The latest news on the Red Sox who, at 59-63, are currently on pace to suffer their first losing season since 1997…
- Clay Buchholz told the Boston Globe's Peter Abraham that he was surprised by the decision to let McClure go (Sulia link). Buchholz said he had a good relationship with McClure and spoke to him daily.
- Carl Crawford will undergo Tommy John surgery on Thursday, the team announced via press release. The surgery will be performed by Dr. James Andrews. Two seasons into the seven-year deal Crawford signed with Boston, he'll have appeared in just 161 games and batted .260/.292/.419. As a position player, Crawford will likely have a shorter recovery time than pitchers who undergo the procedure. For example, Reds shortstop Zack Cozart had Tommy John last August and was ready for Spring Training this season.
- In a second press release, the Red Sox announced that they've fired pitching coach Bob McClure. Assistant pitching coach Randy Niemann will take over the position in the interim. Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal tweets the following quote from Boston GM Ben Cherington: "This wasn't working out. We felt like we need to make a change. The best thing to do was to give everyone a fresh start." Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com adds that the decision was performance-based, not because of clashes with manager Bobby Valentine (Twitter link).
- Troy Renck of the Denver Post tweets that McClure will be a candidate to take over the Rockies' pitching coordinator. As Renck points out, McClure is familiar working with pitchers at an altitude. McClure spent seven years as a pitching coach with the Rockies between Triple-A and the Major League club from 1999-2005.
Speedy recovery Carl! This is the best solution. Hope all goes well and we see you next year! Playoffs seem very unlikely at this point.
Its time to bring the kids up and see what they can do. The vets arent getting it done!
Seems like the BoSox are making a lot of choices that while they say have nothing to do with Bobby V, they sure smell like it. In my eyes, if you have to claim that two different moves in the same week were not made because of one guy, that’s guy is probably a big part of the decision
Maybe Valentine wanted his own pitching coach all along, or had you thought of that angle. Most managers do.
Instead? Trolls come here and post negative Valentine/Boston swipes when many know all along that Nieman was his pick from the start of the season.
But doesn’t that confirm @lakersdodgersyankees4life:disqus ‘s point that the move DID have something to do with Valentine?
So apparently I’ve been a troll for the last 5 years that I’ve posted here. I wasn’t even here to post hate on the BoSox. But since you want it, here you go. In sports, players are never held accountable for the team play unless it’s someone of the Lebron-mold. Otherwise, it’s the managers. Coaches aren’t signed to 8 year deals for a reason. They are the scapegoat. It’s obvious that the BoSox upper management knows they messed up letting Tito go and will not give up on the Bobby V experiment. Any other team and the manager is gone at the break. The BoSox have shipped out a catcher who was holding his own and the pitching coach. Both have had problems with Bobby V. Coincidence? Doubt it
You’re just a positive ball of sunshine ain’t ya? And I honestly fail to see a single untrue Valentine/Boston swipes.
Rarely are managers hired and made to live with a staff they haven’t been a part in choosing. This whole thing has been a disaster but Valentine has taken way too much of the blame.
Bottom line is you win with starting pitching, and if Lester and Beckett had good years this team would be contending, despite the injuries, and would have had a lot less of the over blown drama.
Remember when they fired Curt Young? He’s doing so horribly in Oakland lol. Hey boston maybe it’s not the coaches fault.
That’s funny the Pitching Coach is fired because of his performance. Which basically means the Red Sox pitchers haven’t lived up to expectations. What about Valentine? Can we take it that since Valentine has NOT been fired yet the the team and it’s 59-63 record is living up to expectations?
When pitchers are struggling, you fire the pitching coach. When hitters are struggling, you fire the hitting coach. I don’t agree with it, but it happens all the time on all teams. But good job trying to make it look like it’s only the Sox.
My friend you are in denial. What part of the Red Sox is functioning as a team? As best i can tell nothing. The pitching leaves a lot to be desired. The offense isn’t nearly as good as their fans would like to think and it would appear that many of the players have little to no interest in playing for Valentine. I happen to believe all of those things are an indictment of Valentines managerial skills. And Valentine is ultimately responsible. The buck stops with him not the pitching coach, not the hitting coach not anyone but him. In my opinion the ONLY thing that has prevented Bobby Valentine from being fired is the he was the hand picked manager of Larry Lucchino.
I don’t like Valentine either, but please explain how the offense isn’t nearly as good.
For all the chaos and the massive amount of injuries we are still only slightly behind you in runs scored at number 3 in the league. Pitching your right about, but our lineup is quite good when injured and would probably be better than yours if it could take the field at full strength.
At what point does Red Sox brass start blaming the pitchers and not the coach?
Agreed, the pitching coach can help the players out, but in the end they are the ones playing and putting in the work. The coach can point out a weak spot, and give them some tips, but it is up to the players to go out and practice.
Cozart had surgery on his non-throwing arm. That’s an irrelevant comparison.
Mac never had a chance. He wasn’t Bobby V’s choice anyway. Too bad, I think he was going to be a good if he was given a fair shake.
Since he wasn’t Valentines choice, and the front offices choice, he did have a chance. Valentine didn’t have a choice in his staff.
Oh hey, it’s offical now: The Red Sox will have played ZERO games this season with all nine of their intended starting hitters (even if we could Middlebrooks after the Youkilis trade) on the roster at the same time.
McClure is a good coach. His problem was being hired by the general manager before senior management overruled the GM’s attempt to hire a “yes man” as the field manager. Bob’s basic loyalty had to be to the GM rather than the field boss, who was not hired by the GM. Unfortunate for him but he will be paid for the season and probably end up on the Colorado payroll whence he came. This, it would appear is the third defeat for Cherington in the past three weeks. First John Henry’s vote of confidence for Bobby V. , Then the shipping of Shoppach to the Mets, now, McClure’s firing. Ben must be looking over his shoulder by now. Maybe that director of scouting job in Chicago Theo recently opened up might have some appeal, do you think, Ben?
The Red Sox soap opera continues… Ownership has given the field Boss the backing he needs and told the player who’s in charge with this move. After the players mutiny these past weeks, ownership has decided to make Bobby V feel more comfortable with people he feels he can trust.
With Crawford out for the rest of the year, looks like John Henry, Larry & Co. are throwing in the towel for this year, but preparing for next. What this should signal to the players is the Valentine in coming back next year and that some players will not if they don’t toe the line.
And the three-ring circus in Beantown continues. It’s bee an absolute mess on and off the field. I would not be surprised if a team hires McClure very quickly. You might as well put a big top over Fenway…and bring some Beano, because it stinks!
As for Carl Crawford, the best move by Tampa Bay was getting rid of him, in hindsight. But I wonder if he would be like this if he had someone like Joe Maddon keeping him in line.
The teflon general manager loses another one of his hires…
I really like how this situation with Crawford turned out. He got to come back show hes himself then get his surgery with a big enough window to be a safe bet for spring training. Now he has something to build on going forward. I think he is gonna be great next year. As for McClure he sure turned the bullpen, and Clay around. Lester has been looking better too.