joy of sox

Selig: Second Wild Card Likely for 2012

2012-01-29T10:03:00.000-05:00

Bud Selig is confident that the introduction of two additional wild card teams will take effect this season, though a final decision is not expected for a few weeks.

I really believe we'll have the [extra] wild card for this year. Clubs really want it. I don't think I've ever seen an issue that the clubs want more than to have the extra wild card. ... It looks to me like we'll have it, because I've told everybody we have to have it. It will be exciting. A one-game playoff and it will start the playoffs in a very exciting manner.

The two wild card teams in each league would play a one-game playoff. (If teams tie for first place in a division, they would play a one-game playoff to determine playoff position.) The winner of the wild card playoff would then play the team with the best record in the league. That would likely mean the end of the rule stating that the wild card team cannot play the first place team in its division, regardless of record (Red Sox/Yankees ALDS, anyone?).

Having two wild cards could mean that a third-place team from a particularly strong division could win the World Series.

Valentine: We're Going To Do Something Special

2012-01-28T19:55:00.001-05:00

Kevin Youkilis, a master of understatement, says the Red Sox "didn't have the best vibe in the clubhouse" last year.

It was very different. It was noticeable early, but when you win, winning heals all the wounds. But we definitely didn't have the right attitude in a lot of ways. We were worrying about things that we shouldn't have been worrying about and not playing the game of baseball. I think this year, with the coaching staff that's coming back, they saw things we can change. We're going to all can sit down and talk about it ... It's exciting to have [Bobby Valentine] on board. He's really pumped. It's fun to have him going. It's going to be a tougher spring training. We're going to be working our butts off with Bobby. Not that we didn't before, but I think we're going to be hitting a lot more of the fundamentals.

Valentine:

How September happened in Boston, I'll never know. But when it happened I knew I was going to get a chance to do something special. And we're going to do something special next year. Fans feel disrespected. I think the guys get it. ... They went home with a bad taste in their mouth and are going to do everything they can to get that taste out.

Well, according to numerous reports, the players did not "get it" even as the season was acting like the Titanic in mid-September, so we shall see what got got over the winter.

A Red Sox team with a lot to prove could give us a summer of fun - and some of the early projections (found in this flip-floppy Jonah Keri article*) paint a rosy picture for the Red Sox. Clay Davenport (formerly of Baseball Prospectus) has Boston winning 98 games and finishing six games ahead of the Yankees:

Davenport projects Boston to score the most runs in MLB yet again and have baseball's second-best record (behind the Rangers' 102-60 mark). ... CAIRO puts the Red Sox at 94 wins and in first place by a whisker. ... ZiPS calculates Boston for 89 wins and a wild card battle with the Angels.

* - Shorter Keri: Trading Scutaro was stupid, unless the deal works out and makes the Red Sox a better team, which could totally happen, thus making it a great decision.

Roy Oswalt is leaning towards signing with the Cardinals. ... Edwin Jackson says he has received some three-year offers, but is considering a one-year contract that would put him back on the market next winter, Beltre-style.

Support Mark Buehrle In Trashing Miami-Dade's Pit Bull Ban

2012-01-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

Animal activist (and Miami Marlins pitcher) Mark Buehrle and his family are working hard to get the Florida legislature to pass HB 997/SB 1322, which would end breed-specific legislation in Miami-Dade County. (Sign this petition.)

After Buehrle signed a four-year deal with Miami this winter, he discovered that his family could not live in Miami-Dade County. One of their four rescued dogs - Slater - is an American Staffordshire terrier, and Miami-Dade is the only county in Florida that has statutes outlawing any dog that looks anything like a pit bull. The dog's actual behaviour is irrelevant. If it exhibits any physical characteristcs of a pit bull - which is not an actual breed of dog, by the way - it can be taken from its family and killed.

Two Florida legislators - Representative Carlos Trujillo and Senator Jim Norman - are working with Best Friends Animal Society to pass HB 997/SB 1322, which would repeal the BSL statute. (Sadly, Ontario is as backwards and inhumane as Miami-Dade when it comes to breed-specific laws - and hundreds of Canadian families have had their dogs killed for no good reason.)

The Handsome Slater:

The Buehrles, continuing the animal activism they did in Chicago, are urging everyone to sign a petition in support of the repeal. (Huge h/t to Big League Stew)

Jamie Buehrle:

When my husband, Mark, became the new pitcher for the Miami Marlins, we were excited to move our family down to Florida and join our team's community.

But then we found out our family wasn't welcome in Miami-Dade County, because one of our rescued dogs, Slater, is a pit bull. We were lucky enough to be able to afford to buy a house outside of Miami-Dade County so we could keep Slater. Many families aren't as fortunate, and they love their dogs just as much.

Because of an archaic exemption in state law, Miami-Dade County is the only county in the entire state permitted to engage in canine profiling. Florida state legislators Representative Carlos Trujillo and Senator Jim Norman are leading an effort, with the help of Best Friends Animal Society, to right this injustice and to repeal the portion of the Florida statute that allows Miami-Dade to kill dogs simply because of their appearance.

No other county in Florida is allowed such unmitigated power over people's pets. It is time that Miamians again enjoy the same right that citizens in Florida's 66 other counties have.

Despite being over 20 years old, Miami’s canine profiling still causes the needless, senseless and unjustified confiscation and killing of hundreds of innocent dogs every year, proving that breed discrimination does not make communities safer, and is impossible to enforce. It's also a waste of tax dollars. Nowhere else in Florida can certain breeds of dogs be summarily killed simply because of their appearance.

It is time to put an end, once and for all, to canine discrimination in Florida and make the Sunshine State a model of humane public policy. Please join me, Mark and our family in standing up for Slater and the dogs Miami-Dade. Help save lives and keep families together by supporting the legislation that will repeal Miami's inhumane breed-discriminatory law.

It looks like non-U.S. residents cannot sign the change.org petition, so I'm asking everyone reading these words to go to change.org and register your support.

Sox: Announce Ross, DFA Atchison, Sign Bailey, Make Offer To Oswalt

2012-01-26T17:04:00.000-05:00

Scott Atchison was designated for assignment to make room for outfielder Cody Ross on the 40-man roster.

ESPN's Buster Olney states that the Red Sox made a 1/5 offer to Roy Oswalt and a similar pitch to Edwin Jackson (although the Jackson offer may not have been official). Olney says the Red Sox

don't want to get locked into any long-term deals ... [I]f they can get an Oswalt or a Jackson at their offer price, they're OK with that. If they can't, I think they're OK with that too considering they have other alternatives at this point with the rotation.

ESPN's Gordon Edes takes a wider look at the rumours and reports.

Andrew Bailey avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $3.9 million, with another $100,000 in incentives. There are two arbitration cases that remain unsettled: David Ortiz and Alfredo Aceves.

Tim McCarver And Madame Khokhlakov

2012-01-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

"I've looked at you a hundred times as you walked by, saying to myself: here is an energetic man who must go to the mines. I even studied your gait and decided: this man will find many mines."

"From my gait, madame?" Mitya smiled.

"And why not from your gait? What, do you deny that it's possible to tell a man's character from his gait, Dmitri Fyodorovich? Natural science confirms it."

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, page 385

1918 Fenway Park Grand Stand Pass

2012-01-24T11:38:00.000-05:00

Notice: The holder of this pass agrees to pay 2 cents to the Club each time same is presented for admission to the park, which will entitle the holder to what is known as a 77 cent seat, conditioned that the holder is also to pay to the Club for the Government a War Tax of 8 cents each time this pass is presented for admission, making a total of 10 cents.

Harry H. Frazee
President

I saw this on eBay.

Red Sox Sign Cody Ross

2012-01-23T22:30:00.004-05:00

Outfielder Cody Ross has agreed to a one-year contract (at about $3 million) with the Red Sox.

Ross, 31, hit .240/.325/.405 (105 OPS+) for the Giants in 2011. In his career, he has a .912 OPS against lefties (.282/.349/.563).

However, his slash stats for the last three years show a huge drop in power:

       AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS
2009  .284  .347  .612  .959
2010  .287  .340  .543  .883
2011  .234  .336  .362  .698

Ross has played all three outfield positions for the past two seasons. Games played:

       LF   CF   RF
2010   23   89   54
2011   83   22   35

From an optimist's point of view, a bench with Ross, Nick Punto, and Mike Aviles has a lot of versatility.

TSN 1952: Too Much Night Ball Harmful

2012-01-23T09:20:00.001-05:00

Night baseball may not have crippled more players than bursitis, but close observers agree more and more with the passing of the years that the arc lights have cut short the careers of many of the hired hands.

Joe DiMaggio pointed out, in discussing his retirement, that he could have played with the Yankees two years longer if Larry MacPhail had never introduced the arcs to the majors. Hank Greenberg has expressed the thought that the majors may have to adopt some variety of the two-platoon system to keep their athletes able and alert under the pressure of modern conditions. ...

The significant statement, "The day of the ten-year man is past," has been voiced often enough to become a cliche.

In view of this, it is saddening to observe that the two leagues scheduled a record number of night games for 1952. ...

But the effect of night ball on the health of the players is not its only disadvantage. Over any extended period, a heavy night schedule must destroy the interest of millions of young fans - through irregular eating and sleeping - the ticket buyers of tomorrow.

There was a time when the average youngster of grammar school age could see every week-end game, even if he couldn't always buy his seat. The free school tickets amounted to season passes for active traders in the lavishly-distributed pasteboards.

But few are the kids who can talk their parents into taking them often to games from which they can't hope to arrive home before midnight. The little fellows turn to the neighborhood movies, or to television. They never develop the fanatic interest which made their fathers and grandfathers the customers of today.

It's a story as old as the fable of the goose which laid the golden egg. The shortsighted assassin of that fabulous fowl no doubt lived to regret his greed. It is safe to predict that many major league club owners will have a similar experience.

The Sporting News, March 19, 1952

Few, also, were the kids who lived within driving distance of a major league ballpark. I guess they had been already written off as lost causes.

The TSN editors also bemoaned a "talent pinch" in the majors, stating: "There just aren't enough high grade ball players to go around." That was one reason why kids not being able to watch night games was so bad. They would not be inspired to play baseball, further diluting the sport's talent pool.

This is certainly odd talk during what is usually celebrated as baseball's "golden age".

Scutaro Traded To Rockies

2012-01-21T19:22:00.007-05:00

The Marco Scutaro trade rumour that came and went yesterday returned as the team dumped salary and sent the shortstop to Colorado for right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen.

Mortensen, 26, split last year between AAA and the Rockies. Mortensen had a 3.86 ERA in 95 innings for Colorado. He has also pitched for the Cardinals (2009) and A's (2009-10).

A Sox source told The Globe's Nick Cafardo that the team would platoon Mike Aviles and Nick Punto at shortstop. Gordon Edes has the same info: "Sox believe they can get by w/Punto/Aviles at short until Iglesias is ready" ... That would be 20friggin13, at best, would it not? I need a drink.

Punto started a whopping six games at shortstop last year and 31 games in 2010. Aviles has not played the position regularly since 2009.

Aviles Enjoying Right Field; Scutaro Trade Rumour Comes And Goes

2012-01-21T10:32:00.003-05:00

Mike Aviles was playing right field for Ponce Leones in Puerto Rico this winter ... and loving it.

While he had not played the outfield since he was a college sophomore, he says he adapted quickly.

I also surprised myself at how much I actually like it. I actually really love it. ... Being a lifelong infielder, the first game or two, my first reaction was coming in. As an infielder, you're taught to charge the ball all the time whereas as an outfielder you're not really charging the ball every single time. You kind of go back before you go in. It's one of those things where you get the repetition. The more repetition I got, the better I got at it.

The outfield at the Red Sox's new spring training park in Fort Myers is similar to Fenway's, giving Aviles some idea of what he'll be dealing with up north. Aviles hit .317/.340/.436 with the Red Sox last year and has a .299/.344/.470 against left-handers in his career.

Troy Renck of the Denver Post reported yesterday that the Rockies were "close to acquiring" Marco Scutaro. Not more than an hour later, Renck tweeted that while a trade was discussed, "it appears now [it] won't happen." ... Boston GM Ben Cherington stated: "Nothing to report." ... (How the day might have gone.)

Cherington likes the Red Sox starting rotation, though he does not yet know which five pitchers will be in it. He does admit that "we have more questions right now than Tampa Bay and New York" but adds Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz are "motivated" for the upcoming season. Woo-hoo. ... Catcher Ryan Lavarnway is the subject of a few articles.

Also: Bill James offers "a totally, utterly, insanely completist list" of the Top 100 pitching duels of 2011.

Orlando Cabrera Announces Retirement

2012-01-19T15:58:00.000-05:00

Orlando Cabrera, one of The 25, has announced his retirement.

He came to Boston from the Expos in the four-team trade deadline deal between the Red Sox, Expos, Cubs, and Twins. Cabrera hit a home run in his first plate appearance for the Red Sox; he banged a clutch walkoff double on August 17. Cabrera played in 58 games for the Red Sox, batting .294/.320/.465.

Cabrera had 11 hits in the historic and unforgettable ALCS against the Yankees; only David Ortiz had more (12). In the top of the 11th of ALCS Game 4, Cabrera made a diving catch to his right on Alex Rodriguez's line drive with one out and a runner at second.

Manny Ramirez and Cabrera, during the ALDS

Cabrera and Pokey Reese, celebrating a Red Sox win

In the aftermath of The Slap, Cabrera informed the Yankees

that the ALCS would be going to a seventh game.

Martin Luther King & Derek Jeter: Look To The Cookie

2012-01-18T12:49:00.003-05:00

ESPN's Wallace Matthews boldly claims that Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter

is a symbol of the kind of America Dr. King hoped one day to live in.

When he said in his most famous speech, delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," he could well have been talking about Derek Jeter.

The sentiment is bizarre and barf bag-worthy, for sure. It is also a gross misreading of history.

Matthews's scant evidence for linking Jeter to King is the fact that Derek's father is black and his mother is white. Which, I hasten to add, Derek had absolutely nothing to do with. (How many other professional athletes come from mixed-race parents? David Ortiz's wife is white; why doesn't cute little D'Angelo embody anything noble?)

King was not the avuncular can't-we-all-get-along figure - the fuzzy flipside of angry Malcom X - for whom we now thank for a day off work. In the 1960s, he was considered a dangerous radical. He risked his life constantly and minced no words when it came to criticizing the United States for its shameful and criminal record on human rights and war.

In 1967, King called the US "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world", a country on "the wrong side of a world revolution". And while he did wish, as Matthews notes, that every person should be judged by the content of his or her character and not by skin colour*, he also urged everyone to "move beyond ... smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent".

* - Or, for that matter, by UZR.

King made the clear and obvious connection between the US's increased militarism and the poverty of millions of its people:

We are spending all this money for death and destruction, and not nearly enough money for life and constructive development . . . when the guns of war become a national obsession, social needs inevitably suffer.

***

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

***

When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

***

There's something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that will praise you when you say, "Be non-violent toward [Selma, Alabama segregationist sheriff] Jim Clark," but will curse and damn you when you say, "Be non-violent toward little brown Vietnamese children."

One of King's aides, Reverend Hosea Williams, called him "the militant of the century". The FBI tapped his phone, and threatened and blackmailed him, suggesting that to avoid unseemly details from his private life becoming public, he might want to consider committing suicide. ... After his assassination, decades pass, his militant statements get white-washed from history books and/or dumbed down for mass consumption, and he becomes a "hero" on a postage stamp.

In Vietnam, King said the US had once again "fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long".

Now they languish under our bombs and consider us ... the real enemy. They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs.

So they go, primarily women and children and the aged. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. ... So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. They see the children degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers.

What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? What do they think as we test out our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe?...

Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours.

That speech could just as easily apply today to Iraq or Afghanistan. Or any of the other countries the US is currently (or will soon be) bombing. When I hear a baseball player speaking those words to the nation - not once, but many times - then maybe I'll consider a comparison to Dr. King.

Dr. Harry Edwards, a sociologist and activist, says that Jeter's absolute avoidance of saying anything substantial should be seen as a sign of racial progress, not a character flaw. "It is unfair and uninformed to expect 21st-century athletes to replicate the kind of stands taken by past generations of athletes." That is unadulterated bullshit.

The next interesting or controversial thing Jeter says will be the first. To the public, he is a bland, cardboard cut-out of a man, a cipher content to play baseball and offer up the most cliched, content-less statements. (He was photographed welcoming a known sociopathic war criminal to the Yankees clubhouse, though.)

Through a quirk of fate, Derek Jeter was born into a mixed-race family. He has faced racism and has gone on to have a successful baseball career. (Back in 2005, another ESPN writer, Gary Gillette, called Jeter the "second coming of Jackie Robinson". Now we have a King connection. When Jeter is inducted into the Hall of Fame, I predict he will be portrayed as more important to humanity than Jesus Christ.) But the mere fact of his existence has nothing to do with Martin Luther King.

A more appropriate analogy for Jeter would be:

It's half black, half white, and totally bland and unsatisfying.

Crawford Has Left Wrist Surgery

2012-01-17T16:53:00.008-05:00

Carl Crawford had arthroscopic surgery on his left wrist today after feeling soreness during his hitting routines earlier this month. GM Ben Cherington said Crawford would be in left field "for the bulk of the regular season", but he likely will not be ready by Opening Day.

Peter Abraham, Globe:

Crawford felt soreness when he started his offseason hitting workouts around Jan. 1. He had an MRI that showed cartilage damage and arthroscopic surgery was recommended. Crawford has had wrist issues in the past but the discomfort had always passed. Having such pain at this time of the year was a red flag.

Cherington did not rule Crawford being eligible for Opening Day. But it sounds like he could miss the early part of the season.

Gordon Edes, ESPNBoston (my emphasis):

Crawford has experienced soreness in the wrist in the past, according to Cherington, including at the end of the 2011 season, though the decision was made at the time that he go through his usual offseason routine. That changed, Cherington said, when Crawford reported continued soreness.

Hell of an off-season, Brownie.

The Red Sox and Jacoby Ellsbury agreed on an $8.05 million contract for 2012, avoiding arbitration. Cherington said they did not discuss a multi-year deal. ... The team has also signed Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Franklin Morales to one-year deals. ... And David Ortiz ($16.5) and the Red Sox ($12.65) exchanged numbers.

An Interview With Robert Creamer

2012-01-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

Robert Creamer began following baseball in 1931. He saw Babe Ruth hit home runs. He wrote for Sports Illustrated when it debuted in the mid-1950s. And he has written many baseball books, most notably biographies of both Babe Ruth and Casey Stengel. (N.B.: He also said some extremely nice things about my book on the 1918 Red Sox.)

Graham Womack of Baseball Past And Present interviewed Creamer recently. And the entire interview is a must-read. (Thanks to Dave Pinto of Baseball Musings for the tip).

Some snips:

What still excites you about baseball?

That's easy – the wonder of "What happens next?" When I'm watching a game between teams I'm interested in, sometimes that wonder — and the fulfillment of it, as in the sixth game of the 2011 World Series — can be excruciatingly exciting, and its fulfillment as you watch and wait can be almost literally incredible. ... I have occasionally quoted my long-ago family doctor who once said to me, "Baseball is a game of limitless dramatic possibility." We've come close to the limit — Bobby Thomson's home run 60 years ago, the Cardinals last fall — but we haven't reached it yet.

Who's the greatest baseball player you covered?

Willie Mays. Period.

If steroids had been a part of the game when Stengel and Ruth were players, do you think they would have used?

Sure. Yes. Absolutely. Hell, for decades before the big scandal about steroids in baseball, clubhouses used to have plates or dishes filled with little candy-like pills players gulped or chewed on routinely. My mind is gone – I forget what they were called ... Uppers? Bennies? I can't recall. But that was standard. Athletes are always looking for an edge and that was a way to get them fired up. I have never been as upset by steroid use as the moralistic holier-than-thou baseball writers who vote on the Hall of Fame. What a bunch of self-important phonies!

I mean, you'd think all an ordinary player would have to do is take steroids to hit 70 home runs or bat .350. But I think McGwire was telling the truth — he took steroids to hold back distress, to make him physically able to play the game. Steroids don't make a player good. Think of the hundreds, even thousands of players who have been in and out of the major leagues and who may have dabbled in steroids and think how few have hit 50, let alone 60 or 70 homers. Sure, every two-bit hitter in the lineup seems able to drive the ball over the outfield fences, but that has as much to do with the dimensions of the fields and the dimensions of the players, even without steroids. ...

Gammons: Red Sox Sign Vicente Padilla

2012-01-16T16:14:00.003-05:00

You say Pineda, I say Padilla...

Peter Gammons is reporting that RHP Vicente Padilla, 34, has agreed to a minor league contract with the Red Sox. The Herald says the deal will pay him $1.5 million if he makes the big league club.

MLB TradeRumours:

Padilla made only nine appearances for the Dodgers in 2011, all in relief, before neck problems ended his season in June. ... [I]n recent years the 34-year-old has been a swingman and spot starter ... He has reportedly been hitting 95-96 mph with his fastball this winter in Nicaragua, and has said he wants to fight for a rotation spot.

