Happy 36th!

Today we wish a very happy 36^th birthday to BOTH Andy Dominique and Marco Scutaro! Two players get birthday wishes today. One, a former Sox, and one a current team member…assuming an option is picked up.

Andy Dominique was a catcher on the 2004 team. I assume that means he got a World Championship ring. Pretty cool! But, as far as the Red Sox go, that’s all he has. As the third catcher behind Varitek and Mirabelli, his playing time was naturally limited.

Marco Scutaro has had a different career with the Sox. He was signed as a free agent following a solid year in Toronto to be the Red Sox shortstop. He has been in a somewhat constant battle with the potential of Jed Lowrie. While Scutaro has played steadily, he has had to fight to keep his spot. Only injuries to Lowrie have let him keep a firm grasp on the starting job he probably has deserved all along. In the infamous 2011 collapse, Scutaro was one of the few bright spots, consistently putting up the numbers you’d expect him to. Going into the 2012 season, his option is a big question. If he comes back, is he the starter? Do the Sox shop Youkilis knowing Scutaro could replace him? He’s a great guy to have on a team since he can fill many roles. It’ll be interesting to see which one he ends up in.

Happy 36^th Birthday Andy Dominique and Marco Scutaro!

I Scored!

August 28, 1999

Whenever I feel a little down about the Red Sox, I like to look back through the scorebooks. It reminds me of how good we really have it right now.

Take a look at that line-up. Of the nine players listed, which would you prefer over their 2011/2012 counterparts? Nomar at short over Scutaro. That’s it. Unless, you count taking the 1999 Varitek over the 2012 Varitek. That’s seven of the nine positions that are better now. Better than a team that made it to the ALCS. Yup. It’s pretty good right now. If you look in the pitchers spots, you see Tim Wakefield still there. And, it looks like he had the same line he kept putting up in 2011. The more things change…

So, what do we have here on this card? It’s a late season game against the Angels. I can only imagine that we were still upset at the time with Mo Vaughn’s appearance on the Angels side of the scorecard. It doesn’t look like the prettiest of game. Both teams squandered leads over and over. Thankfully, the Angels were the last ones to do it.

The player of the game? I’ll have to go with Jason Varitek. He had the key hit in the game. His bases clearing double in the third gave the Sox back the lead. To do it the same inning that the Angels were able to score four of their own was truly clutch. It would have been so easy to pack it in at that point. But, it was Varitek who stopped them from doing it. It was one of two doubles Tek had on the day. Both were key pieces in the victory.

The day’s goat? Has to be Brian Daubach. Look at him in the three-hole. Let me say that again. Look at HIM in the 3-hole! But, an 0-4 day isn’t exactly what you’re looking for in front of Nomar. Nomar had to be hitting close to .400 for the season at this point, since he finished at .357. Dauber still couldn’t get a good pitch to hit. Twice he led off an inning by grounding back to the pitcher. Not exactly a super performance.

In the end, it didn’t matter. The Sox pulled it out late and held on to win. They scored seven runs, and needed every one of them as they marched on towards the playoffs.

And the scorecard shows how it happened.

Looks Like Sox with be Lacking Lackey

There were a few immediate reactions from the news that John Lackey will miss the entire 2012 season after having Tommy John surgery. The first is the tongue-in-cheek one that on the first day on the job, Ben Cherington found an easy way to get rid of John Lackey. True genius. But, as always, there’s more to it than the clever headline.

Is John Lackey owed an enormous apology? Perhaps he isn’t a huge waste of human flesh. Maybe he wasn’t a fairly warm body clogging a spot in the rotation only because his salary was so high. Maybe he wasn’t the worst starting pitcher in history. Maybe he was injured. Maybe he was gutsy. Maybe he went out there in did the best he could when the Sox had no other options. Maybe he should be revered. “Remember when Lackey went out there every fifth day even though he had nothing trying to will the team to victory?” The Sox had no other pitchers so he manned up and took the ball and did everything his arm would allow to give the Sox innings? He gave them a great stretch in July and August. But, by the end of the season the best he could muster just wasn’t enough. Maybe it was an amazing season considering he needed major reconstructive surgery when it was over. Was it actually one of the best starting pitching seasons?

