Off Season Chatter

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted in about a week and a half.  The reason- not a lot has happened.  We're in the off season, which can be almost as exciting as during the season (almost).  My youngest brother tells me that the off season is his favorite part of baseball because it's more the business aspect of the game.  I wouldn't say that it's my favorite of baseball, but it can be exciting.

Photo from MLBDailyDish

The GM has to get the pieces of the puzzle to make the whole team complete.  Last off season, Cherington was able to bring in players like Napoli, Victorino, Gomes, Ross, and Dempster.  This off season, the Red Sox have Napoli, Saltalamacchia, Ellsbury, and Drew hitting the free agent market.

It's already been reported that Drew will not be coming back to the Red Sox, as he's seeking a multi-year deal, and the Red Sox offer that to him (Bogaerts will/should be taking over at shortstop).  My guess is Ellsbury won't be returning either, as he's represented by Scott Boras.  It's been reported that Boras is seeking a Carl Crawford-like deal for Ellsbury, and there's a slim chance the Red Sox will be doing that again.

The Red Sox are said to be in negotiations to bring Salty back, the hold up being in the length of the contract.  The Red Sox would like a 2 year deal, while Salty's seeking 3-4 years.  The Red Sox don't seem to see Salty as a long-term catcher for the organization, with prospects Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart in their system.

If I had to put money on any of these four free agents coming back, I'd bet Napoli would be the one back next season.  The Red Sox originally wanted to sign Napoli to a multi-year deal last year, but when questions surfaced about Napoli's hips holding up, it was reduced to a single-year deal.  There have been reports that the Red Sox have extended a multi-year deal to Napoli, but those reports have been discredited (at this time).

Photo from Wikipedia

We're upon the time of year when "mystery teams" and "multiple suitors" are the words showing up in many reports when it comes to free agents.  If I wrote about all the rumors that are surfacing regarding the Red Sox and free agents, I would be writing non-stop.  Instead, I've been tweeting and retweeting a lot of the rumors on my Twitter account.  You can either follow it on the right side of the blog or follow me on Twitter: @BornIntoItInIA.  When credible or definitive information is reported, I will write about it in the blog.

In other news:

• Ben Cherington was named Executive of the Year.  He received 15 votes from a panel of 31 Major League executives.  The last Red Sox GM to win the award was Dick O'Connell in 1975.  
• Terry Francona beat out John Farrell for Manager of the Year (Farrell was second).  There was some negative comments being made about Francona winning when Farrell took the Red Sox all the way to win the World Series.  Personally, I think Francona did a fantastic job with the Indians, who weren't supposed to do well at all this season and made it to the Wild Card game.

Red Sox @ Orioles September 28, 2013

If you ever get the chance to go to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, DO IT!  Baltimore was not only beautiful (the gorgeous 72 degree weather also helped), but there seemed to be a lot to do around the ballpark.  Even though the Red Sox lost Saturday night when we were at the game, the experience was spectacular.  I'm really hoping to go back for a series next season.

When we arrived in Baltimore, we had about 5 hours before the game, and we thought we'd check out the Inner Harbor.  If you do go to a game in Baltimore, here's a tip: PARK AT THE STADIUM!  We were able to park our car for $10 five hours before the game started and walk about 1/2 a mile to the Inner Harbor.  Otherwise, the parking garages around the Inner Harbor were about $13 an hour.

After parking the car, we walked around the ballpark for a little bit.  There's a sort of atmosphere surrounding that park that reminds me of Fenway.  There were tons of people there hours before the game, and there were bars, shops, food, etc. open and buzzing.  People are able to view batting practice from outside the stands (there's a gate, but you can see everything as the ballpark is set down from street level).  While the street is open before the game, they do shut it down when admission is let in (much like Yawkey Way during Red Sox games).

There are plaques on this street area of balls that have "left the park" and landed on this street.  I took pictures of a few of these plaques.  I really enjoyed the fact that the Orioles honored all baseball players who hit the ball out of the ballpark, not just Orioles players.

We had a couple drinks and an appetizer when we got to the Inner Harbor, which was beautiful.  There were tons of shopping, attractions, restaurants, and people at the Inner Harbor.  We went to J Paul's Dining Saloon, which overlooked the water.  I had an "Oriole Magic" cocktail (when in Rome), which was delicious!

