Picked-up pieces while chuckling over the Yankees’ imitation of the 2011 Red Sox . . .
You have to hand it to John Henry. Overseeing the worst Boston baseball team since the mid ’60s . . . making a “fact-finding” mission across the country to watch Bobby Valentine’s painful, public breakdown . . . readying for a return home to more phony sellouts with John Farrell managing in the other dugout . . . and the owner of the Boston Red Sox has come to the conclusion that the answer to all of the Sox’ problems is . . .
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I'm not surprised with John Henry wanting more of Bill James. Henry made his money analyzing numbers. It's all he knows. What's more troubling is Peter Gammons agreeing with John Henry in a radio interview. He even went so far as to say that Bill James had a good sense of humor! What's up with that? I don't think you need to be Bill James to think that Crawford wasn't going to fit here. They had no place in the lineup for him and his monster contract and didn't need another left handed batter. Even John Henry knew that!! That damn Theo and his lust for NESN ratings!! Ownership/management needs to get out of damage control mode and focus on getting baseball ops back where they used to be. A true baseball guy (not you Larry) running the show would be a good start. Let Larry play in the business sandbox and stop meddling with baseball ops.
Heh, the shot across Paul Ryan's bow was a nice touch
Great story, Dan, but I'm glad DeOsse is off the Air. I (and lots of other folks) switched the dial the minute that fraud entered the conversation... -TK
Curly, along with Nick Cafardo, was one of the Globe pundits who trumpeted the hiring of Bobby Valentine as the fix for the September 2011 collapse of the Sox. The players were just spoiled children, and they needed a Big Daddy (no, not Butch Hobson, another of the loathsome Curly's favorite targets) to spank the players and get them to behave. Now it's "duck and cover" time as Valentine's hubris and "know-it-all" temperament have proven to be incendiary. So what does Curly do? Does he take any personal responsibility for his career-long bad advice regarding player and team management? No, he ridicules the owners (who brought us 2004 and 2007) and finds a new target in Bill James. Can the constant drumbeat of negative Boston media — the "knights of the kyboard," as Teddy Ballgame used to call them — have contributed in any way to the team's success? Ya think? I make the mistake of reading a Shaughnessy column every few months, and am always left with a vomit-like taste in my mouth. What a rodent!
Typical Shaughnessy: lazy swipes at anybody he happens to think of.
Nothing of note until the last line. As it is sports-related hyperbole (not to mention character-revealing news), Ryan's lie is fair game. But where's the column dedicated (all of it) to the folly of going after John Farrell? Even if he were available after this year it would be sheer folly based on his record, and yet sportswriters at the Globe AND Red Sox brass seem to be SERIOUSLY contemplating losing a decent player for the guy! Analysis, please. And curly wit.
Ownership can't re-hire Francona, so Farrell is the next best thing. The Tito-worshippers are already lining up to see the scepter passed to one of their own. It was like Bill Clinton passing the mantle of leadership to Al Gore.
Do you think being on the cover of SI will jinx us the rest of the way? (The front page of The Onion would have been more fitting.)
The original incarnation of Bill James and the Red Sox was intended to create an east coast version of the Oakland Atletics, only with more money and Theo Epstein as the Generation X version of Billy Beane. It worked well until the signing of John Lackey, Carl Crawford and extension of Josh Beckett. The Dodgers gave us a chance at a do-over. I hope we can play with the financial and organizational discipline of the Billy Beane A's and the enthusiasm of their players.
Bill James advised the Red Sox not to hire Carl Crawford or Bobby Valentine. Shaugnesssy and Cafordo praised the Red Sox for hiring Crawford and Valentine. It seems to me that James was right and that Shaugnessy and Cafardo did not know what they were talking about.
Was Shaughnessy channeling the departed yet not lamented fatuous glob of hot air, Charles let's not forget the "P" Pierce with that last line of wry satirical political humour? A bit winded gotta remeber that one.
You crack me up! Acie Earl and Paul Ryan in the same column! If the Golden Star was still around I'd buy you a maitai! Cheers! Take care - Dave