Happy New Year!

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)

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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.