Fenway West - A Boston Red Sox Blog

Bay Watch: Day Two

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:46:08 +0000

Here's the latest buzz on the Red Sox past and possible future left fielder:

Bay will let teams come to him with offers and the process is going to take a long time according to Gordon Edes who has recently joined ESPN Boston.

The Red Sox are busy making other plans.

Angel's owner Arte Moreno likes what Jason Bay could bring to his team.

4 of 5 USA Today Baseball writers believe Bay will end up back in Boston.

Don't count out the Giants, Bay's bat fits well at AT&T Park.

Report: Johnson to Join Francona's Staff

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:56:48 +0000

UPDATE: I earlier incorrectly posted that Johnson would be Francona's bench coach. Peter Abraham points out that DeMarlo Hale or Tim Bogar will be named bench coach.

The ProJo is reporting that PawSox manager Ron Johnson will likely join Terry Francona's coaching staff. Sonoma Dave had the chance to interview Johnson in Pawtucket last season. Here is that interview again:

Manager Ron Johnson, a native Californian, was a first team All American first baseman at Fresno State Universit. He had a brief career in the major leagues with Royals and the Expos from 1982 to 1984. He became a coach with the Royals for 6 years, after which he started his managerial career starting at the single A level, working his way up to the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox. He has been the manager of the PawSox since 2005. As manager of the PawSox, he is in good company, following the likes of Darrell Johnson, Joe Morgan, Johhny Pesky, Butch Hobson, Rico Petrocelli, and Ken Macha. I had an opportunity to ask him a few questions after the PawSox lost to Columbus on July 27th. He is an easily accessible manager, and gladly answered my questions in my first trip to a clubhouse. Despite the loss and the fact that they are under .500, he remained upbeat, as one could tell that he and his coaching staff are more concerned with the development of their players than the won-loss record that one may first notice.

Q~ Who has been your biggest surprise this season so far?
A~ That’s kind of a tough question to answer because I don’t really… I don’t think you can really go into a minor league season and actually…. Nothing comes as a real surprise unless you’ve got a guy who’s a utility infielder and at this point in the year he’s got 35 home runs, or something strange like that.

Q~ Like Bowden last year?
A~ Michael Bowden has been a prospect since the day he started so that’s not a surprise. Buchholz, the way he was, was not a surprise; Chris Johnson is a prospect. Actually, I don’t have any surprises this year.

Q~ After making the playoffs last year, and falling below .500 this year, would you say that your W-L record is not indicative of the team’s true abilities?
A~ No, I would just think that we were pretty much a different team last year, we had a more veteran club last year. We’ve got a lot of young guys, a lot of movement. To be honest with you, the won-loss record is really never …. With the Boston Red Sox, our goal is to make sure players are prepared to either cover guys when they get hurt in the big leagues, or move on and become Major Leaguers. If you can combine it with winning, that’s great as we did last year. This year, we haven’t had the top club this year… so we’ll find a way to win every night no matter what the score is.

Q~ Is there anyone at Portland or the single A teams that looking forward to get up here at Pawtucket?
A~ I’m sure they all are… we’ve got instructors with people down there. Our job is to work with these guys, and believe me, it’s consuming enough, that’s why we leave that to the bosses… and when they become Triple A we take them from there.

Happy Birthday JD!

shelley1005@gmail.com (shelley) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:54:10 +0000

Now don't get all excited JD Drew style and all....

but today is JD Drew's 34th birthday. As a card carrying member of the Drew Crew, I could not let this day go on without saying...

Happy Birthday to you....

Happy Birthday dear JD!

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Now JD...don't go get yourself hurt with all your crazy celebrating!!!!

P.S. For good measure....SIGN JASON BAY ALREADY!!!!!

Bay Watch: Day One

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:05:30 +0000

Every team can now negotiate with Jason Bay. Here's the latest buzz from around the internet:

Peter Gammons and Gordon Edes both believe Bay will end up back in Boston.

The Angels are very interested in trying to sign Bay.

The Giants are not that interested.

The Mets are looking to spend some money and Bay could be on the receiving end.