Four Weeks

2012-01-14T09:26:00.002-05:00

Truck Day is Saturday, February 11, four weeks from today.

("Green Death" - rallying cry for 2012?)

Matsuzaka Article, Decoded

2012-01-13T14:50:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, I posted a screen-shot of a less-than-ideal translation of a Japanese news story about Daisuke Matsuzaka's on-going recovery from TJ surgery. It was pretty much the laziest way of sharing the article.

Matt Kory of Over The Monster did some actual work, however, and tried to make sense of it. So ... a bit of logrolling in our time.

Theo: Parts Of 2004 Were As Contentious As End Of 2011

2012-01-12T15:18:00.001-05:00

Theo Epstein, WEEI:

There were periods in 2004 that were just as unproductive and contentious in the clubhouse. But guess what? We were 2.5 games out of the wild card in mid-August of 2004 and we got hot and we went 45-11 down the stretch instead of 11-45 or whatever it was this year [7-20 in September; 18-29 after August 9], and we ended up toasting those idiosyncrasies and the personalities and the extra-curricular activities and became a great bunch of guys. I know the salacious details are good fodder to talk about, and, don't get me wrong, there were a lot of things that happen and never should happen in the clubhouse, but don't look past the losing [as] the prime driver of all of this. If we had won a couple more games and gotten hot in the playoffs and won the World Series it would have been such a fun-loving group, all these personalities that came together in the end. It would have read a lot more like 2004. The difference was that we lost our last game and in 2004 we won it.

Ted Williams, 1940: "If I Were a Free Agent, I'd Sign With The Dodgers"

2012-01-12T11:12:00.000-05:00

In August 1940, Ted Williams was still 21 years old and in his second season with the Boston Red Sox. And he was thinking about how much he'd be loved in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Larry Granillo at Baseball Prospectus for posting the article from the August 20, 1940 edition of the Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph-Herald.

Pedro Talks About Verlander's MVP, Steroids, And His Ties To Boston

2012-01-12T10:42:00.000-05:00

Pedro Martinez was on WEEI on Tuesday, discussing various aspects of his career and his sterling seasons with the Red Sox.

Martinez says he was tempted to use steroids when he was with the Dodgers, trying to get to and establish himself in the major leagues. However Pedro declined the drugs not because it was cheating, but because he was told that "there are certain areas of a man that will get damaged". Once Martinez made it to the bigs,

I was never interested. I was so willing to prove to everybody that I could do it. ... I wanted to prove everybody so wrong. I finally did it. I'm thankful for not ever taking anything illegal.

Talking about not winning the MVP in either 1999 or 2000 and the fact that Justin Verlander won the AL MVP in 2011, Martinez hints that racism was involved and singles out two BBWAA writers - George King and LaVelle Neal III - who actually left Martinez completely off their 1999 MVP ballots. (King explained that he felt pitchers should not be eligible for the MVP, even though he voted for two pitchers, David Wells and Rick "4.41 ERA" Helling, the year before. No one else listed Helling on a ballot.)

I was kind of pissed off at first [when Verlander won], but then I went to realize that [the voters] are going to have to live with that label on their back. If anyone calls them prejudiced or racist for not voting for me, everyone will have to understand that it's their responsibility for not voting for me at that time. I feel kind of bad, but at the same time, I was really happy that the pitchers who really deserved it like Justin finally got the monkey off their backs ... Now, after, what, 11 years [since 1999], I see that they finally voted for another pitcher. Guess what: That pitcher is American. I was a Dominican-born player. That made me feel kind of awkward about it. If you compare my numbers to Justin's, not taking anything from what he did, my numbers were way better.

Pedro also talks about his 17-strikeout, one-hitter against the Yankees in 1999 (New York hit only eight fair balls that night), his relief effort against Cleveland that October, and (yes) Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

I'm a Bostonian. I consider myself a Bostonian. I believe my best years, my most important years, were in Boston. Part of my heart is in Boston. The other part is with my family and my own interests. I don't have anything bad to say about my years in Boston. Honestly speaking, which is not very often that you'll have an All-Star speaking honestly, I love Boston. I miss Boston. I miss the fans. I love the fans. I loved living in Boston. I'm actually thinking about selling my house in New York and buying back in Boston to actually go back.

Listen.

The Problem With Batting Average, In 12 Words

2012-01-11T15:14:00.001-05:00

Why is batting average a seriously flawed metric for measuring a hitter's worth? Quickly:

I have three coins. You have five coins. Who has more money?

On a related note, Joe Posnanski writes about early baseball scribe (and proto-basement dweller) F. C. Lane.

Matsuzaka Also Tone Up Even Elbows!

2012-01-10T10:29:00.001-05:00

The wonder of Google translation!

(P.S. Nice hair!!)

Matsuzaka is apparently well ahead of schedule. Daigo Fujiwara of Nikkan Sports reports Dice-BB will pitch a bullpen session by the end of January.

Carlos Silva, Aaron Cook, Justin Germano Signed To Minor Deals

2012-01-10T09:32:00.000-05:00

The Red Sox have signed pitchers Carlos Silva, Aaron Cook and Justin Germano minor league deals.

Silva had a 4.22 ERA and 1.274 WHIP in 113 innings (21 starts) for the 2010 Cubs. In 2011, he pitched 36 innings at three levels of the minors for the Yankees before going on the disabled list with shoulder stiffness in early June. He was released a month later.

Cook (a sinkerball pitcher) appeared in 18 games (17 starts) for the Rockies last year, with a 6.03 ERA and a 1.691 WHIP (allowing nearly 12 hits per 9 innings). While his 2011 BABIP was inflated (.345), his WHIP has been too high for the last three years. Pitching coach Bob McClure worked with Cook in Colorado.

Germano pitched in Korea last season after making nine appearances with Cleveland. In 2010, he had a 3.31 ERA in 35.1 innings for Cleveland. He has also pitched in San Diego for three seasons.

The Red Sox announced the signing of an additional 11 players to minor league contracts, with spring training invites.

Longtime Mets coach Randy Niemann has accepted a job as the Red Sox's assistant pitching coach. Neimann had been with the Mets for 24 years and worked with Bobby Valentine from 1997-99.

Bobby Jenks has had a second surgical procedure on his back and will not be ready for the start of spring training.

Mike Andrews of Sox Prosepcts gives an overview of the Boston farm system for 2012. ... Jarroid Saltalamacchia says the Red Sox players have long since closed the door on 2011 and are looking forward. ... Ryan Sweeney is gritty.

The Hardball Times: Doing All The Driving

2012-01-06T18:13:00.002-05:00

My first article for The Hardball Times:

On Sept. 2, 1996, the Red Sox beat the Mariners 9-8 in 10 innings in Seattle. Boston's left fielder, Mike Greenwell, batting eighth in the order, drove in all nine of the Red Sox runs. He set a major league record.

After flying out to right-center to lead off the top of the third inning, the Gator hit a two-out, two-run home run in the fifth, a grand slam with no one out in the seventh - putting the Sox ahead 6-5 - a two-run double down the left field line in the eighth - tying the game at 8-8 - and an RBI single in the top of the 10th to give the Red Sox a 9-8 lead. Unfortunately, Boston manager Kevin Kennedy stayed with reliever Heathcliff Slocumb in the home half of the tenth, denying Greenwell the opportunity to take the hill and pick up a save.

After the first inning, Boston managed only six hits, and Greenwell had four of them. He finished the day with a WPA of 1.051 - the third highest for a Red Sox batter in Retrosheet history, and only the sixth Red Sox batter to ever top a 1.000 WPA. Greenwell also drove in Boston's first run the following night, making it 10 RBI in a row.

Before Greenwell's one-man show at the Kingdome, there had been two instances of a player driving in all eight of his team's runs.

George "Highpockets" Kelly went 4-for-4, with three home runs and a single, for the New York Giants on June 14, 1924, in an 8-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Nearly 14 years later to the day — June 12, 1938 — Philadelphia A's second baseman Bob Johnson drove in eight runs in an 8-3 win over the St. Louis Browns in the first game of a doubleheader. Johnson had two homers and a single.

I started wondering which players with big RBI days had driven in almost all of their team's runs — eight of nine, nine of 10, 10 of 12, etc. I went to Baseball Reference's Play Index and did some digging. ...

See The Hardball Times for the full article.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T11:42:00.002-05:00

Thanks for reading and commenting! I wish everyone peace, happiness, and a World Series celebration at Fenway Park!

Laura and I are off to Québec City and Montréal for several days - celebrating 25 years* of life together - so JoS will be dark until January 10 or so.

*: !

David Ortiz In Walkoff Situations (v. 3)

2011-12-30T14:51:00.005-05:00

During his nine seasons with the Red Sox, David Ortiz built a reputation as the one player the team absolutely wanted at the plate with a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth or in extra innings.

That was first evident during the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees, when Ortiz had two game-winning hits in less than 24 hours in two must-win games for the Red Sox. A few days earlier, Ortiz had sent the Angels home for the winter with an ALDS-clinching home run. In that post-season, he had three walk-off hits in a span of four home games.

In 2005 and 2006, when Ortiz came to the plate at Fenway with a chance to win the game, he never made an out. That is barely an exaggeration. When I compiled the data for the first version of this post (August 1, 2006), I noted that since the end of the 2004 regular season through July 2006, Ortiz came to the plate 19 times in a walk-off situation - and made only three outs. He had a .786 average (11-for-14) with seven home runs and 20 RBI!

His July 31, 2006 home run off Fausto Carmona may be my favourite non-playoff walk-off hit. Ortiz was on an amazing streak of winning games and had hit a game-winner only two days earlier. With Boston down by two and two on, I probably would have bet my year's salary on Ortiz winning the game if someone had asked. It felt like everyone in the park knew it would happen (and had played it out in their minds), including Carmona. Especially Carmona. He threw two balls to build a little tension and then - BAM! - Ortiz crushed a three-run homer. As I recall, I did not cheer. I just stared at the TV and laughed.

Ortiz may no longer be that guy, the slugger who makes pitchers quake in their cleats, but his past heroics remain in the back of everyone's mind when he comes to the plate, claps those big hands together, and digs in. A game-winning hit always seems (to me, anyway) extremely likely. Even with a drop-off in success in recent seasons, Ortiz's slash line of .404/.541/1.128 (1.669 OPS) is pretty damn impressive.

2003-2011
          PA   AB   H  HR  RBI BB
2003       7    6   2   1   2   1
2004      14   13   5   3   8   1
2005       5    3   3   2   5   2
2006      10    7   5   3  10   3
2007       7    5   1   1   2   1
2008       9    5   1   0   0   3
2009       3    3   1   1   1   0
2010       6    5   1   0   3   1
2011       1    0   0   0   0   1
TOTALS    62   47  19  11  31  14

Ortiz Walk-Off Opportunities (Game-Winning Hits in Red):

2003 
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0615 Hou  10  -2-  1   2-2  Dotel       BBI
          12  ---  0   2-2  Bland       3U
0719 Tor   9  -2-  2   4-4  Acevado     4-3
0726 NYY   9  12-  2   4-4  Benitez     Single
0823 Sea  10  1--  1   6-6  Rhodes      P6
0923 Bal  10  ---  0   5-5  Ainsworth   Home Run

ALDS
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
1004 Oak  10  12-  2   1-1  Mecir       L6

ALCS
None

2004
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0411 Tor   9  -2-  2   4-4  Kershner    F8
          12  1--  0   4-4  Lopez       Home Run
0415 Bal   9  ---  1   7-7  Ryan        F8
0507 KC    9  ---  0   6-6  MacDougal   K
0529 Sea   9  1--  2   4-5  Guardado    F8
0530 Sea  11  ---  1   7-7  Putz        K
0611 LAD   9  -23  0   1-1  Martin      Single
0923 Bal   9  12-  2   7-9  Ryan        F9

ALDS
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
1008 Ana  10  1--  2   6-6  Washburn    Home Run

ALCS
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
1017 NYY   9  123  2   4-4  Rivera      P4
          12  1--  0   4-4  Quantrill   Home Run
1018 NYY  10  ---  0   4-4  Heredia     K
          12  ---  1   4-4  Loaiza      BB
          14  12-  2   4-4  Loaiza      Single

WS
None

2005
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0602 Bal   9  12-  2   3-4  Ryan        Home Run
0830 TB    9  ---  1   6-6  Borowski    BB
0906 LAA   9  ---  1   2-2  Shields     Home Run
0916 Oak  10  1-3  1   2-2  Cruz        BBI
0929 Tor   9  12-  1   4-4  Batista     Single

ALDS
None

2006
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0611 Tex   9  12-  2   2-4  Otsuka      Home Run
0624 Phi  10  1--  1   3-3  Gordon      Home Run
0626 Phi   9  ---  0   6-6  Cormier     4-1
          11  -2-  1   6-6  Gordon      BBI
          12  12-  2   7-7  Condrey     Single 
0729 LAA   9  -2-  1   6-6  Rodriguez   BBI
          11  12-  1   6-6  Romero      Single
0731 Cle   9  12-  1   6-8  Carmona     Home Run
0812 Bal  10  1--  0   7-7  Chen        BB
0909 KC   10  -2-  1   4-4  Sisco       6-3

2007
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0701 Tex   9  1--  2   1-2  Gagne       P3 
0713 Tor   9  12-  1   5-6  Accardo     F8 
0815 TB    9  -2-  2   5-6  Reyes       BB
0912 TB    9  1--  1   3-4  Reyes       Home Run
0916 NYY   9  123  2   3-4  Rivera      P6

ALDS
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
1005 LAA   9  -2-  2   3-3  Rodriguez   BBI

ALCS
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
1013 Cle  10  ---  0   3-3  Mastny      6-3

WS
None

2008
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0429 Tor   9  ---  2   0-0  Halladay    BB
0430 Tor   9  ---  0   1-1  Downs       Single
0801 Oak  10  ---  1   1-1  Street      P5
          12  ---  0   1-1  Embree      K looking
0909 TB    9  1--  1   4-5  Percival    F9
0910 TB   10  -2-  0   1-1  Bradford    BBI
          12  1--  0   1-1  Howell      1-3 SAC

ALDS
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
1005 LAA  10  ---  1   4-4  Rodriguez   BB

ALCS
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
1016 TBR   9  ---  1   7-7  Howell      K

2009
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0424 NYY  11  ---  0   4-4  Marte       K
0703 Sea  10  ---  0   5-5  Jakubauskas 6-3
0826 CWS   9  ---  1   2-2  Pena        Home Run

ALDS
None

2010
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0416 TB    9  ---  0   1-1  Cormier     3-1
          11  123  0   1-1  Cormier     FC/3-2
0717 Tex   9  -2-  1   1-2  Lee         4-3
          11  -23  0   2-2  Ogando      BBI
0731 Det   9  123  1   2-4  Coke        Double, 3 RBI*
0821 Tor   9  1--  1   4-4  Carlson     GIDP/3-6-1

2011
Date Opp Inn  MOB Out Score Pitcher     Result
0504 LAA  10  ---  2   3-3  Bell        BB

* Ortiz hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth the day before, but the Tigers led 6-1, so the Red Sox still trailed by one run, and they lost the game 6-5.

Schadenfreude 125 (A Continuing Series)

2011-12-29T10:28:00.001-05:00

Bryan Hoch, MLB.com:

Following a tip from basketball star Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez traveled to Germany this month for experimental treatments on his troublesome right knee and left shoulder, the Yankees confirmed on Wednesday.

With the club's approval, the Yankees third baseman was seen by Dr. Peter Wehling for an Orthokine procedure during a Dec. 5-9 trip to Dusseldorf, general manager Brian Cashman said during a conference call with reporters. ...

Major League Baseball was also consulted to avoid the appearance that Rodriguez might be receiving impermissible treatment. ...

Orthokine involves taking blood from the patient's arm vein, incubating it at 37 degrees Celsius and then spinning it in a centrifuge to isolate protective proteins. That solution is then injected into the afflicted area once or twice a week; in this case, Rodriguez's knee and shoulder.

The treatment is similar to the platelet rich plasma, or PRP, therapy that has been used by athletes - including Rodriguez - to treat joint pain and muscle injuries. Orthokine is said to have an anti-inflammatory, pain-reducing and cartilage-protecting effects, though its long-term viability is unknown.

Andrew Keh, Times:

When Alex Rodriguez informed the Yankees last month that he was interested in traveling to Germany to pursue a fairly new medical procedure, they were understandably concerned.

Twice in recent years team officials had been caught off guard when they learned that players under contract had undergone medical treatment of which they were not aware.

One of those players was Rodriguez, who initially informed the Yankees in December 2009 that he had not been treated by Anthony Galea, a Toronto doctor who was under criminal investigation in the United States over suspicion that he had provided athletes with performance-enhancing drugs.

But it turned out that Galea had treated Rodriguez after his hip surgery in early 2009. ...

John Harper, Daily News:

This has to be at least somewhat alarming to the Yankees, even if they were on board with Rodriguez's visit to Germany ... Indeed, it's not the procedure so much that's in question, even if it is not believed to be approved in the United States, so much as the neon-sign reminder of what the Yankees could be in for over the next six years.

In case you'd forgotten, A-Rod still has six years remaining on his contract, which means he'll turn 42 in July of the final year of his deal, 2017, at which point he'll still earn $20 million, down from the $31 million he made last year. ...

At least A-Rod shouldn't have to explain this one to the FBI ...

Even if he's going the extra 4,000 miles or so in search of the best possible treatment for his knee, the real issue is whether it will make a difference. Over the last four seasons, Rodriguez has had hip and knee surgery, as well as lesser injury issues with his shoulder, thumb, and quadriceps and groin muscles.

It seems unlikely that he can reverse that trend as he pushes toward 40. Perhaps more to the point, his trip to Germany indicates that A-Rod knows it.

In the fine Yankee tradition:

Not that there's anything wrong with that:

Andrew Bailey Joins Boston Bullpen; Reddick To Oakland

2011-12-28T16:47:00.010-05:00

The Red Sox have acquired reliever Andrew Bailey from the Oakland A's, according to ESPN's Buster Olney. Boston also received outfielder Ryan Sweeney, who will be 27 next season.

Going to Oakland is Josh Reddick - "a 25-year-old OF with a .293 OBP above Double-A", tweets Joe Sheehan - and two Class A minor leaguers: first baseman Miles Head and pitcher Raul Alcantera (#s 17 and 25, respectively, on Sox Prospects' list).

Bailey, who will turn 28 on May 31, has three years experience in Oakland. He threw 83.1 innings in 2008, but only 49 and 41.2 innings the last two seasons. He missed the first two months of 2011 with a forearm strain. Over his career, he has averaged less than one baserunner per inning: 0.954.

Back on December 11, the Globe's Nick Cafardo warned that Bailey's "save total has declined the past three years - from 26, 25, to 24 ...". OMGLOL!!

Okajima Signs Minor League Contract With Yankees

2011-12-28T16:44:00.000-05:00

Hideki Okajima has agreed with the Yankees on a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.

Okajima, 36, debuted with the Red Sox in 2007 and was superb for three seasons. The Japanese lefty helped Boston win a World Series championship in his rookie year, with a 2.22 ERA and a 0.971 WHIP.

Things went south in 2010, however, and the Red Sox did not call him up last September despite his very solid numbers with the PawSox (2.29, 0.941), though that was seemingly a mutual decision.

Red Sox-Yankees Will Wear 1912 Uniforms For April 20 Game

2011-12-28T16:05:00.000-05:00

On April 20, 1912, the New York Yankees* played the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park at 3 PM.

On April 20, 2012, the New York Yankees will play the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park at 3 PM.

* - The team was actually known as the Highlanders at that time.

According to the Red Sox's Fenway Park 100 website, both teams will wear throwback 1912 uniforms for the rivals' first meeting of the season. Boston won that 1912 game, the first major league game played in the new park, 7-6 in 11 innings.

[From the Hall of Fame's uniform database]

Amelie Mancini's Left Field Cards

2011-12-26T22:14:00.000-05:00

Amelie Mancini is a painter and printmaker. She lives in Brooklyn and roots for the Mets. And she draws, carves, and prints baseball cards - one by one - on an ancient Washington hand press located in the basement of a church in Greenpoint.

Here are four cards from the initial series - Bizarre Injuries:

Future sets from Left Field Cards will include Edible All-Stars, Remarkable Mustaches, and Men With A Van.

Mancini answered a few questions about her art and her introduction to baseball via email:

I'm originally a painter and I had just finished a big series of paintings about ballplayers as the modern gods and heros of our times which you can see here. After that series I wanted to do something very different, light, silly, easy, small. With painting the process is usually long and demanding. Printmaking seemed, to the novice I was, easy and fast, even if of course it's not that simple. The idea of baseball cards in a postcard size came naturally. I didn't see the point in simply listing the best players of all time so I went for the silly, quirky approach.

The cards are linocuts: they're printed from linoleum blocks that I carve after drawing on them. I then print them on a letterpress one by one. Everything is hand made, by me, one card at a time. On the back of the cards there is a postcard design with room for a note and stamp. The idea is that you can mail the cards to the baseball persons in your life, or frame them, whatever you like.

