July 11th, 2006 → 1:12 pm @ Seth Mnookin
…or if you’re just looking to pass the time at work, I did an online chat earlier today with Washington Post readers, there’s a write-up in today’s Providence Journal, and I’m doing more radio appearances than you can shake a stick at. More online chats in the next couple of days — one tomorrow on Boston.com and one Thursday on Sons of Sam Horn. (That will actually be open to members and lurkers alike.) And for those greater-Boston area readers, there’s a chance to yell at me in person tomorrow night.
Oh, also, did I mention? Feeding the Monster is on sale today. It makes a great gift. And a very handsome paperweight.
Post Categories: Look at me
July 10th, 2006 → 10:44 am @ Seth Mnookin
This morning, WEEI’s “Dennis and Callahan” (with Steve DeOssie sitting in for John Dennis) had Boston Culinary Group head Joe O’Donnell on as a guest. The subject was O’Donnell and Steve Karp’s bid for the Red Sox in 2001.
DeOssie and Callahan were pushing O’Donnell about a section in my book in which I describe a trip O’Donnell and John Henry took to the Boston waterfront in January 2002, after the Red Sox had agreed to sell the team to Henry and Tom Werner but before their ownership had been finalized. At the time, O’Donnell and Henry were discussing joining forces. The section reads as follows:
At around one in the morning, O’Donnell suggested he and Karp drive Henry out to a waterfront location where they wanted to build a new ballpark for the team. Henry was sufficiently concerned about the prospect of an after-midnight trip to Boston’s waterfront that he called [financial advisor] David Ginsberg to tell him where he was headed, and with whom.
“Joe played me recordings of voicemails from the house speaker, the mayor, and another who were reacting to Joe’s losing out on the Red Sox,” Henry wrote in an email he sent to his lawyers and several of his partners that morning at 3:05 am. “He talked a lot about the sports media and the Herald being in his corner or something to that effect.” Henry told how O’Donnell had asked that he be made managing partner “if something happened to you.” “That,” Henry wrote, “was a little scary.”
DeOssie and Callahan pushed O’Donnell to sue (either me or John Henry) for libel or slander. O’Donnell, to his credit, didn’t take the bait. The hosts also kept returning to the fact that there are sections in which I recount conversations O’Donnell participated in but that I had never spoken with him.
A couple of things worth pointing out.
• I did, as O’Donnell readily acknowledged, make many efforts to get in touch with both him and Steve Karp. This is made clear in the book: “Neither O’Donnell nor Karp responded to repeated verbal and written requests for comment for this book, although close associates of both men did speak to me on background.” What’s more, O’Donnell acknowledged that even he couldn’t argue with many of the conversations I did recount: “Basically, that’s all true,” he said this morning.
• DeOssie and Callahan also ridiculed the notion that O’Donnell had the support of the local media (this after saying on air, “O’Donnell’s good, huh?”). But as O’Donnell himself said, “[Former Boston Globe columnist] Willy McDonough, who was a lifelong friend of mine, who was a good friend, was relentless in his support of Steve and me.” O’Donnell also said that he was good friends with Pat Purcell, the publisher of the Herald. That’s almost exactly what I wrote: that O’Donnell and Karp, as local bidders with longstanding ties to the community, had the support of many Boston-area columnists and that some people “in Boston media circles” thought Purcell might be hard on the Henry-Werner bid because he “was upset about the prospect of the investment of The New York Times Company, which owns The Boston Globe.”
• Later in the show, DeOssie and Callahan claimed the book said O’Donnell and Karp did not have enough money to buy the team; that’s not true. What the book does say is that lawyers involved in the sale, associates of O’Donnell and Karp, and Red Sox officials all felt that O’Donnell and Karp were not willing to put up enough of their own money to make a sale to them viable. (As I note, O’Donnell and Karp are reported to have a combined net worth of almost $2 billion.) As O’Donnell himself said on WEEI, “Steve and I, the night before the decision was to be made, Steve and I sat in a room alone around one o’clock in the morning. The real breaker in that deal, which made it tremendously clear to me and to Steve, was when [John] Harrington extended the contract to [Fenway concessionaire] Aramark for 10 more years, the food service contract. I’m not in the garbage business. We had planned that in all our numbers and we had already made those plans.”