Theo says signing Bay is a priority.

Larry Luccino says the Red Sox want him back.

The Mariners might get in on the bidding war.

and as always, the Yankees are in the mix.

One More Day

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:16:58 +0000

Mid November is possibly the worst time for baseball fans; free agents cannot sign with a new team and the hot stove is as cool as the wind blowing on Mount Washington. All of that will change tomorrow as teams begin to make offers for available free agents. The Red Sox will be involved with most of the big names to either try to land them or drive up the prices for their competition. In the coming weeks we will learn if the Sox are going to break the bank or try to win with what they have. Fan favorites could be traded and a new cast of characters could be wearing B's on their hats soon. Baseball fans circle a few date on their calender to get through the offseason: The Winter Meetings, Truck Day, and Pitchers and Catchers reporting. Nov. 20 is one of those days; the start of the Hot Stove Season.

Jason Bay has declined the Red Sox latest offer. This should not be a surprise to anyone as he has yet to hear what teams like the Yankees, Mets, and Giants might be willing to offer. We only have to wait one more day to get it all started. Are you ready?

Ells Gets a New Number

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:25:04 +0000

Jacoby Ellsbury is changing numbers for next season. He will leave 46 behind and opt for number 2, which was recently vacated by Brad Mills when he left the team for the Astros job. No word on whether or not Ells asked the RemDawg if it was OK to take his old number. As you can see from the image below Ellsbury was number 23 in college, but since that number was tainted by Julio Lugo; number 2 seemed like the better choice.

Red Sox Look to Upgrade Bullpen

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:32:29 +0000

The Boston Red Sox are looking at the medical records of Braves relievers Gozalez and Soriano.

Mike Gonzalez recenty signed on with Scott Boras and is a Type A free agent. He posted a 2.42 ERA with 90 K's in 80 games last season.

Rafael Soriano had an ERA of 2.97 and 27 saves last season.

Wagner might sign elsewhere and Manny Delcarmen seems to be someone mentioned in every trade rumor, so the Red Sox are looking to ensure they have a bridge to Papelbon.

Happy Birthday Big Papi!

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:38:26 +0000

David Ortiz turns 34 today.

MLB Picks KC over the Fens for '12 All-Star Game

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:52:26 +0000

Fenway Park will turn 100 in 2012 and the Red Sox wanted to host the All-Star Game as part of the celebration. The game however was awarded to Kanas City. ESPN's Rob Neyer thinks MLB made the right choice:

More to the point, I think, is that there are a few teams with absolutely no use for the All-Star Game, and the Red Sox are one of them. They've sold out 550 straight games. Do they really need an All-Star Game when they send out their season-ticket pitches this winter? No. In fact they don't need to send out pitches at all, as I'm sure the waiting list for season tickets won't be exhausted until well into the next decade.

The game would have been nice but the Red Sox have shown that they can do celebrations right.

Tickets, Hockey, and Adrian Gonzalez

odmatt@gmail.com (Matt O'Donnell) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:42:46 +0000

The Red Sox decided the recession was over and raised ticket prices for the 2010 season. We can only hope the increased revenue will be used to sign a good hitter.

The Bruins annoucned they would be playing a charity game at Fenway on Jan. 2nd featuring team alumni:

Bruins fans will have the opportunity to watch as Bruins legend and current Vice President Cam Neely returns to the ice to skate with actor and comedian Denis Leary, actor Tim Robbins, movie director Bobby Farrelly, musician Ken Casey and NHL greats Brian Leetch and Pat LaFontaine.

Some of Boston's famous alumni will also participate, including Bob Beers, Andy Brickley, Lyndon Byers, Gary Doak, Ken Hodge, Ken Linseman, Rick Middleton, Terry O’Reilly, Brad Park, Johnny McKenzie, Bob Sweeney and Don Sweeney. Legendary Bruins John Bucyk, Milt Schmidt, and Derek Sanderson, as well as actor Lenny Clarke, will also be participating in the game in an off-ice capacity.

Adrian Gonalez might be headed to the Sox....the White Sox!