Kelt to the Twins.

Yay for the hair! Bobby Kielty has signed a minor-league deal with the Twins. Hopefully, this time around works out for him. Unless, of course, the Sox win the division and the Twins take the wild card-then all bets are off.

Meanwhile, Back on the Farm...

Bits and pieces from the farm:

1. Che-Hsuan Lin (a Taiwanese prospect currently playing in Greenville) was named the MVP of the All-Star Futures game at Yankee Stadium yesterday. He hit a two-run home run to put the World Team up 3-0.

2. Dave Pauley (who we last saw in April starting a game against LA) may be named to the US Olympic team. The final roster decisions come down Wednesday. If he made it, I might actually be induced to watch the Olympics.

3. Bobby Kielty has asked for and been granted his release from Pawtucket. It's too bad but I can't say I blame him. He's had a rough year and has got a young family across the country.

Woot!

Kielty is headed to Rhode Island!

Bobby Out?

According to the Globe, Bobby Kielty may be willing to except a minor league assignment to Pawtucket. His contract, however, gives him the option to hit the road on April 1st and his agent has told him that there may be another major league club offering him a position, so he might choose to leave. Can't fault him that, really.

In other Bobby Kielty news, in today's spring training game against the Dodgers the Red Sox were hitless except for a single by Kielty.

Dueling Leprechauns

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if these two end up on the bench together they'll spend they're time trying to out-leprechaun each other. In order to avoid that catastrophe (and in honor of St. Patrick's Day), I say we have an old fashioned Irish brawl right now-Limerick style (I imagine that people from Limerick speak in limerick all the time.) Ideally, I would have embedded the clips, as the website seems to indicate you can do, but that since that didn't work, I shall link it up. We certainly wouldn't want my poetic genius to be lost.

So, without further ado. In this corner we've got the ginger from California Bobby Kielty! And in the other corner, though he looks less the part, he's most certainly a man from Erin. How could he not be with a name like, Seaaaan Casey! Fight!

Notes: I realize that he's not a hobbyist but there really aren't too many words that rhyme with Bobby, so just go with me on that. Also, Sean may need some translating. He stands on first base and we'll not well at the end. The apostrophe was in there but he just didn't seem to be able to pronounce it.

An Ode (Care of Steven Sondheim) to Mr. Kielty and his Hair

Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something's coming-something good.
If I can wait!
Something's coming, I don't know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great!

I think he said at one point that he was thinking of growing his hair back out again. I don't want to get my hopes up too high but it looks as if he might be doing just that.

Hu-freakin'-zah!

I know that a man's hair is no reason to hope that he gets a job as a baseball player. But the news that they've brought him back makes me quite happy.

The deal is one year, non-guaranteed, for $800,000 if he makes the major league roster.

The signing means that it's likely that they'll trade Coco (which is sad because he has great hair as well) but Coco deserves more than the fourth-outfielder-type role that he would have been given.

They Really Need to Sign This Guy

Okay, so I've posted this picture three times already (I think) but I love that picture and they really need to sign Bobby Kielty for next season.

On January 23, Mr. Kielty went back to his old elementary school and did a series of assemblies for the kiddos. The article is here. There's even a little video. Being children and unhindered by any sense of embarassment over asking a stupid question, they ask fun things like: What's your favorite fruit? (Pineapple) Their reaction when he tells them that he's hit 53 home runs in his career (Wo-o-o-w!!!) is priceless and sent me into a fit of giggles.

It's all very sweet.

Checking in with Bobby

There was a little interview in the Herald with Bobby Kielty today. He wants to come back:

"I'm just waiting it out. Unless another team comes in with an unbelievable
offer, I'm just going to wait it out and see what happens. I love Boston and I'm
hoping something can work out."

Awww.

He also says that he's willing to try hitting righty exculsively:

"It's something where I can try it for the first few weeks of spring training
and if I don't like it I can go back. It's one of those things that is a
catch-22 because I really need to be getting at-bats to be effective
left-handed, which I know I can do, but I'm probably more valuable as a
switch-hitter off the bench."

Kudos for the literary reference (it's not really a catch-22 the way it's worded but you can force it: His value as a bench player lies in him being a switch-hitter and effective. If he's a switch-hitter, then he isn't as effective. If he's going to be effective, then he isn't going to be a switch-hitter. Sort of. It's not what he was trying to say but it is a catch-22.)

He is also getting in great shape.

"I'm excited about how I feel. I'm finally where I need to be."

This one confuses me. I know the picture is from back in his As days (which rhymes) but I don't see how he could be in any better shape than that. I would imagine that the only part of him that would be remotely soft would be his hair.

He is also, apparently, quite the poker player. He won the Eddie Guardado Charity Poker Tournament for the second year in a row.

Too Many Outfielders

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about Bobby Kielty. In the whole Coco v. Ellsbury who-gets-to-play-center-next-season saga, he's really gotten the raw end of the deal. Coco and Jacoby will be playing somewhere next season, they have no say in where that somewhere will be, but it is a certainty. Meanwhile, Kielty gets to sit at home, twiddling his thumbs, wondering if there will be a place for him on the team or if he should start looking elsewhere.

My concern for Bobby started when someone over at NYYfans (I really should stop going over there) was covetous of him. It made me quite indignant, not indignant enough to register at the site and register my indignation, but indignant nonetheless. The man has Boston area roots, apparently wants to come back (according to an article that appeared in the Herald. I can't link to it because it was more than a week ago and I'm cheap), and is seemingly content to be a fourth outfielder. Besides which, if they don't bring him back I wouldn't have an excuse to post that fabulous picture or a reason to hope that he grows his hair out again. (Seriously? His hair when he played for the A's? Pretty awesome.)

If they were going to sign him (which the Herald article did seem to indicate they were thinking about), then they should just do it already. The longer this whole thing drags on, the more likely it is that he'll find somewhere else to play. Perhaps they're worried about his knees and his calve muscles but he's got hea-a-a-art (and all you really need is hea-a-a-art). And any way you slice it, there will be a position for him next year.

If either Ellsbury or Crisp are moved, then he's all set. If neither one of them is traded then I would imagine that Crisp would (and probably should) demand a trade. I agree with Coco, or more possibly his agent, (again from the Herald. Damned Herald!) when he says that he isn't a fourth outfielder. He used to be able to hit and defensively, the man is a gem. There was talk that they surgery he had on his finger might have screwed up his ability to hit, but I really do believe that he will find his swing again. I suppose that the Front Office could refuse to trade him but it seems all kinds of stupid to bench him when you're paying all that money to have him play.

Lastly, the apostrophe in the Oakland A's name is completely and utterly wrong. I know it's wrong but that's the way it is written on their uniforms and on their website, so that's the way I wrote it. It doesn't signify a possessive nor does it denote a contraction. I suppose its purpose is to keep them from being the Oakland As but that is not one of the ways apostrophes function. Someone should sic the apostrophe police on their Front Office. I'll stop now.