I think this cartoon from the September 10th New Yorker Magazine says it all.
While I know that it is not all Bobby Valentine’s fault and we have learned that Theo Epstein needs to take his share of the responsibility, I don’t think Bobby will be around next year. He will join Adrian, Carl, and Josh.
I woke up this morning to word of the pending trade. It is now official. Josh Beckett is gone along with Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto. We got virtually nothing in return, but lots and lots of freed up cash since the Dodgers are picking up most of the remaining contracts. May Josh eat his fried chicken and drink his beer and enjoy his new clubhouse. Crawford was never healthy enough to figure out if he could have made it here in Boston, but he never really lost that “deer in the headlights” look. Gonzalez was a contributor despite the fact that he turned out to be whiner. And Nick Punto? He tweeted this
Even though Gonzalez looks happy here, he had the grace to tweet this
“Thanks to Red Sox nation for everything. You guys are great!”
But Adrian is happy to be headed for California. I guess there are west coast guys and east coast ones and he is a west coaster.
Will this be what it takes to turn the Sox around? Too late for this season, I’m afraid, but to quote from Dan Shaughnessy in his column this morning in the Boston Globe
You want them to blow it up?
This would be blowing it up.
The prospective blockbuster would signify a white flag on this horrible season. More than that, it would mark the end of a failed era of big names, big salaries, big egos, and maddening underachievement,
Will any of the prospects the Sox acquire emerge as blue-chip big leaguers? We don’t know. That’s not what this trade is about. This trade is about clearing the air of the stench created by the 2011 and 2012 Red Sox. It’s about saying goodbye to arrogance, unearned entitlement, and poor performance from top-priced talent. It’s about changing the rotten culture of the Sox clubhouse, a malaise that has turned even diehard fans against the once-beloved franchise.
After 12 infuriating months of passivity, sloth, and denial, the Sox look like they’re finally admitting they have a problem. This is always an important first step. The deal would be a whopper . . . in terms of the people who are leaving Boston.
Let’s make sure we keep Clay, Dustin, Ortiz, and Ellsbury. Let’s make sure we nurture Middlebrooks, Lin, and our other minor leaguers. Let’s build for the future.
Peter Abraham argues that the quartet that were traded are not bad people, just good players not suited for the big media market. Maybe true of Crawford and Gonzales, but Beckett’s bad boy, don’t care what fans think attitude got really old – especially when he had bad game after bad game. Josh was a star in 2007 and tried to live off that without doing anything new. Boston fans can be brutal and he did nothing to help.
Don’t know about anyone else, but I’m going to tune in to the Sox tonight, but to check out what is going on. Good luck to the Sox and good luck to the new Dodgers and their teammates.
I wish I were as optimistic as Chad Finn in this morning’s Boston Globe who predicted 93 wins and a Wild Card Slot I think that is optimistic since we don’t seem to have a reliable closer with Andrew Bailey injured. I also am not sure about Bobby Valentine who was not my pick to replace Terry Francona. But all that aside, I’m excited about a new season.
Here are some of Finn’s other predictions and my comments,
Mike Aviles will be an offensive upgrade from Marco Scutaro.
In his second year as the Red Sox’ starting shortstop, Scutaro had a fine season in 2011 (.299 batting average, .781 OPS). When he was traded in January to Colorado for nondescript pitcher Clayton Mortensen, the deal left many Sox fans puzzled. But Aviles, 31, is a better player than he gets credit for — as a rookie in 2008, he hit .325 with 10 homers for the Royals. He hit .317 after coming to the Red Sox last year, and he’s a lifetime .288 hitter. If he stays healthy, he may be one of the season’s big surprises.
I’ve always like Aviles. He is versatile and good hitter. Maybe not a flashy fielder but steady. The right decision was made about the starting shortstop.
Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and Clay Buchholz will combine for more than 50 victories.
