July 23, 2005 Craig Hansen signed with the Red Sox today.



Herald link

Link to a pic of Hansen signing - Hansen Signs Red Sox Contract

Red Sox Nation welcomes Craig Hansen to the greatest team in the world - the World Champion Boston Red Sox!!!

Craig Hansen Bio Page at St. John's University - Craig at St. John's

Craig's stats at St. John's - (from Soxprospects.com - craig at soxprospects.com)

Globe link


Gordon Edes - One good sign: Hansen in fold

So is his deal a million a year, or 4 million a year? It sounds like the first option, but I thought that Boras might want a little more than a million a year.

Million per

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds..._on_pro_career/

Edes in monday's globe


I'll hold out on annointing him closer or even placing him on the major league roster until he demonstrates he can get pro hitters out. I've see too many can't-miss prospects miss and miss badly over the years. If he's the real deal, fine. If he needs seasoning, that's what the minors are for. No need to rush.

His numbers look very encouraging ..granted they are college but having a 97 + mph fastball is a good start.. hope he is the real deal !!

http://www.rotoworld.com/

From boston.com this afternoon:

Red Sox sign first-round draft pick



Hansen gets a $1,325,000 signing bonus, payable $441,667 within 15 days of the contract being approved, $441,667 next Jan. 15 and $441,666 on Aug. 15 next year. He receives a salary of $575,000 for the remainder of this season and $700,000 salaries for each of the next three years.

Theo on the pre-game show stated that Hansen was in very good shape and was throwing at about 120 feet in Ft. Myers. All he said was that Hansen would be above Rookie ball.

Overheard a Red Sox scout today at the Sea Dogs game say that Hansen will start at AA.

Take it FWIW.

If that's true, that's very aggressive and suggests they do think he could pitch in the big leagues this season.

He will spend about 2 weeks, maybe a little less, in the GCL before being assigned to either Willmington or Portland.

Craig Hansen was assigned to the Gulf Coast League Red Sox. He pitched a perfect 4th inning today and got the win. His line...



box score

Nice debut!

Based on what the Sox have been saying in the last few days, it sounds like he'll get another GCL appearance this weekend and then it's off to Wilmington or Portland on Monday.

I guess he is pitching 2 innings on Monday, then being assigned to Double A Portland.

Fast Track to the September Big Club!

Craig pitched the first 2 innings of a 4-3 GCL Sox win today. His line...




So far for Craig in Florida...

Did I miss something? He only had 2 outings right?

Well if in the first one he didn't give up any hits...and he didn't give up any hits in this past one...then how did he give up 2 hits in the total stats?

He gave up 2 hits today, both soft singles. I think that was just a typo by FPS on Hansen's line for today.

For the record, the two hits off Hansen were a bloop single and a infield basehit on a slow chopper. It's safe to see that he was dominant down there.

The Boston Red Sox announced Thursday that first round draft pick Craig Hansen has been assigned to Double-A Portland. Hansen, a right-handed pitcher, was Boston’s second first-round selection in the June 2005 draft (26th pick overall). To make room on the Sea Dogs 24-man roster, left-handed pitcher Brantley Jordan was transferred to Single-A Greenville.


Sea Dogs site

My guess is that the Sox hope Hansen can possibly give them some help down the stretch (and limit his innings) and then convert him to a starter next year.

I'm guessing they held off on making the assignment official until he was ready to pitch again, so I'd expect he'll make his AA debut tonight.

As for making him a starter next year, I've certainly heard the speculation that he has the pitches to do it and that they've considered it, but I wonder if his signing a ML contract makes that difficult. He'll be out of options at the end of 2007.

Is two years enough time to convert him to a starter? Because he'd have to be developed to the point where he would never need to go to the minors again.

I'm not saying it's impossible, just wondering if that's an obstacle. A lot of very good starters take more than 2 years in the minors.

Here's an mlb.com article regarding Craig's assignment to Portland.

mlb.com

FYI, Jon Lester is starting for Portland tonight, so we shall see whether Craig gets into the game.

http://www.sportsjuice.com/_sjplayer/mlbpl...yer.php?tid=100

Hansen coming in with a Save situation(Portland might get more runs)

Click the link to listen in.

