The moves for the Red Sox are decent this offseason. They have some Free Agents to pay attention to, and hopefully keep. They really need to look for a better catcher for next year; Jason Veritek may come back next year, but they might want to switch him out with someone else some days. Their farm system has put in too many good players in recent years and so it probably shouldn’t be harvested this year and possibly not next year either. The team does have a tough needle to thread with the AL East, which is looking to improve a lot in the next year or two. The Yankees can’t stay this bad for long. Nor can the Rays be kept down. It’s an exciting offseason for the AL East, but the BoSox have to keep themselves up on the market.
Headlining an eight member crew, former Red Sox Slugger Mo Vaughn will be formally inducted in the MLB Hall of Fame tonight in Boston. He was a tough player on the field but a gentle giant outside of it. Mo is known for his tireless efforts in giving back to the community as much as his tireless efforts on the field. Click here if you want to read more about it.
The Red Sox have signed an agreement to stay at their Fort Myers spring training home for the next 30 years. They previously had an agreement which would have allowed them to move out in 2010, but they have now extended that for the forseeable future. The county will build the team a new facility in 2012 which will be bigger and more to the Red Sox’s team needs for spring training.
Virgil Vasquez of the Detroit Tigers has been claimed by the Boston Red Sox this week, in a move that highlights some of the problems in the Detroit organization. The Tigers didn’t put Vasquez in any games this year, and placed him on the outright waivers. The Red Sox were therefore able to sign him quite easily. Vasquez will get a kind of blank slate in Boston, where he has never played before. In the minors with Detroit, we have seen Vasquez’s pitching take a small dip over the last couple of years. He allowed 18 home runs in 07 and 27 this year. This among other things is why he wasn’t greatly valued in Detroit. Perhaps in Boston, he will be in a situation that works better for him and then he can really get back to the fundamentals.
Kevin Youkilis won the Hank Aaron Award this weekend. The award is presented after fans vote on who is the best offensive player of the season. The winner receives a plaque presented at the World Series. Youkilis is also considered a candidate for AL MVP, for which the voting has already concluded. When asked how he felt, he said that it was fine, but he would rather have continued playing in the postseason. This year, Youkilis hit .569, third in the league, 115 RBIs and 76 extra-base hits. His on-base percentage was 6th in the league. Pretty impressive for a man trying to fill the shoes of Manny Ramirez for some of the season. He certainly deserves the award. The NL winner was Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs. Congratulations to both of them.
John Blake, Red Sox Vice President in charge of Media Relations, announced yesterday that he was moving back to work for the Texas Rangers. He had been in Boston since 2006 and will now take the helm in Texas as the team vice president in charge of communications. In this role, he will oversee player-media relations, as well as relations with broadcasting and the press. He had previously worked with Texas from 1984 to 2004 and appears to have liked it enough to go back. He has been well regarded in Boston during his tenure and is widely expected to do very well in his new position. We wish him the very best!
That’s it boys, pack it in. It was a great season for the Boston Red Sox and an even more incredible postseason that seemed bound to be a comeback tale for the ages. However, in the end Boston fell just short to the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in game 7 of the ALCS. The Sox had their chances, especially late in the game, but were unable to convert. Unfortunately for Boston, this season will not be praised as what it should be: another exceptional one. The Boston Standard has been risen up to the level of World-Series-or-nothing status, and fans are crestfallen that it did not culminate the way they hoped. Nonetheless, the near-comeback was still quite impressive. Stay in the loop of Red Sox offseason action and visit the Red Sox’s official website.
Down by 7-0 in the 7th inning and 3-1 in the overall series, many teams would just start to pack it in and say “There’s always next year.” Then again, that’s why there’s not a lot of teams as good or as exciting as the Boston Red Sox. Facing sure elimination with only 2 1/2 innings left, the Red Sox rallied and completed one of the most impressive comebacks in postseason history (it was actually the second-largest deficit overcome in postseason history). With that win, Boston heads down to Tampa Bay with a lot of momentum. Follow Red Sox nation and visit their website.
After a huge loss to the Tampa Bay Rays last night, the Boston Red Sox need to regroup and rethink their strategy if they wish to properly defend their World Series title. Down 2-1 in the series, Boston needs to do something quick and something drastic to stop the Rays from getting out too far ahead. Most notable is the fact that their pitching needs to step up, after losing last night 9-1. Go to mlb.com to learn more about the Red Sox.