Word of advice, they shoot a canon off a replica ship at noon, between 3-4, and 6-7 every day.  We were not expecting that!

Before we went into the park, we had a couple drinks at a tavern across the street.  There, we had a conversation with an older gentleman who was from Virginia and was a Red Sox fan.  I think Cole and I talked to him for about an hour, and he was great company.  We also ran into a Iowa Hawkeyes fan (he was wearing a Hawks shirt) who informed us the Hawkeyes game was on the television inside the tavern.

The game was great too.  The seating reminded me of Target Field, as I didn't see any seats that would have a bad view.  A friend of mine worked grounds crew for Oriole Park a few years ago, and he told me how wonderful the stadium is, I agree.  The Red Sox put up a good showing for a 6-5 loss, but the experience was wonderful.  Check out the pictures I took below:

David Ortiz Plaque

Mo Vaughn plaque

View of Inner Harbor from J Paul's Dining Saloon

These shirts shocked me!  Really?  Crawford and Okajima?!

View of the field from our seats

Pedroia before the game started

Me and Cole before the game

Wearing my #GetBeard shirt in honor of my brother, Jacob, and his fight against Leukemia

First batter, Shane Victorino

Lester pitching

Pedroia at Second Base and Lester pitching

Middlebrooks at Third Base, Drew at Shortstop, and Pedroia at Second Base

Red Sox @ Yankees Recap 5/31-6/2

First, the family get together that I had mentioned on Friday didn’t take place.  My relatives had water in their basement.  I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to the news; but here in Iowa, we’ve received a lot of rain over the past couple weeks.  We had over 7 inches of rain Memorial Day weekend alone.  Rivers, creeks, and basements are all flooded here (as an aside, thoughts go out to all those people were have been affected by the weather lately: tornadoes, winds, rain, floods, and fires are all in the news today.  Terrible).

So, Friday night, my boyfriend and I watched the game together while we unwound from our busy weeks at work.  Let’s face it- Friday night’s game was hard to watch.  You could tell in the first inning Lester didn’t have his stuff.  Somehow, he managed to last 6.1 innings, but he threw 116 pitches in that.  His line for the night was: 6.1 IP, 6H, 4 ER, 4 BB, and 5 SO.  Not terrible by any means, but not what the Red Sox needed that night. 

The Red Sox ended up losing Friday night’s game 4-1.  Ellsbury, who had team-record 5 stolen bases the previous night, was unavailable to play all weekend.  Pedroia was 3 for 4 with 2 doubles.  Napoli and Ross also had doubles, and Napoli had the only RBI.  Nava had a nice outfield assist.

I didn’t watch much of Saturday night’s game.  First, the game was broadcasted on Fox; but in Iowa, so were the Cubs.  Cubs win here.  But, since there was a rain delay for the Cubs game, the Red Sox game was being broadcasted.  Unfortunately, it was being broadcasted at the same time as the Bruins game on NBC (Bruins won 3-0).  The Bruins are in the playoffs, if you didn’t know.  I would switch to the Red Sox game between periods and timeouts, but didn’t see much.  When the Bruins game was over and I switched permanently to the Red Sox game, the Cubs were playing.

I have to say, Doubront was pretty impressive Saturday night.  6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO.  I admit, I’m always a little hesitant when Doubront pitches.  Sometimes, he pitches well (like lately); but other times, he’s horrendous.  With the series on the line against the Yankees, the Red Sox really needed a good performance out of Doubront.  They got it.

Offensively, the Red Sox clobbered the Yankees and won 11-1.  Napoli hit a grand slam and went 3 for 5.  Drew went 2 for 5 with a home run.  Nava was 4 for 6, in the leadoff spot.  Every starter had at least one hit, except for Ortiz. 

The Red Sox won Sunday night’s rain-shortened-game 3-0.  In Ortiz’s words to The Boston Globe, “Three rain delays, a fake one and two real ones.  What else can you do?  Stick around and see how things are going to end.”  Things ended well for the Red Sox.

Clay Buchholz, whose last start was pushed back due to an injury, showed no signs of discomfort or rust.  Buchholz pitched 5.0 innings and gave up 2 hits.  He was credited with a complete game shutout, despite the fact that Miller game out after the rain delay to pitch the 6^th inning.  Since no out was recorded (and the outing only last 4 minutes, from reports), Buchholz got the complete game and Miller an appearance without throwing a pitch.