Swinging strike (fastball, 95)
Called strike (fastball)
Swinging strike (fastball)
K swinging

Called strike (fastball, 96)
Single to left (fastball, 94)

Called strike (slider, 90)
Popup to short (slider?, 87)

Swinging strike (fastball, 95)
4-3 (?)

Game over, save for Hansen. Sounded like he was sharp.

Save for Hansen. one K, gave up base hit to left, short fly ball to Hanley, ground out to third. Hit 96 on the gun. 9 pitches.

The single was not legit. It was a short flyball, like a Johnny Damon single.

Craig's stats tonight (and complete Portland stats, coincidentally)



Total for his minor league career...

Awesome. Can we expect him for September? I say yes.

Based on 4 minor league innings, i say let's hold off on anointing him the next savior of the sox bullpen.

Craig Hansen 2005 = Francisco Rodriguez 2002.
A 95mph sinker is a 95mph sinker. A 90mph slider is a 90mph slider. Period. He WILL be here in September barring a total implosion. He'll use August to get tuned up, and seeing as he hasn't pitched much, his arm will be fresh. September is his big league adjustment period, and October is his time to shine.

Hansen in the 8th, Foulke in the 9th. I can't wait.

From this morning's Portland Press Herald (also linked in the Minor League News Links):



Glenn Jordan - A one-word debut: impressive


I'm sure Theo was very excited about what he saw," said Sea Dogs Manager Todd Claus. "And not only in Hansen, but in all three of the pitchers we threw out there."

Hansen would be the recent draft pick Craig Hansen, who closed out the Norwich Navigators with a nine-pitch ninth inning in as impressive a Double-A debut at Hadlock Field since, well, since Josh Beckett.

All nine of Hansen's pitches were thrown for strikes. Only once did he dip below 90 mph on the radar gun, with a slider that was popped up.

"He's just got electric stuff," said Sea Dogs catcher Jim Buckley. "He was throwing 95-96 with sink on it. And his slider's obviously a plus pitch, too."


...

"I was a little nervous," admitted Hansen, who had not pitched in a meaningful game since June. "But I calmed down when I got to the mound. Took a couple deep breaths and got my composure."

After a three-pitch strikeout, Hansen allowed a soft single to left by Cordido before inducing a pop-up and a one-hopper to second base.

"If he had butterflies they didn't show," Claus said. "His mound presence was outstanding. . . . A 95 mile-an-hour sinker and a 90 mile-an-hour slider is not fair."




Glenn Jordan - Boston has Hansen on fast track

Hansen, 21, went 3-2 with 14 saves and a 1.68 earned runs average for St. John's University, mainly as a closer. He is a power pitcher - fastballs and sliders - who throws an occasional change-up. Last summer in the Cape Cod League he did not allow an earned run in 22 innings, walking only two and fanning 41.

After a month of negotiations with Hansen's agent Scott Boras (the reason Hansen dropped so far despite Baseball America's prediction of his being the draft prospect closest to reaching the majors), the Red Sox signed him and sent him to their Gulf Coast League affiliate in Florida. He pitched twice there before joining the Sea Dogs.

...

Although Hansen's contract requires the Red Sox to keep him on their 40-man roster, there is no provision that guarantees him a promotion to Fenway when major-league rosters expand in September.

I doubt he will be up in September.

He has already pithced 80 innings with St. Johns, so he probabaly has 20 more innings left. I say let him finish the year in AA, or maybe a late promotion to AAA.

However, I bet he would be above league average if promoted.

I attended the game tonight. We were rowdy in the 9th. Two quick outs, smiles abound.

Solo HR. No biggie.

2 strikes. Here we go! Carl gets a hit. Oh, well. That's okay.

"C'mon, Pauly!", the girl wearing the White Sox gear behind us yelled (She was pretty cute, but that's besides the point).

Two run homer, they're within one.

Schilling has looked good at times, shakey at times. Right now, with Foulke on his way back, and Miller on the DL. It could be time to stretch out Schilling to rejoin the rotation and have someone else fill that Closer role.

Timlin would be the best bet. But, we inked Hansen to a 4 year Major League Deal. Could he really do all that poorly? What if he catches fire? What do we honestly have to lose by giving him a shot in our pen (Not necessarily closing, mind you.)?

