Red Sox Reality Check

Okay, so I lifted the title from Remember the Titans. Who's watched that lately. As for the Red Sox, do they have a leadership vacuum? Well, there's Bill Lajoie, a fossil who doesn't have to listen to any sabermetric mumbo-jumbo anymore, Jerry Kapstein, reborn from the Dark Side of his former player agent life, and the gang of well, however many, until they abandon ship. So what do you want, attitude or performance? I'll take Manny, who is, yes underrated, in left, and produces at the plate. So he doesn't run out a ground ball once in awhile. A patient came in the other day and said, 'you can't replace performance. You may like your job, but aren't there days when your office door looks like Mount Everest, and you don't want to climb it? Nobody loves their job every day.' Well, nobody on the Red Sox anyway. The Celtics' pregame show asks, "if the Colts can't win the Super Bowl, who's your next pick?' Tanguay liked the Bengals...

Hide and go seek, Larry. "Larry out in free." We know you're out there somewhere, you rascal, you. So, Peter Woodfork leaves to join Josh Byrnes in Arizona. Say hi to Tom DeMark for me. Guess that you could have stuck a fork in Woodfork's chances at the GM spot. Anybody else on the junior GM circuit in need of some sunshine/vitamin D. We can group the candidates into three categories. First, the "Chorus Line" cast of characters, "I need this job." Right. That would be the Slim Jims, Jim Bowden, Jim Beattie, and probably Jim Bunning, Jim Bouton, and Jim Lonborg. Second, you have the "anonymous" category, which could include just about anybody, critics of the administration excepted. Third, you have the residents in training, like Jed Hoyer. Of course, the biggest group is the "Don't call me, I'll call you group from the Sabeans, Towers, Moores, LaCavas, and so on." They're are in the George Carlin group of "can y...

Let's face it, as Sox fans, we aren't the most objective cards in the deck. Sox fans thought the Gator was the best thing since sliced bread, paid homage to the Millar altar, and on the Red Sox Usenet board, there are fans who believe that a hustling Bill Mueller is worth more than Manny Ramirez. First, we won't have to 'worry' about Manny having a bad influence on Hanley Ramirez, who seemed destined to wind up somewhere else in the wake of the Renteria deal. Second, the Sox didn't sacrifice either Lester or Hansen to the Floridians. What are Yankee fans saying? Here's a smattering of comments I've heard. "It's a great deal for the Red Sox." "What's the downside for the Red Sox?" "A real commissioner would block this deal." THAT is definitely my favorite, when Yankee fans whine about exploitation of the system. Okay, now where's Waldo, er, Larry, standing up to take credit for the deal? Like OJ, he's probably...

Peter Gammons announces via ESPN that the Sox have acquired Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell in trade for Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, and an unspecified minor league pitcher. The Sox get an overpaid and once productive third baseman (Lowell) and a top-of-the rotation pitcher in return for their top position prospect (Ramirez) and a highly regarded righthanded pitcher (Sanchez). The Sox show a willingness to add payroll, and they do not lose key lefthander Jon Lester. The Sox pitching staff now features Schilling, Beckett, Papelbon, Wakefield, and Clement (who knows), with power arms Hansen and Delcarmen in the bullpen to develop alongside their veterans. Where Lester winds up, we don't know. Presumably, David Wells returns to the left coast for an unspecified spare part. Lowell, a Gold Glover steps in at third, and whether Kevin Youkilis becomes expendable or a discount first base alternative. The bullpen isn't entirely stabilized, Johnny Damon is on the market, and who knows w...

Okay. So the Red Sox couldn't hang on to GM Theo Epstein. Life goes on. At least as fans we can celebrate the American League MVP, David Ortiz. What? No DHs allowed. What came out of the General Managers' meetings? Let's examine this closely. Four of baseball's version of 101 Dalmations made the trip, on their own until Cruellarry De Ville, I mean Cruel Larry De Hub showed up to supervise Jed Hoyer, Craig Shipley, Peter Woodfork, and Ben Cherington. Maybe they're the Spy Kids . Surely, upper management required each to write, "I will not seek to become a New England icon" on the chalkboard at least a 100 times. Meanwhile, Cruellary, cloaked in Darth Vader gear, mumbled, "I am your father, " and reported back to principal owner John Henry, " Honey, I Shrunk the Kids ." Actually, Sox management has an affinity for Disney. There's Never a Dull Moment. Derek Lowe's gone because he wandered far from the Snow White image the club wa...

Simple minds would believe the Red Sox exist solely for the purpose of playing baseball. Recent events belie that truth. Only the Patriots ascension prevents them from playing 'Monopoly' (sorry Danny) and the Sox have revealed their Parchesi Management style. However, the Sox are all about playing high stakes baseball chess, 'Battle Chess' style. From the top, we have King Henry with the all-powerful Queen, Larry Lucchino at his side. Think of him as Luqueeno. The next most powerful pieces on the board are the cornerstones/castles, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. The bishops? Statesmen of the team Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield. The knights of the team were, of course, Theo Epstein (on his high horse apparently) and free agent jumper Johnny Damon. Of course, most of the players are pawns, but pawns are not exclusively players. Globe scribe Dan Shaughnessy got into the game as a pawn, too. Henry's performance the other day brought tears to my eyes, Crock of Dial up ...