This makes three Red Sox pitchers having Tommy John surgery this year. The second starter, joining Dice-K. Is that alarming? Is it something the Red Sox are doing…or not doing that is making all these pitchers blow out their arms? When a bunch of Cubs pitchers did that, they found blame somewhere. They were being overworked as youngsters. What about in this case? What about when you add in Ellsbury and Buchholz. Is the Red Sox medical staff on the ball? Is information being lost? Or, is it more front office spin conflicting with medical reports. Maybe the Sox knew about Buchholz internally all along, but just lied to the public. After all, Peter Gammons said Lackey would need Tommy John long ago. Was that a slip from the front office? What’s going on?

And, what goes on from here? Looks like the Sox will need two starters next season, assuming a normal Buchholz returns. Does that make it more likely for Wake to come back on the cheap? Does it make a run at Sabathia an actual possibility? (The Sox have to at least make a huge offer to drive the price up for the Yankees, right?) Is it time for all the young arms I’ve been hearing about for years to finally make the jump?

I can’t wait to find out.

It’s a Land of Confusion

I have to admit. I don’t get this whole Theo situation. This is definitely one of those times I need to read a “behind the scenes” book in a year or two.

The basics as I understand them are thus. The Cubs want Theo to be their new team president. Theo wants to be their new team president. Unfortunately, Theo has a contract to be the Red Sox general manager for another year. So, he needs to get out of that contract. The Red Sox aren’t ready to simply tear up the contract. They, naturally, need some sort of compensation in order to do that. I get it. It’s the same thing that happened when the Sox tried to get ARod. The Sox wanted him to tear up his old contract. The players union wouldn’t let him do that without being compensated. Which is why when the Yankees finally traded for him, they needed to put a link on their website to his website. Apparently, the Sox are looking for more than web hits. That’s where it gets a little weird to me.

The Sox apparently made a couple requests of the Cubs. They asked for Sterlin Castro, the Cubs franchise shortstop of the future. The Cubs declined. The Sox asked for Matt Garza. The Cubs declined. The Sox asked to include John Lackey in the deal. The Cubs stopped laughing, and declined. At this point, I understood negotiations. The Sox were aiming high, the Cubs low. It came down to who had the most leverage, and who had the most to lose. The way I saw it, the Cubs needed to make a deal because they were already promoting Theo as the savior of the franchise. If they then let him go, what does that say to the fans? The Sox needed to make a deal because if they didn’t, they would have a GM under a one-year contract who didn’t want to be there. But, then Theo resigned from the Red Sox. So, didn’t that remove all the Cubs leverage? Now, no matter what, the Sox don’t have to deal with Theo coming back all angry. Now, what’s to stop the Red Sox from saying, “We want Garza AND Castro. Otherwise, Theo can sit around for a year watching the MLB network.” The only thing the Sox would lose is whatever low-level prospect the Cubs were offering. Why don’t the Sox now take the hard line?

It’s also a little odd that apparently the Cubs are having Theo negotiate for himself. Technically, he must be acting as an outside party, negotiating on their behalf, or something. But, how do you negotiate for yourself? Does Theo offer the Red Sox lousy prospects? If he does that, isn’t he saying that he’s not a very valuable member of the Red Sox front office? Does Lucchino ask for Castro because Theo was such an integral member of the club only to have Theo counter with an A-baller, saying he didn’t do much for the Sox anyway? Is this like reverse arbitration? The Red Sox arguing that he was valuable, while Theo argues that he’s worthless? What does that tell the Cubs? Their new club president is admitting he’s not very valuable to a team? Huh?

And, now, Bud Selig says he’ll step in if a deal can’t be reached in a week. Why? He doesn’t usually step in on trades. If the Red Sox want Felix Hernandez, and the Mariners won’t take garbage in exchange for him, will Selig step in to get the job done? Is his decision binding? Can the Sox (or Cubs) look at the compensation Selig offers, and laugh? Or is Selig going to say it’s in the best interests of baseball for an executive from one team to go to another team for minimal compensation?

It’s interesting because I don’t see Lucchino as a guy to give up on a negotiation. Nor do I see him settling for less to keep good working relations or honor a gentleman’s agreement. Remember, this is the team that claimed Kevin Millar of waivers when it was “general practice” to let players like that clear waivers to go to Japan. Theo was part of that too. So, he should have a similar opinion. Why would the Sox back down? They seem to have all the cards in their hands.

Very entertaining.

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Yeah. I don't know how they got here either. Thanks for visiting though!