Circumstances could put Boston's closer-in-waiting in the bullpen sooner than expected.

01:00 AM EST on Monday, February 27, 2006

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- If all goes well, one of these days, the call is going to go out to Craig Hansen.

And Hansen will be happy to oblige.

He will enter, bringing out a nice steaming plateful of calamari. Or maybe a tasty dish of chicken parmigiana with a side of linguine.

Hansen, a hospitality management major at St. John's, is working with friends to purchase an Italian/seafood restaurant in his home town of Glen Cove, N.Y. The truth is, he's not planning to be a waiter in the business, but the opportunity to be a restaurateur appeals to him.

"It's not etched in stone," said Hansen. "But we're hoping to get all the paperwork done soon. The restaurant is on the water. I used to go there once in a while."

Of course, the Red Sox are planning to make different calls to Hansen. The right-hander, chosen with the 26th pick in last year's draft after a sensational college career, has been proclaimed as the closer-in-waiting.

The Sox want him to be serving up saves, not meatballs.

Hansen is not being counted on to be the team's closer when the season opens in Texas on April 3. It's Keith Foulke's job, if the veteran right-hander is healthy. And there's always Jonathan Papelbon to slide into the role if Foulke's knees don't permit him to shoulder the load early on.

Clearly, though, the Red Sox are looking to the future, and Hansen is one of the youngsters at the head of the prospect class. That's why Boston selected the flame-throwing, 6-foot-5, 185-pounder and handed him a four-year deal worth $4 million.

Hansen, an All-American and the Big East Pitcher of the Year last spring, was considered a possibility for the top overall pick in the draft until he chose Scott Boras as his agent. Boras has a reputation for holding out his clients until he gets the big bucks for them.

But the Sox didn't shy away, and now Hansen is theirs.

Circumstances in camp could thrust Hansen, 22, into a job in Boston sooner than expected, but the odds are he will begin the year in Pawtucket. He has, though, already racked up some big-league experience. He worked in four games, to the tune of a 6.00 earned-run average in three total innings after being promoted on Sept. 19.

"I had been to a few games in Fenway Park. I sat in the Monster seats and in right field, but to be on the mound (his home debut was on Sept. 27) was just amazing," said Hansen.

"Even before pitching, just going out there (from the bullpen) and hearing the crowd was great. When you play in college there aren't many fans. But to have tens of thousands of fans there was just outstanding. Boston fans are so excited about the team," he said the other day.

Hansen, who had been unscored upon in his first 10 professional appearances (two for the Gulf Coast team, two for Portland), was a bit shaky in the big leagues, blowing a save in his only chance, in Baltimore on Sept. 24.

That wasn't to be totally unexpected, said manager Terry Francona.

"I had never seen him pitch," said Francona. "He comes to a major-league setting in a pennant race. When you bring in someone like that out of the bullpen, you don't know what to expect. That's (why) the mixed results.

"To see him now, he's throwing over the top, working on his breaking ball. You can see bits and pieces (of his potential)," said Francona.

Hansen, though, says his few outings can only help him.

"It definitely helped to get the first appearances out of the way," said Hansen. "I got to see what it was like. I found out it was no different than pitching anywhere else. When you get between the lines it's baseball, really the same game."

In the meantime, Hansen has been soaking up advice from veteran Mike Timlin, from how to warm up to watching everything that goes on during a game to help when it's time to go into the game.

These days, Hansen is also soaking up his first big-league camp experience. And that also has its share of inherent problems, said Francona.

There's always a problem with young pitchers trying to overthrow, especially early in camp, to get noticed by the manager and pitching coach.

"Especially guys in their first major-league camp," said Francona. "(Josh) Beckett said he did it in his first major-league camp. Sometimes I go back there (behind the bullpen mounds) and they can't help but know that I'm back there. We keep telling them that we're not evaluating now. We don't want them overthrowing. We'll see what they can do in a couple of weeks in games.

"Sometimes you can't tell until maybe a month or two into their (minor-league) season, when they get on a roll. That's when you know what you have," he said.

Hansen says he hasn't been overthrowing, but he has been working on a changeup, taught to him last year by Boston pitching coach Dave Wallace.

"I'm experimenting with it, trying to get acquainted with it," said Hansen, whose bread-and-butter pitches are his fastball, which has been clocked at 97 mph, and a slider.

"I think I need to have something offspeed to change the hitters' timing and give them something else to think about," he said.

So for now, the restaurant business is on the back burner for Hansen. This is the time for Hansen to perfect his pitching repertoire to prove that, as a closer, he is made to order for the very near future.

skrasner@projo.com / (401) 277-7340