Two seasons ago, the Red Sox got exactly 50 wins out their big three of Jon Lester (19 wins), Clay Buchholz (17) and … er, John Lackey (14). Beckett had just six wins in an injury-plagued season in ‘10, but he bounced back last year with arguably the best year of his Boston career. There’s no reason he can’t be as effective again in ‘12. Nineteen wins is always a reasonable expectation for Lester — he will get 20 one of these seasons — and a healthy Buchholz is capable of being much more than a No. 3 starter. I’m putting the Lester-Beckett-Buchholz trio down for 54 wins.
I haven’t quite gotten over the fried chicken and beer from last year, but I hope they have grown up. And as far as I’m concerned, Lackey was one of Theo’s big mistakes.
Cody Ross will become a fan favorite.
Actually, after a spring in which he hit six home runs — brashly and entertainingly flipping his bat on at least half, if not all, of them — he probably already is. But as a righthanded hitter with a swing tailor-made for Fenway Park, a career-long knack for hammering lefthanded pitching (last season excepted), and a personality that almost makes Kevin Millar seem like a wallflower, Ross will be in the middle of the fun at Fenway this summer.
Actually, I’m already a Ross fan.
The Red Sox will win 93 games.
As I wrote last week, the Red Sox are somewhat reminiscent of their 2002 club. Like their counterparts of a decade ago, these Sox have a roster top-heavy with elite talent, but there are depth questions at the end of the rotation and in the bullpen. The ‘02 Sox won 93 games and missed the playoffs. The first edition of Bobby Valentine’s tenure as manager will win 93 games — and make the postseason, thanks to the second wild card
And lose in the ALCS to the eventual champion Rangers.
How’s this for a scenario? Three AL East teams will make the postseason, with the Angels’ overrated lineup beyond Albert Pujols causing them to fall out of contention in the final week. The Red Sox will beat the Yankees in the one-game wild card matchup, then dispatch the Tigers in the Division Series. But the run ends against Adrian Beltre, Yu Darvish and the eventual World Champion Texas Rangers in the ALCS. All in all, not a bad first season for Bobby V., despite the 324 different controversies along the way.
Here’s to new beginnings! Go Sox!
I only got to see Tim Wakefield pitch once. That was on September 2 last year against the Texas Rangers when he came in as the relief pitcher for some kid who had already given up a huge lead. The Sox weren’t hitting – it was the beginning of the slide – but who knew that night. Anyway, Wake had a decent night. And as my husband says every time we talk about the game, “Wake should have started.” Whatever. The Sox lost that night and the rest of the season is history.
Christopher Gasper has a wonderful column in today’s Boston Globe which sums up how wonderful and how painful it could be to watch Wake pitch.
It’s not often in sports that you get to say with a reasonable measure of certainty, “Well, we’ll never see that again.’’ But it feels safe to say that we’ll never witness another Tim Wakefield. He has sui generis status in Red Sox history, Knuckleballer Emeritus.
Nudged out the door by the Red Sox’ nonroster (non-) invite to spring training, the noble knuckler called it a career yesterday at age 45 after 19 seasons, the last 17 with the Red Sox. He joined the Sox in 1995 as a reclamation project and exited as the longest-serving pitcher in club history. There is some cosmic mischief in a man who threw the knuckleball, the most asymmetrical pitch in baseball, ending his career with a tidy 200-180 record.
Wakefield is like a Boston sports time capsule. When he was plucked off the scrap heap by then-general manager Dan Duquette on April 26, 1995, Cam Neely was still playing for the Bruins, Curtis Martin, voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this month, had been drafted by the Patriots days earlier, Dominique Wilkins was the Celtics’ leading scorer, and TD Garden was five months away from opening.
But Wakefiled was more than a pitcher winner the Roberto Clemete Award in 2010.
Gasper again
Yes, sometimes watching Wakefield pitch was like getting a root canal without anesthesia, but if it was that tough to watch, imagine what it was like to be the one on the mound. People always got it wrong, the knuckler didn’t make Wakefield’s career easier. It made it harder. Throwing the knuckleball for a living should enhance Wakefield’s legacy, not diminish it.
