July 31st, 2006 → 11:28 am @ Seth Mnookin
Last night, about a half-hour after the end of a miserable game at Fenway, the Red Sox’s last three general managers–Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Ben Cherington–went into Terry Francona’s office, closed the door, and stayed there for a good long while before exiting out the back of the park. The difference between this year and last is remarkable: the Red Sox have turned into the kind of tight-lipped operation that George Bush can only dream of having. (One reporter recently said the ’06 Sox make the Patriots look verbose in comparison.) But the fact that there’s not much word trickling out of 4 Yawkey Way doesn’t mean the strain and stress of dealing with the trading deadline isn’t manifesting itself in numerous ways. Last night, Terry Francona only managed to muster a meek protest after the first-base umpire incorrectly ruled that Mike Lowell hadn’t been hit with a pitch; in those kind of situations, it’s a manager’s job to argue until he gets tossed. Francona might have given up because he was exhausted, or because he didn’t want to risk loading the bases with two outs and Coco Crisp due up at the plate. This year, Crisp seems to have taken on the mantle of the miserable moper convinced everyone’s out to get him, like Edgar Renteria in ’05 or Nomar Garciaparra in ’04. Twice in the sixth inning last night Crisp threw wildly off target–first when he threw up the first base line after a spectacular diving catch, later when he skipped a relay throw into the infield after an Orlando Cabrera sacrifice fly–and both times he was hanging his head, Linus-style, before his throws had even been gathered up. Now that Willie Harris (who had been Crisp’s best friend in the clubhouse) is in Pawtucket, Crisp is isolated, sullen and sulking, in spite of the fact that Boston fans have more or less given the guy a free pass. Someone who came in replacing a matinee idol/cult hero and has been a bust on both offense and defense could reasonably expect a lot worse. It’s almost as if Crisp is depressed in preparation for the Boston boo birds.
Then there’s the trio of veterans much in discussion: Mark Loretta, Mike Lowell, and Trot Nixon. A couple of weeks ago, Lowell was assured he wasn’t going anywhere; now even he thinks there’s a chance he’s on his way out of town. All the chattering surrounding free-agent to be Julio Lugo (and the assumed readiness of Dustin Pedroia) has Loretta’s name on many people’s lips; for several hours yesterday there was a rumor that Loretta had left Fenway in street clothes shortly before the game, the 2006 version of Adam Dunn “announcing” in a Reds chatroom that he’d been traded to the Sox. And Nixon, the most popular of the bunch, is also currently the least valuable. His slugging percentage has declined every year since 2003 (and his current mark of .424 is his lowest since he became a fulltime player in 1999), his defense has become increasingly erratic, and he’s currently blocking Wily Mo Pena, who, in limited playing time, is currently leading Nixon in virtually every offensive category save for OBP and is hitting home runs almost 50 percent more often. When one of Nixon’s violent swings left him clutching his right bicep last night, one longtime Fenway insider jokingly evoked Epstein’s infamous (and apocryphal) hotel-room trashing in the wake of the Yankees signing Jose Contreras by quipping, “I bet Theo just broke a chair.” (Another one muttered, “Well, that’s one way for Trot to make sure he doesn’t get dealt.”)
So what will happen in the next five hours? Who knows? I know some things that won’t happen: Larry Lucchino will not go on WEEI to confirm any trade discussions; Manny Ramirez will not be the subject of any rumors; the Sox won’t make a deal simply to make it seem as if they’re doing something. Oh, and also, something is definitely in the works.