• Finally, much is made of the fact that supposedly John Henry told me that O’Donnell and Karp had threatened his life. Nowhere in my book is anything like this printed. I do quote an email, which I take pains to say Henry sent “to his lawyers and several of his partners.” I make absolutely no reference to where I got that email, and there are no quotes from John Henry. What’s more, O’Donnell verifies virtually everything in that section (except for the sentiments expressed in the email). As he said, “When I look back on it, [Henry’s] a guy from out of town, he knows that I know everybody…he looked at me as a guy that’s connected. You know, my mother’s Italian, I never thought I was connected, you know, to the goombahs. He called me and said do you mind if I bring Ginsberg…and I said no, you can’t bring him.”
I have to give Joe O’Donnell some credit. Despite the fact that less than two pages in a 400-plus page book are being distorted in a way to gin up controversy, he tried, for the most part, to avoid adding fuel to the fire. Still, there is one thing I want to clarify about his remarks as they related to me: “First of all, this guy, Mnookin, is that his name? He called a couple of times to ask to speak off the record. I didn’t respond to him, and neither did Karp.” Not true — although I did offer, in emails, in telephone messages, and through intermediaries, to talk with him on-the-record, off-the-record, or on background, whichever he prefered. (O’Donnell also refered to me as “sketchy” and “this kid.” That is so wicked harsh!)
One other comment he did make — “If you want to sell a lot of books, i supposed you can put the other spin on it” — should actually be made in reference to the coverage of the book, not the book itself. Indeed, it’ll be interesting to see how his appearance this morning plays out.
Post Categories: Joe O'Donnell & John Harrington & John Henry & Sports Reporters & WEEI
July 10th, 2006 → 9:09 am @ Seth Mnookin
This is the fifth (and last) in an occasional series of Sneak Peeks from Feeding the Monster. The section below takes place in December 2005, after Theo Epstein had quit as general manager of the Red Sox (and before he returned to the team this past January) and the Sox were negotiating with Johnny Damon’s agent, Scott Boras. You can read the rest of the book starting tomorrow, when it’ll be available in bookstores everywhere.
The situation remained stalled through much of December. By December 20, John Henry and Boras were in direct communication. Now Boras said Damon had a six-year deal ‘on the table,’ but was willing to stay with the Red Sox if they offered him five years because he loved the city and the team so much. Then, later that evening, Boras told Henry and [Red Sox assistant GM] Jed Hoyer that there was another ‘hot’ deal on the table, this one for $13 million a year for five years, totaling $65 million. The Sox had already agreed among themselves that they’d be willing to go up to at least $11 million a year for four years, but even that figure totaled some $21 million less than what Boras told the team Damon was being offered. We can’t, Henry told Boras, go that high.
That night, word began to trickle out that Damon was signing with the Yankees. This had been a scenario the Red Sox had been prepared for—back in September, Henry, Epstein, and assistant general manager Josh Byrnes had discussed how Damon could very well end up in the Bronx because of New York’s desperate need for a reliable center fielder. The Yankees, it seemed, where the mystery team who had offered the five-year, $65 million contract. But when the details of the deal finally emerged, the Red Sox were shocked to learn that Damon had signed only a four-year deal worth $13 million a year, for a total of $52 million. Damon later said he would have stayed in Boston for $11.5 million a year, just $500,000 less annually than the Red Sox had already agreed they were willing to pay him.
…
It turns out that Johnny Damon never had a firm six-year offer from any team, as Scott Boras had repeatedly told the Red Sox. A high-ranking official in Major League Baseball’s central office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that as far as officials who’d been in contact with every team in baseball could tell, Damon had never even received a solid five-year offer. To Boras, any effort to weaken the bonds of loyalty a player felt to his old team would mean the possibility of more lucrative contracts. Players had traditionally been hesitant to cross the Rubicon from Boston to New York; even Damon had said just months earlier that there was ‘no way’ he could play for the Yankees even thought he knew they were ‘going to come after [him] hard.’ If Boras could orchestrate it so that Johnny Damon, one of the most popular players on one of the most popular Red Sox teams in history, switched sides, what other players might be willing to do so in the future? And how much higher might player salaries go if agents could regularly get the Yankees to bid for Red Sox free agents, and vice versa?
Post Categories: Feeding the Monster Sneak Peeks & Johnny Damon & Scott Boras
July 9th, 2006 → 11:39 pm @ Seth Mnookin
A couple of years ago, Norm Swerling, who taught me driver’s ed in high school, was accused (and acquitted) of raping one of his students. This week, his story is on the front cover of The Boston Globe Magazine…the same issue with an excerpt from my book. And now I’m forever linked with the man who scared the daylights out of me by forcing me to sit through “Mechanized Death.”
