Red Sox Reality Check

Question. If you 'run' the Red Sox as a business, what is your first off-season priority? Answer. Restore credibility in the franchise, which didn't just underachieve, but embarrassed itself taking some lickings at the hands of Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and their ilk. Question. How do you accomplish that? Answer. The American League has become the league of both pitching and OFFENSE. Statistically, the Sox had two superior players ( David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez ) and one productive player (Youkilis), and the remainder of the lineup chipped in here and there, but no baseball afficionado would consider the rest of the lineup offensive dynamos. Question. Where do you start? Answer. Short of getting back Hanley Ramirez (not happening), the Sox need to rebuild the offense, starting with another power hitter, hoping that a healthy Coco Crisp can get the job done in center field. Is Carlos Lee or Alfonso Soriano a possibility? Where will Youkilis hit?. He strikes out a lot to...

The Red Sox announced that about 81 percent of existing ticket prices would remain unchanged for the 2007 season. I'm sure that relieves many of our anxieties that tickets could actually get expensive. "America's Most Beloved Ballpark" already had the highest price tag for a family outing of four, currently only requiring a second mortgage, a downgrade to regular from high test, turning the heat down to 60 at night, and buying only generic turkey hot dogs for weeks. If I can find my Game 1 ticket stub from the bleachers in 1975, I think it will show $4.75 for attending a World Series opener. Now that's almost the price for a bottle of water. Well, water is the commodity of the 21st Century, and I'm sure that Mr. Henry will confirm that, although a lot of other commodities haven't treated him so well in the recent past. Of course, that also means that 19 percent of ticket prices will rise. I guess I'd like to sit in the Monster Seats someday, and that...

Let's pretend that we're the 'collective' GM for the Boston Red Sox. How would we approach the retooling of the franchise for the upcoming season? Some issues for consideration including pitching, defense, offense, reorganization of the minor leagues (development versus free agency), budgeting, coaching staff changes, and the role of sabermetrics (quantitative player analysis). I don't see any tectonic organizational shift away from 'Moneyball', particularly because 1) John Henry believes in trends and 2) it worked well enough prior to this season. Coaching staff changes grab some headlines, but don't promise transcendental performance shifts. Ron Jackson and Dave Wallace departures don't translate into major win-loss shifts. You can reorganize the minor leagues, but like commodity infrastructure (planning oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico) doesn't change the end product for years to come. The Sox minor leagues seem to underproduce major leag...

You don't have to know rocket science or the Theory of Relativity to understand the depth of concern that Red Sox fans have for the organizational direction. Not since 1966 has the franchise appeared so mediocre but not average as the Sox did during the final two months of 2006. From 2003 to 2005, the Red Sox finished second in the AL East three times, advanced each year t to the American League playoffs, and won the World Series in 2004. To an extent, long-suffering Sox fans give the organization a mulligan for 2006, including a disastrous series of illness and injuries and trades that (as always) require longer samples to judge fully. By what metric can we baseball outsiders judge the performance of the front office, most notably, Brookline's Theo Epstein. The GM stated, “We were a strong club. We took on so many holes because of injuries. With those gaps we got to a certain performance level . . .” Last offseason the Sox wallowed in confusion, the Gang of Four at the Winter ...

The Red Sox and the Yankees share a cosmic connection, one often affirming the Universal Law of the Conservation of Happiness - boon for the Red Sox is anathema for the Yankees. And the Curse of He Who Must Never Be Named lives on. I traveled to a conference in August and met a former Yankee employee at the most unlikely of places, the Lazy J Ranch not far from Vail. He explained how the Yankees would not win the World Series this year, just as they had failed the past five seasons. George Steinbrenner had fired him not long before the 2001 World Series. He didn't sulk, whine, or complain. His wife cursed the Yankees. We all realize the futility in curse belief, especially in a game where dollars, not sense rules team composition. The Benjamins flow freely in their beloved Bronx, to the point that acquiring more than 20 million dollars in payroll in late July becomes not the norm but the expectation. The Connecticut Yankee Carl Pavano has turned out to be the biggest bust of the Ta...

Baseball's annual marathon ends today for the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Last night only reinforced the contradictions of 2006, with the Sox squandering a lead in the ninth inning. Absent Jonathan Papelbon in the closer role, Mike Timlin couldn't finish off the Birds, and Kevin Millar laced a hit off the wall to provide the coup de gras. Manny Ramirez made a cameo appearance at DH, and homered. Revisionists still call for Manny's ouster (amidst his annual trade requests), ignoring his productivity. Yes, he is a troubled employee, but a useful one. The Red Sox West (San Diego) gets into the playoffs behind David Wells, and lets not forget Dave Roberts, Cla Meredith, Josh Bard, and others. Sox fans say 'farewell' (maybe) to Trot Nixon today, and I hope they reward his service with a lengthy standing ovation. Nixon may not have been a great player, but played hard and often hurt. I've asked my wife (who's going to the game with a friend) to do her part in salut...