The converted first baseman pitched his entire career with a chip on his shoulder because of his signature pitch, his successes attributed to the flukes of a fluttering ball and his failures presented as condemning evidence of why a knuckleball pitcher couldn’t be relied upon.
But even knuckleballers run out of gas eventually.
Here are two of the best, Wake and Phil Niekro.
Gaspae gets the last word.
Like the pitch he threw, Wakefield will be missed a lot.
Snow is/was predicted for Boston today. When I went to bed it was 2 to 4 inches which is excititing in a year with warmish temps and no snow, but now the forecast is for less than an inch. But whether or not we actually get any white stuff, this picture makes me feel all warm and happy.
Yes, it is the early arriving Red Sox at spring training.
I haven’t seen any robins yet, but this is almost as good. Time to wipe out memories of last year’s slide and see if Bobby Valentine can make me a fan.
On the day of the deadline for non-waiver trades, the Red Sox picked up a starting pitcher, Erick Bedard, from the Mariners. Does this mean that the outlook for Clay Buchholz returning this season is slim to none? According to MLB.com
The Red Sox traded four Minor Leaguers in two separate deals. Catcher Tim Federowicz, pitcher Stephen Fife and righty Juan Rodriguez were sent to the Dodgers for outfielder Trayvon Robinson. The Red Sox then dealt Robinson and outfielder Chih-Hsien Chiang to the Mariners to complete the exchange for Bedard and Minor League reliever Josh Fields, a right-hander.
I think I agree with Nick Cafardo’s reaction in the blog posting soon after the news broke
Think Tim Federowicz and Chih-Hsien Chiang are going to be pretty good players. Federowicz was certainly the Sox’ most complete catcher. Chiang’s taken a while to get going, but now a pretty good player.
At least Sox didn’t have to give up third baseman Will Middlebrooks, who didn’t play for Portland today giving rise to speculation he might have been involved in a deal.
Still unclear as to why Erik Bedard cost them this much.
I have only had a chance to see Middlebrooks and Chiang when we got to a Portland Sea Dogs – New Hampshire Fisher Cats game a week ago. I remarked to Bob that Chiang had a good shot of making it. Middlebrooks didn’t stand out. So now he will, only for Seattle.
MLB.com had reaction from Kevin Youkilis
Bedard, 32, has made 16 starts, going 4-7 with a 3.45 ERA. In 91 1/3 innings, he has allowed 77 hits and opponents are hitting just .226 against him.
“He’s nasty,” Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis said of Bedard earlier this week. “I think he owns me. When he was pitching against us, when he was healthy, I don’t know if we beat him — he beat up on us. He’s good. He has a great slider. When he’s healthy and he locates pitches, he’s a pretty remarkable pitcher.”
When he’s healthy is the key. So the Sox will likely give Bedard Andrew Miller’s spot in the rotation. Andrew Miller struggled again today even though the Red Sox rallied to beat the White Sox again. His problem has been walks, but today he gave up 10 hits instead. The other pitcher who could be pulled out the rotation is Tim Wakefield who is actually having a pretty decent year for a guy who will be 45 in 2 days. He just got his 2000th strikeout and will probably get win 200 next time out. Yes, the knuckleball is unpredictable, but I can’t see replacing him with Bedard. You can call me sentimental, but let’s let Wake finish the year in the rotation.
And we also got a utility infielder, Mike Aviles. A sign perhaps that as optimistic as everyone is sounding about Jed Lowrie, they are worried about him staying healthy. He arrived in Chicago last night
Aviles, who was in Cleveland with the Royals, arrived in Chicago in the third inning, put on his new uniform with No. 3 on the back, and played the bottom of the ninth inning at third base.
The 30-year-old has played second base, third base, and shortstop this season. The righthanded-hitting Aviles is batting .222 this season, but is at .309 with a .944 OPS in 55 at-bats against lefthanded pitchers. He is a career .296 hitter against lefties.
Playing off the bench for the Red Sox, Aviles said, is not a problem.
