Coaches and managers in sports often aren’t the most important factor in winning a championship, but they’re part of the equation.
That being said, in the wake of the Patriots’ Jerod Mayo debacle, it feels like a good time to remind ourselves that the Red Sox don’t have it so bad in the coaching department.
Actually, they have it pretty good.
I’m not here to advocate that Alex Cora is the greatest thing since sliced bread. He’s not perfect, he’s made his fair share of mistakes, and he isn’t in the running for the greatest manager in baseball history.
But he is a good manager — a pretty darn good one at that. You can’t be part of the greatest team in franchise history, a team that won 119 games and was one of the most dominant World Series champions in recent memory, and not be considered among those ranks.
Cora is a smart and savvy baseball lifer. Someone who has played the game at the highest level, someone who possesses that old-school gut sense of the moment, someone who knows who can hack it and who can’t. But he’s also someone who has an appropriate amount of respect for the sabermetrics age and the unavoidable role it plays in today’s game.
In Cora, these Red Sox really do have their ideal modern-day manager.
This team certainly has its fair share of problems, including in the ownership and baseball operations ranks. There are plenty of holes left to be filed around the diamond. We can still be grateful that the man calling the shots in the dugout isn’t one of them…
Vladdy or Breggy?
I would fully expect something like the Sox being cheap to be what’s holding up the potential of Alex Bregman signing with Boston.
What I didn’t expect was the possibility that the hold up might have something to do with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Remember last week when I wrote about the re-kindled Vladdy Jr. rumors that seemed to pop up out of nowhere? It seems there was something to it after all…
Guerrero would “love to be with the Red Sox” if he’s unable to agree to a contract extension with the incumbent Blue Jays, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Furthermore, his reporting suggests that might be what’s holding up the Sox from sealing the deal with Bregman.
Apples to apples, I’d take Guerrero over Bregman any day of the week. He’s a bigger star, a better power hitter, oh… and he’s five years younger. Bring in Vladdy Jr. and move him or Rafael Devers to DH (see ya, Yoshi…). Sign me up, please.
But do we really believe that what’s holding up the Sox on Bregman is them deciding which high-priced slugger to bring in? Or is it more likely that this is continued false smoke from the “interest kings" (or perhaps a negotiating ploy from Guerrero's camp?). We all know the latter is far more likely…
There’s also the matter of needing to pay Vladdy Jr. That’s the entire reason he’d be available to you, anyway. If the Sox are indeed intent on paying a high-priced, right-handed bat, well, paying Bregman today is going to cost you less than paying Guerrero in the future.
It’s intriguing fodder, and a Vladdy-Garrett Crochet-Walker Buehler offseason would get a pretty decent grade from me. But for now, you can keep that filed firmly under “wishful thinking”…
Martin heads home
The Arlington, Texas native who was a big part of Boston’s bullpen in recent years has decided to go back home.
Chris Martin was reportedly offered more money to stay put, but decided to spurn the Sox in favor of his hometown Rangers. The 38-year-old right-hander chose to re-join Texas on a one-year deal for the 2025 season.
For a Sox team that was in desperate need of bullpen help before Martin’s decision to depart, this isn’t a particularly welcomed development. He was a productive member of the ‘pen during his Boston tenure, posting a 7-2 record with an impressive 2.16 ERA in exactly 100 appearances over the past two seasons.
Those are pretty solid numbers, and they’ll be hard — yet important — to replace. On face value, I wouldn’t normally lose too much sleep over losing a nearly 40-year-old reliever. He’s been good, but he’s getting close to the end. Better to seek some younger bullpen alternative, of which there are plenty.
Except these Sox don’t seem all that interested in bringing in relief help for some reason. The only real addition of substance to the bullpen this offseason has been the questionable Aroldis Chapman, who himself will be 37 next season.
This is a team that already lost Kenley Jansen (well, it at least appears that way with the way things ended, and there's reported interest from the Yankees), who was past his prime but still provided a mostly dependable option at the back of the ‘pen. Now the Sox are without Jansen and Martin, adding an aging Chapman and… 37-year-old Justin Wilson?
That’s just not going to be enough. Logic would dictate that since the Sox were willing to pay Martin, they’ll now have money to turn around and sign somebody else. But we all know the dangers of using logic when it comes to this front office…
Bobby D finds a home
Bobby Dalbec, Chicago White Sox?
Sounds about right.
The longtime fan… unfavorite… has found himself a new home on a minor-league deal with the White Sox.
For whatever reason, I’ve developed a soft spot for Dalbec. It was tough to watch him begin his big league career here with such promise, then struggle so mightily at the big league level over the next few years despite tearing it up in Triple-A.
It’s the nature of the game and sports in general, but I always felt bad for him.
Now, he’ll have a chance to revive his career with another Sox team. Unlike this one, he should face less pressure to perform playing for Chicago’s ‘B’ team. Here’s hoping that Bobby D will still be able to carve out a serviceable major league career…
RIP, Brian Matusz
In closing, I’d like to take a moment to pay tribute to the late Brian Matusz, the former Orioles pitcher whose death at the age of 37 shocked the sports world earlier this week.
In the headline of their story announcing his death, MLB.com labeled Matusz as a “lefty who had Big Papi’s number.”
Indeed, Matusz was one of the few big league pitchers who can say they got the better of David Ortiz. In his career, Matusz held Ortiz to a .138 batting average (4 for 29) with 13 strikeouts.
(I had to double-check that it wasn’t Matusz who struck out Ortiz and caused him to go infamously berserk on the dugout bullpen phone in Baltimore, but that was Jairo Asencio…)
In all, Matusz faced the Red Sox more than any other opponent, posting a 5-5 record with a 3.96 ERA and 56 strikeouts across 38 appearances.
Sports teams always need a good foil, and Matusz certainly was for Ortiz. His untimely passing is a tragedy, and it’s nice to see the baseball world paying tribute to someone who seemed like a good man.
May you rest in peace, Brian.