Tag: red sox

Tim Britton with a comprehensive guide on what you can except during the Red Sox offseason.

Terry Francona going to Cleveland seems to pave the way for Toronto to let John Farrell go to the Red Sox, followed by the Blue Jays signing Sandy Alomar as their new manager.

I am in the “fresh blood” camp, and think I would rather the Red Sox themselves took a run at Sandy Alomar. My top pick, however, is still Tampa Bay Rays bench coach Dave Martinez.

The Red Sox 2012 Concession Speech:

> The first error in judgment actually goes back to last October. In hindsight, it seems that parting ways with the most successful manager in the history of the Boston Red Sox wasn’t the best idea. Is it true that he lost the locker room? Yes. Were there some possible issues away from the team? Yes. But Terry Francona was a proven winner. Maybe trading a player or two earlier would have brought the team back to him.

> …

> We made a mistake in bringing in someone who threw darts to create his lineups … allegedly. A man who would rather pick up his adult son at the airport rather than get ready for a game. A man who hadn’t managed in Major League Baseball in a decade. Boy, did it show. But he certainly still deserves to be the manager, because …. well, you’re going to have to talk to the owner for an explanation on that one. I got nothing.

> …

> The team was built in such a way that put a healthy amount of pressure on the top three. Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Clay Buchholz essentially needed flawless seasons. Daniel Bard and Felix Doubront were the true wild cards. Expectations were low for the two, considering they had never started the season in the rotation. Well, Beckett is now off the team, Lester is having his worst year, Buccholz has been inconsistent, Dubront ran out of gas, and Bard was simply ineffective. I think that sums it up quite well. Let’s move on.

This was painful to read.

Top 10 pick in the draft that is:

> Their 90 losses is more than 23 other clubs, and also more than 21 other teams can now get to. The Mariners, at 73-86, have the tenth-worst record in the majors — while this should get them a top-10 pick, the Pirates have a compensation pick for their failure to sign Mark Appel that makes it so only the nine-worst records fit the bill. If the Mariners lost their last three contests, and everyone in front of them won out, they would still have only 89 losses. This would push Kansas City out of the top 10, but Boston’s placement is safe. Where they end up isn’t locked in yet, though.

Way to go boys. Way to go.

Most ejections for a Red Sox manager in a single season. Good job, I guess?

Hopefully he can become more than just “the guy they got for Theo Epstein.”

I am still not sure how I feel about year-long interleague play. I would prefer it if they simply allowed the DH in all of baseball.

Ben Buchanan at *Over the Monster* [has some of the Red Sox specific notes](http://www.overthemonster.com/2012/9/12/3321876/boston-red-sox-2013-schedule):

> So long as the Sox can keep it close in the first five months, they’ll have their chance to win–or lose–the division in September as the year winds down to a crazy finish starting on September 5: four in New York, three in Tampa, three more against the Yankees, and then six against Baltimore and Toronto. Oddly enough, the year will end with a pair of two-game road series against Colorado (this is the first year of even leagues and year-long interleague play) and Baltimore.

I think the proverbial jury is still out on whether the Red Sox are going to add enough to contend for the division next year. If they are in contention though, the schedule lays out nicely for an exciting September.