July 31, 2008
As my fiancée and I were filling out paperwork to get a marriage license today, just around 3:58 in the afternoon, the front offices in Boston, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh were doing something similar -- shuffling sheets filled with stats and dollar figures and sending them off in flurries of transcontinental faxing.
The Red Sox were ending a marriage. It lasted seven and a half seasons. It sure did have its moments. And looking back on it now, in the immediate aftermath of the divorce, it's almost headspinning how fast it all unravelled.
Sure we'd had a lot of rough patches. They usually came around this time of year. But it wasn't that long ago at all that everything seemed totally hunky dory. This spring, Manny Ramirez was feeling groovy and talkative. Zen-like. He smiled a lot. He seemed mellow and more mature. He hit his 500th homer and we all went nuts. He said he loved us. He said he wanted to stay with us forever. Why not 600?! "I'm going to finish my career here," he said. And the hits kept coming.
But, almost before anyone realized what was happening, it all started to spin out of control. A couple ugly incidents of domestic violence. Angry and inflammatory words. One event after another, following in ever-quickening sucession.
And then, just like that, it was over.
He was awe-inspiring. He was endlessly entertaining. He was damn infuriating. And he will be missed.
But this is how baseball works.
It's still really, really weird to see him Photoshopped into that Dodger-blue uniform.
Joe Torre managing Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Lowe, and Manny Ramirez. Baseball really is a funny game.
July 31, 2008
A big deal for "the man with snakeskin boots"
We'd tell you more, except the entire internet is down right now.
UPDATE Sports Illustrated says Jason Bay goes to Boston. Pittsburgh gets minor leaguers. We sincerely hope one of them is named Andy LaRoche. While we're in speculative mode, we wonder if LA also gets Jack Wilson somehow?
UPDATE 2 It is indeed LaRoche, finally freed from his Colletti-and-Torre-imposed purgatory. Red Sox also send Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss to the Pirates, with one more prospect (presumably from the Dodgers) headed Pittsburgh's way. That's all it took to pry Bay out of there in all this?
This is a good deal for the Red Sox - they get a guy who is closer to Manny offensively than we realize (they're five points of OPS+ apart; remember: it isn't 2005 anymore) and whose defense makes him even better. It would have been nice to get some bullpen help, but one could fairly argue that removing Hansen from the equation is addition by subtraction. Moss is a nice possible fourth outfielder, but it's hard to get too upset about that. Bullpen help is an overvalued commodity at the deadline, particularly when a lot of that help is still available off waivers in August.
This is a great deal for the Dodgers, surprisingly, who didn't give up anyone who fit into their plans - LaRoche is probably the best 3B on their roster but whatever - to get a two month rental of Manny, who replaces the slumping Andruw Jones in their lineup, and will help out in a close division. And Manny, Nomar, and Derek Lowe are reunited at last!
What seems odd is that the Pirates didn't get more than just those guys.
July 31, 2008
2:30 p.m. I'm having a hard time buying this myself, but if it's in the Globe it must be true: when approached for comment about the Manny situation, Curt Schilling had an opinion.
July 31, 2008
It's 1:55 p.m., and, if you believe what you hear, Boston Red Sox principle owner John W. Henry has been e-mailing with superagent Scott Boras. Apparently, the subject of one of the messages was "Fwd: FW: Gasoline cartoons- 'a sign of the times'"
July 31, 2008
It's 1:43 p.m., and at moment it's being reported that Theo Epstein has a deal in place to secure financing for a new midnight blue 2008 Toyota Tundra Double Cab.
July 31, 2008
At 1:27 p.m., several
sources say they've seen, sitting on Commissioner Bud Selig’s desk, a copy of
Tim Kurkjian’s rollicking new memoir, Is
This a Great Game or What?
July 31, 2008
As of 1:16 p.m., reports are in that Manny Ramirez has walked out of the Fenway clubhouse
— and across the street to El Pelón Taqueria for a tasty "El Guapo" burrito.
July 29, 2008
Future Sox/Love Sounds?: Matt Kemp
As is customary in the days leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline, rumors have dominated much of the discussion in the baseball world (well, rumors and the Sheets-Zambrano matchup tonight in Milwaukee which is inexplicably not on national television). And as you may imagine, quite a bit of it is focusing on the Red Sox and their famously mercurial leftfielder, who, as you may have heard, is presently at loggerheads with team management.