I became a Mets fan after a couple of friends took me to Shea Stadium in September 2007 to see the Mets lose to the Phillies. I had no notion of baseball back then and spent the evening asking dumb questions and eating hot dogs, but I had lots of fun. It took me another year of watching games and talking to people and reading about it before I fully realize what a terrible mistake I had made by choosing the Mets. By then it was too late. I'm a loyal fan.

First Projected Standings Of The Winter

2011-12-26T12:37:00.001-05:00

SG at RLYW has posted "Some Extremely Early and Completely Useless 2012 Projected Standings":

This simulation has Boston leading the AL in runs scored, but finishing 10th in RA.

Tiger Stadium Site

2011-12-24T15:59:00.000-05:00

I saw a post at Fangraphs about the deserted ball field at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue in Detroit and went and got my own pictures via Google Maps. Poignant, in a way, even beautiful, but also depressing as hell.

If you click here and then click the "street view" picture on the left (with the black SUV in it), you can get views from around the block as the back grandstand was being torn down.

JoS Pre-Xmas Reading Room

2011-12-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

Diane Firstman searches for a real-life "Casey at the Bat" ending to a baseball game ... and finds one - in May 1984!

Long-time Philadelphia Daily News sportswriter Bill Conlin resigns amid multiple allegations of child molestation.

Peter J. Nash continues his Hauls of Shame investigation into fraudulent Babe Ruth signatures.

The 2011 Red Sox did not hit well with the bases loaded.

An interview with Justin Masterson, who may or may not have a date with Botticelli's niece.

Mike Fast has an in-depth look at the value of the hit-and-run, which Earl Weaver once called "the worst play in baseball". (h/t to Friend of JoS Matthew Kory at Over the Monster).

Baseball America's Top 10 Red Sox Prospects

2011-12-22T09:29:00.001-05:00

Sox Prospects                            Baseball America
Will Middlebrooks - 3B, Pawtucket   1    Will Middlebrooks - 3B, Pawtucket
Ryan Kalish - OF, Boston            2    Xander Bogaerts - SS, Greenville
Anthony Ranaudo - SP, Salem         3    Blake Swihart - C, GCL Red Sox
Xander Bogaerts - SS, Greenville    4    Anthony Ranaudo - SP, Salem
Jose Iglesias - SS, Boston          5    Bryce Brentz - OF, Salem
Ryan Lavarnway - C/DH, Boston       6    Brandon Jacobs - OF, Greenville
Matt Barnes - SP, Lowell            7    Garin Cecchini - 3B, Lowell
Bryce Brentz - OF, Salem            8    Matt Barnes - SP, Lowell
Brandon Jacobs - OF, Greenville     9    Ryan Lavarnway - C/DH, Boston
Blake Swihart - C, GCL Red Sox     10    Jackie Bradley Jr., OF, Greenville

[Also: Fangraphs Top 15 in comments.]

Sox Prospects rank Cecchini and Bradley #12 and #20, respectively.

Middlebrooks, Kalish, Iglesias, and Lavarnway are on the 40-man roster.

The Globe's Peter Abraham notes

Of these 10 players, only Middlebrooks and Lavarnway played at Double A or above last season. The Red Sox don't completely lack major league-ready prospects, but it's close. This is a function of a change in their draft strategy several years ago to focus on high school players. ... BA ranks on potential, not production.

Which is how someone like Swihart, who has played two professional games and has a major league ETA of mid-2015 (according to SP) can be ranked so highly by BA.

For what it's worth, here is Fangraphs' February 2011 list of Sox prospects. The Top 5: Iglesias, Drake Britton (LHP), Ranaudo, Josh Reddick, and Stolmy Pimentel (RHP).

Red Sox Choose Pitching Coach

2011-12-21T19:01:00.003-05:00

Update: Looks like it's Bob McClure, who had been the Royals pitching coach for the last six seasons. (Reasons to be wary in comments.)

ESPN:

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said on Wednesday that he has decided on a new pitching coach and that the hiring will be announced as soon as a contract is signed.

Also: Tim Bogar will be Valentine's bench coach and Jerry Royster will coach third base.

Reminder

2011-12-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

In case most people do not know this:

Non-baseball posts are now at my other (resurrected) blog. It is called Rivers of Suggestion, but I may re-title it Maps And Legends for 2012. I have a link to it over on the right-hand side of this page, by the wine-drinking gif, but it's not very clear what it is linking to.

Bard: My "Raw Stuff" Is As Good As Other AL Starters

2011-12-18T10:30:00.000-05:00

Daniel Bard talked recently about his possible role as a starter in 2012:

I told Ben [Cherington] when I heard [John] Lackey was having surgery and [Tim Wakefield] is a free agent, I saw two openings in the starting rotation. The last two years I haven't said it much, but in my own head, just watching the guys in this league that have had a lot of success in a starting role, I just felt like I could do that. I've got as good or better raw stuff as them. I try to keep myself in good shape. I felt like everything I have at this point, that I could have success in that role. So, I told Ben that.

Then when [Jonathan Papelbon] signed with the Phillies, it was maybe a week or two after that, I kind of figured that whole starter thing would kind of subside. They may forget it even happened. I just figured once Pap was gone they wouldn't be taking me out of the 'pen as well. But it turns out they feel pretty strongly about me trying to be a starter, and I do, too.

The Red Sox have kept a watchful eye on Bard's workload for the past two season and he has pitched 74.2 (1,131 pitches) and 73 innings (1,095 pitches) in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

If the team is serious about him starting - and it could be just a bluff re the trade market - it is questionable whether he can double his innings pitched without experiencing arm trouble.

With Bard in the running for a spot in the rotation, Bobby Valentine says Mark Melancon (who rooted for the Red Sox growing up in Denver pre-Rockies) is the frontrunner for the closer's job. Melancon's former manager, Houston's Brad Mills, says the 26-year-old has the stuff to be successful in the AL East.

Once he sees that his stuff can play, and it is good enough to do it, once he sees it, then he'll take the ball and run with it.

Melancon developed a cutter towards the end of last season and did not allow any runs in his last 11 appearances, giving up only three hits in 11.2 innings, while notching 15 strikeouts.

The team has been calling around on other relievers as well, including Kansas City's Joakim Soria and Oakland's Andrew Bailey. They have also been talking to free agents Joe Saunders and Ryan Madson.

Ben Cherington on Nick Punto:

Nick's a guy we've had interest in in the past and the timing has never quite worked out to get him here. He's a guy who plays really good defense, a smart baseball player. He gives you a good at-bat. He's really good in the clubhouse. He's just a smart, smart baseball player who understands his role on a winning team.

"He gives you a good at-bat" is what you say when a player stays up there for eight pitches or so but finally makes an out. He saw some pitches, and maybe the pitcher worked a touch more than usual, but Punto has no power, so he's not gonna dong ... and anyway, it's still an out. It's the baseball equivalent of "She's got a nice personality".

"Always Sold For The Boodle"

2011-12-16T22:30:00.002-05:00

Oh, don't you remember the game of base-ball we saw twenty years ago played,
When contests were true, and the sight free to all, and home-runs in plenty were made?
When we lay on the grass, and with thrills of delight, watched the ball squarely pitched at the bat,
And easily hit, and then mount out of sight along with our cheers and our hat?
And then, while the fielders raced after the ball, the men on the bases flew round,
And came in together. Four batters in all. Ah! That was the old game renowned.
Now salaried pitchers, who throw the ball curved at padded and masked catchers lame
And gate-money music and seats all reserved is all that is left of the game.
Oh, give us the glorious matches of old, when love of true sport made them great,
And not this new-fashioned affair always sold for the boodle they take at the gate.

H.C. Dodge, 1886

Found at John Thorn's blog, "Our Game"

Hockey Player Defecates In Opponent's Glove, Is Expelled From New England Senior League

2011-12-16T14:06:00.001-05:00

Rogue Squadron defenseman Zung Nguyen, 37, was banned from the New England Senior Hockey League for life after he defecated in an opponent's glove following a fight on the ice. A co-worker/Leafs fan pointed me to the extremely entertaining comments here and here.

Deadspin has the poop:

Both players got unsportsmanlike conduct majors, and game misconducts; their nights were done. As they skated back to their respective locker rooms, a still-furious Nguyen hurled one of [Dave] Bermingham's gloves over the glass into an empty section of seats. ...

Just after the second period began, Nguyen emerged from his locker room and went into the seats near where he had thrown Bermingham's glove. Teammates thought Nguyen was going to see his girlfriend, who had come to watch him play. Soon after, he went down to the corner of the arena, a semi-secluded area near where the Zamboni enters the ice. Young Guns players on the bench saw him squatting there, but didn't think anything of it at the time. He then returned the glove to its original spot in the seats.

Midway through the second period, Bermingham came out of his locker room. He had showered and changed and was ready to crack open a beer but needed to collect the last of his scattered equipment. Those gloves were nearly new: this was the second game he had worn them, and the price tag was still on. Bermie went into the seats where it had landed, picked it up, and put his hand in. ...

The referees immediately declared the game a forfeit win for the Young Guns. At a league meeting the next Monday morning, the NESHL banned Nguyen for life, with no refund on his entry fee.

The Red Sox and Yankees are going to have to crank the rivalry up a notch or two. Maybe this is how Punto can do something productive.

1928 Winter Meetings: NL Suggests DH, AL Says No

2011-12-15T12:18:00.003-05:00

The Sporting News, December 20, 1928:

[National League] President [John] Heydler kicked up quite a discussion [at the winter meetings] by suggesting a modification to the playing rules which provided for a batter for the pitcher.

The substance of this amendment was not generally understood. It is the idea of President Heydler that if a manager wishes to make the choice of a batter to bat for his pitcher he may do so before the game begins, but if he names such a player, the player named may do nothing else, while the pitcher may remain in the game if this particular batter hits for him. The condition would resolve itself into a sort of tenth man who would step into the game to add spice and zest to it.

As President Heydler sees the modern baseball game there is a strange interlude when the pitcher comes to bat. Most of the pitchers can't hit the side of a hay stack with a snow shovel and the spectators sit back in calm resignation when they see such a pitcher slowly wander towards the plate. Now and then that type of pitcher does make a safe hit and win a ball game and the next morning the newspapers chronicle the fact in large, black letters.

If there is a pinch-batter for the pitcher, President Heydler thinks the dark cloud that fringes the silver lining will be removed and the fans will have as much opportunity to cheer and hurrah at the finish of the batting order as they have had at the beginning. Of course, if a manager wants a pitcher to go to bat that is something else and the pitcher will have a perfect right to go to bat. If the pitcher has nothing to do but pitch he will take good care of his arm and not bother about his legs which have not always been of much use to him.

The change would make a ten-man team imperative on some days. It would establish a new kind of record and might leave some pitchers without any batting average. It would also change the strategy of any game in which a manager was trying to force a pitcher out of the contest because the manager of an opposing team simply would not remove the pitcher as long as the pitcher could have someone to bat for him. ...

Members of the [American] League were reported not to be enthusiastic over the suggestion of President Heydler in the National League to supply a pinch-hitter for the pitcher. The suggestion, however, was not formally brought before the meeting and was discussed only in a casual way.

Since the AL introduced the DH in 1973, it has undergone an evolution in the World Series. There was no DH in the 1973, 1974, and 1975 World Series. From 1976-19845, it was used only in even numbered years. From 19856 to the present, the DH has been used in games played in American League parks.

Lowrie, Weiland Traded For Reliever Mark Melancon;Then Nick Punto Signed For Two (Yes, Two!) Years

2011-12-14T13:40:00.008-05:00

Chad Finn, Globe:

The Red Sox have made a significant addition to their bullpen, acquiring righthanded reliever Mark Melancon from the Astros for infielder Jed Lowrie and reliever Kyle Weiland.

Melancon, a hard-throwing 26-year-old had a 2.78 earned run average and 20 saves in 74.1 innings for Houston last season. He struck out 66 and walked 26.

Finn, Globe:

The Red Sox have signed veteran utilityman Nick Punto to a two-year contract, according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman.

Heyman reported Punto, who turned 34 in November, is guaranteed $3 million with another $500,000 possible in incentives. ... [Punto is a] lifetime .249 hitter with a .652 OPS ...

Bleh. Ortiz agrees:

The Return Of Kelly Shoppach

2011-12-13T14:11:00.002-05:00

The Red Sox have agreed on a one year, $1.35MM guaranteed contract with catcher Kelly Shoppach.

The addition of Shoppach likely closes the book on Jason Varitek's Red Sox career. In addition to Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the Red Sox have both Ryan Lavarnway and Luis Exposito on the 40-man roster. Shoppach made his debut with Boston in 2005, but was traded to Cleveland in the Coco Crisp deal.

Shoppach, who will be 32 in late April, hit an embarrassing .176/.268/.339/.607 in 253 PA for Tampa Bay last year (and had an equally bad OPS of .650 in 2010), but he can hit lefties - Joe Maddon actually gave him more PA against righties last year against whom he OPSed .431. If used properly, Shoppach and his .909 career OPS against LHP could make a decent platoon with Salty.

OPS
                  2011    2010     2009
Shoppach vs LHP:  .788    .830    1.045
Salty vs RHP:     .786   11 AB     .657

Shoppach also led the American League last year in throwing out base runners: 41%. That talent would be most welcome in Boston - hell, catchers even bothering to throw to second would be exciting - but, oddly, that high percentage came after a season of gunning down only 17%:

Shoppach CS%
2006     37%
2007     36%
2008     21%
2009     23%
2010     17%
2011     41%

Most stats taken from the SoSH thread.

Also: The Red Sox signed Matt Albers to a one-year deal. Bobby Jenks underwent minor back surgery yesterday.

Book Review: Fenway 1912 by Glenn Stout

2011-12-12T11:37:00.000-05:00

As the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park draws near, Glenn Stout, co-author of Red Sox Century, brings us the definitive story of the Back Bay jewel's first season, which culminated in the Red Sox beating the New York Giants in one of the greatest World Series of all time.

In Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, A Championship Season, and Fenway's Remarkable First Year, Stout also reports on the behind-the-scenes political machinations and land acquisition, as well as the park's rapid, six-month construction during the winter of 1911-12. [I received a free review copy of the book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.]

Led by veteran centerfielder Tris Speaker, manager and first baseman Jake Stahl, and pitcher Joe Wood (no relation, sadly), a young Red Sox team moved from the Huntington Avenue Grounds to the new park. Stout shows that the odd configurations of the park were not because of the existing city streets or the shape of the plot of existing land; if the team had wanted to make the park symmetrical, it could have. In the Deadball Era, hitting a worn-out baseball 300 feet was a moon shot. One writer, referring to the distance to the fence at Cincinnati's Redland Field - 360 feet - "it is doubtful a ball will ever be hit over the fence".

Naturally, then, a Red Sox batter cleared the Wall almost immediately. On April 26, the fifth home game of the season, Hugh Bradley (a "free hitter" who swung from his heels) crushed a hanging curveball from Philadelphia A's pitcher Lefty Russell over the wall and (probably) onto the roof of a building on the other side of Lansdowne Street. Bradley hit a relatively new ball and may have had some help from the wind, but it was still a rare feat.

The crowd, which had risen to its feet when Bradley first struck the ball, was stunned. A moment of silence was followed by whoops and yells and screams and hoots of delight. ... Bradley, meanwhile, raced around the bases, the notion of a "home run trot" completely foreign to him. ... The hit took the air out of the A's, for, as Wallace Goldsmith later noted, the blast did not "seem human." The A's bench jockeying stopped and [Hugh] Bedient didn't give up another hit as the Red Sox won, 7-6.

Stout writes that while Fenway "is a place that many feel they know intimately, it is also a place that few people truly know very well in its original state". He offers extensive details on the construction of the park, like how the workers caught a huge break by finishing the major concrete work just before the winter's first blizzard. Stout also does an excellent job of describing the look of the park from the outside and the sensory and emotional act of entering this new space, walking down to the field, which was below street level, and the relation of the field to the various levels of the grandstand and the office windows in another section of the building.

Stout tracks the origin of the term "Green Monster", finding sporadic references to the nickname in the early and mid-1960s, but determining that it came into widespread use only in the late 1980s. Before then, it was simply "the Wall". Stout also notes that it was built to prevent fans from watching games from the buildings across the street.

Boston began the 1912 season 8-3 and 21-10, but dropped to 27-18, two games out of first place. At that point, they won 20 of their next 23 games, systematically mowing down the opposition for the rest of the year. In June, July, and August, they went a combined 62-24, a .721 winning percentage (a 117-win pace for a modern 162-game schedule).

Pitching ace Joe Wood, 22, finally fulfilled his promise after two seasons plagued with injuries. Stout notes the young Wood was quick to blame his teammates when he lost close games and was considered "soft" for staying out too long with his injuries.

Wood pitched in the Sox's biggest game of the season, a September 6 duel with Washington's Walter Johnson. Both pitchers had won 29 games to that point and the game was hyped nearly beyond measure. To say that Fenway officials oversold tickets to the game would be a gross understatement. The park held roughly 24,500 and attendance was estimated between 35,000 and 40,000. Thousands of patrons without seats stood deep in the outfield and in foul territory on each side of the infield.

[T]he Red Sox kept selling tickets until it became patently obvious that if they sold any more there would be no room on the field to play the game. ... [A]s game time approached and [the players] tried to take the field they found the dugouts packed with fans, some squeezed on the benches and others sitting on the railings and hanging off the roof. The players stood on the infield, surrounded by fans as though they were in a boxing ring, trying to play catch but most of them just gazing in wonder. None of them had ever seen anything like it before. No one had. ...

Wood finally decided to warm up [in front of the dugout]. Hick Cady paced out sixty feet in foul ground between the diamond and the dugout and, with fans barely an arm's length away, Wood slowly began warming up. Walter Johnson did the same on the opposite side of the field.

It was like trying to play catch on the subway platform at Park Station during rush hour. The crowd cleared a narrow corridor between the pitchers and their catchers, and the batteries started throwing the ball gingerly back and forth, Wood and Johnson taking care not to smack anyone in the jaw as they reached into their wind-up or throw the ball wild and knock someone unconscious. As they did the crowd peppered each man with questions and comments that each did his best to ignore, and heads turned back and forth en masse as the mob followed each toss and marveled at the speed of each pitch seen up close.

Wood finished the season with a 34-5 record and a 1.91 ERA. (Johnson, 33-12, led the AL with a 1.39 ERA.) Those numbers sound sick today, but it was the Deadball Era and runs were scarce. Wood's ERA+ for 1912 was 179, in the same ballpark as the last two AL Cy Young-award winning seasons: Felix Hernandez (174) and Justin Verlander (170).

Despite his celebrated summer, Wood was nearly the goat of the World Series for the Red Sox (105-47, still the greatest season in franchise history), who rallied to win an epic battle against John McGraw's New York Giants (103-48).

In the end, Fred Snodgrass's dropped fly ball in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 8 led to the Giants' defeat and the error followed Snodgrass to his grave.

The 1912 Red Sox season had no shortage of terrific story lines, and Stout makes every one of them sing with crisp, vibrant writing. Stout packs his sentences and paragraphs with a lot of information, both essential and the quirky, but he keeps the narrative flowing almost conversationally. Fenway 1912 is an absolutely fantastic book.

Note #1: Stout makes a point of saying that he did not rely on another book about the 1912 World Series, published in 2009. In the endnotes for Chapter 11, Stout states that he ignored New York Post sportswriter Mike Vaccaro's "fanciful" account (The First Fall Classic: The Red Sox, the Giants and the Cast of Players, Pugs and Politicos Who Re-Invented the World Series in 1912 (Random House, 2009)). Before you think this may be a case of one writer slighting another for publishing a somewhat similar book first, Stout cites Keith Olbermann's blog post, which said Vaccaro's book is "riddled with [dozens of] historical mistakes, most of them seemingly trivial, some of them hilarious". Olberman listed many of the errors and, amazingly, was accused by a Baseball Prospectus writer of "killing" Vaccaro's book. [Funny, I never thought of historical accuracy as subjective. If a writer, in 2054, writes about the exploits of Kevin Foulke for the 2004 Red Sox, I expect that writer to be criticized.]

Note #2: In the Afterword, Stout recounts the many changes Fenway Park has undergone and concludes:

Perhaps the most jarring and unsightly feature of the park today is the proliferation of signs and advertising, which make it nearly impossible to find a place to rest the eye without being visually bombarded by corporate messages. That in combination with a relentless barrage of music and audio messages, has utterly changed the emotional experience of attending a game at Fenway Park. The end result is, rather ironically, that today's Fenway Park shares more in common with the retro parks designed to mimic it than with itself.

That type of change and conformity is inevitable, I suppose, but it would be wonderful if the Red Sox decided, in this upcoming anniversary season, to scale back the noise for all home games to, if not 1912 levels, then perhaps back to 1982. It is the game - and the park - that we go to experience, after all.