Boston (AP) "Our baseball operations team is armed with an offseason plan and alist of priorities,'' club president Larry Lucchino said. "Like 29 other clubs, they are heading to Palm Springs to listen and gather information for later in the winter, but make no mistake, they are also empowered to speak with other clubs and with agents and to consummate any deal they feel will be in the best interest of the Boston RedSox.'' The Sox tried the Bullpen by Committee experiment and have graduated to GM by Committee. Maybe it's the new wave, and also the dissolution of authority prevents any of the young upstarts from usurping Master Luke's 'Star Wars' prima donna status. Way to go. On the other hand, maybe it commences a new internal power struggle among Jed Hoyer, Craig Shipley, Ben Cherington, and Peter Woodfork. Too many guys for 'stone, paper, scissors' and the Sox are definitely too out of tune to consider 'musical chairs.' A Tex...

So what should we talk about today? Which first baseman the Red Sox should look to acquire or how do the Sox try to dig themselves out of the PR hole they've dug? As best we can tell, Larry Lucchino dug this hole, and he should have the fortitude to explain himself. Or not? Larry's in the press and on television more often than almost everything except the World Poker Tour and Paris Hilton. All of a sudden, we've seen more of Howard Hughes. Okay, Larry's busy, making phone calls and reviewing resumes for the next GM. Let's see. Kevin Towers...previously worked with Larry...'Hello, Kevin?' "Click..." Gerry Hunsicker, signed with Tampa. Doug Melvin. He's rumored to be resigning an extension with Milwaukee. Why can't we resign executives like that? What about Tony LaCava, ostensibly young, a 'nice guy', and a personnel/development guy. He hasn't worked with Larry before (so he won't automatically refuse) and he'd probably w...

I know you're out there somewhere Somewhere, somewhere I know I'll find you somehow Somehow, somehow And somehow I'll return again to you The mist is lifting slowly I can see the way ahead And I've left behind the empty streets That once inspired my life And the strength of the emotion Is like thunder in the air' Cos the promise that we made each other Haunts me to the end I know you're out there somewhere Somewhere, somewhere I know you're out there somewhere Somewhere you can hear my voice I know I'll find you somehow Somehow, somehowI know I'll find you somehow And somehow I'll return again to you -from the Moody Blues The Sox management is starting to emerge from their bunker after botching the Theo Epstein negotiations. At least that's the story. They'll fess up to failed negotiations, not the John McKay Question. McKay when asked about the execution of his team replied, "I'm in favor of it." So we have to ask, "wh...

In the stock market, traders sometimes talk about knowing who is on the other side of the trade. What do they know? What do they hope to accomplish? The 'other side' of the Theo Epstein trade is Larry Lucchino and the power on the throne, John Henry. As they say in Hollywood, "what's my motivation?" As I wrote on the Dirt Dogs site, Lucchino would clearly come down as the Fall Guy if Theo Epstein walked. So far, it's played out that way. Does anyone think that Larry Lucchino gives a rat's patootie about that? Lucchino runs the business side of the house, skillfully maneuvering among the politicians, contractors, and vendors to enhance the ballpark, expand revenues, and increase club value. From an ownership perspective, you care about widget sales, top and bottom line growth, cash flow, debt service, and ultimately market capitalization. If you're John Henry, the trend is good. If you're Henry, do you care about fan reaction to the departure of the...

"Experience is the best teacher, but sometimes the tuition is high." "Listen, Mr. Henry, I can do this job." I'll go through just a partial list of qualifications, which should surely impress you. 1. Intimately familiar with trends, both following and fading them, including the use of technical analysis parameters such as directional movement and 20 day breakouts, such as Turtle Trading. Believer in 'mean reversion', which portends well for Keith Foulke. 2. Definitely on the wrong side of fifty. No young whippersnapper here. 3. Played Division I baseball in college. Er, sat on the bench in the bullpen specifically. At least I played beyond high school. 4. Can say, "Yes, sir, no sir, right away sir, aye aye sir, and I don't know sir, but I'll find out sir" with the best of them. 5. Know the value of a dollar, and the value of a franc, French, Swiss, or Belgian. 6. Willing to fetch Mr. Lucchino coffee, anytime. 7. Local product, born and ...

Damage control has already begun. After figuratively knifing Theo Epstein in the back with his Sunday column, Daniel Shaughnessy (anagram DAN LIES AS HE HUGS NY) laments the GM's departure. He writes that Theo is too mature to be affected by a few lines in a newspaper column. Is this the first time that Shaughnessy has trashed local sports figures? Hardly. Robert Parish 'enjoyed' target status for the Globe scribe while in Boston, and 'mean-spirited' sums up Shaughnessy's general approach, as in "I'm a columnist, not a reporter." That's for certain, as reporters report the news, eschewing insinuating themselves into the news. Now I'm not suggesting that there's a special section in hell for sports writers, or worse, sports bloggers, but did Dagger Dan willfully ingratiate himself to Sox management with the hatchet job on Theo Epstein? Theo Epstein wasn't perfect. Chad Fox, Jeremy Giambi, Wade Miller, Matt Mantei, and (so far) Edgar ...