Post Categories: Driver's Ed & Feeding the Monster Excerpts & The Boston Globe Magazine
July 9th, 2006 → 4:16 pm @ Seth Mnookin
…and instead, the final game of what should have been a sweep turned into a brutal, last-one-standing marathon. I really don’t like the White Sox.
I’d forgotten how truly awful White Sox broadcasters Ken Harrelson and Darrin Jackson are…but it only took a a couple of minutes of today’s game for them to remind me. It’s not just that they sound like they’re in a coma. And it’s not just their painful homerism, with constant, “c’mon, get a hit”s or “we need to turn it on here”s. It’s sequences like this one:
In the bottom of the fourth, Jason Varitek hit a flare up the middle that sent pitcher Jose Contreras awkwardly sprawling backwards off the mound. Contreras, who hobbled around a bit after the play, seemed so uncomfortable that his manager and trainer came out to make sure he was okay. Still, with two outs and no-one on, Contreras — who does, let’s remember, have a pretty considerable track record of melting down against the Red Sox — didn’t seem to be in a whole lot of trouble.
Then Mike Lowell hit an 0-1 pitch into the left-field stands.
Then Coco Crisp worked a five-pitch walk.
Then Alex Gonzalez roped a single into left.
Then Contreras uncorked a wild pitch, putting runners on second and third.
Then Kevin Youkilis worked a five-pitch walk.
Then Contreras hit Mark Loretta with a pitch after being up 0-2.
During this whole sequence, Contreras seemed out of sorts, changing arm slots, grimacing, shrugging his shoulders. But neither Harrelson nor Jackson made a single reference to the fact that Contreras might be experiencing some discomfort due to Tek’s liner. Not once!
Other gems:
* After saying that Youkilis is “much more dangerous” with runners in scoring position (with a .300 average versus a .325 average), Harrelson says, “That’s not bad at all for a guy who’s batting leadoff, while most of the time nobody’s out there.” Right…because whether or not you bat leadoff has absolutely anything to do with how you bat with RISP.
* “Manny Ramirez is a different hitter with the bases loaded than he is leading off an inning.” Not really true — and definitely not true in the way Harrelson thinks:
2006 leading off: 27/74 (.365) with 7 HRs (1 per 10.6 ABs)
2006 with bases loaded: 1/6 (.167) with 0 HRs
2003-2005 leading off: 121/402 (.301) with 35 HRs (1 per 11.49 ABs)
2003-2005 bases loaded: 15/52 (.288) with 5 HRs (1 per 10.4 ABs)
* “Ozzie Guillen is just trying to win the [All-Star] game, which is something a lot of managers can not say, which is a shame.”
This in reference to why Guillen didn’t choose Curt Schilling as an All-Star…because Schilling was pitching today and so might not be available for that long on Tuesday. Of course, that’s why Mark Buehrle (9-6, 4.02 ERA, 54 Ks) is an All-Star and Schilling (10-3, 3.55 ERA, 112 Ks) is not; it has nothing to do with the fact that Buehrle is on the White Sox. And does plenty to explain why Contreras, who also pitched today, isn’t excusing himself from Tuesday’s festivities.
After the dynamic duo said Guillen’s courage in using Bobby Jenks as a closer last year gave the Sox the confidence to use Jonathan “Papelbom” as a closer this year and all but implied the umpire was on the take–talking about “two different strike zones today” and how the ump gave Schilling “gifts” and squeezed Contreras so that he needed to throw it “right down the middle of the plate”–I finally turned the volume off.
Ahhh. That’s better.
Post Categories: Baseball & Broadcasting
July 9th, 2006 → 11:03 am @ Seth Mnookin
David Ortiz’s line for July, 2006
8 HRs, 16 RBIs, .387 BA, .486 OBP, 1.194 SLG, 1.680 OPS
Spead out over a season, this would lead to 185 HRs and 370 RBIs (but only 69 singles, alas).
Before you start harping about small sample sizes, I know that’s a wee bit unrealistic. But it is worth noting that from 2003-2005, Ortiz has 11 more HRs, a 14-point gain in OBP, a 41-point increase in SLG, and a 55-point gain in OPS after the All-Star Game. If Ortiz doesn’t hit another HR today — and that’s a big if — and if his 2006 stats adhere to his ’03-’05 stats, his year-end line would be:
68 HRs, 168 RBIs, .397 OBP, .641 SLG, 1.038 OPS. Oh, and 6 walk-offs.
Don’t even try to tell me that increasingly mediocre fielding is gonna top that.