“The situation here is completely different,’’ he said. “We’re in first place and we have an opportunity to win a world championship. It’s going to take more than 25 guys to do that. I’m more than happy to be one of those guys.’’
And the Red Sox are rolling.
Given the way the season began, the Sox are not in bad shape. At the halfway point (July 2), they were 47-34. Since then they have added a win and a loss and gained a game on the Yankees. As Nick Cafardo said, “The Red Sox are flawed, but many teams would love to have blemishes and still win 47 games.”
Blemishes? Mike Cameron just never could come back from his surgery last year. Theo Epstein, when he was releasing Mike, said it was one of his mistakes, a trade that didn’t work out. And J.D. Drew. I like the guy. He’s a pro. But we can’t count on him as we could in years past. I see retirement for J.D. at the end of the season. Carl Crawford. What to say. He has a terrific smile, but so far he hasn’t lived up to his promise. We hope he is just adjusting. I keep waiting for Darnell McDonald to start hitting. There are kids waiting in the wings, Darnell. But the big blemish is John Lackey. And I think it is an even bigger mistake than Mike Cameron that Theo has to deal with.
Bob Ryan writes this morning in the Boston Globe
John Lackey once led the American League in earned run average
John Lackey once won 19 games.
John Lackey once gave up a leadoff double and then retired 27 Oakland A’s in succession, a performance that came in the middle of a stretch in which he threw 30 2/3 scoreless innings.
John Lackey once pitched and won a World Series Game 7.
John Lackey once was deemed worthy of a five-year, $82.5 million contract by the Boston Red Sox, who certainly were not bidding against themselves when they made the offer.
Where has that guy gone?
After yesterday, his ERA is 7.47. And even if Theo didn’t know this, he could never pitch at Fenway where his ERA is now, get this, 9.17. I feel a little bad piling on when he was injured and his wife is sick, but baseball – particularly in Boston- is serious business. We are in a tight race right now and when Lackey is scheduled to pitch, one has to pencil in a loss. Here is Bob Ryan again
But it’s really not funny. It’s a gigantic hole in the middle of a starting rotation that really needs to get to the All-Star break without something disastrous taking place. No one knows when we’ll next see Clay Buchholz, who is being sent to North Carolina for further examination of his back, and who, according to the manager, won’t be sent out there “until we know he’s not hurting himself.’’
Meanwhile, what do you say in a circumstance such as this, when a guy in whom you have invested an enormous sum of money, and who arrived with the reputation of being both a talented pitcher and a highly competitive one, has presented himself in such a horrendous manner? There really is no way to exaggerate how big a catch Lackey was supposed to be.
Here is what respected Baseball Prospectus had to say on the subject of Lackey’s impending free agency at the conclusion of the 2009 season: “Lackey stands alone as one of the best, a relatively young righty who carries significantly less risk than the other high-upside hurlers.’’
…
He has become the ultimate Mystery Guest when he takes the mound, especially at Fenway. A 9.17 ERA in his home ballpark speaks rather eloquently.
As recently as two years ago, John Lackey was an honored and respected pitcher. Now his numbers identify him as the worst starter in major league baseball. Baseball Prospectus probably would like a do-over. Theo, too.
But there is lots going well. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury are back for one. Nick Cafardo writes
They found a new starter in 6-foot-7-inch Andrew Miller that they’re excited about.
They tested the versatility of Alfredo Aceves and he succeeded in every role he was used in.
Josh Beckett returned to be a dominant pitcher. Jon Lester has continued his development into elite status among lefties. Jonathan Papelbon, who recorded his 16th save last night, has answered the challenge of pitching well in his walk year and Daniel Bard continues to show why he’s ready for the next step in his career – to be a closer. He appears ready if the Sox cut ties with Papelbon after this season.
Adrian Gonzalez is the team and league’s MVP so far. He’s an RBI machine (73), who knocked in the winning runs last night and has come to the American League and conquered.
