New revenue streams: that’s what I want.

December 15th, 2006 → 12:38 am @

Buried at the end of today’s hilariously translated (and transcribed) press conference is this very telling quote:

LARRY LUCCHINO: “We have a few closing comments we with like to make, they are really addressed to the new Japanese members of Red Sox Nation, two or three things. First, I’d like to repeat what our general manager said at the beginning, and that is that we recognize the player that we have obtained and we will treat him with the respect and courtesy that he has earned.

Secondly, we recognize that as he’s within described, he is a national treasure. We had a national treasure here, as well. It’s called Fenway Park, and we invite, warmly, the members of the Japanese baseball world to come to visit Fenway Park, to visit Boston, to visit the great New England region. We look forward to their participation in Red Sox nation. Thirdly I would say to our friends in Japan and throughout the entire Japanese baseball world, this is a long term commitment. This is in a short, one stop, one shot venture. Our plan, our hope is to be active in Japan and expand our presence. We are proud to have Hideki Okajima joining the team this year, and we think these two young men are beginnings of a long term relationship with Japan and the Japanese baseball world and we proudly look forward to that.”

Lucchino did not go on to say, “And thirdly, it might have cost us $103 million to get your national treasure but it’s gonna cost you $12 per person to take a tour of our treasure, and we run those tours every hour on the hour seven days a week. Oh, and also, unlike international TV deals or merchandise sales that get split evenly among the 30 clubs, that’s not dough we need to share with anybody else. Did I mention it’s a national treasure? And that Daisuke will be pitching here? That’s right: 12 bucks a head.”

(Note: I’m all for new revenue streams. I love me some new revenue streams. It’s why I’ll be able to watch Matsuzaka pitch in Fenway next year. I also love calling a spade a spade. Or, as Freud would say to Dora, un chat un chat.)

Post Categories: Larry Lucchino & Oblique references to Beatles songs

You say yes, I say no: the ballad of Larry and Theo

December 2nd, 2006 → 1:05 pm @

If I was, say, a beat writer looking for something to write about, this might be one place to start:

“‘Media availability,’ which results in a coach or general manager saying nothing about everything, is a waste of everyone’s time. Bill Belichick is the master of the genre (except for those times when he lets his guard down and seems to enjoy teaching a little football) and Theo Epstein is the latest local practitioner. Congrats to Bob Ryan for calling Theo out on this earlier this week.”
Piecing it all together
By Dan Shaughnessy
The Boston Globe
December 2, 2006

“Back from his fact-finding/Matsuzaka-signing mission in Japan, Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino sat down at Fenway Park last night and discussed three pivotal team issues in the winter of 2006-07.”
Lucchino Hits on Three Hot Topics
by Dan Shaughnessy
The Boston Globe
December 2, 2006

“There was no airing of company secrets by Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein on the conference call he held yesterday in advance of his trip Sunday to Orlando, Fla., for the winter meetings, not that there should have been any expectations Epstein would use such a forum to do so.”
Epstein Mum on Sox Deals
By Gordon Edes
The Boston Globe
December 2, 2006

So let’s review:

* A year after Theo Epstein left the Red Sox in no small part because of his sense of the team’s (and Larry Lucchino’s) inability to stay out of the media — a sense which was epitomized by a Dan Shaughnessy column deriding Epstein — Shaughnessy writes a column dering Epstein. For not talking to him.

* That same day, Shaugnessy writes another story in which Larry offers up some sound bites about Matsuzaka, J.D. Drew, and Manny — innocuous soundbites, to be sure — but soundbites all the same.

* At virtually the same time, Theo was on a conference call “refusing to comment on trade talks involving Manny Ramirez or the impending signing of free agent outfielder J.D. Drew.”

Could Shaughnessy just be stirring up trouble? Sure. Could this be an early sign of another fault line in what’s already being described by club officials and top executives as an uneasy truce? Absolutely.

Yeah, it should be an interesting offseason.

Post Categories: 2006 Playoffs & Dan Shaughnessy & Larry Lucchino & Oblique references to Beatles songs & Theo Epstein