Rafael Devers to the Giants

Some miscellaneous thoughts on the trade that sent Rafael Devers from the Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants:

• Many Boston fans are calling this a salary dump and that the Red Sox owner is just a cheapskate who doesn't care about winning any more. The sad part is if John Henry ever sells the Red Sox - he'll make billions doing it. 
• In Rafael Devers defense - who knows what the Red Sox front office or ownership promised him before he signed that big 10-year contract. He could quite simply be pissed that they broke their word to him. Knowing how Boston has treated other players - I wouldn't doubt if this was the case.
• Dodgers' ace Clayton Kershaw on the Devers trade.
• Waiting for the Boston Globe's Bob Hohler to do a hit piece on Devers now. This has been John Henry's MO in the past.
• Reminder that not only did the Red Sox scapegoat and move on from players - they also scapegoated and moved on from Theo Epstein, Tito Francona, and after his team won the 2018 World Series GM Dave Dombrowski. The only common link is John Henry.

How Red Sox Fans are Feeling

At this point Boston fans are basically waiting for Red Sox owner John Henry to tie the 2004 World Series trophy to the bumper of his car and drag it around Faneuil Hall. (Photo via) 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just as a reminder 15-years ago CNN's Eason Jordan made allegations that the military under George W. Bush was targeting journalists in war zones. Targeting as in trying to kill. Neither CNN nor Eason Jordan were ever held accountable for their wild accusations. Sure Eason had to resign from CNN but he still makes a pretty penny from leftist organizations and NGO's... Half a century ago the Red Sox signed their young superstar to an extension making him the highest paid player in baseball... I wonder who started the rumor that Mike Bloomberg was considering Hillary Clinton as a running mate? Was it someone from Hillary Clinton's camp? Or maybe somebody from Donald Trump's camp?... Today the owner of the Red Sox says trading away his great young superstar had nothing to do with money. Basically pissing down Boston fans' backs while telling us its raining... Illegal Catfish Noodlers would be a good name for a band... John Henry Williams basically had his dad decapitated then froze his head and yet today Ted Williams' son would probably be the second most detested John Henry in Boston sports history...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The NBA trade I'd like to see is Boston sending Daniel Theis and Milwaukee's 2020 1st round pick to Phoenix for Aron Baynes. It works money wise and I think the 1st round pick gives the Suns the incentive to make the move. The Celtics know that Baynes is a fit for the team and it helps them where they are weakest - against strong centers in the East like Joel Embid and Giannis... Knuffle Bunny - kids book or female self-pleasuring device? Surprise it's a kids book... John Henry has become the most unlikable sports owner in Boston. That's quite an accomplishment for a guy who broke the curse and whose team last won it all two years ago... No matter what happens in the 2020 election I'd love to see Norm MacDonald and Andrew Yang make a series of "on the road" movies together. Like the old Hope and Crosby flicks. Or maybe a re-make of the Odd Couple. Netflix make this happen... Meanwhile in Iran... What are the chances that Paul Krugman's password was "password"?... "Subordinating your ego is the ultimate form of self-confidence" quote that caught my fancy from a recent Jocko Willink podcast...

It Wasn't Personal - It Was Business

So Jon Lester has signed with the Chicago Cubs for $155 million over 6-years. I agree with Rob Bradford that the reason this happened was simply because Boston didn't want him as much privately as they publicly claimed. An extra $20 million and a vesting seventh year was the difference. That difference would mean NOTHING to ownership if they really wanted Lester back.

Simply put - the team didn't want to sign a 31-year old pitcher to a long-term deal. But publicly they had to make it look like they did.

I like Jon Lester and will continue to root for him but what is becoming increasingly clear to me is what I really root for is laundry. Whoever is wearing the Red Sox uniform is the guy I cheer for (unless that guy is dickhead AJ Pierzynski).

Many people will place the blame for losing Jon Lester on Larry Lucchino and to a certain degree they would be right. I would guess that the low-ball $70 million over 4-years offer the team made to Lester in the Spring had Larry's fingerprints all over it. Larry is also the guy to blame for ownership thinking Bobby Valentine was a competent manager. Balancing the negatives, however, are the undeniable positives of three World Series Championships in the last decade and the fact that Lucchino was the man mainly responsible for turning Fenway Park from what was becoming a urine soaked rathole into a great (albeit expensive) place to experience an MLB game.

The real blame for losing Lester rests with principal owner John Henry. Simply put - he didn't want to sign a 31-year old pitcher to a long term deal. If he really wanted Lester back - then the extra $3 million a year (the cost for a below average veteran back-up outfielder) would have been no obstacle.