***
Yesterday, the Yankees made what has widely been heralded as a difference-making move when they picked up Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle from the Phillies in return for their C.J. Henry and a trio of prospects. (Henry, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2005, was the person the Yankees chose when Craig Hansen was still available.) But Abreu, who is due $4.5 million for the remainder of this season and $15 million next year, has put up these numbers over the past full season: .278 BA, 14 HR, 105 RBI, .449 SLG. The RBI numbers are good…and also dependent on what’s happening in front of him. The batting average and home run totals are both below what Kevin Youkilis projects to hit this year, and so far this season Youk has an identical .449 slugging percentage. The fact that ESPN’s Steve Phillips thinks this is a great deal is probably reason enough to think it’s not, but there are many other reasons to look at this pick-up and expect to see more Carl Pavano than Carlos Beltran. (Speaking of ESPN and Beltran, the question of whether Abreu’s impact will be similar to that of Beltran in ’04 is just silly. Beltran was 27, and including the first four months of that year had put up four straight seasons of .500+ slugging and two straight years of a .900+ OPS. Abreu is 32, and, including this year, has been below .500 and .900 for two straight years.)
After the Abreu deal was announced, Joe Torre said, “The Yankees always deal in the present. We made this deal for the present.” As I said yesterday, the flip side of that philosophy is not thinking about the future. It’s been that attitude that has left the Yankees, with far and away the biggest payroll in baseball, rich in older, overpaid players on the downside of their careers and poor in younger, cheaper, fresher talent with their best years ahead of them. And it’s been that attitude that’s produced two first-round departures, one ALCS collapse, and a pair of World Series losses over the last five years.
Post Categories: trade deadline
July 30th, 2006 → 2:26 pm @ Seth Mnookin
A year ago at this time, Boston was embroiled in what seemed to be an annual trade-deadline soap opera. In 2004, it was Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Lowe who were rumored to be on their way out of town; Nomar, of course, was actually traded to the Cubs. Last year, Manny Ramirez was either demanding a trade, or asking not to be traded, or refusing to play, or telling the world nothing was wrong.
This year, things are much quieter…at least on the media front. One big reason for that is the fact that for the first time in decades, Peter Gammons isn’t burning up the phone lines. (Last year, even as he was being inducted into the writers wing of the Hall of Fame, Gammons was perhaps the best source of information about all the various discussions going on around the league.) Another big reason is that, in the wake of last winter’s off-field turmoil, the Red Sox have kept a much tighter lid on their public relations operation. (Think about the fact that the first anyone heard about the Red Sox signing David Ortiz, Coco Crisp, and Josh Beckett to contract extensions was when the team held press conferences to announce the deals.)
Over the last several days, word about possible Red Sox deals has heated up, with much of it coming from ESPN’s Buster Olney, who has said the Sox offered up Coco Crisp in return for White Sox starter Mark Buehrle, or that they’re looking to trade Mark Loretta and move Dustin Pedroia to the bigs. As I’ve written before, I have a huge amount of respect for Olney, but in this case, I’m not inclined to rely on him as a prime source of information. As Olney himself writes, “I wish I knew all the details of what the Red Sox are planning, all the tentacles, because the bits and pieces are fascinating.” If the Red Sox aren’t leaking–and I really doubt they are–these bits and pieces are coming from other GMs, and pretty much every team in the American League has good reason to try to stir up some trouble in Boston.
That said, I would bet that most of the team is available for the right price. Schilling isn’t going anywhere, and neither is Manny. Papelbon, Hansen, Delcarmon, and Lester are also probably untouchable, and it’s unlikely Jason Varitek or Tim Wakefield would be put on the block. Kevin Youkilis is so relatively inexpensive, and so unlikely to get comparable value in return, that it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which he’d be on his way out of town. But there were trades on the table for Trot Nixon this past offseason, and his declining power numbers and impending free agency likely increase the chance that he’s seen as expendable. (Of course, those same facts also mean his value is probably lower than it has been in some time.) Everyone else is probably fair game as well…and we probably have no idea about what’s actually going on. (Last year, with my retrospective awareness of what had been discussed and what had almost occured, I was struck by two things: the fact that very few trades are for “name” players, and the fact that so little of what’s discussed by the Sox’s baseball operations department ever makes its way into print.)