Why not Hensen?

I thought alot about last night's performance by Curt and have come to the conclusion that I'm not worried about it. I believe once he got the first two out on good at bats and got ahead 0-2 on Taguchi, he just was trying to put a pitch in there he could put in play.

I think he would have pitched very differently to the third out had the score been 6-5 and we would've won by that score. If you look, even at 9-6 he did the same thing to Everett up 0-2 & Konerko up 0-2. He gave them pitches to hit and hit they did.

Once it was 9-8 he bore down and finished Rowan on a Curve ball after he got ahead. I was happy with the fact he got ahead and think he pitched a little lazily with the lead and down to his last out.

All that said. I don't think Hansen will help this year, but could very well be in the bullpen at the start of next year.

Hansen pitches the 7th tonight...

Pitcher Change: Craig Hansen replaces Charlie Zink.
Eliezer Alfonzo called out on strikes.
Tyler Von Schell singles on a soft line drive to right fielder Brandon Moss.
Anthony Labarbera strikes out swinging.
Tim Hutting grounds out, shortstop Raul Nieves to first baseman Jared Sandberg.

1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K...

With every outing I'm a bit more inclined to say "get him here NOW!"

Well, as aforementioned, Craig had his usual great outing last night. I knew I chose a popular guy, but wow, people are giving his stats in real time! Anywho....here's Craig's stats from last night (btw, a 12-1 loss for Portland - their worst loss of the year).



Total for his minor league career...

From today's Maine Sunday Telegram:


Glenn Jordan - Navigators rumble past Dogs, 12-1


A study in pitching contrasts. On the one hand, there was Sea Dogs reliever Craig Hansen. A supplemental first-round draft pick with a major-league contract and a can't-miss label, Hansen made his second appearance in Double A Saturday night. He faced four batters in the seventh inning, struck out two, allowed a broken-bat single, induced a weak grounder and nearly shattered a radar gun behind home plate when one of his mid-90's fastballs got past Sea Dogs catcher Alberto Concepcion.

"I don't think it takes a scout or a baseball enthusiast to figure out that guy is pretty good," said Sea Dogs Manager Todd Claus.

Indeed. Hansen is 6-foot-5. He throws gas. His throws a breaking ball harder than a lot of professional pitchers can throw their fastball.

Craig is expected to pitch 2 innings today.

Hansen in to pitch...I'll keep you updated

6th Inning (in a 7 inning game)- Against Baldiris

95 mph fast ball away 1-0
Strike inside corner 88 slider
High Fast ball 2-1
Swinging strike 2-2
foul to the right
another foul to the right
fly ball shallow left - 1 out

Against Jacobs

lined to left - double

Against Harper

strike taken 0-1
outside breaking ball 1-1
foul to the left 1-2
nice catch by left fielder 2 out

Against Caligiuri

fast ball 95 called strike 0-1
ground ball to 3rd - hit batter (foul) 0-2
swing and miss slider moving away 89! 3 OUT!

7th Inning (last inning) 9-3 Sea Dogs

Against Malek

pop up hit over 3rd base - single

Against Ragsdale

inside and low 1-0
low 94 mph 2-0
swing and miss 2-1
ground ball 5-4-3 DOUBLE PLAY 2 out

Against Bacani

swing and miss 0-1
foul back 0-2
called strike 3! 3 out! Dogs win 9-3! Dogs sweep back-to-back double headers!

Craig pitched the last 2 innings in a non-save situation, coming in with the Sea Dogs winning 9-3. He pitched two innings, giving up a double in the 6th and a single in the 7th. He hit 95 regularly with his fast ball, and got a nice swinging third strike on an 89 mph slider away. Here's his stats for tonight...



Total for his minor league career...

Crap, I think we could safely say he'll be up September 1st.

Thanks for the quick updates, FPS.

As he gets more innings, maybe you can separate out his AA stats from his two GCL appearances in his totals? Not a big deal, but those are such different levels in terms of the competition.

Of course, the ERA is 0.00 either way.

Ask and ye shall receive!

GCL Sox stats



Portland Sea Dogs Stats



Total Minor League Stats

Man, you're good.

Gotta love that K/9 rate

Sick...that is all I have to say...SICK!