So now the Red Sox have a pretty potent line-up, some spare parts to deal and some starting (and bullpen) holes to fill. It should be interesting to see what laundry Ben Cherrington can come up with for me to root for.

Meanwhile - Godspeed Jon Lester.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Please - I really hope somebody asked Peyton Manning about his record in cold weather games after last night's loss to the Chargers. Please! Please! Please!... Jacoby Ellsbury took out an ad in the Boston Globe (owned by Red Sox owner John Henry) to thank fans. How come these ads are never taken out in the Boston Herald (which is not owned by Red Sox owner John Henry)... I don't think I'll be seeing Saving Mister Banks anyways but knowing its a bunch of crap is even more reason to stay away... The Internet Map - cannot find A Large Regular on here - so obviously the map is incomplete...Confession - I have never seen any of the Home Alone movies (and have no plans to do so)...  LBJ in the White House pool. I love photos like this... Having a giant Yankees sticker on your car or truck is a good way to insure you WON'T be getting out of a ticket if you get pulled over by the State Police on the Mass Pike... Shaolin Kung Fu Monks... I just find the sound of the word "burgled" amusing. I keep thinking it sounds like something the Urban Dictionary would define as a BJ in the snow or cold, "She burgled me in the ski gondola!"... MacBrown O'Texas would be a great name for a cartoon character...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I wonder if Aaron Rodgers is rethinking the A-Rod nickname?... Is it "duck" tape or "duct" tape?... "Matt Leinart" is French for "Will QB for food"... Can someone remind me what the point of the Occupy Movement was and what it accomplished?... What if A-Rod was only taking steroids in an effort to transform himself into a centaur?... Regarding that lab grown beef that was in the news recently. If they had lab grown chicken - could it really be any worse than Chicken McNuggets?... Steve Spurrier really is an American original.... President Harding in 1920 started the tradition of answering questions directly from reporters. Is that tradition coming to an end? If I were a Republican President I'd probably stop it... When John Henry takes over the Boston Globe - it will be interesting to see if he keeps Dan Shaughnessy for long. He could hire five up and coming writers for the salary he pays Shaughnessy. It would be the Sabermetric thing to do...

John Henry Buys Boston Globe

Red Sox principal owner John Henry has reached an agreement to purchase the Boston Globe for $70 million.

I read about the transaction in three articles this morning. First one via the Globe, the second was via the NY Times, and the last was via Breitbart. What was interesting was the Globe article did not mention the pension liabilities at all (an important nugget for the business section to overlook completely don't you think), the Times just said that John Henry was not assuming the "Globe's pension liabilities", and then Breitbart said that the pension liabilities are estimated at over $100 million. Adding in those pension liabilities really puts a different spin on the real net for the NY Times in the deal - doesn't it?

What maybe bugged me the most was the fact that the Worcester Telegram and Gazette was lumped into the deal like it was an after thought. The Telegram and Gazette was the paper I grew up with. I have to think if the NY Times Company never touched the T and G that it would have been worth more than $70 million by itself today.

What People are Missing About the Bobby Valentine Hiring

I saw what the Bobby Valentine hiring by the Red Sox was from the very start. It was not a bad hire at all as some pundits and personalities now claim. Bobby Valentine has completely succeeded for the purpose for which he was hired.

Let me explain. But first let me get a little geeky.

In the book (and movie) Dune - Baron Harkonnen first sends his nephew the Beast Rabban in to rule the desert planet Arrakis after the defeat and overthrow of the popular Duke Leto Atreides. However, Baron Harkonnen's real goal is to have Rabban crush the will of the people on Arrakis so that when he has his favorite nephew - Feyd-Rautha (played by Sting in the first Dune movie) replace Rabban - Feyd-Rautha will be hailed as a savior.

In the Red Sox example - Bobby Valentine is the Beast Rabban.

If you recall - originally the new Red Sox ownership had planned to make Billy Beane their GM in charge of baseball operations. There is no way that Beane would have tolerated any interference in baseball operations by Larry Lucchino. But at the last minute Beane turned the Sox down and Theo Epstein became GM. Now Theo had no choice but to tolerate interference from Lucchino and his minions because Epstein held much less power in the organization and because Lucchino was his "mentor".

I am convinced that it was the interference of Lucchino and his ilk that undermined Terry Francona and cost him his job and who also eventually caused Their to cry "enough!" and ask for exile to the Cubs.

