Red Sox Spring Training

…picking up where we last left off…

Just about everything regarding this year’s version of the Red Sox is different and new. New GM, manager, closer, outfielders and infielders are all part of this year’s edition of the ballclub. After the way things ended last year, anything different and new is worth a shot. How it will all unfold is anybody’s guess. But coming off the greatest collapse in baseball history, things had to change.

At the outset of free agency, Jonathan Papelbon left for Philadelphia and a four-year, $50MM new contract. Pap was a great guy to have at the back end of the bullpen, but not at that price. Perhaps he’s the missing piece the Phils need to get over the hump in the National League; in any event, he was one of the best closers in Red Sox history and will be missed.

On December 1^st, the team hired Bobby Valentine as the new manager, replacing Terry Francona, who was one of many ousted in the October purge. While Francona tried to treat his players as grown men and professionals, the players simply took advantage of his good nature. Francona was the very best manager the Red Sox have had in ninety years and it was a shame that his departure came about in the manner it did. Valentine definitely has a tough act to follow.

Ben Cherington swung a couple of trades early in the offseason. First, the oft-injured Jed Lowrie was shuffled off to Houston in exchange for righthanded reliever Mark Melancon, who will either replace Daniel Bard’s eighth inning role or will close. Bard will open Spring Training in the fourth starter’s role. A couple of weeks later, the Sox acquired closer Andrew Bailey and outfielder Ryan Sweeney from Oakland in exchange for outfielder Josh Reddick and a couple of low minor leaguers. A couple of weeks before camp opened, Marco Scutaro was dispatched to Colorado for journeyman righty Clayton Mortenson in what appeared to be a salary dump. There is a huge hole at shortstop and a whole lot of uncertainty at the corner outfield positions.

The Sox signed a couple of free agents to fill some holes. JD Drew will most likely retire, so the Sox brought in power hitting outfielder Cody Ross and utility infielder Nick Punto. The only arbitration case they had was with David Ortiz, but he signed a one-year $14.65MM deal on the day of the hearing. They also invited a slew of veteran pitchers on minor-league invites. A couple of days before camp opened the Sox received minor league righty Chris Carpenter from the Cubs as compensation for Theo Epstein leaving.

Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek both decided to retire. It was time for both, who had illustrious careers with the Red Sox. Both players gave heartfelt and emotional goodbyes to the Red Sox and their fans, but as difficult as it is, it’s time for the Red Sox to move on.

On the day that all of the position players officially reported the team announced that it would ban alcoholic beverages from the clubhouse.

The Sox opened their Spring Training schedule with the traditional games against Northeastern and Boston College. They drubbed the Huskies 25-0 in the opener before the BC varsity squad gave them a good fight, losing 6-4 at the end. The Grapefruit League schedule opened on March 4^th with a home date against the crosstown rival Minnesota Twins. It was the first “official” game at Jet Blue Park, which is a mirror of Fenway Park’s dimensions, right down to the high “Monster” wall in left field. It sure looks like a sweet venue to catch a ballgame. Josh Beckett started and pitched two shutout innings and then Andrew Miller struck out three in his two innings of work. In the seventh, the Sox exploded for five runs, breaking open a 2-2 tie on Lars Anderson’s grand slam bomb to right. In the eighth, Tejada hit a long triple to center, scoring Alex Hassan to make it 8-2, Sox. On Monday, the Sox made the cross-town trek to Hammond Stadium, where they crushed the Twins 10-2. The following day, the O’s came to Ft. Myers and the Sox prevailed again, 5-4. On Wednesday, the Sox made the long trip to Dunedin, where they played the Blue Jays to a 3-3 tie. After getting hammered 9-3 by the Cards in Jupiter on Thursday, the Sox returned home on Friday to face the Pirates. Clay Buchholz pitched well but the Sox ended up losing 7-5. Ortiz and Darnell McDonald each homered in the losing effort. Daniel Bard started against the Rays at home on Saturday and went three strong innings as the Sox won, 5-0.

The Sox opened the second week of the Grapefruit League schedule in Sarasota as they battered around the Orioles 6-1. On Monday afternoon against the Miami Marlins, the teams played into extra innings when Pedro Ciriaco hit a two-run walkoff homer and the Sox prevailed 5-3. On the following night, the Sox traveled to Tampa and downed the Yanks 1-0 as Ciriaco scored the winning run. Felix Doubront pitched four strong innings as he attempted to lock down a spot in the rotation. After a day off, the Cards came to Ft. Myers and Daniel Bard had a rough go in the eighth allowing five runs and the Sox lost, 9-6. On Friday, the Twins scored two runs off of Jon Lester to post the 2-1 win. On St. Patty’s Day, the Sox came out in their traditional green tops and caps and played the O’s to a 3-3 draw.