Nine pm update: And then he has to go and swing at a 3-0 pitch when Contreras was losing it. Nineteen innings. Good god. That was brutal.
Post Categories: A-Rod & David Ortiz & Walkoffs
July 8th, 2006 → 8:19 am @ Seth Mnookin
This is the seventh in a series of outtakes from interviews done for Feeding the Monster, to be published on July 11 by Simon & Schuster. This interview with Terry Francona took place on January 4, 2006, when Francona was recovering from offseason knee surgery. (Theo Epstein was officially re-hired by the Red Sox on January 19.) Read the book for exclusive details on Francona’s hiring following the Red Sox’s collapse in the 2003 playoffs, his take on the 2005 trade deadline controversy with Manny Ramirez, and his reaction to winning the World Series.
On the departure of Theo Epstein: I don’t think I’d say I was nervous or anything, I usually think I tend to believe that things work out for the best and there’s reasons things happened and stuff like that. But not knowing [how the general manager situation would be resolved], I think the word I’d use is unsettling. When there’s change you’re always a bit unsettled, but as far as myself I’ve been around this game a long time and I don’t have trouble getting along with people, so things usually work out.
On former assistant general manager Josh Byrnes, who was named general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks last fall: Josh was a real stabilizing force in that office. He’s somebody I really looked up to a lot. I say that in past tense. I still do, but he doesn’t work here. He’s a great guy. Great head in his shoulders, and when he spoke he was guaranteed one person was listening and that was me. Then we lost Peter Woodfork [who followed Byrnes to Arizona], who was also down there, so you know you lose three people: Theo obviously, his name was out there because he ran the show, but it was the whole office that worked together. You lose three of the guys down there. That’s tough. From where I sit, I know they’ve taken some shots for hiring Ben [Cherington] and Jed [Hoyer as co-general managers] and the two-headed whatever-you-call-it, but I’m glad they did because I think there’s a lot of stability. Things are getting done like they always have. Those guys all work together and they still are. They’re a couple of guys short right now, which I’m sure is making their man-hours a little bit more, but things are getting done like they always do and I’m comfortable with that.
On the attention that comes with working in Boston: I just think its part of what we deal with here. There’s a lot of passion, there’s a lot of interest. The media, their job, I guess, is to explain to the masses how they view things. How they view things – that’s what it is – it’s how they view things, it’s not necessarily always correct. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes you disagree but that’s how they view it, and that’s their right. And again in a place like Boston where there is a lot of passion and a lot of interest, you can get some interesting articles.
On the 2004 offseason versus the 2005 offseason: Well, it is a more normal winter. Last year wasn’t normal for anybody. Everybody was making appearances and talking about how good we were and it was a big love-fest. This is a little bit more normal. Last winter was a little more fun. Winning brings that. This has been a unique winter here for us, a lot of things have happened: Theo and Johnny Damon and all kind of things happened. So, like you said, anything that happens here is big news, and when it is big news it’s real big news.
On Johnny Damon going to the Yankees: You know what, you know it’s a possibility that a guy can leave, because he’s a free agent he has that right. It’s hard because I don’t think I hid the fact of how much I respected and liked Johnny, but there comes a point when ownership…that’s why I really try to almost stay out of it, because it’s not my money. And you start talking about 40, 50, 60 million dollars – holy smokes. That’s up to ownership and front office to make those decisions. I’m allowed my opinion but I’ll tell you, when you start talking about those kind of millions of dollars, I don’t want to hold ownership or front office hostage by saying things, that’s just not right. The reason these guys have gotten to where they are in life is because they know how to do business. So, you got to sit back and respect that a little bit.
On Keith Foulke: I don’t think [his 2005 season] had anything to do with focus. Foulke comes in to spring training and his knee hurts. That’s not focus. He threw a lot of innings in the playoffs [in 2004]. Sometimes guys maybe achieved some things maybe their bodies really shouldn’t allow them to achieve. And they pay the price. And Foulke was unbelievable. We don’t win [the World Series] without him. It was unreal. He didn’t get the most valuable player, but it was as valuable a contribution as you could find. He was unbelievable. Our whole bullpen was fantastic. It was incredible. It was awesome. Striking out Tony Clark [to end Game Six of the American League Championship Series in Yankee Stadium]: It was awesome.
Post Categories: 2004 Playoffs & Feeding the Monster Outtakes & Red Sox & Sports Reporters & Terry Francona & Theo Epstein