Certain things we don't need to tell you - Manny does this every year, the Red Sox know they can't replace him, this time it seems different, blah blah blah. We think Manny is less irreplaceable than he used to be - there is evidence that he's in a decline phase, and while that decline phase will still be better than a lot of the league, it does mean that he can be mostly replaced for less of a pure-dollars cost, which could free up some payroll to shore up other areas of the team. But all that is a discussion for the offseason. We only think he should be moved now if they can also acquire a comparable replacement, and the chances for that are dwindling, particularly now with Mark Teixeira on his way to... well, he's heading to Fenway, but he'll be joining the Los Angeles Angels and not the Red Sox. (And that's a bad thing for the rest of the league.)
All that said, one scenario has piqued our interest. Essentially, there are two NL contenders for whom such a move would make sense: the Mets and Dodgers. And unfortunately for the Mets, they have precious little to offer in return - Fernando Martinez is a great prospect, but he's essentially all the Mets have down there. So we have a situation where need and return match up pretty well in the Dodgers, who, according to reports, are willing to move either Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, or both. If the Red Sox can get either of those guys for the cost of Manny and eating his salary, we'd say go for it. Those guys are young and filled with potential. Their offense may never equal that of Manny Ramirez's, but they can still be damn good. The Red Sox could also then flip a package involving either one of those two or <gasp> Jacoby Ellsbury to Pittsburgh for Jason Bay or (and this is admittedly much less likely) to Colorado for Matt Holliday. A Pedroia-Youkilis-Ortiz-Bay-Drew-Lowell-Kemp-Varitek-Lowrie/Lugo lineup doesn't sound too shabby.
Pipe dreaming, sure. But that's what this week is for.
POST SCRIPT: Incidentally, we're also hoping there's something to this Taylor Teagarden stuff.
July 28, 2008
We'll have much more on this in the days and weeks ahead, but Peter Gammons has bid civility adieu and wrote a full-on attack of Manny Ramirez. We are aware that Gammons in the past has been sometimes used as a secret mouthpiece for the Red Sox - and other teams' - front offices, but there seems to be something different about this one.
Again - much more on this tomorrow.
July 28, 2008
(Via The
Sports Hernia.)
IS SICK AND @#$% TIRED OF ALL THIS @#$% MANNY RAMIREZ CRAP!!!
GOD IN HEAVEN, WHERE DOES IT END?
WHY DO WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE SAME @#$% BULLSHIT YEAR IN AND YEAR OUT?!?!
July 25, 2008
It sure sounds like Alex Cora may have fallen out of favor with the Red Sox brain trust. How else to interpret the rumblings that the team has been pursuing veteran shortstops to help back up Jed Lowrie in Julio Lugo's absence?
Cora's defense hasn't been too good this year, and with Lowrie hitting well, there's no real role for him. The Red Sox already have backed away from a trade that would have netted them Juan Uribe - a good move, since Uribe is brutal offensively and not as good defensively as he used to be. Slightly more intriguing: John McDonald, who is also a weak hitter, but did rank third in at least one defensive metric last year. In that same SoSH thread, someone indicates that Peter Gammons was throwing that possibility out there. Jack Wilson is another name that's been linked to the Red Sox at various points in the past, but Jayson Stark reports that the Pirates' asking price is high.
Our preference? Give the keys to the position to Lowrie and let him play. We wouldn't be the first AL East team to field a poor defensive shortstop or anything.
July 23, 2008
John
Tomase.
Reilly says it best: there are gonna
be an awful lot of pissed-off aspiring sportswriters out
there.
I was never inclined to pile on the
guy like so many were. Mistakes happen. But the fact is that Tomase — and,
of course, his editors — screwed
up royally on the Pats beat, and now he’s being handed one of the plum jobs
in town.
Sorta brings to mind what Bill Simmons told
Adam not long ago, commenting about the
tiff between bloggers and print journalists...
“I couldn’t get a job
at a newspaper because nobody ever left, and nobody would give some schmuck
writing on the Internet a press pass. So what was I supposed to do, give up? I
started writing a column about sports from the only perspective that I had — the
voice of a fan — and it worked. I’m not going to apologize for
it."
“The bottom line,”
Simmons concludes, “is that these guys never, ever fucking leave. That’s one
reason sportswriting took off on the Internet — because you had a whole
generation of frustrated wanna-be sportswriters who couldn’t get a chance to do
what they wanted.”