And the last word goes to David Ortiz
“This team has a chance to do some things,’’ Ortiz said. “When we get our lineup healthy and together and the weather gets nice and hot, we’re going to be fine here. We’re going to put up some runs. It’s going to be fun.’’
Go Sox! And congratulations to the All Stars: Beckett, Ortiz, Gonzalez and Ellsbury!
I am not, as I have said before, a hockey fan. But I did watch the ceremony at Fenway during which the Red Sox honored the Bruins. This is my favorite picture of the event: All the the Bruins throwing the first pitch to all the Sox.
And this has to be my next favorite.
The Stanley Cup on the mound.
I know that Boston sports fans, particularly Red Sox fans, run the risk of become the New Yankees – the team that everyone loves to hate, but we can’t seem to help glowing with pride.
I thought about writing about poor Anthony Weiner, but am not quite sure what to say and I haven’t figured out yet if I think he should have been forced to resign. As I heard Al Sharpton say in some commentary, “I’m confused about where the line is now.” I could write about the Bruins but I know nothing about hockey so I can only say, “congratulations!” I do know that Boston is the only city to have championships in the four major sports in a decade. (Sox, Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins). So that leaves Sal DeMasi and the Red Sox as possible topics for this Saturday morning. Sal – maybe later.
The Red Sox won again last night. making their record 9-1 including the recent road trip. If my math is correct, they are 12 and 2 for June. What to make of all this? Here is Nick Cafardo in Friday’s Boston Globe.
What do you dream about when you embark on a nine-game trip against your top American League East rivals?
First, you dream about nine wins. Short of that, 8-1 is a good alternative. And that’s exactly what the Red Sox completed last night, matching the franchise’s best nine-game trip accomplished in 1977.
Oh what messages the Sox sent their rivals over the past 10 days.
In no particular order:
1. We’re back.
2. We’re good.
3. We’re ready to kick anyone’s behind.
4. Try stopping us.
5. We may be the best team in baseball.
And with those messages comes the reality that the Yankees are still winning, the Rays are very pesky, the Jays will make your life miserable if you let them, and there are no guarantees in baseball.
And there really are no guarantees. Last night Carl Crawford left with a hamstring injury, Jed Lowrie has a bad shoulder, and Clay Buckholtz has a back issue. So all of us Sox fans need to not get ahead of ourselves.
But there is no harm in dreaming.
Michael Vega in this morning’s Globe:
As newcomers relatively unfamiliar with Duck Boat parades, perhaps Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford should consider witnessing first-hand how Boston fetes its champions.
After all, isn’t this why they wanted to come to Boston?
The Dallas Mavericks are winners! They defeated Miami and “King James” for the rest of us.
Two interesting posts from the New York Times live blog of the game.
10:42 P.M. |This one is over.
The Dallas Grown-Ups will surely finish this one, as the Miami Children continue to run around without any direction or purpose, much like I do in regards to my entire life. I empathize.
10:43 P.M. |Long Summer
It’s going to be a long summer for LeBron, D-Wade, and the rest of the Heat.
Classy move by LeBron untucking his shirt with a minute to go, too. Someone get him a life coach. Shotgun not it.
I also heard on the radio that LeBron shook a few hands and left the court almost immediately after the game was over. What a classy guy – not!
The Heat will likely win a championship sometime, but for right now, I’m happy that it wasn’t this year.
Earlier the Red Sox who finished in such a disappointing way last year, started the seaon 0-6 and then 2-10 and seemed to take forever to get to .500. won their 9th in a row – and I think, the 3rd sweep in a row.
Carl Crawford has had his moments since coming to the Red Soxs, but Adrian Gonzalez is just as amazing as advertised. And he – or something has Big Papi on a tear that has lasted for weeks now. But recently it is not just the wins, it is the number of runs being scored and most of all it is the pitchers stepping up. And speaking of pitching, it seems likely that Daisuke Matsuzaka had pitched his last game for the Sos and possibly the last in this country and he heads for Tommy John surgery.
Congratulations, Mavs! Go Sox!
FortLeft 