Red Sox principal owner John Henry is no dummy (you don't get to be a billionaire by being stupid). He knew what was happening but what to do about it? Simple - you give Lucchino enough rope to hang himself. You let Lucchino hand-pick Bobby Valentine as the new manager but you saddle Valentine with enough handicaps that failure is all-but guaranteed. Don't let Valentine pick his own coaches and give him a contract that emphasizes Bobby V's weak position to anyone paying attention.

With the failure almost complete - John Henry can turn to Lucchino and order no more interference in baseball operations and then bring in a likable manager like John Farrell or DeMarco Hale (who will look like Sting compared to Valentine's Sideshow Bob act). The new manager also doesn't have to bear the burden of being compared to the well-loved Terry Francona. They just have to be better than the comical Bobby Valentine.

Just as it was planned.

The Red Sox Mess

People are looking to pin the blame for the Red Sox organization being a mess. Does the blame lie with players like Josh Beckett who is viewed as over-paid, under-productive and out of shape? Is it Bobby Valentine whose managerial moves at times are questionable at best and whose personality really rubs many the wrong way? Is it first year GM Ben Cherington who hasn't made enough moves to right the ship? Is it ownership who seem too distracted by new shiny things like Liverpool soccer (LFC) to see the forest through the trees? For anyone paying attention the answer is clear - all of the above!

I get into details after the break. Be sure to read it all because I really buried the lede.

The Curse of John Henry

OK - I'll say it! Yesterday Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe had an extensive piece on the epic fail of of the 2011 Red Sox. Among the "revelations" was the fact that Terry Francona had separated from his wife and was living in a hotel. Hohler missed or refused to see the big picture though - a fish always stinks from the head down. How come there wasn't any talk about principal owner John Henry's personal life? If marital issues are fair game at the Boston Globe - why no mention of John Henry's divorce and remarriage?

Think of it this way - the Red Sox last tasted post-season success in 2007 when they swept the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. That was also the year that owner John Henry got divorced and you can argue when things started going downhill with the hometown nine. The divorce coincided with the creation of Roush-Fenway Racing. But of course that wouldn't diminish the attention and focus of John Henry on the Red Sox. Then John Henry married a woman who was almost half his age, Linda Pizzuti, in 2009. She got pregnant and had a baby girl with Henry in 2009. That will obviously change a person's priorities and focus. A man of Henry's age - would it be OK to ask him about any Viagra usage? I mean if Francona's marital situation and prescription pill use can be put on the table by the Boston Globe - shouldn't they also be asking the team owner if chemically induced tumescence and fatherhood made his ability to oversee the company slip?

Then we have the purchase of the Liverpool Football Club. At the time of the purchase Henry said that it would in no way take away any resources or attention to the Red Sox. But bringing that up - doesn't that show it was in ownership's thinking? And giving the player $300 headsets and a night on John Henry's yacht - doesn't that show he was out of touch with the team? I mean how many players do you think just gave those headsets away? And were these the Dr. Dre headsets the team was pimping the year before? How gauche if there were.

Ownership is now on recod of saying they didn't know things were that bad in the clubhouse. If that is the case - then when did they start to lose touch of what was happening in the clubhouse? Couldn't this be traced back to John Henry's divorce as easily as it could to Terry Francona's marital issues?

