So the Red Sox continue their losing ways. (Serenity now! *raises fist*) After dropping their last eight games of the 2012 season, they lose their first official Grapefruit League game to those pesky Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3. Close, but no cigar.

Picture perfect day. (Photo by: Krista Nordgren)

I know it shouldn’t matter. It’s spring training. There are names on the line up card that a lot of us have never heard before. But it would’ve been nice…confidence boosting even… for a W in the first meeting with a division rival. I guess that was too much to ask. I’m going to try extra hard not to ask too much this season.

Spring training games are hard for me to watch on television. It snowed most of the day here in Maine yesterday and seeing all those people, hanging out in sunny Fort Meyers, FL really pissed me off. A friend of mine was there too… torturing me with texts about how amazing the park is, how they have dispensers of sunscreen in the bathrooms, how her kid got tossed a ball, and again how amazing the park is. Kill me now.

Trying to recap a spring training game is a lot like herding kittens, so I’ll give you some highlights.

• John Lackey started his first game since 2011. He pitched just one inning of work throwing 20 pitches—10 for strikes. He loaded the bases with a hit, a walk, a strikeout and a hit batsman but got out of the inning giving up just one run. Not bad for the newly slimmed-down right-hander. I’m rooting for him to have a good year.
• Jose Iglesias smashed a two-run, game-tying home run over the Green Monster (south) in the seventh. For a guy who’s been struggling to prove he’s ready for the big leagues with his bat, this home run has to do wonders for his confidence. Maybe that off-season time spent with Dustin Pedroia is paying off!

This afternoon, the Red Sox travel to Jupiter (the town, not the planet) to play the Cardinals. Jon Lester will make the start. For more riveting detail on yesterday’s contest, click here — courtesy of the Sox. All is right in the world… baseball is back.

The 2013 Red Sox baseball season is officially underway and to get Red Sox Nation excited—a challenge after a 69 win season—NESN sent broadcast team, Jerry Remy, Don Orsillo and Jenny Dell on a four-day, five-city tour of New England. It’s what I like to call the “we-know-the-Sox-totally-sucked-last-year-but-please-don’t-leave-us” tour. The NESN crew visited media outlets, businesses and schools and held meet and greets and autograph sessions.

Day 1: Tuesday, February 12 – Burlington, VT

Jerry, Don and Jenny departed the NESN studios bright and early on Tuesday morning and headed north to Burlington. They made an appearance at the State House where Jerry laid down the gavel—appropriate for the president of Red Sox Nation. From there, the trio made their way over to the Vermont Tourism Office, rounding up their visit to the Green Mountain state.

Day 2: Wednesday, February 13 – Hartfort, CT & Springfield, MA

Wednesday morning, Jerry, Don and Jenny stopped by a couple of Hartford radio and TV stations for interviews before dropping in at a local Chevy dealership. They also visited Comcast and surprised a few callers by answering the phones. Can you imagine calling to complain about your remote control not working, and being greeted by, “Thank you for calling Comcast, this is NESN’s Jerry Remy, also known as the RemDawg.”? Errrrr… ummm… huh? Can you fix my remote?

The crew ended day two with a free meet-and-greet at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA where they participated in a Q&A and autograph session with fans.

Day 3: Thursday, February 14 – Portland, ME

Finally… the NESN tour has arrived in my neck of the woods! First, the trio headed over to the WHOM-FM studios for an interview that quickly broached the subject of a certain event that happened on Patriots Day in 2007—PizzaGate! Definitely one of the funniest things I’ve seen happen on a broadcast, rivaled only by last season’s BoobGrabGate.

From there they gave a quick interview to WHOM’s sister station, WJBQ where the topic of conversation mainly revolved around RemDawg’s porn-style mustache. Yeah… baby!

As with other cities, the NESN Tour made stops at a local car dealership and a school where the threesome showed off their amazing dance moves and fielded questions from curious third graders—including one kid who really did his research and asked Jerry if it was true he only hit seven home runs in his career. It is, by the way…in case you were wondering.

They wrapped up Portland with yet another Q&A and autograph session—this one at Binga’s Stadium. Lucky for me, I know some people and was lucky enough to procure a private meet-and-greet with the team before they went on stage. Don spent the most time with us, and Jenny joined a few minutes later. Unfortunately, I met Jerry last and only got to spend a couple minutes with him. They’re all incredibly nice—although I was disappointed I didn’t get the chance to ask them any of the 734 questions I had floating around my brain. This will definitely go on my life’s highlight reel.