Ortiz and Napoli both went 2 for 3. Iglesias hit a home run, his first of the season.  For the record, Iglesias is hitting .434 in the Majors.  Ortiz also had a single-shot home run with a nice bat flip at the end (here’s the link for the video: Flipping the bat.

There’s also a great video of the members of the Red Sox and Yankees being startled by thunder.  Here’s that link: I'd jump too.

Overall, not a bad weekend to be a Red Sox fan.  The key for to make the playoffs is winning series, and that’s what the Red Sox are doing.  They are currently 35-23, and 2.5 games up from the Orioles.  Next game is against the Rangers tomorrow at Fenway.

Random Thoughts

There are 5 days left until the season starts, roughly 120 hours until the first pitch to the Red Sox’s opening day. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited. I have a few things on my mind regarding this Red Sox team that I thought I would share in this post. Enjoy!

- Jacoby Ellsbury is not in today’s lineup after jamming his ankle on Sunday. It was originally reported that the Sox would give Ellsbury Monday off to rest, there was an off day yesterday, and he should be ready to go today. That’s not the case. I haven’t seen/heard anything to indicate that his injury is more serious, but it’s a little unnerving considering we’re five days away from Opening Day.

- With Ellsbury out of the lineup today, Jackie Bradley Junior will be playing center field and leading off. Bradley’s hitting .444 for Spring Training in 65 plate appearances. He’s making this team. Bradley is by far the most exciting story to come out of Spring Training. With the success of young, exciting players like Mike Trout, Stephen Strasburg, Giancarlo Stanton, and Bryce Harper, the Red Sox really can’t afford to NOT have Bradley on the team.

- The Red Sox are dropping the prices of concessions during April, in a part to lure fans to Fenway. It’s sad, really, that things have gotten so bad that Sox fans won’t want to go to every game. I live in Iowa, and I try to make it to at least one Sox game a year, whether that’s in a city in the Midwest or a chance to head to Boston. If I lived in or around Boston, I’d be going to as many games as possible. Fans love the team, not the drama that has encompassed them the past few years.

- I plan on going to two Red Sox games this year, one in May in Minneapolis and one in September in Boston. The game in Boston will be against the Yankees, which will be a first for me, and I’m really excited about it.

- Jon Lester was officially named the Opening Day starter today. Is this really significant? Not really, considering the Sox have pretty much been going with a rotation of Lester, Buchholz, Dempster, Doubront, and Lackey all of Spring Training.

- There are a few reports out there that David Ortiz won’t be ready til around May 6th (again, estimate). Depending on how quickly Ortiz progresses, the beginning of May does seem likely for a return date. Remember, he needs to get his swing ramped up as well, which Ortiz has said takes about 50 at-bats.

- Kind of getting lost in the shuffle is Stephen Drew. He’s been out with concussion symptoms for weeks now, and he was cleared to resume baseball activities last week. However, it appears Iglesias will be the Opening Day starter at shortstop. If Iglesias takes off, will Drew resort to a bench player, traded, or will Iglesias be sent down to Triple-A?

- My goal is to finish Francona’s book by Monday and get a review out next week. It’s taken me a little bit longer than I would’ve liked. I read before I go to sleep; and most nights lately, I’ve pretty much passed out as soon as I’m in bed. Thank goodness for my (almost) weekly trips to Starbucks to read.

- Speaking of Francona, there's a new video out from the Indians featuring the Sox's former manager.  You've heard of SIRI?  Well, wait to you see TERRi: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25874721&c_id=mlb

- Next weekend, April 6th, I’m doing a 5k sponsored by our local Single-A affiliate, the Quad Cities River Bandits (now part of the Astros organization). Here’s the link for the race: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jspymd=20130321&content_id=43071808&vkey=pr_t565&fext=.jsp&sid=t565
It’s pretty cool, the route actually goes through two states (Iowa and Illinois) and goes across 3 bridges. I’m a little nervous about it, since I just completed my first 5k two weeks ago. But, it should be fun. If you live around the area and are interested, sign up.

And that’s about it for now. Hopefully, I’ll get another post out tomorrow or Friday to let you know about my predictions for the season.