ESPN: NL MVP Ryan Braun Tests Positive For PEDs, Faces 50-Game Suspension; Will Dispute Positive Result Through Arbitration

2011-12-10T20:43:00.001-05:00

National League MVP Ryan Braun, who last season led the Milwaukee Brewers to their first division title in nearly three decades, has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and faces a 50-game suspension if the initial finding is upheld, two sources familiar with the case told "Outside the Lines."

Major League Baseball has not announced the positive test because Braun is disputing the result through arbitration.

A spokesman for Braun issued a statement Saturday: "There are highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case which will support Ryan's complete innocence and demonstrate there was absolutely no intentional violation of the program. While Ryan has impeccable character and no previous history, unfortunately, because of the process we have to maintain confidentiality and are not able to discuss it any further, but we are confident he will ultimately be exonerated."

Bard Will Be Prepped As A Starter In Camp, With Role To Be Determined In March

2011-12-10T20:20:00.000-05:00

Daniel Bard has said he would rather be a starter pitcher and he may get his wish in 2012. Bobby Valentine said on Saturday that Bard, who was believed to be a shoo-in for the closer's spot after Jonathan Papelbon left for Philadelphia, will be stretched out like a starter in Fort Myers.

He's going to be penciled in to be one of those guys who works going from his bullpen to pitching two innings to pitching four innings to pitching six innings.

Whenever we get to that plateau, with the pitching coach I'll hopefully have by my side soon, and all the members of the staff and front office. We'll have to make a determination after that 18-20 inning mark as to where he will be during the season. I told him to prepare to be a starter and if that, in fact, does not happen to be ready and willing to be our closer.

Valentine also clarified what he meant when he said he "hated" the Yankees.

Part of my history is that I tried to share the city as the New York Mets manager with the New York Yankees. You can imagine what that's like. And now, I have to fight them for the top of the American League East. I don't know, maybe the H-word is too tough. They made me miserable many a night and I hope to make them miserable many a night.

Valentine Joins The Club: "I Hate The Yankees"

2011-12-09T15:25:00.002-05:00

Bobby Valentine talks the talk: "I hate the Yankees. I don't want to waste this valuable time talking about the Yankees. ... I told Joe Girardi I used to love them and now I hate them."

Valentine has spoken to Josh Beckett: "I'm not going to say anything other than after he got through telling me how pissed off he was [that I criticized him on ESPN last year], we had a really good conversation."

The Red Sox have signed left-handed reliever Jesse Carlson, 30, who has pitched three seasons with Toronto. ... Brad Arnsberg, former pitching coach with the Marlins (when Beckett was with Florida), Blue Jays, and Astros, was interviewed by the Red Sox on Thursday. ... DeMarlo Hale is now the Orioles' third base coach. ... Erik Bedard signed with the Pirates.

A piece of candy from me to Bobby:

Pujols Signs With Angels

2011-12-08T12:29:00.001-05:00

Abert Pujols has agreed to a ten-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels, worth at least $250 million.

The Angels also signed pitcher C.J. Wilson (5/77.5).

McDonald: Red Sox Offer 2/18 to Ortiz

2011-12-06T17:46:00.002-05:00

Update: Ortiz has accepted arbitration.

According to Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston, the Red Sox have offered David Ortiz a two-year deal worth $18 million. Ortiz is seeking 2/25 (so much for that four-year security blanket).

A Red Sox source says "one way or another" Ortiz will be in a Boston uniform in 2012.

So - agree on 2/22 before his arbitration decision tomorrow at midnight and call it done.

Terry Francona Joins ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball

2011-12-06T00:44:00.003-05:00

ESPN just got much, much better - and I can listen to SNB again:

Terry Francona, two-time World Champion manager of the Boston Red Sox, has joined ESPN in a multiplatform role which will include serving as an analyst for Sunday Night Baseball, the network's exclusive national game of the week.

Francona will join Dan Shulman and Orel Hershiser in the Sunday Night Baseball booth, replacing current Red Sox manager and former ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine. He will make his ESPN debut tonight, Dec. 5, on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight from the Winter Meetings in Dallas.

Francona will also provide analysis for Baseball Tonight, among other news and information shows, and ESPN's coverage of the Little League World Series. ...

"I'm excited to join ESPN and to be able to talk about my passion for baseball with fans who love the game as much as me," said Francona. "In some ways, I'll be a rookie all over again, but I'm looking forward to the challenge." ...

Francona managed the Red Sox for eight seasons (2004-11), leading the team to a pair of World Series championships (2004; 2007) and a record of 744-552.

1897: Special Instructions To Players

2011-12-06T00:40:00.001-05:00

More on Valentine's Style

2011-12-05T11:20:00.001-05:00

Chris Jaffe, the author of Evaluating Baseball's Managers, looks at Bobby Valentine's managing style and tendencies (bearing in mind that he last managed in the majors in 2002, which was a loooooong time ago):

He really likes using in-game replacements for his position players. His batters have fewer complete games than most of their opponents. He also does an above-average job making sure his batters and pitchers have the platoon advantage. Valentine will vary his batting order from day to day. ...

[But] it would be unfair and inaccurate to portray Valentine as always getting himself involved just for the sake of getting himself involved. His bullpen usage has generally been fairly normal. He's fairly average when it comes to issuing intentional walks. Also, he prefers to play for the big inning rather than one run at a time. He calls for sacrifice hits and calls on his runners to steal about as often as most managers do.

The best tool I know for evaluating managers came from a friend named Phil Birnbaum. He created two algorithms, one for hitters and the other for pitchers , designed to see how well a player under/overperformed in a given season. ... When applied to managers, it's a handy way of seeing who got the most or least out of the talent at hand. ... In short, the results make sense and pass the smell test.

[Valentine's] hitters and pitchers both exceeded projections; +76 for his hitters and +151 for pitchers. In all, that's 227 extra runs, which is among the top 30 ever. That's pretty damn good. ...

Is it a good hire? It should be. Valentine always had a reputation as a good manager. People often find him to be arrogant and cocky, but no one has ever called him stupid.

Also: Randall Brown's five-part series - "Blood and Base Ball" - about the game during the Civil War: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Tom Shieber (Baseball Researcher) uses his detective skills to determine the ball park and date of this Boston Braves picture (I could read this kind of stuff all day):

Pedro Will Announce Retirement: "I Want To Throw A Party"

2011-12-04T16:01:00.003-05:00

More than two years after he threw his last major league pitch, Pedro Martinez says he will announce his retirement.

"I'm going to do it. But I want to throw a party too. I want to make it part of every place that I'm going to be remembered and loved by the fans. I'm going to start by doing something in the Dominican, officially signing the papers, probably coming back to Boston and getting something going with you guys."

Martinez, now 40, last pitched for the Phillies in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series. He was speaking today at a holiday toy drive in Bedford, Massachusetts.

"It was after I didn't play for one year and I was able to garden again with my mom and be with my boys and go to baseball games. I got attached, I got attached to that kind of life. Being at home, being able to sit on my boat and not worry about tomorrow. It was really what made me lean towards not coming back.

"I still feel the little itch to go and compete. Actually seeing the Red Sox this winter, before they were disqualified, I saw so many holes that I could probably fill while watching those games. It makes me want to go, but the other part of me says, 'No'."

When you are picking party spots, n'oubliez pas Montreal, Pedro!

Valentine Promises To Crush Cashman In Rappelling Challenge

2011-12-03T23:24:00.004-05:00

On Friday morning, Yankees GM Brian Cashman fired the first shot of the Rivalry for 2012:

"I publicly challenge Bobby Valentine to join me on the building. Landmark Square, first week of December. Be there. 2012."

Cashman was referring to rappelling down the side of the 22-story Landmark building in Stamford, Connecticut, as part of the city's "Heights and Lights" celebration.

Valentine was enjoying a bottle of El Presidente with David Ortiz in the Dominican Republic on Friday evening when he got wind of Cashman's bravado. Valentine laughed, and said he would crush Cashman. "Anytime, anywhere. If he wants to challenge me at eating pancakes, he can. ... Just to make it fair, I should rappel up as he rappels down. That'll be an even race."

Valentine, who is Stamford's public safety director, will not be in attendance when Cashman (dressed as an elf) rappels down the building tomorrow: "I've seen that act before. My firemen will be there with the nets just in case something happens, even though there's a lot of Boston fans who think that we should go without the nets."

Larry Luchhino said yesterday that he doesn't mind if Valentine "pokes the bear and stokes the fire". It sounds like the new manager got the message.

Ortiz Looking For Four More Years

2011-12-03T10:36:00.000-05:00

Free agent DH David Ortiz mentioned the contracts that Adam Dunn (White Sox 4/56) and Victor Martinez (Tigers, 4/50) signed last winter as the type of long-term security he would like from the Red Sox.

"Those guys are DHs like I am, let's be honest. To be honest with you, look at what I did. I don't think I can put myself out of that group. ... Do I have to explain what I'm capable of doing? Everybody already knows. I'm not even going to go there. We just need to get into an agreement and when that happens, it's game on. Everybody knows what it would take for me to stick around. Hopefully, [the Red Sox] agree with that."

There is the matter of age, however. Both Dunn and Martinez were 31 years old when they got those deals. Flo is 36 - though he led all DHs last season with a .953 OPS (nearly 100 points higher than #2 Michael young).

Ortiz has reportedly received multiple offers already. The Orioles - who signed 36-year-old DH Vladimir Guerrero to a 1/8 deal last year - and Blue Jays reportedly have an interest in Ortiz. While Ortiz is simply establishing a bargaining position, things could still get "interesting", as I don't see any way Boston goes more than two years. Ortiz has until Wednesday night at midnight to accept or reject the club's offer of arbitration.

I've said more than a thousand times that I would like to come back to Boston. If that doesn't work, I need to see what is out there. ... We can be dangerous again. We're capable of great things on the field. I'm not part of it right now, but I want to be.

There Was A Time ...

2011-12-02T16:37:00.000-05:00

The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that's it. Not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it.

Ty Cobb, 1925

There was a time when the National League stood for integrity and fair dealing; today it stands for dollars and cents.

John Montgomery Ward, 1889

Papi And Puppies

2011-12-02T10:37:00.002-05:00

(photo from Boston Globe gallery)

David Ortiz spent some time recently at Boston's Animal Rescue League, reminding people to adopt pets from shelters.

They begin getting familiar real fast. People, don't be afraid to take them home. They need a home.

The ARL, founded in 1899, adopts out about 3,500 pets each year.

Valentine on Sabermetrics: "It's The Most Exciting Growth Period That I'll Ever Be In"

2011-12-02T10:18:00.000-05:00

Bobby Valentine has seen The Rivalry up close for decades. He grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, and recalls going to a Yankees/Red Sox doubleheader at Fenway as a boy with his father (Yankee fan) and his uncle (Red Sox fan).

I'm really excited. Six times during the season [as manager of the Mets] is a little different than 18 times during the season. ... What I enjoyed most the last couple of years at ESPN was those games, because the players take them so seriously. I think we're going to be able to match them. It might not be the best team that wins, but the team that plays the best. ... I can't imagine 18 [games]. Is it like playing 50 games? I think it is.

Larry Lucchino admitted that having Valentine in the Boston dugout "does add a little bit of kerosene to the fire" of the AL East rivalry.

Valentine agreed to a two-year deal, with options for two more, and is the 45th manager in team history. At the beginning of his press conference yesterday, he seemed overwhelmed, maybe even near tears of joy.

I am honored, I'm humbled and I'm pretty damn excited. This day is a special day, and it's more than a special day. It's the beginning of a life that I think is going to extend beyond anything else that I thought of doing. The talent level and the players that we have in this organization, I think, is a gift to anyone. And I'm the receiver of that gift. ...

I'm trying to wrap my head around it, to tell you the truth. ... I tried to not engage myself in this day, because I didn't want to be heartbroken. I wanted this from the first time I heard the job was opening, and I was sitting next to Karl Ravech [at ESPN], and he said, "Maybe you can be the manager." And I said, "Uh, I don't know." I would wake up at night thinking there's a chance, then say, "Don't go there. You're going to get your heart broken." ...

Did I dream about this situation? Absolutely. Did I wake up and put water on that face whenever I had that dream and say, "Hey, come on, get back to thinking about a new fire chief [for Stamford]?" Yes I did. I'm a realist. I saw the game as it was changing and I saw it obviously getting younger and different. I didn't know that I could ever fit in. But maybe I'm going to fit in.

John Henry said Valentine is

the right man at the right time for this particular team. We're set to win, we should've won last year. We're built to win. We thought, in the end, that Bobby was the person most capable of taking us to where we want to go in 2012 and 2013. We're not at a point right now where we're building for the future. We are trying to win now.

GM Ben Cherington (whose voice is so much like Theo Epstein's, it's spooky; listen to the audio only):

I'm very confident that we found the right person in Bobby Valentine. When I started this process, I said we were looking for someone who cared about players, who had a strong voice, who was willing to have difficult conversations with players, who could collaborate with the front office and ownership ... someone who has a passion for the game, someone who's open-minded and someone who wants to win. Based on those criteria, I believe we found the right person in Bobby Valentine.

After the press conference, Valentine sat down with ESPN's Karl Ravech.

Ravech: "Where were you when you found out this job was actually going to be offered to you?"

Valentine: "I was laying in a bed in Japan. It took one phone call and about 20 minutes to call back and say 'Thank you I accept.'"

Ravech: "What were you thinking about for 20 minutes?"

Valentine: "I had to ask my wife what she thought."

Ravech: "And if your wife said 'I'm not sure'?"

Valentine: "I would have said 'OK, well, see you later, I'm doing it anyway."

Valentine will wear #25, formerly worn by Tony Conigliaro and Mike Lowell. Valentine and Conigliaro roomed together "for a few days" in spring training in 1976, and he wants to get the blessing of the family. He left a voice mail for Lowell, who asked "if I went to his sports bar maybe I could get some free chicken wings." That's not likely.

The Herald's Michael Silverman asked Valentine about his philosophy on sabermetrics (but did not use any of the answer in his article):

I think it's the most exciting growth period that I'll ever be in, to be able to experience new information and advanced metrics in my daily workplace. Now when I was in Texas, we had a sabermetrician, if you will, on staff - Craig Wright, who was a wonderfully talented Bill James disciple, actually. But at the time, I wasn't ready for it nor was, I think, the world of baseball, to actually make the numbers applicable to the day-to-day managing of the game. I tried to continue the concept through New York and in Japan, but one of the exciting parts of this situation is that I know information is available to me. And that information has to get in, it has to be digested with the other information that I get from my ears and my eyes and my experience. And hopefully, it's going to be able to regurgitate some pretty good results. But it's exciting. I think it's an every day process and I think it's going to be a learning process for me.

"Only" a little more than two months to Truck Day!

Valentine Press Conference At 5:30

2011-12-01T14:39:00.003-05:00

Bobby Valentine will hold his first press conference as manager of the Boston Red Sox this evening. The team will formally announce the hiring at 5:30. ESPN will cover it, and Redsox.com will likely have a live feed.

Dustin Pedroia:

Just excited to have a manager. It took a while. ...[N]ow we can get ready for next year. ... He's been around. He's done it before and in a big market. It's going to be fun. ... I've got a lot of built-up stuff inside me to prove to everybody that we're going to be a great team in the future.

WEEI's Alex Speier - who has written several lengthy, must-read articles this off-season - explains how Valentine became the Red Sox manager:

The selection of Bobby Valentine as the next Red Sox manager was an entirely unexpected outcome to the process. Shortly after manager Terry Francona was dismissed, according to multiple industry sources, at least one player was told by team officials that the Sox had no intention of hiring "someone like Bobby Valentine." ...

So what happened?

Two former Red Sox players offers their thoughts on the hiring:

Kevin Millar:

I think you have to create some kind of fear. You have to fear somebody when you play this game. The best approach is to treat men like men ... There are some situations that need to be tightened up, whether that's the conditioning situation, whether that's the eyes in the clubhouse situation.

Curt Schilling:

This one was just a stunning one for me. I didn't see the fit. Personality-wise, Bobby's a different bird. ... He's a smart guy. I had a chance to work with him this year at ESPN. He's got some very interesting takes on managing. ... We all know that Boston is different than every place else. ... I think Bobby is equipped to handle it. He's done it in New York. ... I don't mean this in a disrespectful way but it's going to come out that way, I thought someone was kidding when they first announced this, that he was being interviewed, because again, when I think back to the mandate and what the initiative might have been to change around at the end of last year and maybe going forward, Bobby Valentine is not the guy that I thought that this ownership group would be advocating for.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers:

When I was with the Knicks a thousand years ago, I got to know [Valentine] a little bit. We lived in the same town in Stamford. I ate at Bobby V's quite a bit. I can tell you, he doesn't comp. ... I had to pay.

ESPN's Buster Olney:

As Valentine emerged as a managerial candidate, some Red Sox players have been upset; they've been grumbling to each other, through texts and phone calls. Maybe it's because they heard Bobby critique their play on the air. Maybe they haven't liked his tone. Maybe they haven't liked his smile. Maybe they've heard bad things. And the fact is they had no power to do anything about it, because the September collapse completely undercut the credibility of the Red Sox players. If one of them had called the front office to register concerns about Valentine, they might've heard laughter on the other end of the line. The Boston players had complete control of the clubhouse in 2011, and we know what happened.

Buster's blog is behind a pay wall, so I cannot read the entire column.

Quote Note (my emphasis): Rob Parker (ESPN) calls the hiring of Valentine "the biggest overreaction in the history of baseball. ... Even with Bobby Valentine they will not make the playoffs because their pitching is not good enough."

NY Media: Lightning Rod Valentine Makes Rivalry Better

2011-11-30T08:27:00.001-05:00

The reaction from New York:

Joel Sherman, Post:

The Red Sox have become the George Steinbrenner Yankees, and now they have their Billy Martin, a combustible manager as likely to throw the organization into further chaos as he is to bring championship glory. Valentine is ingenious and inflammatory, and his greatest detractors would add insincere.

But his supporters — and I fall much more into this subset — recognize Valentine is a brilliant tactician, as good an evaluator of talent as there is in the game, a maestro at deploying the strengths of a full 25-man roster, a tireless worker, an independent thinker and a competition junkie. He also is a riveting personality, a human carnival who doesn't do boring.

The Red Sox, who are pretty darn interesting, just went off the scale by employing the most polarizing figure in the game. And this hire turns the division into the new Big East. ...

The intensity of Yankees-Red Sox just went up a few degrees simply due to Valentine's history, intensity and personality. The Yankees are at Fenway April 20-22, and I already can't wait: Girardi’s simmering vanilla vs. Valentine's teeming rocky road. ...

Valentine tends to be more problematic when he works with people he does not respect (see Phillips, Steve). He likes smart, and Cherington and Lucchino are both plenty bright. Will they be bright enough to see Valentine is worth listening to on just about any issue involving a baseball team? Because Valentine is going to have strong, reason-backed opinions on everything. ...

His closest friends will tell you he is driven to win a World Series and this is his best chance. ...

He has that chance now. He takes over a talented but fractured roster. He works for a young, inexperienced GM. He comes to a baseball-loving town at a time when they are very down on their baseball team. It is a formula for greatness or disaster.

Don Burke and Joel Sherman, Post:

The white-hot Yankees-Red Sox rivalry took on an entirely new dimension last night when the Red Sox reached a verbal agreement with ex-Mets manager Bobby Valentine — who never met a spotlight he didn't try to outshine — to become the 45th manager in franchise history.

Valentine, according to a source, was flying last night from Japan, where he had participated in a charity event and made personal appearances, to Boston to sign a contract. A news conference is expected to be held [Thursday]. ...

The Red Sox had been without a manager since Sept. 30, when they parted ways with Terry Francona following a late-season collapse that saw them drop 20 of their final 27 games and blow the nine-game lead they held on Sept. 3 for the AL wild card.

David Waldstein, Times:

For more than a century, the rivalry between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox has been the stuff of legend, filled with large personalities and fiery competitors. Now add to that caldron Bobby Valentine, one of the more colorful and controversial figures in recent New York baseball history. ...

Valentine, who in six years managing the Mets taunted the Yankees and stoked a rivalry from across town, now will do so from Fenway Park. And he will do so with an expensive, talented team that many predicted would win the World Series last season before it collapsed in historic fashion.

The possibility of his managing the Red Sox was hardly considered a month ago, when the Red Sox were examining candidates who did not have Valentine’s experience or charisma. But with the team in a state of upheaval, it was decided a more seasoned and engaging personality was required. ...

[In 1997,] He took over a Mets team that had floundered for seven years and brought steady improvement, the pinnacle of which was the World Series in 2000.

His tenure was marked by success and controversy, as he weeded out players he did not think fit the team concept and feuded with General Manager Steve Phillips. Despite occasional flare-ups, Valentine became the first manager to lead the Mets to the playoffs in consecutive years, in 1999 and 2000.

