Yesterday, Red Sox President Larry Lucchino took some time to talk to the press in the midst of the team’s recent turmoil. Lucchino told reporters, including Tim Britton of The Providence Journal (via Twitter), that despite the criticism the club has faced in recent weeks, “The cynical, jaded media do not necessarily capture the voice of the fan base.” Here’s more out of Fenway and the rest of the AL East..
- Boston has been a desirable free agent destination for the better part of the last decade, but pitcher Jon Lester isn’t sure if that is still the case, writes Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. “I don’t know,” Lester said. “It’s always been a demanding place to play, but until the last two years, it always was about baseball. Now we’ve got things written and said about guys’ personal stuff as human beings, as people. Now you’re starting to question people’s manhoods. That’s where it gets hard.” Meanwhile, Lucchino doesn’t believe that the drama will dissuade players from wanting to come to Boston.
- Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com wonders if Mark Reynolds may be playing himself into the Orioles’ plans for 2013 with his recent hot streak. Baltimore is unlikely to pick up his $11MM option for next season but they could non-tender him and bring him back for considerably less. In total, Reynolds isn’t having a stellar year by his standards, hitting .220/.335/.413 with 12 homers in 355 plate appearances.
- If the Red Sox decide to make a managerial change, Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggests Jason Varitek as a good fit for the clubhouse. The success of Robin Ventura of the White Sox and the Cardinals’ Mike Matheny should make clubs feel better about first-time managers, Sherman opines.
- Meanwhile, Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com has a different ex-player in mind: Bill Mueller. Mueller is currently serving as a special assistant in the Dodgers’ front office and like Varitek, doesn’t have any managerial experience.
Pretty tragic event happened at the Blue Jays game yesterday as a 60 year old fan suddenly collapsed from a heart attack. ”Players emerged from both
dugouts, watching with concern, while emergency medical personnel
attended to the man” to no avail. RIP to this man and condolences to that family. He died watching a game I’m sure he enjoyed. Kudos to John Farrell and the Blue Jays organization for releasing an official statement on behalf of the team.
I’m a trail runner and my wife always says “What if you die in the woods?” I tell her “I can’t think of a better way to go.” I hope the same applied to that fan.
Lester brings up an interesting point that I hadn’t considered about how it may affect free agents. I think ultimately money makes a lot of things more tolerable but I can’t deny it would be a consideration for some guys. Whether it is his fault or not, can the Red Sox really keep Valentine next season after all that has happened this year?
I don’t think they will. There are no other words to describe this team other than mediocre. With all the negativity and poor media attention surrounding Bobby V, I don’t think they will bring him back next year.
In a few years, I hope to see Tek managing!
No thanks.
That is hog wash.. I remember them bringing up parts of Reggie jackson’s “man hood” with regularity when he was with the NYY, generally questioning it..
Whether or not some people/players on the Sox had the guts to take it in Boston.. Billy Buckner was crucified by the NE media even.
Lester has been given the light treatment.. he needs to grow up and spend 1 single day in Buckner, Mickey Rivers, or “hot dog” Jackson’s shoes.
But his point is valid. Boston sportswriters have a nation-wide reputation for ripping players for personal issues and digging up dirt on people just to sell papers (or get website hits in this day and age). At some point, there is little difference between $12MM per year and $13MM per year, so why would a player voluntarily put themselves into that environment? I think more and more the Red Sox are going to find themselves missing out on players in the free agent market because of this.
Do people remember that Varitek was in the dugout last September? But Mueller would be an intriguing candidate.
I think Varitek would make a great manager/coach in the future, but not while all the same guys he played with are on the team.
Francona round 2.. Varitek would run his buddies on the roster up there until they should have been long gone and no rookies would get a sniff of the MLB roster..
whole heartedly agree with you there Maine. Tek wants to coach in the minors? Good deal, but no way does he start out at the top even then.
That’s exactly what I’d be concerned about, MS. I don’t think that it’s ever really a good idea to have a manager who has played with a large chunk of the current players on the team. Questions of managing experience aside, I think that Bill Mueller would be a better choice in this regard because he hasn’t played for the Sox for 7 years or so. About the only player remaining from the 04 team is Ortiz, IIRC, and there’s no guarantee that he’ll be back next year.
It baffles me that we are talking about Jason Varitek as a fit for Red Sox manager! It seems like just yesterday both he and Jorge Posada where calling the shots behind the plate and controlling the Yankee/Red Sox rivalry, pitch by pitch. On this very day, Jorge Posada turns 41 years old and you wonder if somewhere deep down he still wants to play. Reports are leaking out that Varitek would be a good fit as the Sox new manager and you wonder the same about him. To realize however that they are both retired and have both moved on is surreal for me and even that is an understatement. Both players were such key members of winning baseball for their respected organizations. As the Yankees and Red Sox square off tonight, yes the rivalry may be a bit diminished because of the standings, but the rivalry will always be top notch for me personally because of both teams illustrious history and hated history. #20 and the Captain add heat to that fire. Varitek would be not great but the absolute ideal Bobby V replacement for Sox fans.