In other news, there are reports that the Yankees will send their top draft pick in 2005–20-year-old shrotstop C.J. Henry–along with a reliever to the Phillies in return for Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle. From the Red Sox’s perspective, this wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. The Yankees’ four World Series titles between 1996 and 2000 were won on the backs of players who came up through the Yankees’ farm system during between 1990 and 1993, the time during which George “Instant Gratification” Steinbrenner was banned from baseball. (Jorge Posada was drafted in 1990; Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte signed as an amateur free agents in 1990 and 1991, respectively; Bernie Williams’s first year in the majors was 1991; and Derek Jeter was drafted in 1992.) It seems unlikely all these players would have been in New York had Steinbrenner, who always wants to win right now and worry about tomorrow when it comes, been in control of the team. Abreu and Lidle would definitely make the Yankees better in the immediate short-term. But, Abreu–like Randy Johnson and Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon and Carl Pavano–would cost a boatload of money and decrease New York’s flexibility going forward. And the loss of cheap, young talent could very well burn the Yankees in the future.
That’s a lesson the Red Sox don’t need to learn. Theo Epstein has shown a consistent desire to hold on to Boston’s young talent. Even so, it’s worth taking a look at what’s been lost (or almost lost) these last few years. The Sox shipped Matt Murton to Chicago as part of the Nomar trade, and this year Murton’s put up a .321 batting average and a .907 OPS in 51 games for the Cubs. (With those numbers, Murton would lead the Sox in BA and be third in OPS.) And had the Manny for A-Rod deal gone through, Jon Lester would have gone to the Rangers.
Without a doubt, there’ll be a lot going down in the next 25-and-a-half hours. And we probably won’t hear about it until those deals come round.
Post Categories: Grateful Dead lyrics & Peter Gammons & Sports Reporters & trade deadline
July 30th, 2006 → 1:24 pm @ Seth Mnookin
“Boo. It kind of sucks, huh? We’re in first place and your fans are still booing. `You suck. Boo.’ It’s unbelievable. I got used to it. Every time I go on the field to pitch and for BP. It’s OK. They pay for the tickets. They can say whatever they want to say.”
— Julian Tavarez, the proud owner of a 5.17 ERA, wondering why he’s getting booed at Fenway. (Tavarez picked up a gift-wrapped win in yesterday’s 11-inning, 7-6 Red Sox victory.)
“Everybody says, `Good job, Julian.’ I say good job to Manny and Ortiz. Manny won the game by making that throw home and Ortiz got the base hit.”
— Julian Tavarez, later in the same post-game interview.
Post Categories: Julian Tavarez
July 28th, 2006 → 12:23 pm @ Seth Mnookin
If we’re really lucky, we’ll get several more first-person pieces before the season’s over in which Chass complains about his lack of access.
From the Talk of the Town to Hardly Talking
The New York Times
April 12, 2006
By Murray Chass
This is about the day that George Steinbrenner almost talked to me.
George always used to talk to me. … [W]e talked more often than not, then he disappeared…
I called [Steinbrenner spokesman Howard] Rubenstein yesterday morning and told him I would like to talk to George at Yankee Stadium before or during the Yankees’ home opener with Kansas City…
I said there would be reporters there who hadn’t even been born at the time Steinbrenner saw his first home opener as the Yankees’ principal owner. Indeed, four of the Yankees’ nine beat reporters had not made their appearance in the world.
”I’ll ask him when I get to the Stadium,” Rubenstein replied.
Early in the game Rubenstein called and said: ”George will talk to you on the telephone. Is that O.K.?”
Not really. With Steinbrenner in his loge-level office and me in the loge-level press box, we were no farther apart than home plate from first base. But with my editors waiting for a ”George talks” column, I couldn’t very well turn down a telephone interview, so I said yes…
”He decided he’s not going to do it today,” Rubenstein said. ”He’s entertaining up here. Maybe he’ll do it tomorrow.”
I will not sit by the telephone waiting for the call.
