that he has better range of motion today than he has since he joined our ballclub.

And Theo sounded off with some good news, too...

“I think that this has to run its course, as any surgeries do. But when it’s all said and done, he’s going to be in a lot better shape than he was trying to fight his way through it this year.”
“His reports are really good,” the GM said. “He’s ahead of schedule, he’s really impressed the doctors and rehab guys with where he is. He’ll start throwing pretty soon.”

Peter here. I know Mike Lowell well enough to say this...he's going to work his butt off to recover and be better than he ever was. And that's REALLY good. We all love Mike...in fact, we clamored as one for Boston to resign him. It looks like he'll be playing without pain for the 2009 season. I know what constant pain is like (unfortunately), and I hope for the best. Heal, Mikey, we love you. On the grim side, if the Sox sign (buy) Teixeira, Mike Lowell will be shopped to another team, but so far in Las Vegas, Boston has been exploring ALL of their options. Only Theo can put all the pieces together and improve the '09 team. Ya know what? He'll do exactly that.

I want to sincerely thank all those who commented on my yearly John Lennon post, which is just below this one. I wish we could have celebrated his birthday instead of mourning his death 28 years ago. But your comments touched my heart, deeply. Thank you.

You can click on this post's title for more Boston Red Sox news, and as always, BE WELL. You're the best.