I guess the real point is that John Henry, Tom Werner and especially Larry Lucchino should spend more time getting the beams out of their own eyes before sending their anonymous sources to complain about the mote in their ex-manager's eyes.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I think we should thank Fox and Friends. The show seems to serve as a weeding out process of the sane versus batshit insane. They could even rename the show Thoughtful Political Commentary or Moonbat Crazy and I would be fine. At the very least let's hope that MNF will finally get rid of the Hank Williams Jr. song. I mean the song was really good at the start but then it just went too far... Wow - I never knew that Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo was battling a series of strokes... If I ran a team in the English Premier League - I'd hire Terry Francona to do commercials for my team in the US. That would at the least draw support away from Liverpool which is also owned by John Henry and the rest of the Red Sox ownership... Speaking of Hitler - you knew this was coming - Hitler reacts to the Red Sox collapse... I could get behind the new nicknames for Red Sox players of Beckett the Boozer and JaMarcus Lackey... One final Hitler thought - the Internet has really made Hitler an off-limits historical figure. You have Godwin's Law and Hitler in the Bunker satire and none of that furthers any rational argument a person may hope to make. You would be much better pulling out any other historical figure like Churchill's father after he went crazy from Syphillis, Ghengis Khan, Eric the Red or William the Conqueror - anyone. If you do that then the historically ignorant will have no clue what to think. Was the reference amusing for some obscure reason? You would really keep them guessing - and you would get to keep your job.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Red Sox owner John Henry tweeted this morning "Sox/Yankees biggest rivalry in US. LFC/MUFC biggest rivalry in the world. Typical match draws far more than triple the Super Bowl viewers." The LFC is Liverpool and MUFC is Manchester United. John Henry happens to own the Liverpool Football (soccer) Club. If this is really the case (and I'm not doubting it) someone should ask him if MLB should change the name from the World Series to the North American Series given the relative scope of the game... Southern lights from space... Is there anyone out there still legitimately steamed that Derek Jeter skipped the All-Star Game? Anyone?... Obama has a secret plan to take $4 trillion spending out of the budget just like John Kerry had a secret plan to get us out of Iraq... Richard Nixon's Humble Last Meal as President... It would be interesting to compare the number of albums and hits between Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band versus Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I would guess that they would be almost equals in terms of straight "stats"... Speaking of Springsteen - I have to think that the people not in loop in the recent Bruce Feldman / ESPN drama must have thought #FreeBruce was some sort of Springsteen MP3 giveaway... When good things happen for good people. Cleveland Indians starter Justin Masterson is now 8th in the American League in ERA (2.80), 13th in innings pitched, 20th in strikeouts (95) and 20th in WHIP. Good for him... What's not to like about Miguel Angel Jimenez? He loves golf, cigars and wine and has a stretching routine that would make any weekend duffer proud.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Roy Halladay's scouting report as a 21-year-old prospect

- With John Henry poised to buy Liverpool - here's a nice story on how the team got it's signature song. Now the trick is how to explain Dirty Water to the people in England.

- Awesome - the scale of the universe

- Charlie Crist's Comically Bad First Pitch

- Bus driver of WKU volleyball bus dies of heart attack while driving. Coach seizes wheel, stops bus safely

- Tim Lincecum is great and all but this has to be hyperbole

The Red Sox the Buy the Boston Globe?

The Boston Herald today reported a rumor that principal Red Sox owner John Henry has mad overtures to purchase back the 17% of the Red Sox as well as the struggling Boston Globe from the New York Time Co.

I have no doubt that John Henry has probably indicated his willingness to buy-back the shares in the Red Sox. It makes sense that the Red Sox would want to get the 17% of the club the NYT owns. The valuation of the Red Sox keeps going up. The question is why would the Red Sox want the Boston Globe? Why would they want to do a reverse Tribune / Chicago Cubs situation?

The answer is - they probably don't want to buy the Boston Globe but that may be part of the cost of doing business to get that 17% back. If that was the case - then I wouldn't be surprised if the Worcester Telegram was also made part of the package since that central Mass paper is also owned by the NYT Co.

The smart money says that this never happens. The Red Sox have no need to take on distressed properties. They can let the New York Times continue to struggle and maybe get good terms for that 17% from the bankruptcy judge when the New York Times eventually has to sleep in the bed that they have been making.

Jason Varitek and a Very Special Episode of Sox Appeal

Jason Varitek is getting divorced. There is always two sides to every story and normally I would try to stay away from the personal life of another person (walk a mile, etc, I have my own issues to deal with, etc) but this situation made me think of something that I wanted to share. (And this has nothing to do with him being possibly linked with Heidi Watney.)

The Red Sox these days are known not just for winning (see 2004 and 2007) but also for squeezing every possible nickel out of "Red Sox Nation." These marketing ploys run the gamut from the pink hats, green hats, red home uniforms to the disgusting schilling of Jon Lester autographed "cancer" baseballs. My least favorite of these marketing gimmicks is the NESN produced show Sox Appeal. Here's how NESN describes the show:

On each episode of "Sox Appeal," a single fan (hero) is sent on three blind dates over the course of one Red Sox game. Each date lasts two innings. During the seventh-inning stretch, our hero consults the Fenway faithful. They help the hero decide which dater should come in from the bullpen to close the game.

OK here's my point. Jason Varitek is a free agent (with the divorce that designation works on a number of levels). His performance at the plate is way down this season (he's making Julio Lugo look like Babe Ruth at the plate). What if the Red Sox were to give Varitek a contract extension but include a provision that since he's now single that he has to appear on the show Sox Appeal as a contestant (or as they put it - a hero). Can you imagine the ratings? I bet the suits at NESN can. Varitek can participate during a game Tim Wakefield is pitching and where Varitek would normally have the day off. It's not like they'll need him to pinch hit.

If there ever is a very special Jason Varitek Episode of Sox Appeal - remember where you read the idea first.