Category: Boston Red Sox

Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer, Co-GM’s of the Boston Red Sox, have fans along Yawkey Way wondering why they woke this morning to find that the Grinch(es) had stolen Christmas.  By allowing the Yankees to swipe Johnny Damon out from negotiations once controlled by Boston, these GM’s have crippled the team for 2006 leaving fans confused as to the direction this team is taking for the near future.

After dealing prospects for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell and adding, through another trade, a 34 year-old second baseman (Mark Loretta), it seemed that the Red Sox were bolstering their team for immediate impact in 2006.  Then management dealt Edgar Renteria to Atlanta for top prospect Andy Marte.  Though Renteria never got comfortable in Boston, this move weakens the team for the next few years.  Because of the money sent to Atlanta in the deal, the Red Sox are effectively paying Marte $4 million a year as a back-up plan if Mike Lowell further declines.  Finally, by remaining firm on their original 4 years for $40 million they allowed the Yankees to hang around in the Johnny Damon bidding long enough to lure him away for an extra $12 million, the Red Sox, barring a holiday miracle, have taken a big stride backwards from contention in 2006.  

By: Jon Morrill

    In an article in the Boston Globe this morning prior to the announcement of the Edgar Renteria trade, Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield openly pondered things like, “What the heck is our team going look like next year?” and “Why are they dismantling the whole team? The whole starting infield is gone. Manny will be gone. If they don’t sign Johnny, he’ll be gone. If they trade Trot, holy cow, the only guys left will be [Jason] Varitek and I and [David] Ortiz.”

By Ryan McGowan

The other day I was having a discussion with my aunt about why I love to watch sports.  One of the main reasons that came up was that the outcome of a sporting event (the NBA playoffs notwithstanding) is always unknown, that so many variables contribute to the actual happenings on the field, rendering the spectator clueless as to who the winner will be, who the heroes and goats will be, even how long the game will take.  (NBC learned this lesson the hard way with the fateful Jets-Raiders game in 1968, forever remembered as the “Heidi” game.)  The sheer unpredictability of sports and the complete ignorance of anyone involved as to the future outcome makes for great viewing.

For more stories by Kent Summer, check out 3rdand10.com

For a hard rocking guy who blows his eardrums out listening to heavy metal, David Wells actually made sense. His blasting of commissioner Bud Selig, while not publicly approved, was one of the most accurate takes on baseball’s exceptionally weak commissioner. From talking about Selig’s lack of an iron fist on the steroids issue to the 2002 All-Star game that was declared a tie, Wells seemed to utter his first words in a while that have hit the bulls eye.

By Ryan McGowan

It’s the first week of August, and there is so much to talk about here in the Hub.  We have the first place Red Sox, fresh off a recent eight-game winning streak and, we hope, soon to start to creep away from the Yankees and claim the AL East for the first time since the Otis Nixon-Jose Canseco era of 1995.  We have the Patriots, coming off three of the last four Super Bowl titles, set to defend their crown with a laundry list of fresh challenges, not the least of which are the absences of Tedy Bruschi, Ted Johnson, Romeo Crennel, Ty Law, Charlie Weis, and Bill Belichick’s wife.  We have the revelation that Rafael Palmeiro’s body has been somehow trying to process the effects of both Viagra and designer steroids, leading one to believe that Raffy’s organs will eventually cry “SYSTEM OVERLOAD” and blow up like the Fembots in the original “Austin Powers.”  We have a governor that is convinced that he is going to be your 44th President of the United States and I have heard rumors that the NHL is returning to the ice in the fall.

The Boston Red Sox started the year pretty quiet. Their Ace in their staff, Curt Schilling, was put on the DL with his infamous ankle bruise. Their record was overshadowed by the Orioles impressive start and Boston’s average one. Some people were a little too quick to count the defending World Champions out.

By Ryan McGowan

BOSTON, MA — In an unprecedented move, Boston Red Sox owners John W. Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino announced today that Senior Vice President and General Manager Theo Epstein, who was named GM in 2002 and was largely credited for building the team that finally broke through and won the World Series in 2004, has been replaced in his position by Mike from Arlington, a frequent listen and occasional caller to WEEI sports radio.

If Kevin Millar were looking for a product sponsorship deal, maybe he should look to a local dairy company like Garelick Farms to be the pitchman for their Half and Half or eBay company, half.com. Nobody knows more than Millar about how valuable a half can be.

Without any apparent provocation, another sequal to a movie over ten years old has been made.  But what does this have to do with one of America’s most beloved stories of 2004?  Plus, more “Star Wars” references than people who liked “Attack of the Clones”

When you plan for every contingency, you always need to consider the worst case scenario. If that worst case scenario comes to fruition, things aren’t going to look pretty even with your best contingency in action.

Welcome to the 2005 Boston Red Sox rotation.

When Theo Epstein planned out his “post Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez” starting rotation, he knew his options were limited. With a limited free agent pool that saw the two pitchers leaving town at the top of the free agent list and the artful dealer Billy Beane holding three pocket aces in Oakland looking for young major league ready pitching prospects in return, Theo set out to fill out a rotation that would work out over the course of 162 games.