Red Sox News: World Baseball Classic, power hitters, Corey Kluber, more
By Eric Cole
As spring training continues to roll on, so do the Boston Red Sox. After a bit of a rocky start from Brandon Walter, in which he didn't have the best command and surrendered a run over 2.1 innings (leaving the bases loaded in the 3rd), Boston was able to get some productive outs and key hits to build a substantial lead. The Red Sox ultimately defeated Puerto Rico's WBC squad by the score of 9-3.
As you could have guessed, the World Baseball Classic is underway and features several members of the Red Sox on various national teams. Boston has been very open in welcoming and celebrating the tournament this spring and several of the team's participants went on the record to talk about what the event means to them.
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Elsewhere on the site, we took a look at some of the hitters that will be giving the Red Sox a boost of power during the 2023 season. We all know that Rafael Devers is going to do his things, but there is also a rookie and a newcomer that should give the team a power boost.
Finally, we have taken a look at the chances of Corey Kluber looking like his former self. The chances of another Cy Young season are low, given that he's turning 37 in April, but history tells us that it's possible he could turn back the clock.
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The Houston Astros' new general manager Dana Brown comes from a Braves organization that is known for being able to lock up a lot of their young players. It looks like that Brown is trying to replicate that strategy with Houston, but his success rate so far has been limited. Brown talked about his philosophy when it comes to extensions and gave an update as to what is going on with the talks with Kyle Tucker and Framber Valdez.
We also had a bona fide trade yesterday as the Rangers traded Mark Mathias to the Pirates for a player to be named later. For the Pirates, the allure here is simple. Mathias is a very versatile player defensively, can hit a little bit, and is importantly, at least to Pittsburgh, cheap.