The Daily News has a poll asking about Valentine's tenure in Boston. An official announcement has not been made, but "it's too early to tell" is the least popular opinion:

Mike Lupica, Daily News:

You never need much to make the Red Sox vs. the Yankees better, with the possible exception of shortening some of their games by about an hour. But you have to know the whole thing gets more interesting now with Bobby Valentine, who comes back from a trip to Japan to take the job of managing the Red Sox. A lot of things happen when it becomes official, starting here: Bobby V. gets the best team he has ever had. In this country or in Japan, where he became such a star after leaving the Mets. ...

He can be a long day, everybody knows that — HE knows that — but you don't need such a long memory to remember his best work with the Mets, not just in 2000, but the year before, when he nearly brought his team all the way back from 3-0 down in the National League Championship Series against the Braves.

It is funny how these things work out in baseball, but Valentine said something that week, when the Mets got two wins and were set up to get another until Kenny Rogers walked in the season-ending run in Atlanta in Game 6. The Mets didn't quit when they were down 3-0. Valentine wouldn't let them quit. ...

"Someday somebody's going to do it," he said one day in the Mets dugout during the Braves series of 1999.

Everybody knew what he meant, and what he meant was that someday somebody would come all the way back from 3-0 down to win a playoff series in baseball.

"Why can't it be us?" he said.

Valentine Called "The Perfect Choice", But What Will He Do?

2011-11-30T00:27:00.001-05:00

ESPN's David Schoenfield:

[T]he talk will mostly be about his personality. But what kind of manager was he? Let's look back at his career -- focusing mostly on his full seasons with the Mets from 1997 to 2002 -- to see what that may indicate about how he'll manage the Red Sox.

The questions: Will Carl Crawford hit leadoff? Does he like the quick hook or does he let his starters stay in the game? Does he like an experienced closer? Does he like strikeout pitchers or guys who throw strikes? Does he like a set lineup? Does he like young players?

Tim Kurkjian says Valentine is perfect for the Red Sox:

It takes a special person to manage in Boston, especially now, after the tumultuous last few months. Experience is crucial, as is charisma, leadership, salesmanship, a way with the media and a thick skin. Bobby Valentine, the new manager of the Red Sox, has all of that. ...

The Red Sox have tremendous talent and nearly unlimited funds, but they need someone to change the culture in the clubhouse that apparently has had too much beer and fried chicken. And the Red Sox need a good will hunter to placate a fan base that is as angry as it is adoring. Wherever Valentine goes, change - usually for the good - follows. There is no better salesman. There is no one in the game that has more energy.

More Kurkjian:

He has no patience for some of the clichéd teaching techniques today, and the common misconceptions about the game. ... No one "swings down on the ball," he says, and he says there is no black on home plate, so the pitch can't be "on the black." He says that pitchers don't get "on top of the ball." That's impossible; their hand is on the side of the ball. And don't start him on the "checked swing rule," or the "check swing rule," because he says, "there is no rule in the rule book for a checked swing. People don't even know what it is. They don't even know how to pronounce it. So how can you call it?" ...

Valentine is 61 now. He has matured greatly. He's not as smug and as arrogant as he used to be, but not much else has changed. ... When he takes on a project, "I have to do the whole thing," he said. ... [N]o manager in the game will out-fox Valentine on any strategic move. In the one year I covered his team, and for the 30 years I have known him, not once have I asked him a question about a move he made in a game, and he didn't have a legitimate answer.

Alex Speier, WEEI:

There are times when five weeks can seem like a very long time.

Ben Cherington was introduced as the Red Sox general manager all the way back on Oct. 25. At the time, charged with the task of identifying the next Red Sox manager, Cherington suggested that prior big league experience in that role was a bonus but not a prerequisite. ...

Yet just under five weeks since Cherington was hired ... The two finalists for the position are Lamont and Valentine. Both are in their 60s. Both are veterans of two prior managing jobs in the big leagues.

Somewhere along the line, it appears that the Sox felt that there was something to be said for age, experience and a proven track record over youth and promise in the manager’s dugout. Cherington acknowledged at the GM meetings -- before Sveum was hired by the Cubs, and before the interview with Valentine was scheduled -- that there had been a reconsideration of the profile sought by the team.

Valentine was first mentioned as a possible manager by the Globe's Nick Cafardo, on September 25, when the Red Sox still had five games left to play in the season:

Apropos of nothing
4. Hearing Bobby Valentine's name if Terry Francona goes.

Cafardo laid out his case for Valentine on October 1:

[Bobby Valentine is] exactly what this organization needs. If you want a man who is considered one of the best in-game managers and who has control of his team and the clubhouse, there is no one better available. The question with Valentine is how would he coexist with general manager Theo Epstein and the organizational approach?

Where Francona accepted a lot of input from Epstein and the front office, Valentine would likely not be as welcoming. Suggestions of playing Darnell McDonald because he hits a certain lefthander wouldn't fly with Valentine. He would have to know he has complete control of his team in the clubhouse and on the field. Some would say that's not the way 21st-century baseball works, but it would be the way it would have to work. ...

Valentine may not be the new-wave type the Sox are looking for, but he is a guy with a tremendous track record for getting the most out of players and leaving no doubt who is in charge, and that there are consequences for the type of behavior Sox players exhibited this season.

A more progressive picture has been painted of Valentine since then. Valentine has said he would expect a two-way dialogue with - and suggestions from - the front office. Valentine is familiar with more advanced metrics, like UZR and WAR, and has cited them on ESPN broadcasts (the Rangers employed Craig Wright, an early sabermetrician, when Valentine managed the club in the late 1980s).

This is a growth opportunity for me.

Twelve of Valentine's 15 years as a MLB manager were complete seasons - and his teams performed worse than their expected record (based on runs scored and runs allowed) only twice. That is very impressive. His teams were +23 wins over his managerial career. The 2000 and 2001 Mets outperformed their expected records by six and nine wins, respectively.

I recently saw a clip of Valentine meeting with the Boston media and I really liked this exchange:

Q: Bobby, with questions in mind, if you get this job, inevitably you're going to make some in-game decisions that backfire--

BV: Yes...

Q: The media will then ask you to explain yourself, especially if you went against convention or statistical probability. Are you normally going to answer those questions or are you going to be like some of the managers who just gruffly say "that's what I wanted to do"?

BV: Wow ... [long, seemingly thoughtful pause] Would I be allowed to say "that's just what I wanted to do"? Isn't there always a follow-up question after that, like why is that just what you wanted to do? [Another pause, thinking] At the risk of, ummm, not getting hired, I'd probably say I'll answer the questions too long rather than too short. And if you need an answer, I'll really try to - I think the manager, in his pre-game and post-game press conferences, is one of the way the fans get to know about your team. And in today's world, it's not about giving those customers less, I think it's about giving them more. And so I'll try to stay within parameters, of course, and not get my ass fired real quickly, but I don't think that those answers of, you know, "I just felt like doing it" are good enough.

Globe: Bobby Valentine Is 2012 Manager

2011-11-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

Peter Abraham, Globe, 7:03 PM:

Robert John Valentine will be the 45th manager of the Boston Red Sox, the team selecting him within the last few hours.

No contract is in place. But Mike Lynch of Channel 5 is reporting that the Red Sox have a "verbal agreement" with Valentine to be their next manager.

Major league sources told Globe colleague Nick Cafardo just prior to that report that Valentine would be the next manager but a deal was not done.

Red Sox team sources, who have been fairly open about the process so far, would not comment on Lynch's report.

"Thank You, Theo And Tito" Website Launched

2011-11-29T15:46:00.002-05:00

Juliana Press, Pete Shea, and Jared Circosta, working with Tank Design, have launched a website offering Red Sox fans the chance to thank Theo Epstein and Terry Francona for helping Boston win two World Series championships during their tenures.

Remember how you felt back on October 17, 2003, after one of the worst Red Sox losses in history? Did you think, even in your wildest fantasies, that the team would win two World Series titles in the next four seasons? That actually happened! And Epstein and Francona had a lot to do with that.

Fans Thank You reminds me of the epic and emotional "Win It For..." thread (and book) at Sons of Sam Horn. It could easily be as moving, and historic. Go - and type your heart out.

Embrace The Collapse?

2011-11-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

About one month ago, Amy alerted me to an essay by Adam Sternbergh in the New York Times ("The Thrill of Defeat"), in which Sternbergh says Red Sox fans should embrace the team's September implosion. (I demurred, opting instead to forget the entire month and look to 2012.)

Sternbergh says a late-season meltdown is traumatic because it "falls outside the emotional parameters of what the sports fan has signed up for". Something that unpredictable is, by definition, impossible to prepare for.

The epic collapse is to be treasured, even more so than the improbable victory. It's more rare, and therefore more precious. And it reaffirms the essence of why we root for a team in the first place. ...

[Being a sports fan] It allows you to feel real emotional investment in something that has no actual real-world consequences. ... [Games or seasons] are never guaranteed to end happily. In fact, as we've seen, some end in a highly unsatisfying way. ... [The epic collapse is] crushing, maddening, unfathomable — and yet it means nothing. Like a shooting-gallery target or bickering sitcom family, your team will spring up again same time next year, essentially unharmed.

Sternbergh writes that the collapse of your team "is an opportunity to confront an event that's bewildering in its unlikelihood and ruinous in its effect, yet to also walk away entirely unscarred. It matters, deeply, and yet it doesn't matter at all. It's heartbreak with training wheels."

Red Sox fans of a certain vintage lost their heartbreak training wheels a long time ago. We know how to ride that bike. I question the depth of Sternbergh's fandom, in any sport.

The first commenter, Jerry, quotes "yet to also walk away entirely unscarred" and replies:

Yes, but.

And that's the point, isn't it? Yes, the Red Sox falling out of the playoff race was maddening and frustrating - especially since we were absolutely helpless to do anything to stop it - but I assume no one was scarred in any lasting or damaging way.

But.

The fact is, we do care. A lot.

Why? I don't really know. But I have cared for many years and I know Sternbergh has it backwards.

He writes: "It matters, deeply, and yet it doesn't matter at all."

I would argue his sentence should read: "It doesn't matter at all, and yet it matters, deeply."

I'm Ready For the Valentine Era

2011-11-27T15:15:00.001-05:00

If blogger Murray Chass thinks it's a bad idea, then sign me up!

The Boston Red Sox, trying to replace the Chicago Cubs as modern-day lovable losers [Oh, poor pathetic Murray, stop trying to erase 2004, it can't be done!], may be on the verge of extending their September swoon into a December descent. They may not realize it, but if they hire Bobby Valentine as their manager they could be adding injury to insult. ...

"I have found him to be the most disliked man in baseball," I said. And I added, "He doesn't like me and I don't like him." ...

During the winter meetings several years ago, two veteran managers, whom I will not name because their conversation was private, were talking about Valentine and one said, "I'd burn out my bullpen in a minute to kick his ass."

Wait - an opposing manager would burn out his bullpen trying to beat the Valentine Sox? GREAT! I only wish one of those managers was Joe Girardi.

During the division playoff series against Arizona in 1999, a Sports Illustrated article quoted Valentine as criticizing his players for their September play, which took them from one game out of first to eight games out.

"You're not dealing with real professionals in the clubhouse," he said. "You're not dealing with real intelligent guys for the most part. A lot can swim, but most of them just float along, looking for something to hold on to. That's why, I'm sure, they're having a players-only meeting. Because there's about five guys in there right now who basically are losers, who are seeing if they can recruit."

He was talking about a Mets team from 13 years ago. They probably were losers. So effin what?

Average Player "On A 5-Day Week", Loafs Two Days

2011-11-26T17:45:00.001-05:00

The good ball clubs like the Yankees, Red Sox ... win three or four games in a row and then they take it easy. "Oh well," they think to themselves, "we're doing all right. Why knock our brains out?" Then they coast through the next game or two. ...

[T]hey never seen able to keep up that sustained, determined drive to the finish. They must let up along the line. That's the only explanation possible.

The answer to it all is that the average player nowadays simply will not put out every day, seven days a week. He loafs two days, absolutely loafs. And for another day during the week he'll step it up to about three-quarter speed before he goes back into high.

It wasn't that way 20 years ago. And that's not a case of harping on the good old days. It simply is true that the players of that day - and I'm speaking particularly of the pennant contenders - hustled more. They gave it everything they had. ...

It was the same way with those ... teams I played on ... We never relaxed. We tried to murder the opposition every time we took the field. And if you did try to coast a little bit everybody was on your neck.

Jimmie Dykes, Philadelphia Athletics manager,

The Sporting News, August 13, 1952

Dykes said it wasn't necessary for baseball players to unionize because "they already are on a five-day week". However, he was willing to admit:

There still are some seven-day hustlers left in the game. ... But do you know a lot of the average players resent a hustler like [Nellie] Fox? They're constantly calling him a showboat. Some of my own players do. But they don't get away with it when I'm around. He just looks like he's showboating because of the contrast of his hustling as against the way some of the other players drag themselves around.

Dykes wasn't alone in his assessment of the non-hustling, modern player.

White Sox manager Paul Richards:

[Y]ou can't expect a fellow to go all out for 154 games. It's a tough grind. But I do agree that the game lack real competitors. I'll bet there aren't more than an average of five or six players per team who really feel bad - I mean they're sincerely hurt deep in their hearts - when they lose a game. ... It isn't hard to spot them in the clubhouse. The average fellow nowadays isn't affected one way or the other.

Yankees manager Casey Stengel:

I wouldn't accuse any of my boys of not hustling. But some of them act like they're tired. And for the life of me I can't figure out why they should be.

Washington Senators manager Bucky Harris:

[T]he fact [is] that none of us works as hard as our forefathers did. We just aren't inclined that way any more. And that goes whether it's baseball, bricklaying or banking.

Manager Decision Coming This Week?

2011-11-26T13:54:00.000-05:00

Either Bobby Valentine or Gene Lamont will be named Red Sox manager next week, as the team wants the position filled before the winter meetings begin on December 5 (a week from Monday).

There were reports that the Red Sox wanted to talk to Blue Jays manager about the possibility of returning to Boston and replacing Terry Francona. Supposedly, if Farrell had returned, Toronto wanted Clay Buchholz as compensation. Thankfully, the Red Sox did not bite (and who knows how serious they were about Tito's ex-pitching coach, anyway?), but I trust they remained sufficiently wary of Mega-Ninja GM Alex Anthopoulos.

Gordon Edes takes a good look at possible closers for the Red Sox. I would not mind keeping Daniel Bard in the set-up role he has excelled in, since he has often pitched in higher leverage situations in the eighth inning than Jonathan Papelbon did in the ninth.

Yankees closer Mariano Rivera told the Post that 2012 might be his last season (jeez, come on, go be a preacher already; those souls can't save themselves):

I don't know what will happen. I have one year left. I might call it over. I will know more in spring training. ... I have no reaction [to Papelbon's Phillies contract] — that's the market and he took advantage of it. He is a good kid, he means well. He is a hard worker. I wish him the best.

Rivera may also need surgery on his vocal cords.

Ortiz And Wheeler Offered Arbitration

2011-11-24T11:13:00.000-05:00

The Red Sox offered arbitration to David Ortiz and Dan Wheeler. The team did not offer arbitration to Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield, J.D. Drew, Andrew Miller, Erik Bedard, and Conor Jackson.

Ortiz and Wheeler

have until Dec. 7 to accept or decline arbitration. Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, clubs retain the right to negotiate and/or enter into a contract agreement with any of their free agents, regardless of whether arbitration was offered. There are no deadlines for such negotiations or agreements.

The Red Sox would receive two draft picks as compensation if Ortiz (Type-A FA) accepts a deal elsewhere, which might scare some teams off. Ortiz:

If the Red Sox sign me they won't regret it. I've got so many ways to keep doing what I've been doing around here. I bring so much to this organization, I bring so much to the table here because I care so much about this organization.

Boston will receive two picks (probably a first-round pick and a sandwich pick) because Jonathan Papelbon signed with Philadelphia.

If Ortiz accepts arbitration, he could be awarded a raise over his $12.5 million salary in 2011 - though we'll see if GM Ben Cherington avoids arbitration hearings as much as his predecessor did. Wheeler was paid $3 million last year and the team has already declined a $3 million option for 2012. If Wheeler signs elsewhere, the Red Sox would receive a compensatory draft pick. In the case of the players not offered arbitration, they can still negotiate and sign a deal with the Red Sox, as Varitek did last winter, for example.

rivers of suggestion

2011-11-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

After 2,077 days, I have resurrected my other blog.

It is titled rivers of suggestion.

It will house the stuff I write that is not directly related to baseball.

That is all for now.

Best Of

2011-11-23T00:47:00.001-05:00

This is post #5,401.

A bunch of posts that I thought stood out from among the previous 5,400 are listed at the "best of" tab, above.

A few are clearly some of my best stuff; others may be merely entertaining, like a clip of Tala howling along with a wolf video.

NL MVP: Ryan Braun

2011-11-22T23:38:00.000-05:00

Manager Search Down To Three: Valentine And Two Schlubs

2011-11-22T11:37:00.000-05:00

The next Red Sox manager will be Bobby Valentine, Torey Lovullo, or Gene Lamont - an odd trio, for sure. Sox GM Ben Cherington conducted an all-day interview with Valentine yesterday, and said he was "highly intelligent, creative, open-minded."

Valentine:

[The interview was] totally different than anything I have ever gone through before and I would say if I look a little worn out it's because I sweat the whole day. I'm really excited about this and I haven't been as nervous for anything in a long, long time. It was invigorating, stimulating and all those good things. ... This is a great organization, with a great team, a great city and great ballpark. That is very attractive. I don't think anywhere else that there's been a job opening that my name has been mentioned there has been as many fabulous factors. ... If I was Plan B and I got this job, I would feel like it was Christmas and I was Plan A, the luckiest guy in the world. It would be cool.

Lamont (Tigers third base coach) managed the White Sox from 1992-1995 and the Pirates from 1997-2000. Lovullo (Blue Jays first base coach) managed the Pawtucket Red Sox in 2010.

Valentine says he would expect (and welcome) strategic advice from Cherington and the baseball operations staff:

I would hope for it. I haven't lived with it and I lived hearing about it and thinking about it. This is a growth opportunity for me. I want to understand what is going on in my life and my life is baseball. ... I was weaned on the idea, the concept, as a manager.

When Valentine managed the Rangers in the mid-80s, Craig Wright, an early sabermetrics pioneer, was on general manager Tom Grieve's staff. How big a role Wright played in Texas, and whether Valentine was open-minded then, I have no idea. I have never gotten the impression from Valentine's TV work that he subscribed to a lot of progressive ideas.

But, regardless, if those are the only men standing, then Valentine is our next manager. The front office has indicated that it wants an experienced skipper, with a strong personality (who rules with an iron hand?).

ESPNNewYork's Wallace Matthews says the Yankees should quake in their boots if the Red Sox hire Valentine. It would make Boston more dangerous than if they signed both Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson.

[Valentine] knows baseball like no one else in the game and in the beginning at least, he energizes a team and a fan base. ... If he could coax a World Series out of that pretty ordinary Mets team [in 2000], imagine what he could do with the Red Sox roster? I think that even if the Red Sox don't do another thing this off-season, if they give Bobby Valentine the keys to the manager's office, they immediately become a lot more dangerous.

Of course, Matthews also believes Tim Wakefield works too slowly and is a bigger menace to the game than steroids.

Saturday, February 11

2011-11-21T15:59:00.006-05:00

Truck Day!

82 days away!

Sunday, February 19 - Pitchers and Catchers
Saturday, February 25 - First full-squad workout
Saturday, March 3 - DH vs Northeastern & Boston College
Tuesday, March 13 - at New York Yankees (Tampa)
Thursday, March 22 - vs New York Yankees (Fort Myers)
Thursday, April 5 - Opening Day, at Detroit

Justin Verlander Named AL MVP; Ellsbury #2

2011-11-21T14:01:00.021-05:00

Justin Verlander of the Tigers has been named the American League Most Valuable Player. Verlander was also the unanimous choice for the AL Cy Young, the first ptcher to win both awards since Roger Clemens in 1986.

Dennis Eckersley (1992, A's) was the last pitcher to win the AL MVP award. The last NL pitcher to do so was Bob Gibson (1968, Cardinals).

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News - the guy who left Dustin Pedroia off his 2008 ballot, when FY won the MVP - awarded his first-place vote to Michael Young of the Rangers. (Grant says he will explain later this afternoon. $5 says "You had to see him play every day" is part of it.)

Young - who had the 4th best-OPS on his own team - also received one vote for second and one vote for third.

Jim Ingraham of the News-Herald (Ohio) left Verlander off his ballot, saying he does not believe (contrary to BBWAA rules) pitchers should be eligible for the MVP. ... Ellsbury received a 10th place vote, but it wasn't from Grant. (Anyone wanna bet on George A. King III?)

And as of 2:08 PM, MLB's main page has no news! At 2:12, this was the Verlander story, from the main page link:

You can always count on two things in this life: the ignorance of the BBWAA and the lameness of MLB.

Another ballot, from SB Nation:

David Fung (Beyond The box Score): Another Graphic Look at Redefining Most Valuable ("I have Jose Bautista taking this one easily."

