This afternoon, the Red Sox introduced Ryan Dempster during a press conference at Fenway Park. And all in all, the whole thing was pretty standard.
From everything I've read, the event basically just consisted of Dempster telling the world how much he's looking forward to playing in Boston, the Sox telling the world how excited they are to trot Dempster out to the mound every fifth day and both sides going back and forth with compliments until the microphone burst into flames.
And that's fine. But I can't believe that no one asked about Harry Caray!
It remains to be seen how much Ryan Dempster will help the Sox this season. Considering he's on the books for 26.5M over the next two years, you'd certainly hope so, but we really can't be sure.
On one hand, Dempster's registered double digit wins in each of the last five seasons, and over that time he's averaged 32 starts a year and finished only one season with a plus-4.00 ERA. That's not bad. On the other hand, he'll turn 36 in May, has played 14 and a half of his 15 Major League seasons in the National League and posted a 5.09 ERA and 1.435 WHIP after being traded to Texas last summer. That's not good.
But either way, regardless of how dominant he is on the mound, I'm guessing that Dempster will inject a little quirkiness and humor to the Sox recently-miserable clubhouse. And that's cool. Although for 26.5M, they probably could have booked Seinfeld.
Rich can be reached at rlevine@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Rich on Twitter at http:twitter.comrich_levine