Varitek has been talked about as a future Sox skipper for about 5 years now. As for him being a good fit as a Sox skipper in 2013? No, no he wouldn’t be — it’s too soon & he’d be the boss of way too many former teammates. Tito lost the team in his last 3 years because he was friends w/ too many of them. Bobby V got screwed in 2012 because too many Sox players were too close to Tito & unwilling to give the new guy an honest effort (AHEMpedroiaAHEM). Pedroia said of Bobby V early on “that’s not how we do things around here.” Well Pedey, all you’ve done around here for the last 3 1/2 years is lose, that’s why your BFF got the axe. So, maybe it’s time for a change in culture…
I agree completely with your point about Varitek, but I 100% disagree with you about Pedroia, and particularly that statement. That statement was made about Valentine calling Youkilis out to the media, and airing things out publicly; Pedroia was 100% right to say what he said in that situation, what Bobby did was sophomoric and destructive.
I kind of agree with @joe . Players don’t get to dictate how “things are done..” anywhere accept in their own houses. It’s one thing to set a rookie or teammate straight with that but that’s not how you address the manager, or at least not publicly or in front of others. Definitely undermines their authority.
I don’t see how it is any worse (or even as bad, given the circumstances) than what Bobby did. That’s not how you address issues/concerns with players – calling them out and questioning their desire to play the game to the media (particularly the Boston media) definitely undermines their ability to play the game and their ability to work/get along with other teammates, the media, and the coaches and manager, and it quite likely undermines the manager’s ability to reach other players and get anything done.
If you think what Pedroia said was more divisive, and had a bigger effect on the way the team played and the players and coaches got along than what Bobby did you’re fooling yourself. Pedroia is a veteran on that team and is looked at as a clubhouse leader – he’s one of the guys who’s supposed to stick up for the other players, and since Bobby was airing things out to the media I don’t see how it’s wrong for Pedroia to make a remark about it to the media.
Inmates are not suppose to run the asylum.
Bobby V called out a whiny & entitled player that’s had numerous issues w/ teammates in the past. I stand by my statement about Pedroia’s quote: what they do is lose, maybe calling out players & holding them accountable is what’s needed. Like Eck said on NESN the other night about the Red Sox players: they’re “a bunch of mediocre babies.”
Youkilis has never been whiny or entitled. He was always willing to play wherever they asked him to and to hit wherever they wanted him to in the lineup; Bobby called him out for ‘not caring’ and ‘not having his heart into the game,’ which is utterly ridiculous – you don’t blow a gasket every time you strike out if you’re not emotionally invested in the game.
Bobby wanted Youkilis out of town (either because he simply didn’t like him, or because he wanted Middlebrooks to play) and did whatever it took to make that happen.
The Real Baseball Husbands of Boston?
Varitek is such an intriguing name but he is close with most of the players in the clubhouse. That could be a bad thing. On the other side, Tek knows the game as well as anyone. They should certainly explore it, but it’s more than just the manager that they need to find for the longing term. They need to cut ties with some talented, but bad chemistry guys. If they do that this offseason, which will be tough, but they might be back to competing next year.
Long term*
I don’t understand how that’s a bad thing… He’s somebody that I’m assuming they respect.
I think if they make some changes in the off season (get rid of guys like Beckett) he’d be a good fit. It might be a little too soon but the players need somebody they can trust.
In response to these Red Sox points:
1) Lester needs to stop making excuses and pitch – if you win games the story changes. you can’t blame the media for trying to get to the bottom of this losing streak; it’s on the players to make the necessary adjustments, then the story would be (not will be – I’ve lost hope for this season; bring on the B’s) their miraculous comeback.
2) Jason Varitek is the worst possible choice for manager; he played with too many of these guys and would simply make more excuses for them – let Bobby out the bad eggs, get rid of those eggs (Beckett et. al) and move on.
3) Bill Mueller is intriguing; I trust Count Dooku.
what excuse did he make?
“Excuses” may be the wrong word in this case but pointing at the media as the reason it may be difficult to attract FA seems to be a way to deflect attention from the team’s play toward a media base that seems to have the team’s ire. My point is: win games and everything goes away. Look back at the WS teams; almost nothing critical written when they were winning when everyone knows damn well that there is always some drama on a baseball team, especially one with Manny Ramirez at the helm. Juxtapose those years with the ’00-’02 teams and you’ll see more of a focus on the negatives when it comes to reporting. The media has to write something; there are more ways to win a baseball game than there are to lose one so eventually, when you continue to lose, they will move on to other story lines.
Last night, on a Toronto radio station, Matt Stairs said Red Sox have a new manager lined up for next season and implied it is John Farrell. He implied it by saying to the radio show host “it is someone you know very well”.
Farrell would need to be let out of his current contract and considering the rumors during the last offseason were AA would demand some sort of compensation for Farrell my bet is Farrell stays in Toronto next season.
Josh Beckett??
I think its too soon for Tek as manager, but I think he’d be a great pitching coach.
I think Lester is right. Every1 always satalks about the Sox/Yanks as a contender, no matter how bad they are by the trade deadline…. All the players talk about how they want to go to a contender, but lately hasn’t happened….. Phils, Dodgers, Rangers and Yanks usually win out these days.
Just an FYI: it’s ok for someone to ‘write’ or ‘comment’ or ‘report’ instead of opineing.