The Sox opened the third week of the Spring Training schedule by pounding the Rays 8-4 as Clay Buchholz had an impressive start. Doubront pitched well in his outing the following day against the Twins but the bullpen imploded and the Sox lost 8-4. On Tuesday night, the Blue Jays pounded the Sox 9-2 as Bard struggled in the early going. There are rumors flying about camp that he will be returned to the bullpen. There was sad news on Tuesday as it was announced that Mel Parnell, the winningest lefthander in Red Sox history passed away at age 89 after a long illness. Many of us remembered Mel from his time in the broadcast booth with Ned Martin, Ken Coleman and Curt Gowdy back in the 60’s. Other rumors have Bobby V pitted against the front office over whether Iglesias should remain with the big club after camp breaks. Supposedly V wants the kid to stick while the front office wants to start him off in Pawtucket. Jon Lester had a rough outing the following day in Bradenton as the Bucs nipped the Sox 6-5. Lester allowed four runs in the third and the Sox couldn’t keep ground. On Thursday night, the Yanks came down from Tampa and took a quick 4-0 lead off of Aaron Cook and Ross Ohlendorf. Pedroia had a scare as he was hit off the forearm by a pitch that looked pretty scary when it first happened but he was ok. The Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth and tied it in the bottom of the ninth when Ryan Sweeney came across on a suicide squeeze play. After that, Girardi said no mas and the game ended in a 4-4 tie. Bobby Jenks, supposedly recovering from back surgery, was arrested in the wee hours of the 23^rd in the parking lot of a “gentleman’s club” for imbibing a little too much and then plowing into several cars. He blamed it on muscle relaxers when in fact it was bad ice cubes. On Friday, Clay Buchholz struggled in Sarasota as the O’s scored early and often in a 6-5 win. The Sox closed out the week by getting clubbed 10-5 by the Phils at home as Alfredo Aceves had a particularly bad outing, surrendering 10 hits and nine runs. On a positive note, a split squad of the Sox traveled to Jupiter and downed the Marlins 4-1 as Felix Doubront had a very good outing.

The Sox opened the next week of the Spring Training calendar in Dunedin and an afternoon date with the Blue Jays. Daniel Bard started and went six innings and allowed five runs. The Sox lost 6-5 in 10 innings. On Monday, the Sox traveled to Clearwater and downed the Phils 6-0. Jon Lester was outstanding, going seven innings and striking out 10. Cody Ross and Pedroia each homered in the effort. On Tuesday, Josh Beckett had a great outing as he pitched five scoreless innings as the Sox trounced Tampa Bay 8-0. The Sox made a few more cuts today, including Jose Iglesias, who was sent down to Pawtucket thus ending the white noise in the media over the alleged “feud” between the manager and general manager. After a rare off day on Wednesday, the Sox returned to Jet Blue Park to face Toronto. Aceves took the hill for the Sox and pitched well, allowing two runs over six innings. The Jays pushed across a run in the eighth to win, 3-2. On Friday, the Sox traveled to Hammond Stadium and downed the Twins 9-7. Daniel Bard started and pitched six innings, allowing three runs. The manager and pitching coach have yet to publicly declare that Bard has secured a spot in the rotation. On Saturday, the Sox sent a crew of scrubs up to Port Charlotte to face the Rays. The regulars stayed behind and played in minor league games. Jon Lester had a strong outing in an AAA start. Ross Ohlendorf was rocked against the Rays for five runs in 3⅔.  The Sox came back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the score and ultimately went ahead 7-6 in the seventh when Kelly Shoppach doubled and scored on Sean Coyle’s single. The Rays tied it in the bottom half of the seventh on Luke Scott’s homer off of Tony Pena, Jr. The game ended in a 7-7 tie when heavy rains arrived in the ninth inning. All in all, it was a good afternoon for the scrubeenies.

Finally, the final week of Spring Training arrived and the Sox sent out an array of relievers against the Twins with the coveted Mayor’s Cup on the line. The Sox received some bad news regarding Andrew Bailey as he suffered a thumb strain that may require a trip to the disabled list. The Sox pushed across four runs in the sixth en route to a 5-1 win in which several relievers contributed. On the final Florida game in Spring Training, the Sox downed Washington 4-2. On the final day of Spring Training, the Sox traveled to the DC for an afternoon tilt with the Nats. The Sox went out to a 6-0 lead as Clay Buchholz allowed no hits over the first five innings. Then, the bullpen imploded and the Sox were lucky to escape with an 8-7 win. Jason Repko threw out Ian Desmond at home in the bottom of the ninth to give Aceves the win. The news regarding Bailey was bad. He will require surgery and will be lost until after the All-Star break. By then it may be too late…the manager (who will now have his own weekly radio/television program—in New York!!!) has anointed Aceves to be the closer with Melancon to be his backup. We shall see…

On Wednesday, the Sox had a workout in Detroit and made a few roster moves:

Placed on the 60-day DL
RHP Andrew Bailey
RHP Chris Carpenter
OF Ryan Kalish

Placed on the 15-day DL
OF Carl Crawford
LHP Rich Hill
RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka
LHP Andrew Miller

Assigned to Triple-A Pawtucket
INF Pedro Ciriaco
INF Nate Spears
OF Jason Repko

Assigned to Double-A Portland
C Daniel Butler

Option transferred from Portland to High-A Salem
LHP Drake Britton

These are your 2012 Boston Red Sox:

The 25-man MLB roster
Pitchers (13): RHP Alfredo Aceves, RHP Matt Albers, RHP Scott Atchison, RHP Daniel Bard, RHP Josh Beckett, RHP Michael Bowden, RHP Clay Buchholz, LHP Felix Doubront, LHP Jon Lester, RHP Mark Melancon, LHP Franklin Morales, RHP Vicente Padilla, LHP Justin Thomas.

Catchers (2): Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Kelly Shoppach

Infielders (5): Mike Aviles, Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia, Nick Punto, Kevin Youkilis.

Outfielders (4): Jacoby Ellsbury, Darnell McDonald, Cody Ross, Ryan Sweeney.

DHs (1): David Ortiz.

I don’t like the way this team is put together or how it shapes up heading into a new season. Red Sox fans were spoiled for many years with a stable management team and now everything is uncertain at best. There are holes at shortstop and in the outfield and now, in the bullpen. The Rays have the best starting pitching in baseball. The Yanks improved their starting pitching. Toronto has been slowly rising and always play the Sox tough.

If they're lucky, they'll finish third...and there will be no postseason for Our Hometown Nine this year...