Hansen concerns
When Jon Lester or Clay Buchholz have a bad day, you shrug and say it's too early in spring training to be concerned.
But reliever Craig Hansen is another issue.
Hansen was supposed to be a Major Leaguer by now, after being a first-round draft pick out of college in 2005. But so far he has a 4.73 ERA in 42 games (4 in 2005, 38 in 2006; he stayed in Pawtrucket all last year).
On Sunday, Hansen pitched one inning - his first this spring against non-college competition. He gave up four runs, two hits and three walks.
"I think he has too good (of) stuff for that to happen," manager Terry Francona said to redsox.com. "So we'll keep at it. The good news is, the ball is coming out of his hand great. The flip side of that is that he shouldn't give up runs - I don't care where he is - like that."
Meanwhile, the Red Sox wait for Hansen to come around.
One housekeeping note: There was some confusion to the online version of my Sunday column. Page 1 had nothing on it. Page 2 had the whole column.
Posted at 02:12 PM
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