Day 4: Friday, February 15 – Rhode Island

The NESN tour concluded on Friday with a visit to Rhode Island. Once again consisting of a radio interview, visits to a few local businesses and a school and of course, a public meet-and-greet at the Warwick Mall.

Phew! That sounds exhausting! Next up for the trio… sunny (and not so warm) Florida for spring training. The first Grapefruit League game for the Red Sox is scheduled for Saturday, February 23rd against those pesky Rays at JetBlue Park.

Hey Pedro, not sure you’re allowed to drink that in the clubhouse.(Photo by: Amanda Laws)

The Red Sox have hired former pitcher, Pedro Martinez. Too bad it’s not in a capacity where he might be able to fill in for a spot start here or there. If you ask me, even at the age of 41, he’s probably better than most of the starters on the roster right now. The Sox have hired Pedro as special assistant to general manager, Ben Cherington. Special assistant? Is Pedro going to be getting Ben’s coffee? Imagine…

Martinez, one of the best arms to ever pitch for the Red Sox, spent seven seasons (1998-2004) with the team, going 117-37 with a 2.52 ERA. He won back-to-back Cy Young awards in 1999 and 2000 and helped the Sox win their long-awaited World Series Championship in 2004. Over his career with the Dodgers, Expos, Sox, Mets and Phillies, Pedro amassed a record of 219-100 with a 2.93 ERA. Not too shabby.

Pedro will be involved in several areas of baseball operations, including evaluating players, and mentoring and instructing young players during Spring Training and throughout the season. But don’t mistake him for a coach. He is in no way interested in coaching or stepping on the toes of new Sox pitching coach, Juan Nieves. When asked if he would consider coaching, he told MLB.com,

“No. I don’t think so, honestly,” said Martinez. “I don’t think so. I can offer a lot, but I just don’t see myself as a pitching coach and having the same travel dates, hotels, like I played. I honestly don’t think so.”

Martinez hopes to be more of a liaison between the clubhouse and the front office, as well as instilling some of his baseball smarts into the players. Ever the clown, I’m hoping that Pedro brings a little levity to an organization that has become a bit too stuffy and boring over the past year.

“I love to teach,” said Martinez. “I love to deal with the players. I have a very good relationship with the players and I’m also fun. I’m also fun. I like to have fun, and I think they need a little bit of that in the clubhouse.”

Welcome back, Pedro! I’m looking forward to seeing more of your smiling face around these parts. Maybe you’re just the spark this lackluster band of ballplayers needs to get out of this rut. I know you were the life of the party at the 100th anniversary celebration!

Back in early December, we posted here at Fenway Fatales about the contract Mike Napoli was supposed to sign with the Red Sox. Back then it was a pretty respectable 3-year, $39 million deal. Napoli was set to play first base after the departure of Adrian Gonzalez, and even catch a few games if needed. And we’ve all witnessed what Napoli can do with a bat at Fenway.

In 75 career at-bats in Fenway Park, Napoli has a .307 average with nine home runs, 20 RBI and a 1.138 OPS. Not too shabby. Now if those stats could only carry over to 300 or so at bats at Fenway this season, that would be so totally awesome. But there may be some lingering issues with Mike Napoli.

You see, long gone are the figures originally presented to Mr. Napoli. After a physical in Boston in December, the Sox found a bit of a hip issue that kept the contract in a state of negotiations. Just what we don’t need… more injury problems. So for 45 days the two sides tried to come to terms. Finally, last week, the deal was penned — a one year, $5 million contract with incentives that could yield that original $13 million offer.

Let’s hope we get a glimpse of 2011 Mike Napoli (.320/30 HR/75 RBIs) and not the 2012 Mike Napoli (.227/24 HR/56 RBIs). The 2012 Napoli scares me… and NOT in an oh-my-gawd-he’s-so-awesome way… more of a oh-my-gawd-he-sucks way.

