Mike's Red Sox Spring Training Thoughts

Spring training is now fully underway down in Fort Meyers as the Red Sox prepare for the upcoming season. The Captain wrote about how much he feels that this upcoming season mirrors the catastrophe that was the 2012 Boston Red Sox. He makes some valid points. Some players seem to be exhibiting attitude problems before the season has even begun. There's a new manager in charge who is supposedly going to whip these guys into shape. There are some likable new arrivals who aren't especially talented players. That said, I feel like there have been enough changes to the script that I don't think the 2013 Boston Red Sox are doomed.

I'm not sold on John Farrell. Farrell had two years in Toronto. He inherited a team with 85 wins in the 2010 season under Cito Gaston. Under Farrell they finished with 81 wins in 2011 and 73 wins in 2012. It's impossible to say how much emphasis you can place on the manager of a baseball team when a season goes badly, he's not like Bill Belichick where he has a huge amount of control over the personnel and the schemes on the field, but Farrell certainly didn't wow anybody with his work in Toronto. We didn't make such an effort to bring Farrell in because he did such a bang up job in Toronto, he's here because he's worked in Boston before. He's got a rapport with the front office and with some of the pitching staff that has been retained since he was the pitching coach here. Presumably, he saw how Terry Francona ran the team relatively successfully for years and will act in a similar fashion. I think the Red Sox wanted Terry Francona back, but couldn't actually get Terry back because of all the history, baggage and burnt bridges and Farrell was as close as they were going to get.

I think the on-field product has changed dramatically from last season. They unloaded a ton of high price tag talent to the Dodgers and I think the team will be very different as a result. I think the Red Sox front office was in denial that the team had a problem going into last season. After all, they barely missed the postseason after one of the worst months of baseball a team has ever played. Outside of that they had been one of the best teams in baseball. I think they felt September 2011 was just an aberration and with the new playoff system they should make the playoffs without a problem. Clearly they were wrong and there were some serious issues with this team. They unloaded three huge contracts and seem to have taken a more conservative approach this offseason to fill those gaps. I think this season everybody has a much lower, realistic expectation for this team and committed to a slower rebuilding process. Indications are that the ownership is ready to let the sellout streak they had propped up last season die and have said they would like to be more transparent with their dealings.


“It’s a marketing slogan but I think this one has the added virtue of being true and transparent. We know last year, and the final month of the preceding year, were the beginning of a very downward trend for this franchise, a historic collapse, a disastrous 2012. It was no secret things needed to be repaired, reset, rebuilt, reloaded, whatever ‘R’ word you want to use. Acknowledging it was probably an honest way to approach the season.”
- Red Sox president Larry Lucchino

I really doubt that this team is a championship contender, the pieces necessary to get the Red Sox to that level just were not available, but I do think a playoff birth is an achievable, realistic goal for this team.

Fenway Sellout Streak To End?

One of the bigger topics of discussion last season was the continuation of the Red Sox sellout streak despite the fact that the fanbase interest was no longer keeping this streak alive. The prevailing belief is that the ownership made arrangements for the tickets to be purchased and never used. so attendance at the park would be low, but the game would still be considered a sellout. As a result, tickets could often be acquired for significantly below face value on the day of the game and various ticket scalpers got left holding the bag. Many criticized the ownership group for keeping the sellout streak on life support out of their own pockets since it made the streak an insincere accomplishment. Larry Lucchino recently made a statement when asked about the sellout streak that would seem to suggest that the ownership will no longer be propping up the sellout streak.


FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Boston Red Sox's record 793-game sellout streak at Fenway Park likely will come to an end in April, team president Larry Lucchino predicted Thursday.
"It's going to rest in peace sometime in April, I suspect," Lucchino said of the streak, which began in 2003 and is the longest in U.S. pro sports history. "That's not such a terrible thing. It's an extraordinary accomplishment."

Ticket sales for the 2013 season are down; Lucchino called it the most challenging year in this ownership's tenure in Boston. The team is expecting the home opener on April 8 to be sold out, but the streak could end as early as April 10, the second home game of the season.
"Some people have been guessing about it," Lucchino said. "Historically, for all of baseball, the second game of the season has been the toughest game to sell tickets for, so it could be as early as that. I have no doubt Opening Day will be a sellout.

I'd like to think that maybe Larry will be wrong on this one. Maybe he underestimates the optimism of a fanbase early in the season when there are still endless possibilities. That might carry the streak a little ways into the season. If the team gets off to a good start and builds some momentum they might be able to carry that further.

I'm Glad To See Andrew Bailey Isn't Throwing A Hissy Fit Over Not Being The Closer

We didn't really get to see much of Andrew Bailey last season. He was brought in to fill the big shoes left by beloved closer, and noted Toradol user, Jonathan Papelbon. Bailey went down with a thumb injury in spring training and didn't make an appearance until mid-August when the Red Sox were already trailing significantly for a playoff spot. When Bailey finally did get the opportunity to contribute he was unimpressive. His final stat line for the season:
19 G
W-L 1-1
ERA 7.04
WHIP 1.891

During the offseason, the Red Sox acquired Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan and immediately gave him the closer role that Andrew Bailey probably expected to assume prior to that trade. Across all sports when a player gets a demotion it's typically the beginning of a bitch fest, especially when the player getting the demotion has any high profile achievements on his record (Bailey was a 2-time all-star with the As and won the Rookie of the Year in 2009). I was pleasantly surprised to see Bailey handling the situation with some humility and class, which has been lacking on this Red Sox team lately.

“Ben had given me a little heads up on that and I said, ‘Hey, whatever makes us better.’ I only get to play this game a certain amount of time and I want to win,” Bailey said Wednesday. “All the accolades are great in the role of a closer, but ultimately everyone here wants to win and that’s the goal.”

“I love it here,” he said. “The team we have is a winner, a contender. We do have a deep bullpen. Starters only have to go four or five innings, really. It’ll be fun down there, for sure. Obviously, everyone’s goal as a reliever is to close, and I’ve said this before, I don’t think my closing days are done and I certainly hope they’re not done in Boston. I love the city. I love being here and it’s close to home (Connecticut) for me.”

“I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do last year, or had that opportunity because of the injury,” he said. “I’m excited about this year to come in healthy and show what I can do.”

This was almost a perfect media answer. I think Bill Belichick would be proud. He prioritizes the team's goals above his own ambitions, admits past disappointments and presents a positive outlook going forward by saying that he expects to close again in the future. I haven't been really happy with what Andrew Bailey has done in a Red Sox uniform thus far, but I do feel good about his attitude.