Larry Lucchino's Leaving

And I, for one, am sad to see him go.

I’ve been surprised the last couple days at the reaction. I know that twitter gives a voice to every idiom with a keypad. But, even so, I was taken aback by the number of people who seemed pleased to have him out of town.

Made me wonder if we were talking about the same guy.

I’m talking about the Larry Lucchino with as many rings as Tom Brady. The one who was the president and CEO for the last three champions here in Boston, with two different general managers. The one with a .529 winning percentage as President/CEO entering this season.

Why would you be excited to see that go?

I’ve already wondered why people were sad to see Theo go. After all, Larry has won (before, and since) without Theo. Theo’s never won without Larry. Now, people aren’t sad to see Larry go. Am I missing something?

People are throwing out some so-called faults. He was hard to deal with. Yup. Most successful people are. He botched the Lester negotiations. I’ve already covered how that’s not the case. He offered Lester a very fair deal last Spring Training. Lester bet on himself, and won. If Lucchino had gone higher back in the Spring, and Lester declined…we’d be looking at Porcello-type reactions around here. Sometimes things don’t go your way.

They also really point to the Bobby Valentine “fiasco.” I’ve also mentioned several times how that season was completely overblown. Bobby V had the team in contention until Papi went down with an injury. Then Pedroia went down too, the team traded away their best players for a do-over, and the team’s record suffered for it. Hiring Bobby Valentine wasn’t the problem. Taking away all his players was.

So, while I’m sure that Sam Kennedy can do a fine job as president, there’s reason for some concern. For the last ten years, the Sox under Larry Lucchino have brought around an expectation of winning. Fans certainly expect that to continue.

Sam Kennedy has some mighty big shoes to fill.

Pedro From the Past

I was having trouble. I wanted to post something today about Pedro, obviously. But, I was having trouble. Not that there was nothing to say about him, obviously. There's always plenty to say about the best pitcher in at least a couple generations. No, the problem is that I've said most of it already. So, I decided to cheat a little. I decided to share some links to all the stuff I've already said about Pedro, since I really can't tell it any better than I already have.

I did try a short recap the other day. If you missed it, check it out here: Pedro

When Pedro was elected to the Hall of Fame, I decided it would be fun to record just how he performed when I was in the ark watching him. Spoiler alert - we has amazing! How do your numbers compare? Pedro Live

Three years ago, I wrote about my small collection of Pedro Salsa. I still wonder if anyone actually bought these to eat, or if everyone was saving them unopened like I did. Pedro Salsa

Of course, Pedro scorecards are some of my favorites. I talked about a few of them here: May 6, 2000 September 4, 2000  June 8, 2000

As you might expect, Pedro games made up a good chunk of my list of best games I'd ever seen. I should redo this this at some point and see if new games should be added. What does your list look like? How often is Pedro on it? Best games

Also as you might imagine, Pedro cards have a special place in my baseball card collection. I feature them every once in a while. Here's the most recent one. From the Pedro Binder

I even wrote about him at least once when he was with the Phillies. Just Like the Old Days

If you're writing the Red Sox alphabet, could "M" be for anyone else? M is for...

I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Pedro. He's such a big part of Red Sox history, he was a big part of this blog.

It's been so much fun!

Pedro

I’m almost positive I’ve told this story before. But, hey, it’s my blog. A while ago, a friend of mine was mentioning one of the pitchers on his fantasy team. He wondered how he had pitched the night before. I told him I didn’t know how he finished, but remember seeing some in-game stats and he wasn’t doing well. He had already given up a run or two in the first few innings or so. My friend just looked at me and sighed. He said, “Boy. Pedro just ruined you for other pitchers, didn’t he.”

That’s exactly what Pedro Martinez did. He ruined me for anyone else. How can I appreciate Curt Schilling and his 20 wins? The guy’s giving up runs and baserunners all over the place. How can a 3.50 ERA be your ace? What do you mean the guy didn’t strike out 15 batters?

That’s why Pedro’s going into the Hall of Fame.

It’s all been told and retold countless times. There was Pedro, and there was everyone else. I remember when Curt Schilling was traded to the Sox, there was a lot of talk about having a co-ace. So, I decided to make a list, and find ten stats where Pedro was better than Schilling. It didn’t take long. Over and over again, Pedro’s worst numbers for the previous five years were better than Schilling’s best numbers over that timeframe. There’s Pedro, and then way down there, Schilling. I already mentioned how Pedro made almost any other starter on the Red Sox staff part of the best duo in baseball. He could make a mediocre staff lead the AL in ERA, just about by himself. If he was on your fantasy team, you really didn’t need any other quality pitchers.

But, those are just the numbers. They only tell half the story. Granted, it’s a really nice half of a story.

I always loved Pedro’s swagger. And, not just because he wanted to drill the Bambino in the ass. But, watch Pedro after he strikes a guy out. He doesn’t pump his fist. He doesn’t jump in the air. He just walks off the mound in a circle looking disgusted. As if he can’t believe he actually had to waste time throwing the batter three strikes. Everyone knew the guy had no chance…even the batter himself.