I wish Tomase luck. He’d better dot
every i and cross every t, because if he thought the full-bore fury of Patriots fandom was bad, it’ll end up looking like a mild art-school critique if he
ever pisses off Red Sox Nation.
July 22, 2008
This is the first in a series of posts looking at possible trade targets for the Boston Red Sox in the days leading up to the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline. This is part one, looking at three left-handed relievers said to be available.
Brian Fuentes is a left-handed reliever who currently serves as the Rockies' closer. He has also served in that role in the past, racking up 30 saves in 2005 and '06. He will be a free agent after this season.
Positives: By almost any metric, Fuentes would immediately become the second-best reliever in the Red Sox' beleaguered bullpen. After a poor 2007, his strikeout numbers have rebounded. Lefthanded batters are OPSing .427 against him.
Negatives: The obvious one is cost - all three of these guys are coveted by nearly every team still in contention, which could set off a bidding war. More specific to Fuentes, he isn't exactly the picture of consistency - he allowed seven runs in ten innings in June, and last year he lost the closer role to Manuel Corpas.
Damaso Marte is a left-handed reliever for the Pittsburgh Pirates. According to Cot's, the Pirates hold an option on his contract for 2009 for $6 million (!) with a $0.25 million buyout.
Positives: Marte is a situational guy, who's been tough on lefties in his caree, holding them to a .198 average...
Negatives: ...except in 2008 he's actually had a weird reverse split. Forgive us for pulling a Joe Morgan here, but we haven't been following the Pirates closely enough to determine if this can be attributed to anything, or if it's just a sample-size-related fluke. Also there are smart people running the Pirates these days.
Ron Mahay is a lefthanded reliever for the Kansas City Royals. He was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox. He is currently under contract for 2009 ($4 mil).
Positives: In the midst of his best season at age 37. Seventh in the league in wins added by a reliever. (Subscription-only link). And he's doing it in the tougher American League.
Negatives: He's probably due to regress for the rest of the year. But might a regression to the mean still make him an improvement over Delcarmen, Hansen, Timlin, or even Okajima?
July 21, 2008
What are
the odds that Manny comes back next year?
What does
this face (in reaction, of course, to the atrociously ugly blooper that can be viewed here) tell you?
If only it could be an animated .gif that would properly convey the disgusted shaking of his head.
Theo's icy glare does not inspire much confidence.
Nor does
the team’s play since the second half began.
The mood is
glum in Red Sox Nation. Luckily, the mood is ecstatic in Sea Dog Nation.
What does
it augur for a certain 71-year-old’s political future that the
arrival of Big Papi in the Pine Tree State is bigger news — much, much
bigger news — than the
arrival of John McCain?
Sox Blog’s home state is going completely
nuts for the guy. Hopefully his mighty arms will repay Portland's citizenry by
continuing his trend of unleashing
a massive clout each and every game.
Speaking of
Sea Dogs, I was able to attend most of a double-header at Hadlock on
Saturday as the Dogs took on the hated Trenton Thunder. A good time was had by
all, even if they dropped both games.
In
attendance near me was the estimable knight of the keyboard Hurdy
Chadwick, an upstanding citizen of Westbrook,
Maine, and one of the two
proprietors of Full Circuit
Clout, an informative and provocative blog in which the goings-on of the 2008 season are bruited about using language not
heard since the days of Nuf Ced McGreevy’s
Third Base Saloon. (The one in West Roxbury,
not the
one on Boylston Street.)
Like Sox
Blog, Mr. Chadwick is well angered by the sight of Manny Ramirez rolling
about on the grass like a friendly golden retriever, and of Alex Cora committing an
error that lead to four earned runs. And so, naturally is Hardy’s co-writer
at Full Circuit Clout, Stuffy McInnes.
Yesterday,
Mr. McInnes took it upon himself to convey his irritation to the Boston Boys via
transcontinental cable. Hopefully, his hopping-mad missive will inspire them to
get their dander up and play the grand game way the grand game should be played: in fine fettle
and fighting trim.
So chagrined am I by the dreadful
ball-playing of the local nine that last night I took a few coppers from my
recent winnings at the greyhound track (where else is a Rooter to spend time
during the All-Star Pause?) and dictated a Western Union telegram message
directly to the flannel-wearing flailers.