Baseball Bloggers Alliance, AL Player of the Year

                 1st Place  Points
Jose Bautista       11        225
Jacoby Ellsbury      5        200
Miguel Cabrera       3        183
Curtis Granderson    1        135
Justin Verlander     2        126
Adrian Gonzalez               109
Dustin Pedroia                 68
Robinson Cano                  55
Ian Kinsler                    35
Michael Young                  28

My BBA Ballot
1. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays
2. Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox
3. Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
4. Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox
5. Curtis Granderson, Yankees
6. Justin Verlander, Tigers
7. Alex Avila, Tigers
8. David Ortiz, Red Sox
9. Alex Gordon, Royals
10. Paul Konerko, White Sox

As I said last night, ESPN's Jeremy Lundblad makes a strong case for Jacoby Ellsbury.

Lundblad uses WAR (wins above replacement) to make his case. And by that measure, Ellsbury's season was the best in MLB since 2007. According to Fangraphs, Ellsbury accounted for 9.4 wins more than a replacement level player would have provided. Bautista (8.3), Dustin Pedroia (8.0), Ian Kinsler (7.7), and Miguel Cabrera (7.3) round out the Top 5. (Curtis Granderson and Justin Verlander tied for seventh place, with 7.0.)

FanGraphs WAR (pitchers not included in this chart)

Baseball Reference also uses WAR, but they compute it differently. B-Ref has Bautista and Verlander tied for first place (8.5), followed by Ellsbury (7.2), Cabrera (7.1), Adrian Gonzalez (6.9), and Pedroia and CC Sabathia (6.8). (Granderson did not make the Top 10, and had an Offensive WAR of 5.4)

WAR         FG  +  BR =  Add
Bautista   8.3    8.5   16.8
Ellsbury   9.4    7.2   16.6
Verlander  7.0    8.5   15.5
Cabrera    7.3    7.1   14.4

Jeff Zimmerman, FanGraphs:

You can set your watch to it: Every year after the MVP awards are announced, people complain about who got — or didn't get — votes. We SABR nerds at Fangraphs are no different. But, of course, we look at things a little differently. With that in mind, here are some SABR-darlings who haven't gotten a single MVP vote in five years — and why that might not change this year.

Logo, Uniform Changes: Marlins, Orioles, Blue Jays, Mets, Padres

2011-11-21T12:49:00.000-05:00

At least five teams have made changes to their logos and uniforms this off-season.

The Miami Marlins have a more alliterative name and a new logo.

The Blue Jays have gone retro, switching, as Rob Neyer puts it, from the "maniacally angry cartoon Blue Jay to a somewhat ornithologically correct Cyanocitta cristata". That angry Jay looked more silly than menacing. (Also from Neyer: "What They Were Saying About The (Blue) Jays' Uniforms In 2003")

The Orioles have replaced their bird with a more accurate representation, and their road uniforms will have "Baltimore" across the chest for the first season since 1972. (And they are bringing back the cartoon bird!)

Fun fact: That leaves only the Angels, Brewers, Cardinals, Phillies and Rays as the only teams too ashamed to advertise where they're from when they're on the road.

The Mets have made some changes to their uniforms to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their first season. Unfortunately, the 50th anniversary season was 2011.

Neyer recalls a similar problem when the Royals celebrated their 25th season.

[P]eople couldn't wrap their noodles around the idea that something 25th had actually happened 24 years earlier. So, like the metric system, the proper commemoration of baseball seasons died because Americans are fundamentally innumerate. Or because baseball teams -- we're looking at you, Mets! -- are afraid their fans might be stupid.

The Padres have a new logo and uniform look. I doubt they are junking the camo unis, though.

Finally, a source tells me that Kevin Millar will be named the 2012 manager and he will be instituting a new cap for all games, home and away. Dirt Dogs has an exclusive picture:

Valentine Meeting With Cherington (Again) On Monday

2011-11-21T01:19:00.001-05:00

Update: Valentine will meet with reporters at Fenway at 5:30 PM.

Bobby Valentine met with Ben Cherington "weeks ago". Valentine has met with John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Tom Werner. Now comes word that BV is meeting on Monday with Cherington for a second time.

Can a press conference be far behind?

ESPN's Jeremy Lundblad makes a strong case for Jacoby Ellsbury as AL MVP. The award winner will be announced Monday afternoon (2 PM?).

New Canadian Baseball Team Names Itself After Serial Killer

2011-11-20T22:31:00.002-05:00

In London, Ontario, an new independent baseball team has named itself after a serial killer. The London Rippers of the Frontier League unveiled their new logo last Tuesday night. The slogan: "Lurking in Labatt Park this spring..."

Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women's Centre, said that local response to the logo has been "overwhelmingly negative". She added that the team made its announcement on the same day the London community was wearing purple to show support for abused women.

Team owner David Martin said he didn't want to make the name "another fluffy animal [like] every other team seems to do". He wanted something "edgy", so he came up with "Diamond Jack". And while Martin claims that the connection to Jack the Ripper was never mentioned during the entire process, he admits that,

We knew it could be taken in different ways. Everybody has to be a little less sensitive and let our storyline play out.

A compromise name/logo has been suggested - centered on Fungo the Dog, who is part of Diamond Jack's backstory - but nothing has been decided.

Reid Cherner (NBC Sports):

When you name your baseball team the Rippers and you're from London, you might expect some blowback. Even if it's London, Ontario and you claim there is no connection to Jack the Ripper.

History Lesson!

"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. ...

Attacks ascribed to the Ripper typically involved female prostitutes from the slums whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. ... Eleven separate murders, stretching from 3 April 1888 to 13 February 1891, were included in a London Metropolitan Police Service investigation, and were known collectively in the police docket as the "Whitechapel murders". ...

Most experts point to deep throat slashes, abdominal and genital-area mutilation, removal of internal organs, and progressive facial mutilations as the distinctive features of Jack the Ripper's modus operandi.

All right, kids! Who wants another hot dog?

Rolling Stones Begin Releasing Official Bootlegs - Six On Tap

2011-11-20T20:02:00.002-05:00

I have dreamt about it, but I never thought it would happen. The Rolling Stones have opened their vaults and begun issuing bootleg concert recordings at extremely reasonable prices (under $10).

Last week, Google Music and the Stones began selling Brussels Affair (Live 1973), a recording from the Forest National in Belgium on October 17, 1973. The Stones' show that afternoon is one of the band's most famous bootlegs and has been described as one of the most incendiary performances of their half-century career. How can you go wrong? HOWEVER, this new album is NOT that bootleg. It's even better!

First, here's the pitch from Stones Archive:

The original bootlegs, sold under such titles as Europe 73, Bedspring Symphony and Brussels Affair, were cobbled together from assorted radio broadcasts, including the syndicated radio programme King Biscuit Flower Hour, and usually contained songs performed at other venues. The new edition, pulled exclusively from the two Brussels gigs, was taken from the original multi-track masters recorded by Andy Johns on the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Longtime Stones collaborator Bob Clearmountain applied the final mix.

The Stones actually played two shows that day. The afternoon show is the one that has been widely booted via King Biscuit, etc. But 12 of the 15 songs on this new live album are from the evening show! Before this release dropped last week, collectors had only six songs from the evening show, in extremely poor quality. (And I didn't even know about those six; I thought nothing circulated.)

What we have is a brand new Stones soundboard from 1973* - straight from the band's own two-track master tapes! (I'm pretty sure I busted a button on my trousers.) And the price is right: $9 for flac files and $7 for 256mp3s. Snippets of the songs can be heard here. (Of course, with minimal rooting around online, you can find it for $0. I found it in less time than it took me to type this parenthetical aside. More on that later)

* - Brown Sugar, Midnight Rambler, Street Fighting Man, and Mick Taylor's first solo in All Down The Line are from the much-booted first show. (Not the entire band on ADTL, though, only Taylor's first solo. He broke a string right at the start and there was no solo!) Everything else on the CD is brand new!

There is a problem, though. People in the United States cannot buy the flac files via the Stones, and Google (wanting to compete with iTunes and others) is selling only the mp3s worldwide. Fans don't know why this is the case. Plus I read that the mp3 version has microgaps between each track. The Stones reportedly will release five more shows over the next year. (Since they have done 1973, a 1972 show may not be among them, so I will accept the two complete El Macombo shows from March 4 and 5, 1977, instead.) Maybe they will get enough flack about the formats and that arrangement will change for the upcoming releases.

Q: So, how does the show sound?

A. It's the Stones. From 1973.

Q: ...

A: ...

Q: ...

A: 1973! The Fuckin Stones!

Longer A: This gig cooks like a motherfucker, but my initial impression is that it cannot touch the white-hot shows in Australia and New Zealand from February 1973, probably the best shows I have ever heard from the band. At that time, the set list was still the same as the infamous 1972 North American tour in support of Exile on Main Street and the band was a ferocious (yet exhilarating) machine. That this show does not match up to February 1973 is like saying $999 isn't quite the same as $1,000.

By late 1973, the band had recorded and released Goats Head Soup and there is a four-song block - Starfucker, Mr. D, Angie, Heartbreaker - from that album in this new show. For the most part, it doesn't matter one whit. The GHS songs are new and fresh, there is an immediacy to them, they have not yet disgenerated into camp. The fullness of the recording makes all of these songs tolerable to me (well, except for Angie). And the mix is stunningly clear, with plenty of separation. This show almost makes Ladies And Gentlemen sound like it was recorded with a hand-held cassette recorder.

Admission: I downloaded the Brussels show for nothing, but I am going to order the flac files as a show of support. For all the bitching I have done about how miserly the Stones have been when it comes to their musical history, paying $9 is just about the least I can do.

Pearl Jam and the Black Crowes are two bands that have allowed their fans to purchase copies of live shows, sometimes on the way out of the arena (!) or the next day. I have no idea if the Stones will offer more than these initial six shows, but I hope so. Putting old concerts online, with some no-frills artwork, cannot cost that much money. Files would be sold online only, no actual CDs. Yes, fans would share them or post them online, but fans have copied LPs, cassettes, and CDs for decades. It cannot be stopped. (However, in my downloading travels, I see next to no Crowes or Pearl Jams shows, so there may be some code of conduct at work here.)

Meanwhile, there are thousands of obsessed fans who cannot believe a show like this has been released. They would unconditionally support a project like this. Post a new show once a week, and sell flac shows for $10. It would be a license to print money.

Milddlebrooks, Britton, Lin Added To 40-Man; Two More Wild Cards Added To Playoffs; Astros to AL West in 2013

2011-11-18T21:48:00.000-05:00

Will Middlebrooks (3B), Drake Britton (LHP), and Che-Hsuan Lin (OF) have been added to the Red Sox's 40-man roster, protecting them from the upcoming Rule 5 draft. The 40-man roster still has two empty spots.

The Houston Astros will move to the American League West in 2013. With 15 teams in each league, there will be a significant increase in interleague games (up from the current 18 to perhaps 30).

MLB will add an additional wild card team in each league for 2013 (or perhaps 2012; it has not been decided). Each league's two wild cards would likely meet in a one-game playoff, with the victor joining the three division winners in the playoffs. A Globe poll asks if fans are in favour of the additional wild card?

No, the original wild card was bad enough         61.21%  (2,749 votes)
Yes, it's time to open up the playoffs even more  38.79%  (1,742 votes)

Meanwhile, Bud Selig continues to insist fans everywhere totally love what he has done to the game.

Gordon Edes Answers SoSH's Questions

2011-11-18T21:26:00.000-05:00

ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes held a chat at Sons of Sam Horn today. It is essential reading.

Edes offered his thoughts on the accelerated news cycle and increased competition in the Boston media market, the differences in philosophy between Ben Cherington and Theo Epstein, Bob Hohler's now-infamous Globe article, whether what went on in the clubhouse explains the September collapse, how Carl Crawford's bad start made it nearly impossible for him to be a leader on the team, and many more topics.

Reputation Of Red Sox Fans As Intelligent Takes A Hit

2011-11-18T15:46:00.001-05:00

Red Sox fans are often referred to as some of the smartest fans in baseball.

I suspect that may be solely because they know (generally) when to cheer without prompting from the jumbotron messageboard. You would be hard pressed to make the case for superior intelligence, however, from online polls. ... But maybe the smart fans avoid those.

Boston Globe:

ESPNBoston:

I agree with John Tomase: Bobby V. simply cannot be the choice of baseball ops.

Cherington Overruled On Sveum (Who Has Been Hired By Theo's Cubs); Ownership Likes Bobby Valentine

2011-11-17T22:19:00.005-05:00

This is not good. At all. Do we have an ownership group that is engaged in a mind meld with the Globe's Nick Cafardo?

Gordon Edes, ESPNBoston:

Ben Cherington seemingly had his man in Dale Sveum, but after a meeting with Red Sox ownership, no offer was made and Sveum went to the Cubs [agreeing to a three-year deal]. ...

The failure of the Red Sox to extend an offer to Sveum will be perceived as a stunning rebuke to Cherington and his baseball operations staff, who thought they had their man in Sveum. They presented him as such to the Sox ownership troika - John W. Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino - when they assembled here for the owners' meetings. And Sveum told close associates he anticipated receiving an offer.

But lunch together Wednesday did not produce said offer, even as word emerged that the Cubs had shown no such hesitation to make one. And now we know why. The Sox owners apparently had their own candidate: 61-year-old Bobby Valentine, whose considerable experience includes managing in three major leagues: the American, the National and the Japanese Pacific.

All signs now seem to point to Valentine, who took the New York Mets to the 2000 World Series and won the Japan Series with Chiba Lotte in 2005, as a leading candidate. According to an industry source, Valentine will meet with Sox officials by the "end of the week," which, if true, would underscore how the decision is not Cherington's to make, since he left for the Dominican Republic on Thursday to scout Cuban phenom Yeonis Cespedes and shake up his international staff. ...

[Valentine] has been in informal discussions with Sox ownership. Just where and when -- and with whom -- those talks took place is still to be discovered ...

The last time the Sox had a managerial opening, Lucchino talked to Valentine about the job, with Valentine maintaining that his failure to criticize Grady Little for leaving in Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees may have cost him a job that went to Terry Francona.

Cafardo has been pumping Valentine as a no-nonsense taskmaster who'll lay down the law to those chicken wing eaters in the clubhouse ever since Francona left. The CHB has joined the Bobby-V chorus, wondering in a recent column why Cafardo's suggestion was being ignored on Yawkey Way.

One SoSHer mused that it was because the team "has, for a decade now, had a completely different approach and focus than that used by Cafardo (or CHB). It is just stunning that these guys still don't get it."

SoSHer John Marzano Olympic Hero got to the point:

It's not really stunning because Cafardo has provided us with reams and reams of evidence that he's a lazy thinker who is very happy to cover baseball like it was 1976. Why would he want to get "it"? Cafardo's job is covered for life and there is absolutely zero incentive for him to learn anything new about MLB after a certain year. Furthermore he can spin his ignorance as his way of looking at things in an "interesting counter-balance to the way that the Boston front office views players and baseball operations." ...

[W]e're stuck with this clod who thinks "Why didn't the Red Sox talk to Bobby Valentine?" is a. a legitimate question and b. only seems to ask his fucking readers instead of the people that he's paid to cover. ...

Bobby Valentine wasn't considered by the Red Sox for a variety of reasons: one, he's been out of the game for awhile; two, he (presumably) doesn't share the organization's philosophy; three, he's a high-profile manager (read: loud-mouth) who has a bit of a star complex and four, if you take all three earlier reasons and add the fact that he wasn't tremendously successful (no World Series winners) in his previous jobs and you can pretty much come to the conclusion why Bobby Valentine wasn't interviewed. This isn't rocket science.

Meanwhile, Cafardo seems confident that if he mentions Valentine enough times, the Red Sox will hire him. It was comical for awhile, but I'm not laughing now. ... How much fuckin worse can this off-season get? It's only mid-November!

Red Sox Fire Gill As Team's Medical Director

2011-11-16T11:54:00.002-05:00

The Red Sox have fired Dr. Thomas Gill as the team's medical director.

Sean McAdam reports

Gill was offered the opportunity to remain in a reduced capacity with the team, serving as a consulting physician. But, according to sources, Gill turned down the offer because he would not have authority over the team's medical and training staff. ...

According to sources, it's likely that someone else from Massachusetts General Hospital Sports Medicine Group's -- headed by Gill -- will serve as the consulting orthopedist for the Sox. A likely choice is Dr. Peter Asnis, who currently serves as the Boston Bruins' team physician.

The Red Sox have made a contract offer to David Ortiz and were planning on meeting with his agent last night. Flo: "The Red Sox will always be the first option. ... I'm going to be somewhere next year - hopefully it's here."

Josh Reddick had surgery yesterday to repair torn cartilage in his left wrist. He was hit on the wrist by a pitch on September 4. He is expected to be ready for spring training.

Dale Sveum is one of two finalists for the manager's job. The decision should be made next week.

Detroit's Justin Verlander was the unanimous choice for the AL Cy Young Award.

                     1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th   Pts
Verlander  Tigers     28                       160
Weaver     Angels          17    8    2    1    97
Shields    Rays             5    9    8    3    66
Sabathia   Yankees          5    7    9    4    63
Valverde   Tigers           1    3    6    3    28
Wilson     Rangers                    1    7     9
Haren      Angels                1    1    2     7
Rivera     Yankees                         4     4
Beckett    Red Sox                         3     3
Romero     Blue Jays                  1          2
Robertson  Yankees                         1     1

I'm very curious to see how Verlander does in the MVP voting on Friday (he was 6th on my BBA ballot). do the writers still adore pitcher's wins? Verlander was 24-5. The last AL pitcher to win that many games was Bob Welch, who had 27 in 1990 and was awarded the Cy Young in one of most embarrassing showings in the BBWAA's history.

Other awards: Jeremy Hellickson (Rays) and Craig Kimbrel (Atlanta) won the two Rookie of the Year awards. Kimbrel was the unanimous NL choice, while Hellickson recieved 17 of 28 AL first-place votes. Managers of the Year are announced this afternoon, NL Cy Young on Thursday, AL MVP on Friday, and NL MVP next Monday.

1916 World Series Footage - Brooklyn at Red Sox

2011-11-15T19:42:00.007-05:00

UPDATE: I am trying to determine if this is the first known footage from the 1916 World Series. In the meantime, Jere has done yeoman's work in determining exactly which plays are on the clip. He believes the clip shows action from the first four innings of Game 1.

My last post included three links that I assumed were of the 1917 World Series. Jere commented that the third clip is from Game 1 of the 1916 World Series, played on Saturday, October 7 (Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers) vs Boston Red Sox at Braves Field). The Red Sox played in the NL park because it had more seats than five-year-old Fenway Park.

Some text goes by very quickly at 0:32 - Boston's Duffy Lewis and Dick Hoblitzel (he also spelled it Hoblitzell).

Facing Rube Marquard with two outs in the bottom of the third, Hoblitzell tripled to right and Lewis doubled to left, giving the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. With Larry Gardner batting, Lewis was then picked off second, catcher to shortstop. The Red Sox won the game 6-5, as Carl Mays got the save after Brooklyn scored four times off Ernie Shore in the top of the ninth.

After observing the Sabbath, Babe Ruth pitched 14 innings on Monday, October 8, in what is still the longest World Series game by innings. He went the distance - allowing no hits after the eighth inning - and Boston won 2-1. The Red Sox won the series, their third in five seasons, in five games.

1917 World Series Footage - Nearly 7 Minutes

2011-11-15T14:34:00.002-05:00

UPDATE: Jere notes in comments that the third clip, at the bottom of this post, is from Game 1 of the 1916 World Series - Brooklyn Dodgers vs Boston red Sox at Braves Field. It is significantly mislabelled. (Clip 1 is also labelled 1916, but it is obviously 1917.)

Critical Past has at least three silent video clips (lasting a total of almost seven minutes) of footage of the 1917 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and New York Giants. Information on the identity of most of the players/personnel comes from members of SABR's Deadball Era Committee (not all IDs may be correct), which got wind of the links via John Thorn.

The first clip has footage from Game 1, as well as pre-game stuff: fans waiting to get into Comiskey Park, the managers - Pants Rowland (White Sox) and John McGraw (Giants) - reviewing the ground rules, and starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte (RH) and Slim Sallee (LH) warming up. From the look of the White Sox players, it's Hammer Time.

In the long shot of the White Sox dugout, Happy Felsch is on the far left, with John "Shano" Collins beside him, followed by Fred McMullin and Reb Russell (just past the big baseball). Joe Jackson and Nemo Leibold may be standing outside the dugout, with Eddie Cicotte in the background and Chick Gandil and Byrd Lynn in front of Cicotte. ... The black man on the Giants bench at the one-minute mark may be J. L. Mackall, the team's trainer. Manager John McGraw is sitting in front of the dugout, with Art Fletcher on his right and Red Murray on his left.

This scoreboard outside the New York American newspaper offices gave fans the opportunity to follow the game from Chicago as it happens. Fred McMullin has just driven in the first run of the series in the bottom of the third, and Eddie Collins is now batting. The White Sox will win 2-1 and take the series in six games, despite being shutout for 24 consecutive innings. Despite the Giants playing on the road, they are listed as the home team (perhaps "Giants" is permanently affixed, since the scoreboard is in New York). (More information and pictures of how fans followed baseball games from afar more than 100 years ago can be found here.)

