Here's a look at the latest on the Red Sox as they get set to take on the Yankees in the Bronx..
- There has been a great deal of speculation that the Red Sox could look to lure back Blue Jays skipper John Farrell should they choose to part ways with Bobby Valentine, but Farrell shot down the talk, writes Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Farrell reminded reporters that he is still under contract in Toronto while General Manager Alex Anthopoulos noted that the club's policy only allows for departures in the event of a promotion.
- Farrell's contract runs through next season but it may make sense for both Toronto and Boston to work out a deal, opines Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd). Olney adds that the Red Sox came close to reaching an agreement with Toronto last fall. The Blue Jays, he writes, should present Farrell with an extension offer beyond 2013, and should look to trade him to Boston should he decline.
- While many people have opined that former Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek would make sense as the club's next manager, WEEI.com's Kirk Minihane argues that Boston needs an outsider as its skipper.
If the Red Sox are willing to provide any kind of half-decent compensation AA should be more than happy to do this deal.
Yeah cause Farrell has done such a great job with the last place Jays.
He can only do so much when his entire roster is AAA players and bench replacements because so many guys are on the DL.
Are you talking about the Blue Jays or the Red Sox?
🙂
he’s still awful
gives away too many outs, lets too many players run free on the bases.. and oh the bullpen, oh dear lord the bullpen..
pull romero out, brings in a right hander to face dunn with 2 on. like c’mon
thank you. not enough people seem to see this
Of course it makes sense to ESPN, they think every team in the league should bend over to their beloved Red Sox so they can win the World Series every year.
OK, I’ll bite. What makes you think they love the Red Sox? I admit I might be blind to it as a Sox fan but I see just the opposite: to me, ESPN hates the Red Sox.
they cover them disproportionately; that’s just a fact. there are at least two possible explanations for it:
1) the team’s fanbase is disproportionately large and ESPN, a for-profit corporation, can count (or have access to calculators)
2) ESPN’s employees and owners are all red sox fans. and yankee fans. and, coincidentally, fans of all other teams with large markets
too close to call
The simple fact is they are catering to larger markets as you say. Go to the ESPN website and at the top you can see sites that filter out for a couple of the major sports cities. That’s who’s going onto their site.
As for whether or not they’re pro one team or another let me put it this way: Every right wing friend I have blasts news media as iiberal propaganda. Every left wing friend I have calls news media conservative wackos. Point being, it’s all about perception.
Disproportionately to what?
If you compare the amount of coverage any team gets to the size of its market and fanbase, ESPN is quite proportionate. They’re a national network with more viewers in New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. It’s only sensible that those cities get the most attention.
I imagine that market size is a factor but its clearly not the only reason they cover a team and its certainly not proportional. If it was than teams like Houston, White Sox and San Diego would receive a lot more attention than they do.
the term “market size” when discussing the business of baseball is not synonymous with “population”
yes, that is what i said
to me a lot of their red sox coverage seems to be negativity-driven; it could be timing on my part but I have watched entire hours of Baseball Tonight after the Sox won and they didn’t give the score. then the next day they got beat down and the score was one of the first they gave. In general ESPN’s whole coverage has seemed to turned negative
I think Farrell is exactly what the Sox need to restore order & production out of everyone.
Take Gene Lamont, please!
take Larry Lucchino, please!
Can we just call that an even trade and get it done?
I would take Tito back in a heartbeat but we all know thats not gonna happen, I would welcome Farrell back too (He was good for Lester). Honestly the most important thing to our future success is snuffing out whoever is leaking all of these club house happenings. If they can get back to having the type of clubhouse we used to have (Silent, disputes handled behind closed doors like MEN!) then we will be fine provided we are healthy. As for the Varitek thing I would rather him be the bench coach for a couple seasons then take over the team.
I’m not sure the players will get better and healthier with a new coach but with Farrell at least he should get the pitchers to perform to their expectations. I just feel like even if the players get motivated again with a different coach, there are guys who are on the career arc of regression and they may not bounce back as easily as expected.
And the Toronto pitchers have reached new heights with Farrell? Ricky Romero has regressed, Morrow is hurt. Was Farrell a good pitching coach in Boston or did Boston’s pitchers pitch well while he was there?
He hasn’t shown much as a manager from what I see.
I don’t disagree with your assessment of him in Toronto but yeah he did well with a lot of our pitchers. Not Dice-K obviously haha.
Barring another freak accident I expect Ellsbury to play, because freak accidents the only thing thats ever caused him to miss time. Pedroia and Adrian should be fine as they are still young players in their prime. Crawford has looked to be himself, and Papi keeps defying the odds. Having them together for the major portion of an entire season would do wonders IF the pitching could get their ish together.
Boston just needs the front office to stop trying to manage by using Valentine and Cherington as puppets.
Just curious how many Red Sox fans were in favor of Francona when he was there?From watching him on TV this year he seems like a great guy who got screwed by ownership. I’d like to seem him replace Mills in Houston ironically.
Please Boston, PLEASE take Farrell back. The guys been nothing but a failure in T.O. I’ve lost count of the number of games this guy has lost for Toronto due to his bonehead decisions.
The biggest mistake Boston made was getting rid of Francona. I would gladly get rid of Farrell if AA hired Francona to lead the team.
The biggest loss from Theo may not be his ability to create an maintain a championship team year in an year out it may be that he was able to mainly run this team as he saw ( Luchinno.Henry did but in on occasion) now were stuck with the Henry Luchinno show which is like a bad night of stand of comedy, you do in expecting to laugh but you just come out drunk an full of anger an disappointment. We need to get rid of alot of the cancer in the clubhouse an Tumor him self Bobby V. Let Ben an co. do there thing. Or fire Ben an Hire a guy you trust more ( if its a trust thing) an let him do so. I think ben is worthy of this job an needs to be given a real chance for a extended period of time.
Bring in Farrell an Keep Ben. If Ben has to go because owner ship needs some one they can trust an they will back off then Make Jed Hoyer the Highest paid GM. If he wont leave Chi, then Friedmen. I think he might of had anuff in Tampa to leave his best friend AKA the Rays owner an take a big time job that offers a big time challenge for Big time Money an see if he can cement him self in baseball as one of the greatest to do his job.
The debate over compensation for the lateral move of Jed Hoyer from the GM of the Cubs to the Red Sox would be hilarious. I am sure the Cubs would ask for the moon, and claim a lateral move should require more than the promotional move of Theo. The Red Sox will claim that there should be minimum compensation. No matter what, it should be great entertainment.
I would really like the Jays to take Dave Martinez from the Rays. He would be a great choice.
I like it, good call. A disciple of Maddon works for me… For the irony of it, Tito would be welcome in Toronto too. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a good manager either
Varitek for manager of the Sox? Get real. He was the Captain, yet sat on his backside as the Sox folded last year. Foolish.