FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Bobby Dalbec has done quite a bit this spring training, including launching two grand slams. For most, the power -- which has resulted in five of his nine hits coming in the form of homers -- isn't that much of a surprise.
What we might not have seen coming is Dalbec paving the way for perhaps the best quote of camp.
After hitting his latest grand slam Wednesday afternoon at JetBlue Park, Dalbec immediately was pulled from the Red Sox' game against the Twins. The team explained that the maneuver was planned, with the first baseman scheduled to get a short day of work.
Still, the dynamic -- walking off after hitting a grand slam in his first at-bat -- was out of the ordinary. It allowed Chaim Bloom to offer a spot-on analogy when appearing on the Red Sox Radio broadcast a few innings after Dalbec's departure.
Question: "Did you just want to give Bobby Dalbec a walk-off today?"
Bloom: "He just Costanza'd it. Get a hit. I'm out. I'm good."
The Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer was, of course, referencing George Constanza of "Seinfeld" fame. The particular episode that allowed for the comparison was Ep. 16 of Season 9 when Constanza leaves a meeting on a high note after making a successful joke.
"Fun to watch," Bloom continued when talking about Dalbec. "Obviously we saw this some last year, too. You look at from a distance the strikeouts, the homers and the walks and you say, 'This isn't sustainable.' But he keeps doing it. What is encouraging to me are the adjustments that he has shown he can make over his career.
"I remember talking about him in the Draft room. We at the Rays were probably too low on the guy because the strikeouts were so alarming. You could see as he progressed in the minor leagues he has been able to make adjustments to tighten that up. And getting to know him last year he's very thoughtful about what he does. He cares a lot and he is thoughtful about attacking weaknesses. We have a lot of faith that it's worth giving him this runway. Just imagine if he cans tighten that strikeout rate a little bit more. We know what he does when he puts the bat on the ball. He can be really, really dangerous."