Pedro changed bathroom breaks. When you were in the stands watching the game, people didn’t file down the stairs after the Red Sox finished batting. When Pedro was on the mound, you went to the bathroom when the Red Sox were batting. I saw a great picture once of a lonely guy waiting in line at a concession stand in an empty concourse. Then you saw Pedro on the mound in the monitor over his shoulder. Pedro was pitching. You sit down and watch.

Because, you never knew when Pedro would make history. I’ve mentioned before that when Derek Lowe threw his no-hitter, I didn’t even know he had one going until the seventh or eighth inning. When Pedro was on the mound, you started counting down immediately. The number of outs remaining for him to finally get his no-hitter, or maybe the number of strikeouts left for him to finally reach 21.

Pedro was the first Hall of Famer I was really a fan of. I was too young for Yaz, or Rice. Even Boggs wasn’t in my wheelhouse, even though I saw him play at Fenway once or twice. But, Pedro was the first one who I got to really enjoy at the time. To appreciate what I was looking at in real time…if you can ever fully appreciate what Pedro accomplished every fifth day. It was something else.

And I can’t wait for my first visit to the Hall of Fame with him in it.

From the Pedro Binder

2004 Topps American League ERA Leaders

Is it possible to forget how good Pedro Martinez was? Not really, of course. But, I do sometimes forget how good he was for how long he was. His best seasons were so off-the-charts amazing, that I tend to be underwhelmed by the years where he was merely dominant.

If you told me to offhandedly recap Pedro’s Red Sox career, I would say best ever for the first five years, ignoring his injury year in 2001, then sort of tailed off. Which, would be correct. He was amazing in 1998. Legendary in 1999, and somehow even better in 2000. Then, 2001 was a pit of a waste, before he came back and should have won the Cy Young in 2002. Then, he started to show his age. After all, he only went 14-4 in 2003, and 16-9 in 2004.

Then I look at this card, and see him sitting on top after leading the league in ERA during the 2003 season. Really? Not only that, but he led the league with a 2.22. I actually mentally discount a 2.22 ERA when I look over Pedro’s career. After all, he had three seasons during his career lower than that. That’s insane.

So, I’m glad to have cards like this once so I don’t take Pedro for granted. Even in the years I remember as subpar, he was a league leader.

No wonder he’s in the Hall of Fame.

Playing with Personality

Rick Porcello won his first game in, like, a year last night. Some wondered if that would be the game he finally came around because it would be the first one in a while with Ryan Hanigan behind the plate. There was speculation that the return of that comfort zone might be enough to snap Porcello out of it. Which it was.

If course, that ignited the long-standing debate over personal catchers, and whether pitchers should just be able to throw any catcher. Which, of course, they should be able to. In a perfect world, the pitcher should just be able to put the same level of comfort and trust into any catcher the Boston Red Sox deem worth of putting into the line-up.

Really, that should apply to any issue of player comfort. A batter should be able to hit in any part of the order. A reliever should just come in whenever his name is called. They’ve been telling them that since Little League. You do what you need to do.

But, that’s the big distinction. The Red Sox aren’t in Little League. They aren’t in the business of making better players. They’re in the business of winning games with the players they currently have. So, they owe it to themselves, and their fans, to put the team in the best position to win each and every night.

Sometimes that means putting players in spots or roles where they’re most comfortable.

So, sure, in Little League a coach might tell Clay Buchholz that he’ll be throwing to whichever catcher is back there. He needs to learn how to deal with the different circumstances. He’s young. He’ll be better served if he learns to adapt. Which might be the difference. As a high schooler, or even a college kid, it’s all about the player showing a team what they can do. You want to show that you can throw to any color chest protector. But that all reverses once he’s in the majors. Now it’s all about the team dealing with what it has.

So, would it be nice if everyone was Brock Holt? Of course. Imagine if every player could just wake up, see which position he’s playing that day, and just go hit. But, there’s a reason why Brock is such a great story. That doesn’t happen all the time. So, with the rest of the players, they have a choice. They can just tell everyone they’re going to change things up all the time and deal with the lack of production that results from it, or they can put players in their best position and get the benefits of increased production.

Other businesses do it. You don’t tell a layer who’s shy and quiet to go into the courtroom. Sure, any lawyer should do whatever you ask of them. But, that’s not putting your firm in the best position for success. It’s the same with baseball.

So, you can wish that Clay or Rick didn’t feel better with one catcher over another. You can hope that Pablo Sandoval can switch between first base and third base effortlessly. You can hope that Dustin Pedroia hits as well no matter where in the line-up you put him.

Or, you can accept that players are humans with their own set of preferences and quirks. You can accept that some players are better suited for different things. Then, you can assemble your team based on getting the most out of every player on the roster.

Wouldn’t that make the most sense?