Wilpon Joins Steinbrenner’s Vow of Silence
The New York Times
July 28, 2006 Friday
By Murray Chass
Now New York has two owners of baseball teams who are incommunicado. We know what George Steinbrenner’s reason is. He’s aging and ailing, and his ego is too large to let his public see him as less than the man he was for his first 30 years or so as owner of the Yankees.
On the day the Yankees opened at home this season, I was in the press box at Yankee Stadium and told Howard Rubenstein, the owner’s spokesman, that I would like to speak with Steinbrenner, who was in his office not 100 feet away.
”George will talk to you on the telephone. Is that O.K.?” Rubenstein responded after relaying the request.
Three and a half months later, I am still waiting for the phone call.
Post Categories: Murray Chass & New York Times
July 27th, 2006 → 8:46 am @ Seth Mnookin
About a week ago, Amazon.com, due to a “software glitch,” had my book listed as Lord’s Day Cry by Robert Harris. Harris, who runs a website called Midnight Ministries, promsised to “simplify and make plain Christ’s initial return” in his book; all I was promising was the “inside story of how savvy management turned baseball’s ‘cursed’ team into world champions and how this success presented the biggest challenges of all.”
At the time, I thought this was a frustrating, if slightly humerous, mistake. And then I noticed that, in addition to all the places you’d expect (Red Sox blogs, Yankees blogs, baseball blogs, sports management blogs, etc.) Feeding the Monster was getting surprising traction on blogs written by men whose lives are shaped by their dedication to Christ.
There’s Bob Franquiz, the Lead Pastor of Calvary Fellowship, whose site is dedicated to “leadership, church, and your daily dose of vitamins and minerals.” Franquiz, who says that every year, he “like[s] to read a couple of fun, non-ministry related books,” writes about how he walked away from my book “reflecting on 3 values the team sees as part of its success: promote from within, trust is essential, and narrow your focus.” (Feeding the Monster prompted Franquiz to ask himself, “What’s my farm system? Who are the Triple-A up and coming leaders that are ready to hit the big leagues? Who are the next 4 or 5 people that God is raising up to join our staff?”)
There’s also Jim Gardner, the Preaching Minister for the Marble Falls Church of Christ, who runs a blog dedicated to “the simple musings of a man who is madly in love with his God, his life, his daughters, baseball, and turkey hunting.” Gardner doesn’t draw out any larger lessons in his review, but gives perhaps the best quote I could ever hope for: “For all you baseball fanatics, get your hands on a copy of Seth Mnookin’s Feeding the Monster. … Though I am not a Red Sox fan, I am a baseball fan and the recent history and success of the Boston franchise is impressive. From the sale of the team by the Yawkey estate to John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino to the building of the front office to the formation of organizational philosophy and the actual implementation of that philosophy on the field, it is an enlightening, behind-the-scenes tale that you’ll love.” Mr. Gardner, you may love your God, your family, baseball, and turkey hunting, but I love you. (In a totally platonic way, of course.)
Every night, I get asked at a reading what my target audience is, and every night I tell people I hope that baseball and sports fan will like it just as much as Red Sox fans. Jim Gardner and Bob Franquiz, thank you for spreading the Word.
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster reactions
July 26th, 2006 → 6:15 am @ Seth Mnookin
“OAKLAND, Calif. — While it was Curt Schilling who could be found on a clubhouse sofa before last night’s game reading the book, ‘Feeding the Monster,’ it might have been more appropriate reading material for the kid pitching for the Oakland Athletics, the one just two years out of college whose second big-league start placed him at the mercy of Manny Ramírez and the Red Sox.”
— “Sox show muscle, Red hot bats help Schilling win 13th”
The Boston Globe
July 26, 2006
Post Categories: Curt Schilling & Feeding the Monster reactions
July 25th, 2006 → 11:23 pm @ Seth Mnookin
I kid, I kid. I’m well aware Bonds is Mays’s godson. If you want to keep track of my mistakes — and be honest, how many of you noticed that Theo had actually referred to the July 24, 2004 game as “catalytic” and not “cataclysmic”? — you can see them all here.
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster Corrections