Herewith are the contents of the message.
It is my sincere hope that a chum of mine in the Anaheim clubhouse was able to deliver it in
time to set these boys onto the diamond in the proper frame of mind to secure a
“win” to-night.
NL 10:52PST 21JUL08.
BOSTON RED STOCKING BASE BALL CLUB
ANGEL STADIUM OF ANAHEIM, CALIF.
THE POOR QUALITY OF YOUR BALL-PLAYING IS
WAFTING A STINK OF FAILURE FROM THE WESTERN JET-STREAM STOP DERBYS EXHIBITION
GAMES AND LEISURE DAYS ARE OVER STOP MEANINGFUL MATCHES ARE NOW BEING CONTESTED
WHICH REQUIRE YOU TO RESUME EFFECTIVE TWIRLING CAT-LIKE GLOVEWORK AND
PILL-PUNISHING CLOUTING STOP GODSPEED KNUCKLES WE HAVE FULL FAITH IN YOU
STUFFY MCINNES MAINE
Alas, his sincere hope went unfulfilled. Perhaps a visit with the cellar-dwelling seafarers of Seattle will be just what the doctor ordered.
If not, I shall be reaching for my bottle of Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey.
July 16, 2008
* Top Ten
quips from the
Sons
of Sam Horn game thread last night...
- “Game 7 of the WS will be played
in Japan
this year.”
- “Ortiz is done with rehab by now.”
- “I'm just going to shower after
this game is over so as not to miss my car pool.”
- “All this baseball must be torture
for Joe Buck.”
- “Leyland's
probably dying for a smoke right now.”
- “Pete Rose was just reinstated.”
- “I think the new stadium should be
ready for the 16th.”
- “We found Osama Bin Laden.”
- “Jeter and Tito laughing in the
dugout. I like to think it's because they're telling filthy jokes about A-Rod and Madonna.”
- “Rock, Paper, Scissors between
Hurdle and Tito.”
- “Home field advantage in the
upcoming World Series, which starts later tonight only here on FOX.”
* Yep. It
was a long game. Really,
really, really long. But, as much as I usually like Jeff Passan, I’m
not ready to blame Tito. At least our own J.D. Drew aquitted
himself rather well. (And, yeah, I would’ve loved
to see him pitch.) But how about that
poor Dan Uggla? I felt bad for him. Really bad. But, in fairness. He played
really badly. A SoSHer crunched the numbers:
Uggla's
batting WPA:
8th inning K = -.067
10th inning DP = -.325
12th inning K = -.181
15th inning K = -.061
Subtotal = -.634
WPA for Uggla's fielding errors:
10th inning (Young): -.073
10th inning (Quentin): -.222
13th inning (Drew): -.055
Subtotal = -.350
Total WPA = -.984
Uggla basically singlehandedly lost an entire game. If he were a pitcher, it'd
be as if his opponents were down three runs in the bottom of the 9th and he
came in to relieve, loaded the bases, and gave up a walkoff grandslam.
Other WPA of note: Drew's MVP .583 was more than eight times the next highest AL batter (Young)'s
.072.
* It was
great seeing so many All-Stars on the field last night. But where was Pudge?
Yaz? (And where was the Red Sox hat that should have been hiding Wade Bogg’s
hair plugs?) The game’s had a dozens of dugouts full of astounding players and amazing
characters over the years. And The Baseball Project’s Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails (Yep Roc), the debut record from a
sorta-supergroup feauturing Young Fresh Fellows’ Scott McCaughey, Dream
Syndicate’s Steve Wynn, and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck is a funny, tuneful listen, paying
proper tribute to players past and present, great and small. Read
my review here. Download
a “Ted Fucking Williams” here. Buy a copy
here.
* I’ll
admit: I was a little bit sad to see Steinbrenner in the state he’s in. I have
no problem giving Stade Fasciste its proper send-off last night. And,
yeah, it was all really well done. But that doesn’t mean I’ve got anything
even close to affection for that toweringly arrogant, entitled, and
self-absorbed team and its fans. A big FU to all those who booed Papelbon. He was on their
team last night. And if they hadn’t rattled him, maybe that run wouldn’t have
scored, and maybe the game would’ve ended in nine tidy innings. Which is all way of
saying that this
is a very important correction.
Onward
to the second half...