Footage from Games 3 (October 10) and 4 (October 11), played at the Polo Grounds in Washington Heights, in upper Manhattan. New York Mayor John Mitchel arrives and throws out the first pitch. The Giants win 2-0, scoring in the fourth when Holke doubles in Robison and Burns singles in Holke. In Game 4, Benny Kauff hits his first of two home runs; this one is an inside-the-park dong to center. New York wins 5-0. (The two Giants talking together are Rube Benton and Dave Robertson.)

A third clip, filmed in Chicago, is here.

Sveum Waved In For Second Interview

2011-11-15T09:16:00.001-05:00

Boston's former third base coach Dale Sveum will get a second interview for the manager's job.

The interview is next Tuesday in Milwaukee (where the winter meetings are being held) and will be attended by the ownership trio of John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino will be at the interview next Tuesday. ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes says the team is "extremely high on Sveum".

Ben Cherington:

I felt real comfortable with him on a personal level. We like his broad-based experience. We like the type of player he was and the type of managers he was around and in his time in Boston as a coach. He had success in Milwaukee as a coach and has some managing experience in the majors and in the minor leagues. We felt like he brings a lot of good qualities. The next phase is getting ownership a little bit more involved.

Steve Buckley of the Herald writes that Sveum may not be the right man for the job (though how many fans were demanding that Terry Francona was the perfect choice back in 2003?), but no one has made a compelling case as to why he is unfit.

Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon held a press conference yesterday:

"I wanted to make this decision quick and get it over with. I didn't want to sit there and debate on whether I go back to Boston. My agents called me every day with what could happen. One day I finally called them and said, "Listen, I want to go play for the Phillies. Let's make it happen." They called me two days later and made it happen."

Bot explained that it wasn't the shit-ton of money ($50,000,058) offered by Philadelphia that caused him to leave the Red Sox for the NL. It was the chance to play for a World Series contender.

That [the contract] d[id]n't really play a role. The biggest thing that plays a role is the ability to come here and win. I'm extremely excited. I think that we're going to be able to have ballclub that's going be able to go and compete for a championship. I think, for me, that's the biggest thing and that's all you can ask for.

Peter Abraham rightly calls BS: "Had the Red Sox offered $1 more than the Phillies, Papelbon would still be in Boston."

Edes has a very good column about Papelbon's departure. The closer certainly will be missed, but there are other options. Edes notes that the Rays "proved you can recycle a cast-off such as Kyle Farnsworth to close and still make it to the postseason". Besides Daniel Bard, another internal candidate for the job is Bobby Jenks, who, Edes admits, is "an enormous question mark".

This Friday at noon, Edes, who was head and shoulders above every other writer in covering the dismissal of manager Terry Francona, will be answering questions at SoSH.

R.E.M.: Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage

2011-11-14T16:40:00.008-05:00

R.E.M.'s "first-ever definite greatest hits album" is in stores tomorrow (trailer). Two discs. 40 songs. The title comes from a 1988 description of the band by guitarist Peter Buck.

"First-ever" is a bit of a misnomer. While it is the first set to cover their entire 31-year career, it is, in fact, their eighth compilation album (and fourth "best of"). They also have two 2-CD live albums, both recorded since 2007. And the band has been releasing expanded remastered versions of their classic mid-80s albums.

So, coming on the heels of their break-up announcement, and six weeks before Christmas, this release feels like a cash grab. (I'll perk up and grab my wallet when Buck, the group's archivist/packrat, starts compiling rare and live box sets. He has said the band filmed and recorded shows on every one of their tours.)

Buck (guitar), Michael Stipe (vocals), Mike Mills (bass), and Bill Berry (drums) formed R.E.M. in Athens, Georgia. Their early albums for the independent I.R.S. label were some of the most intoxicating and revelatory - and FUN - rock and roll ever.

I was absolutely smitten with them, and with Buck especially, who played the part of cool older brother/record store clerk, turning everyone on to new bands, recommending albums, holding forth on all matters concerning rock and roll. (My college radio show was called "Life And How To Live It", a song of their 1985 album, Fables Of The Reconstruction.) R.E.M. came to Vermont for the first time on Halloween night in 1986. My review* for the good old Burlington Free Press began:

Critics pounded their typewriters like pulpits when R.E.M. released their debut album in 1983. 'Murmur,' a dense menagerie of sounds, moods, and mind-pictures, and its single 'Radio Free Europe,' built a cult following on college campuses that has grown and threatens to make them, baring any commercial breakthrough, America's best 'unknown' band.

* I'm amused that although I loved the band back then, my review is not a rave: "Uneven in its pacing, the two-hour, 28-song set built too many highs that weren't sustained. ... [T]he band put the crowd on a roller-coaster ride of emotions that didn't settle until the second half of the show." That was Friday, October 31. Laura flew up for the show/weekend. I went down to New York the next Friday (November 7) and we saw them that night at the Felt Forum.

It turns out a commercial breakthrough was not that far away. "The One I Love" and "Stand" cracked the US Top 10 charts, but it wasn't until "Losing My Religion" was released in 1991 that the band became a household name.

Some video (some of which I have posted before):

October 10, 1982 - Raleigh, North Carolina (46 minutes)

June 9, 1984 - Passaic, New Jersey
Driver 8 & Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)
Harborcoat / Seven Chinese Brothers

May 27, 1985 - Meredith College, Raleigh, North Carolina
Life And How To Live It

October 2, 1985 - Grugahalle, Essen, Germany (95 minutes)

For LHTG, it looks like R.E.M. has taken the All-Star Game approach, picking at least one song from each of their 15 studio albums (even Around The Sun, aka the 1899 Cleveland Spiders). The three unreleased songs at the end of Disc 2 were recorded earlier this year.

Nerd Alert: This is where I pick my own 40-song set. If you are unfamiliar with the band's music, you should probably stop reading now and go do whatever else you had planned for today. I obeyed the ASG rule, and allowed myself the option of ignoring hit singles. Of which, surprisingly, there are few. In the end, only 14 of my choices overlapped with the band (nine on D1 and five on D2). Not that the other 26 songs are poor choices (though some are); I simply liked mine more.

A few comments: the combination of Stipe's and Kate Pierson's vocals on "Shiny Happy People" is brilliant; re quiet songs: some of their best work on Automatic, shitty shit on AtS; I wanted to avoid "Imitation Of Life" because it's paint-by-numbers R.E.M., but "Disappear" and "Beat A Drum" did not quite measure up; and I'm including only the second half of "It Happened Today". Collapse received good reviews for reasons unknown to me, 'cuz, Christ, it's a completely crappy career coda.

I'd like to reassess all of R.E.M.'s albums this winter. In recent years, I have learned that I am lukewarm (at best) about an album I thought I loved, a much-maligned record is becoming one I quite like, and the record I'd take to the desert island has changed.

SABR Posts 40 Issues Of Bill James's 1980s Newsletter, "The Baseball Analyst"

2011-11-11T21:51:00.001-05:00

1. Baseball Analyst, Bill James's self-published newsletter was one of the first publications with articles on sabermetrics. Thanks to the generosity of Bill James and Phil Birnbaum, SABR has posted PDFs of the entire 40-issue run. At 20 pages each, that's 800 pages of baseball news, thought, and analysis to dive into!

2. Tracing the origin of the bullpen phone.

3. The Baseball Reference blog has been retired, so John Autin, Raphy, and Andy are now posting at High Heat Stats.

4. Fangraphs' Josh Goldman charts the break-even point for stolen bases, depending on the number of outs in the inning.

5. Dave Cameron (also Fangraphs) reviews the MLB Network's new analytical/sabermetric show, which debuted November 7:

On Monday, [host Brian] Kenny proposed what he called a "tournament baseball" model for handling a pitching staff, pointing out how heavily the Rangers and Cardinals used their bullpens in their respective League Championship Series, and how that helped propel them into the World Series. It's a topic we wrote about here during October quite a bit, and it was great to see a national broadcast discuss the relative effectiveness of starters and relievers using relevant data. ...

[Guests Rob Neyer and Peter Gammons] made interesting points on the subject, and helped discuss the issue rationally without getting into some kind of contrived shouting match where one side had to play contrarian.

On Tuesday, the central theme revolved around the wisdom of giving out $100+ million contracts, and Kenny brought Vince Gennaro (president of SABR) onto the set to discuss the risks associated with committing that much money to any one player.

Kenny, in an interview with Beyond the Box Score's Bill Petti:

I just approach each subject in a logical progression of thought. And there isn't one magic number out there. There's just a way of looking at things logically. I try to explain to people, look, if you read Bill James and you've read him through the decades he's not there just doing math formulas, he's asking the right questions. And then you get one answer you dig a little deeper. Once you get that answer, dig even deeper. And then you keep digging. And that's what we do.

Brilliant! This show could be a huge step forward for advanced stats and rigorous analysis. Has anyone seen the show?

6. While in New York recently, I picked up a copy of John Thorn's Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game at the amazing and wonderful Strand bookstore. Thorn is MLB's official historian and at his blog, "Our Game", he has written about professional baseball's first championship game, when the 1871 season "went down to the final day amid improbable and poignant circumstances that will never be equaled". And Craig B. Waff and Larry McCray look at baseball in 1856.

7. Arne Christensen of The Hardball Times talks with the former sportswriter ~~and lead singer of AC-DC~~ Bryan Johnson, who wrote about sabermetrics for Canada's national paper, the Globe and Mail, in the early 1980s. Bill James cites Johnson as discovering the tendency of a team to revert back to the win-loss total one would expect from its ratio of runs scored to runs allowed. Johnson recalled he was

in a constant fight with other writers, columnists, etc., both within my own paper, and versus competitors. You saw, I think, how the Toronto Sun declared Alfredo Griffin the Jays' "MVP" — after I pointed out his atrocious OBP [.248 and a 48 OPS+ in 140 games in 1984], and pretty much demanded that the Jays bring up Tony Fernandez. That was the basic tenor of the times. The response was very negative, very hostile. New ideas seemed quite threatening to baseball writers, for reasons that weren't clear then, or now. ...

I remember, in 1985, arguing with a current ESPN guy (Tim Kurkjian, then a Dallas writer) in the press box in Kansas City, that George Brett deserved the MVP much more than Don Mattingly. But his response was utter dismissal, since Mattingly had far more RBIs.

Johnson now works as a teacher in the Philippines, which is says is "perfect" for an obsessive fan: "The 12-hour time difference means you wake up, make coffee, and watch a ballgame over breakfast. Meanwhile, my computer is on in the background, churning out up-to-date scores."

8. "The History of How We Follow Baseball" (Philip Bump, The Atlantic, October 2011)

9. Fantasy baseball - in the 1880s? Victorian nerds!

Papelbon Signs With Phillies

2011-11-11T15:36:00.006-05:00

Jonathan Papelbon has shipped "up" to Philadelphia, having agreed (pending a physical) with the Phillies on a four-year deal worth roughly $50 million.

It's a drag to see the Snuffer go, but even with his stupendous performance in 2011, it was all but certain the Red Sox would not commit the kind of dough Papelbon wanted. Bot resisted signing a long-term deal with the Red Sox earlier in his career and he made it clear on several occasions that he wanted to test the free agent market.

Papelbon, who turns 31 this month, collected 219 saves in seven seasons with the Red Sox. In 27 post-season innings, he allowed only three runs (1.00 ERA), all of them coming against the Angels in Game 3 of the 2009 ALDS.

In 14.2 ALCS and WS innings, he allowed 0.48 baserunners per inning (excluding intentional walks). He recorded seven post-season saves, including Games 2, 3, and 4 of Boston's 2007 World Series sweep of the Rockies.

Earlier in the day, the Phillies denied they had a 4/44 deal in place with Ryan Madson.

Daniel Bard is the likely man to step into Boston's closer shoes, and he will cost approximately 4% of Papelbon's 2012 salary. Bard's WHIP has dropped every year (1.277, 1.004, 0.959), although he seems to have a mental block (or extremely shitty luck) when it comes to saving games. In his three-year career, he has blown 15 of 20 save attempts.

Francona Interviews For Cardinals Manager Job

2011-11-09T10:43:00.001-05:00

Terry Francona has interviewed for the job of Cardinals manager. Tito said he met with chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. in Cincinnati.

Francona: "We just had a dialogue. I enjoy talking about baseball - a lot. Without going into details, we discussed pretty basic philosophy. I'd call it an enjoyable, casual conversation. ... I was just excited to go back in there and talk to them. Whatever happens, happens."

Tony La Russa was St. Louis' manager for the last 16 years (since 1996). He retired after winning the 2011 World Series.

The Red Sox will interview Cleveland bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. today. Two other managerial candidates have been announced: Blue Jays first base coach Torey Lovullo will be interviewed on Friday and Tigers third base coach Gene Lamont will meet with the team on Saturday.

Lovullo managed the Pawtucket Red Sox in 2010. He also played with Cleveland in 1998 when Ben Cherington worked in the Spiders' front office.

The Red Sox have been scouting Yoenis Cespedes, a Cuban outfielder who defected to the Dominican Republic last summer. Cespedes, 26, is expected to be declared a free agent this winter. He hit 33 dongs in 99 games last season in Cuba. Two days ago, Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein wrote:

He's a tremendous talent—arguably the best all-around player to come out of Cuba in a generation. He's a legitimate centerfielder with plus power and speed and is in his prime.

Goldstein's highly-entertaining article walks us through "The Showcase", a 20-minute (!) promotional video of Cespedes.

You'd think that because former Red Sox GM Dan Duquette was out of major league baseball for nearly a decade, that the Boston media would be able to resist insulting him after he accepted the position as Orioles GM. I did not make anything close to an exhaustive search, but the Herald's John Tomase could not resist, kicking off his column with "middle-aged paunch" and adding:

The starched white collar. The oval glasses. The smirk bordering on smug. The prep school part in his hair on the left. Judge the 53-year-old Duquette on looks alone and nothing has changed.

More like "I am judging the 53-year-old Duquette on looks alone. Nothing has changed." It takes Tomase 540 words before mentioning anything about Duquette's accomplishments in Boston.

Gordon Edes also wrote a fairly negative column for ESPNBoston, though he stuck to more substantial matters than Duquette's waistline. At the Globe, Tony Massarotti avoids the rancor, saying this new job is a chance for redemption.

Shame on us. Shame on all of baseball. We put more stock in the wrapping paper than what was in the box. If Duquette had a personable assistant GM like say, JP Ricciardi, many of his problems might have been avoided. Instead, the resentment built, and the Duquette era was remembered and chronicled as a colossal failure when it was not. ...

During his time in Boston, Duquette emphasized many of the same things Epstein did, albeit in far less polished language. He spoke of rebuilding the Red Sox through the draft and player development. He talked of expanding the team’s interests in international free agency. Duquette even used sabermetric analysis, something not nearly as accepted then as it is now ...

The Orioles are a laughingstock. They are easily the weakest sisters of the challenging AL East. They have been beaten, rejected and all but spit on in recent years.

Dan Duquette can certainly relate to that.

Naturally, I'm quite curious as to what Mazz has written about the Duke in the past. Could he have always been this level-headed and rational?

Manager Watch: Maddux Cancels Interview With Red Sox

2011-11-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux told the Red Sox today that he was withdrawing his name from consideration for the manager's job.

Maddux, who pitched for Boston in 1995 and 1996, was scheduled to be interviewed tomorrow.

I could give more reasons why an opportunity like this should be taken rather than not, but the reason for withdrawing my name from consideration comes down to a family decision. My wife and two daughters are together in the same state for the first time in three years, and words cannot describe my happiness. The game of baseball has many sacrifices, but being apart from family is the toughest. I feel there is too much distance between the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and Boston to see my family as much as I'd enjoy.

Sandy Alomar Jr. will be interviewed on Wednesday. Pete Mackanin and Dale Sveum were interviewed last week, and GM Ben Cherington says he would like to have filled the position by Thanksgiving - two weeks from this Thursday.

Former Boston general manager Dan Duquette - out of MLB since 2002 - has agreed to be the Orioles' Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. A formal announcement will be made tomorrow at 11 AM.

Brittany Ghiroli, MLB.com:

Duquette was farm director for the Expos from 1987-91 and their general manager from 1991-94, when he was hired to be GM by the Red Sox [1994-2002]. He traded for pitcher Pedro Martinez twice, first when he was with Montreal and again when he was with Boston, and also acquired Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek for the Red Sox in a trade with the Mariners. As Boston's GM, Duquette also signed Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon, and despite being dismissed under the Red Sox new ownership in 2002, helped lay the groundwork for the club that won the World Series in 2004.

Rangers Champs Tattoo

2011-11-05T18:56:00.001-04:00

Via Big League Stew:

'Duk:

Needless to say, we have a few questions about this gentleman, so we've asked to be put in touch with him. We will report back with any and all responses.

Here are two Yankees tattoos:

Buckley Botches Honeymooners Reference

2011-11-05T16:54:00.000-04:00

Steve Buckley, Herald, November 3, 2011:

Mike Quade's days as manager of the Chicago Cubs were numbered as soon as Theo Epstein said, "I do," and stepped in as the team's Grand Exulted Poobah of Baseball Operations, or whatever it is they're calling him out there in the Midway.

1. It's exalted ("elevated in rank, character, or status"), not exulted ("show or feel elation or jubilation") - although Epstein does seem very happy with his new job.

2. Buckley does not use the word "honeymoon" in his column, but I believe his "I do" makes his Poobah title a reference to Ralph Kramden and the Raccoon Lodge. Unfortunately, that Honeymooners reference is Grand High Exhalted Mystic Ruler. The Grand Poobah comes from The Flintstones, a cartoon stone-age Honeymooners.

3. Hellooooooooo, ball!

Former Conditioning Coach Dave Page Speaks Out

2011-11-05T13:13:00.000-04:00

Former Red Sox strength and conditioning coach Dave Page feels he has been scapegoated and spoke yesterday on the Mut & Merloni show about four players who failed to follow the team's conditioning program as the 2011 season wore on.

[F]rom a physical, fundamental and mental preparation, we just didn't have it every night. ...

We got to the end of the year where we had four guys - without naming names --we had four guys that we thought didn't make it to that part of the season where we hoped they would be: one position player - an everyday guy - one pitcher - a starting pitcher -- and two bullpen guys. For the most part, everybody else had stayed within where we wanted them to be. They were what we expected. Most of them were working. ...

I did have a good conversation with one player at the end of the year in Baltimore that really kind of opened my eyes. I said, "Hey, what's going on here? It seemed like you pulled the plug a little bit. Why?" He kind of looked down at the ground, looked back and me and said, "I don't know why. I can't answer that question." Which was kind of a shock. ...

I got a text message from one player the other night that said ... "I feel this is all my fault."

The Herald's John Tomase's article on Page implies (to me, at least) that the texter was Josh Beckett. Page did tell WEEI that the Baltimore player was not Beckett, and a SoSH process of elimination suggests Lester was the pitcher.

Bob Hohler's article in the Globe mentioned that Beckett, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, and other players cut back on their exercise regimens despite Page's appeals. One source (who could well have been Page, considering this radio interview), said, "It's hard for a guy making $80,000 to tell a $15 million pitcher he needs to get off his butt and do some work." (Beckett earned $17 million in 2011 and Lackey was paid $15.9. Lester earned $5.8, with Buchholz at $0.5.) Since the club knew Lackey was hurt and would likely need surgery at the end of the year, the butt-sitting pitcher here is probably Beckett.

Page also mentioned a game against the Yankees in late August that he watched from the bullpen as an excellent example of the team's lack of effort.

In the first six innings ... we hit 18 balls in play. [Of the] 18 outs that we made, seven times the guy who hit the ball never made it to first base - peeled off before he got to the bag. I said something to the other coaches. I said, "We're just not playing hard."

Running all the way to first base seems like the least a batter can do after he has hit the ball. The peeling off annoys the hell out of me, as does the media's highly selective reporting on who does the peeling. Many Sox also do not bother running from first to second while the opposing team is trying to turn a double play. So a base runner (who is often lauded for "playing the game the right way") is busy making a wide half-circle in shallow right field while the other team turns two.

Sox Make No Offer To Ortiz During Exclusive Negotiating Period

2011-11-04T19:32:00.002-04:00

The Red Sox did not make a contract offer to free agent DH David Ortiz while the team had exclusive negotiating rights. Flo can now speak with any of the other 13 American League teams (assuming no NL team will sign him to play first base).

I was expecting something would happen before [the exclusive negotiating period ran out], but so many things are going on. I know everybody has priorities, and to be honest with you, I thought I was one of them. ... I'm so used to knowing where I'm going to be the following year, but now seeing things go this way . . . To be honest with you, it doesn't matter where I go, I'm just going to try to be the same and do what I normally do. Workout the way a lot of people expect. I'll just have to listen to somebody else.

Any whining about how important Ortiz believes he is to the team - whether or not it's true - is not a smart move. (And it doesn't matter where he plays next year?!?)

In 2011, Ortiz slapped down the people (like me) who thought he was at the end of his career. Tiz had his best season at the plate in four years: his highest batting, slugging, and on-base averages, as well as the most hits, doubles, and total bases since 2007. But he will celebrate his 36th birthday on November 18 - and some decline would not be unexpected.

The Red Sox probably have a very good idea what the AL DH market is and are content to have Ortiz see for himself what the landscape looks like before presenting an offer.

Ortiz earned $12.5 million last year, and is hoping for a three-year contract. Ideally, Ortiz and Cherington agree on a 2/25 deal. I'm not ready to say good-bye to the Big Cat.

Mackanin, Sveum Interviewed For Manager's Spot

2011-11-03T14:17:00.004-04:00

The Red Sox have interviewed third base coach Dale Svuem and Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin for the vacant manager's spot. The team has also been given permission to interview Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux and Cleveland bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr.

Cubs GM Theo Epstein fired manager Mike Quade yesterday and is considering Sveum and Mackanin - and the Cubs have permission to speak with Maddux.

Mackanin, 60, was interviewed on Monday.

My qualities are my versatility, the fact I have a rounded-out career. I've been a scout, I've been an advanced scout, I've done major league coverage, I've been a major league player, a minor league player, a third-base coach, a bench coach, an outfield instructor, infield instructor, minor league coordinator ...

Mackanin was an interim manager twice, for the Pirates (2005) and the Reds (2007). He said the Sox interview was "an interesting little scenario ... basically going over strategy in games and things like that. A lot of good questions, a lot of different questions, a lot of outside-the-box questions and inside-the-box questions."

Sveum - the third base coach for 2004 and 2005 - was interviewed Wednesday. GM Ben Cherington:

We're looking at sort of the entire body of work, and in some ways, I think his experience as third-base coach is a benefit to him. He's been through some adversity in Boston, and a lot of our candidates won't have been through that. ... There's a lot of substance to his baseball thought process and how he goes about teaching the game, making decisions during the game. He's familiar with the city, familiar with some people in the organization. He's had a little bit of managerial experience in the big leagues, albeit brief ... He's got a lot of the qualities that we're looking for.

John Lackey underwent Tommy John surgery on November 1.

The Red Sox picked up Marco Scutaro's $6 million option for 2012 - Scutaro had the second best OBP among AL shortstops with 400+ PA (and 5th-best in MLB) - and declined the options for relief pitchers Dan Wheeler and Scott Atchison.

There was talk about the Blue Jays possibly making a play for free agent David Ortiz, but Toronto has picked up Edwin Encarnacion's option and will likely use him as their DH.

Dustin Pedroia was named MLB's best fielding second baseman by The Fielding Bible. At first base, Adrian Gonzalez finished #2, close behind Albert Pujols. ... Ellsbury, Gonzalez, and Pedroia won Gold Gloves. It was Ellsbury's first GG, Pedroia's 2nd, and Gonzalez's 3rd. The last time Boston had multiple winners was in 1990. The Red Sox had three winners in 1968 and 1979.

Jacoby Ellsbury (CF), Gonzalez (1B) and Ortiz (DH) won Silver Sluggers as the best hitters at their respective positions. (Miguel Cabrera would have been a better choice at 1B than Bert.)

The Yankees committed a minimum of another $30 million to CC Sabathia to keep the hefty lefty off the free agent market this winter. Sabathia, who turns 32 next July, will paid $122 million over the next five years ($23 per for 2012-15 and $25 for 2016). The Yankees have a $25 option or $5 buyout for 2017.

Review: The Art Of Fielding by Chad Harbach

2011-10-31T01:11:00.001-04:00

Chad Harbach's debut novel, The Art of Fielding, has received an amazing amount of buzz and praise, both for the quality of the writing and for the ten-year path the manuscript took to publication*. Baseball America called Harbach the literary equivalent of Stephen Strasburg.

* If you are interested, Keith Gessen explores the world of book publishing in the October issue of Vanity Fair. Gessen's article uses Harbach's experience as a springboard (the two men are co-founders and co-editors of n+1). An expanded version of the article (19,000 words or so) is available as a $2 e-book: "How a Book Is Born: The Making of The Art of Fielding".

From Gregory Cowles's glowing review in the New York Times (which includes plenty of plot details (aka information that does not belong in a book review because it can ruin your reading experience):

The novel centers on the Westish College Harpooners, a Division III team from the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan that sees its fortunes rise and then rise some more with the arrival of a nearly magical young shortstop named Henry Skrimshander. Henry is an infield savant, scrawny but supremely gifted, and by his junior year he's chasing records and being scouted by the majors as a top draft prospect. Then, in the baseball equivalent of a werewolf movie, it all goes terribly wrong ...

[I]t feels exactly right that Henry's crisis is precipitated by overanalysis - he's paralyzed by thought, by an inability to simply act (or react). This is credible from a sports point of view, and fraught with significance from a literary one. Thinking, after all, is a writer's primary weapon, but every writer knows it's double-edged; live too much in your head and you don't live enough in the world. This is Hamlet's quandary, and, as one character unsurprisingly notes, also Prufrock's: "Do I dare, and do I dare?" Harbach's achievement is to transfer the thinking man's paralysis to the field of play, where every hesitation is amplified and every error judged by an exacting, bloodthirsty audience.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Art of Fielding (I received a copy from the publisher, Hachette Book Group). Harbach, a Brewers fan, treats baseball as a form of art, and he is as deft at writing about the game as Skrimshander is at playing shortstop. And while there is plenty of baseball in the novel, Harbach is more concerned with his characters*' struggles with figuring out who they are (or who they want to be) and the attendant hard work, and the setbacks and dead ends along the way. Or, as The Atlantic's Reeves Wiedeman puts it:

What do you do when the thing you're best at, the one thing you truly love, suddenly causes you the most pain?

* Besides Skrimshander, the other main characters are: Mike Schwartz, Westin's catcher and the guy who discovers/recruits Henry; Owen Dunne, Henry's dorm mate (and teammate); Guert Affenlight, the college's president; and his daughter, Pella Affenlight.

While wondering why great sports novels are so rare, Wiedeman quotes from David Foster Wallace's essay (from Consider the Lobster) about his (DFW's) disappointment at Tracy Austin's memoir, and the realization that athletes often are unable to give us any real insight into what they do.

Wallace:

The real, many-veiled answer to the question of just what goes through a great player's mind as he stands at the center of hostile crowd noise and lines up the free-throw that will decide the game might well be: nothing at all.

Wiedeman:

Being a top athlete is such a physical, instinctual act, that it is one that its actors struggle to consider, and, indeed, deliberate on only at their own peril.

Wallace:

It may well be that we spectators, who are not divinely gifted as athletes, are the only ones able truly to see, articulate, and animate the experience of the gift we are denied. And that those who receive and act out the gift of athletic genius must, perforce, be blind and dumb about it - and not because blindness and dumbness are the price of the gift, but because they are its essence.

Wiedeman:

The value of the sports novel, then, is to explain not only to fans, but also to athletes themselves, just what the heck is going on inside their heads. Athleticism is a level of human performance so misunderstood by those who partake in it, that it begs for our best fictionalists to explore.

Salon's Mike Doherty writes that

Harbach exposes an issue that's integral both to the sport and to American democracy: the tension between the individual and the collective, where the pursuit of personal happiness is pitted against the good of the whole. ...

Baseball heroes uphold the standards set out for great men by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay "Self-Reliance" - they think for themselves and value "the independence of solitude" but accept "the society of [their] contemporaries" and "the connection of events," and come into their own as "guides, redeemers and benefactors." Such prose may seem grandiose in context, but Harbach's collegiate characters are given to quoting Emerson and other American Renaissance authors, who wrote at a time when baseball was becoming "the national pastime." Westish's baseball players are forced to examine how their roles on the team affect their trajectories in life.

Henry Skrimshander uses the same baseball glove he received on his ninth birthday: "The glove seemed huge back then; now it fit him snugly, barely bigger than his left hand. He liked it that way; it helped him feel the ball."

He is also rarely without his well-worn copy of Aparicio Rodriguez's The Art of Fielding, a collection of 233 aphorisms - bits of wisdom about baseball and life tinged with eastern philosophy. From the novel:

By this point in his life, reading Aparicio no longer really qualified as reading, because he had the book more or less memorized. He could flip to a chapter, any chapter, and the shapes of the short, numbered paragraphs were enough to trigger his memory.

26. The shortstop is a source of stillness at the center of the defense. He projects this stillness and his teammates respond.

59. To field a groundball must be considered a generous act and an act of comprehension. One moves not against the ball but with it. Bad fielders stab at the ball like an enemy. This is antagonism. The true fielder lets the path of the ball become his own path, thereby comprehending the ball and dissipating the self, which is the source of all suffering and poor defense. ...

Aparicio played shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals for eighteen seasons. He retired the year Henry turned ten. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer and the greatest defensive shortstop who ever lived. ...

There were, admittedly, many sentences and statements in The Art that Henry did not yet understand. The opaque parts of The Art, though, had always been his favorites, even more than the detailed and extremely helpful descriptions of, say, how to keep a runner close to second base (flirtation, Aparicio called it) or what sort of cleats to wear on wet grass. The opaque parts, frustrating as they could be, gave Henry something to aspire to. Someday, he dreamed, he would be enough of a ballplayer to crack them open and suck out their hidden wisdom.

Here are a few quotes from interviews Harbach has done in the few months since the book's publication:

I think the book is about a kind of crisis moment where what the characters have always done and have always relied on turns out not to be enough at these critical moments. ... [I]f you're not constantly transforming yourself for real, at a certain point you get stuck and reliant on a way of thinking about things you do that's not working anymore.

For Henry the diamond is safety and refuge - he knows what will be demanded of him out there, and he knows that he can provide it. The game is complex, of course, but it holds out the hope of being perfectly knowable. Life is much scarier, its demands much more shifty and unknowable. I guess what happens to Henry is that he's spent his entire career striving to make life as simple as baseball. It works for a while, but it's a doomed project, and suddenly baseball becomes as complex as life.

The Art of Fielding is in large part a book about the varieties of male friendship, from the antagonistic and the competitive to the deeply affectionate and the frankly sexual, and so Moby-Dick, taking place as it does in a very intense world of very intense men, seemed like the ideal analogue. A baseball team is a lot like a whaling ship: in each case, a group of men who might otherwise have little in common spend an inordinate amount of time in close and not-so-comfortable quarters, excluding the world, in pursuit of a common goal.

For Henry, I think the question is more: is there life outside of baseball? Until now, he's been so "regular and orderly" in his life, as Flaubert recommended, and that dull regularity has made him a great athlete but has stunted him in other ways. There's a tension between the demands of life and the demands of art; that's what he's trying to resolve. Can he do the strange, surprising, scary things required to become a real human being with a real inner life, and still devote himself to his craft?

That all sounds very exciting to me as a reader, but Harbach doesn't go into it as deeply as I would have liked.

There are apparently scores of literary references (to Melville and others) throughout the book, but I am not savvy enough to catch them. However, Melville does use the noun "skrimshander" in Chapter 57 of Moby-Dick:

Throughout the Pacific, and also in Nantucket, and New Bedford, and Sag Harbor, you will come across lively sketches of whales and whaling-scenes, graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm Whale-teeth, or ladies' busks wrought out of the Right Whale-bone, and other like skrimshander articles, as the whalemen call the numerous little ingenious contrivances they elaborately carve out of the rough material, in their hours of ocean leisure. Some of them have little boxes of dentistical-looking implements, specially intended for the skrimshandering business. But, in general, they toil with their jack-knives alone; and, with that almost omnipotent tool of the sailor, they will turn you out anything you please, in the way of a mariner's fancy.

The last name of Westish's Adam Starblind seems similar to the Pequod's Starbuck. And Owen Dunne recalls Owen Chase, the first mate on the Essex that set sail on a sperm whale-hunting expedition in August 1819. In November 1820, a whale rammed the ship and it sank. Chase alone survived to tell the tale, which fascinated Melville. (Dunne is also possibly linked to John Irving's Owen Meany.)

Praise for The Art of Fielding has not been universal. Robert Sternberg (Globe and Mail) states that

the cultured and literary baseball fan eager to be taken deep into the unknown world of Division III college baseball will be disappointed ... The book is too unfocused, heavily plotted and weighted down by the author's many contrivances, idiosyncrasies, indulgences and wearisome, not to mention unnecessarily topical, preoccupations. ...

In Moby-Dick, Melville often digresses from his simple plot to expound eloquently on various facets of the commercial whaling industry. Harbach becomes so wrapped up in the twists and turns of his elaborate plot, and the frequently inane repartee of his slippery characters, that he rarely allows himself such digressions, so by the book's end his subject, baseball, seems incidental.

I disagree with Sternberg's complaints, generally. He's not entirely wrong, but I do not pick up a book expecting to love every paragraph; I know I will likely encounter sections that I might describe as unnecessary or contrived or boring. That was rarely the case with The Art of Fielding, thankfully. However, I do agree that baseball ultimately ends up playing second fiddle to the various off-field dramas of the main characters. (Which doesn't necessarily sink the book. I simply wanted more baseball!)

Andrew Ivers labelled it a "professional failure" and Biblioklept (which quit reading after 100 pages) said it was

run-of-the-mill literary fiction ... The book is not entirely terrible. It just isn't very good, certainly not good enough to warrant the excessive praise that's been heaped upon it. Cardboard characters, cliché after cliché (plot, character, prose), and plenty of bad writing.

(Many reader reviews, good and bad and effusive, can be found at Good Reads.)

Vanity Fair published a lengthy excerpt entitled "Phumber 405" (Chapter 2 of the novel). The book begins between games at a "no-name tournament" in the heat of August with Mike Schwartz watching as Henry takes infield practice after his South Dakota team has been eliminated.

Schwartz didn't notice the kid during the game. Or rather, he noticed only what everyone else did - that he was the smallest player on the field, a scrawny novelty of a shortstop, quick of foot but weak with the bat. Only after the game ended, when the kid returned to the sun-scorched diamond to take extra grounders, did Schwartz see the grace that shaped Henry's every move. ...

Now when the kid reached the worked-over dust that marked the shortstop's spot, he stopped, bouncing on his toes and jangling his limbs as if he needed to get loose. He bobbed and shimmied, windmilled his arms, burning off energy he shouldn't have had. He'd played as many games in this brutal heat as Schwartz.

Moments later the South Dakota coach strolled onto the field with a bat in one hand and a five-gallon paint bucket in the other. He set the bucket beside home plate and idly chopped at the air with the bat. Another of the South Dakota players trudged out to first base, carrying an identical bucket and yawning sullenly. The coach reached into his bucket, plucked out a ball, and showed it to the shortstop, who nodded and dropped into a shallow crouch, his hands poised just above the dirt.

The kid glided in front of the first grounder, accepted the ball into his glove with a lazy grace, pivoted, and threw to first. Though his motion was languid, the ball seemed to explode off his fingertips, to gather speed as it crossed the diamond. It smacked the pocket of the first baseman's glove with the sound of a gun going off. The coach hit another, a bit harder: same easy grace, same gunshot report. Schwartz, intrigued, sat up a little. The first baseman caught each throw at sternum height, never needing to move his glove, and dropped the balls into the plastic bucket at his feet.

The coach hit balls harder and farther afield - up the middle, deep in the hole. The kid tracked them down. Several times Schwartz felt sure he would need to slide or dive, or that the ball was flat-out unreachable, but he got to each one with a beat to spare. He didn't seem to move faster than any other decent shortstop would, and yet he arrived instantly, impeccably, as if he had some foreknowledge of where the ball was headed. Or as if time slowed down for him alone.

After each ball, he dropped back into his feline crouch, the fingertips of his small glove scraping the cooked earth. He barehanded a slow roller and fired to first on a dead run. He leaped high to snag a tailing line drive. Sweat poured down his cheeks as he sliced through the soup-thick air. Even at full speed his face looked bland, almost bored, like that of a virtuoso practicing scales. He weighed a buck and a quarter, maximum. Where the kid's thoughts were - whether he was having any thoughts at all, behind that blank look - Schwartz couldn't say. He remembered a line from Professor Eglantine's poetry class: Expressionless, expresses God.

Then the coach's bucket was empty and the first baseman's bucket full, and all three men left the field without a word. Schwartz felt bereft. He wanted the performance to continue. He wanted to rewind it and see it again in slow motion. He looked around to see who else had been watching - wanted at least the pleasure of exchanging a glance with another enraptured witness - but nobody was paying any attention. The few fans who hadn't gone in search of beer or shade gazed idly at their cell-phone screens. The kid's loser teammates were already in the parking lot, slamming their trunks. Fifteen minutes to game time. Schwartz, still dizzy, hauled himself to his feet. He would need two quarts of Gatorade to get through the final game, then a coffee and a can of dip for the long midnight drive. But first he headed for the far dugout, where the kid was packing up his gear. He'd figure out what to say on the way over. All his life Schwartz had yearned to possess some single transcendent talent, some unique brilliance that the world would consent to call genius. Now that he'd seen that kind of talent up close, he couldn't let it walk away.

Cardinals Win A Historic Game 6

2011-10-28T02:56:00.002-04:00

Rangers   - 110 110 300 20 -  9 15  2
Cardinals - 200 101 012 21 - 10 13  3

Matthew Leach, MLB.com:

The Cardinals trailed five times in the game, including by two runs in the ninth and again in the 10th, but an irrepressible club kept coming back. ... The win means that the World Series will go to a seventh game for the first time since 2002. ...

The Cardinals overcame one of their sloppiest games of the year for one of their most improbable wins. They committed three errors plus a costly wild pitch, lost a runner on a critical pickoff and had trouble for much of the night turning baserunners into runs. But after repeatedly getting down to their final turn at bat, they simply would not die.

The Rangers did not trail in the game after the top of the second inning - until David Freese hit his game-winning home run in the bottom of the 11th!

This was only the third time that a team came back to win a World Series game after being one out from elimination:

1911 Game 5 - New York Giants beat Philadelphia A's (but lost Game 6)
1986 Game 6 - New York Mets beat Boston Red Sox (and won Game 7)
2011 Game 6 - St. Louis Cardinals beat Texas Rangers (??)

The home team has won the last eight Game 7s:

1982 - Cardinals 6, Brewers 3
1985 - Royals 11, Cardinals 0
1986 - Mets 8, Red Sox 5
1987 - Twins 4, Cardinals 2
1991 - Twins 1, Atlanta 0 (10)
1997 - Marlins 3, Cleveland 2 (11)
2001 - Diamondbacks 3, Yankees 2
2002 - Angels 4, Giants 1

The last visiting team to win a Game 7 was the 1979 Pirates, who beat the Orioles 4-1. Pittsburgh trailed in that series 1-3 and won the last three games.

Seven Years Ago

2011-10-27T10:29:00.003-04:00

Would Red Sox Seriously Consider Sabathia?

2011-10-26T10:51:00.001-04:00

Anthony Mccarron, Daily News:

While they would never admit it, you have to think the Yankees got a shiver when they heard Tuesday that Boston's John Lackey will miss all of 2012 due to Tommy John surgery, news that could make the winter as sticky as a humid summer for the Yankees. ...

[W]hat if their rich rival makes a play for the Yankees' own ace, CC Sabathia, if - when? - Sabathia triggers the opt-out clause in his contract?

Losing Sabathia to any team would be damaging to a Yankee rotation that has only Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett and Ivan Nova signed for next season. Losing Sabathia to the Red Sox? Potential baseball disaster. ...

The Red Sox may already have too many big contracts to pursue Sabathia ... If Sabathia opts out, he would be spurning the last four years of his contract, which is slated to pay him $92 million, so he would want more years and more cash.

The rest of Sabathia's MFY deal is 4/92, which is $23 million a year. He had the second highest ERA+ of his career in 2011. In the last two seasons, Sabathia has pitched 237.2 and 237.1 innings.

The last Red Sox pitcher to have 237 IP was Roger Clemens (1996). The last Boston pitcher to do it in consecutive seasons was also Fat Billy (1991-92). That's 20 years ago! However, several Sox pitchers have topped 215 innings recently: John Lackey (215 in 2010), Tim Wakefield (225.1 in 2005), Pedro Martinez (217 in 2004) and Curt Schilling (226.2 in 2004).

Would the Red Sox want to pay the hefty hurler, who turns 32 next July, something like $25 per (5/125? 6/150?!?) through 2016 (or 2017)? Even with slim pickings among free agent starters this winter, I don't think so. (The 2013 FA list is here.)

George A. King III, Post:

By the time two days of meetings in Tampa end tomorrow, the Yankees will develop a plan they hope will keep CC Sabathia from opting out of a contract following the World Series. ...

"Their hope is to present Sabathia with an offer he is agreeable with before he opts out," said a person with knowledge of the Yankees' thinking.

Sabathia has three days following the end of the World Series (a possible Game 7 is scheduled for Thursday) to make his decision. We'll have an opt-out answer no later than November 1.