The Boston Red Sox went through some major changes over the last year. Some good, some bad and some just… meh. They unloaded some dead weight — Josh Beckett and his bad attitude, Carl Crawford and his bad contract and Adrian Gonzalez and his bad luck (as collateral damage.) Needless to say, the 2013 Opening Day line up is going to look a lot different from 2012 with only four players returning for the starting nine.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF: He will most likely bat lead off as his did last year. That’s only if he doesn’t sprain his earlobe in spring training or catch a hangnail during warmups.
2. Shane Victorino, RF: Newly signed Victorino makes the most sense for the #2 spot. Dustin Pedroia held this spot last year, but with the addition of the speedy “flyin’ Hawaiian,” he may be better suited further down in the order.
3. Dustin Pedroia, 2B: He’s proved himself to be an offensive asset and has surprising power for a guy of his stature. He has a career .303 batting average with a .830 OPS. Last year, the #3 spot belonged to the departed Adrian Gonzalez.
4. David Ortiz, DH: Big Papi will once again commandeer the clean up spot. Let’s just hope that achilles can hold up and David can pick up where he left off last season before he went down with the bum heel.
5. Will Middlebrooks, 3B: The position stays the same, just the personel has changed. Middlebrooks takes over full time at the hot corner after the somewhat rancorous departure of Kevin Youkilis.
6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C: Salty takes over the #6 spot from Ryan Sweeney who was allowed to go to free agency following an unspectacular year.
7. First Base?: With the Mike Napoli deal in limbo, could Mauro Gomez start the season at first base? Or will they continue to search for a more seasoned first baseman if the Napoli contract crumbles. If Napoli does end up in Boston, I imagine he’ll bat a little higher up in the order — probably 5th. In 2012, the recently departed Cody Ross held this spot in the line up.
8. Left Field?: Do the Sox see Jonny Gomes starting the season guarding the Green Monster? Or Ryan Kalish? This one baffles me. Salty batted #8 to start last season.
9. Stephen Drew, SS: Drew replaces last year’s shortstop Mike Aviles at the end of the order. Needless to say, my excitement level for this position is very low. I’m begging this guy to prove me wrong.

Well, 2013 should be an interesting year. There were some big holes to fill over the off season in this line up and I’m not feeling too confident that the new acquisitions are going to get them where they need to be. I’m not sure I can handle a “rebuilding year” so someone needs to do something really sparkly or that’s exactly what we’re going to get.

ESPN and the Boston Globe report that the Red Sox are closing in (get it?) on a deal that would bring Pittsburgh Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan to Boston for prosepcts Stolmy Pimental and Jerry Sands.  The Globe adds that the Pirates initially wanted the heavily-touted Jose Iglesias as part of the deal, but that Boston wouldn’t budge.  That’s not too surprising given that Stephen Drew only has a one-year contract – but it seems like the Sox are really counting on Iglesias getting his hitting together in the minors this year so that they can call him a viable option at shortstop in time for the free-agent market to open up again next year.

Cody Ross and David Ortiz (credit: Amanda Laws)

The Hanrahan trade also, obviously, leaves Andrew Bailey’s future up in the air.  Not that he had much of a chance to wow the organization last year after spending most of it on the DL following his time in Oakland.

For what it’s worth, Hanrahan should be fine.  He notched 36 saves last year, but it took him 63 appearances to do so.  And, he has a 3.74 lifetime ERA.  The closer market’s not great this year, and at the very least, this moves up the entire bullpen without sacrificing much equity.

Also, Cody Ross is officially an Arizona Diamondback.  He had some interesting comments to the media on the way out of town.  The Globe quotes Ross, talking about the Red Sox’s efforts to keep him on the roster:

“I don’t know what happened but we could never agree on terms. They thought I’d come back no matter what because they thought I loved playing there. And I did. Who wouldn’t love playing at Fenway Park? I just wanted a fair deal. I told them what I wanted. I wasn’t trying to break the bank. They weren’t willing to do it.”

That’s polite, but kind of a damning and insightful thing to say.  The Red Sox do tend to ask their stars to re-sign at a deficit, because their stars (until lately, anyway) loved playing in Boston.  The fact that Ross couldn’t be convinced to sign at a lower value just because he “loved” playing at Fenway is kind of a big deal to me.  The bubbles that start the boil, maybe.  I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Sox have trouble hanging on to their marquee players from here on out.

Which gives us a nice segue into Ross’s other comment, on ex-manager Bobby Valentine.  Ross alluded that he got along with Valentine better than any other player on the team.  “When Bobby came in,” Ross told the Globe, “his way of doing things was a lot different than what they were used to under Terry Francona and it was a shock to them. They weren’t on board with it.”

Also, Ben Cherington is officially Not Talking About Mike Napoli.  This should end well.

The Red Sox have apparently gone ahead and over paid for yet another Drew — this time Stephen, younger brother to the oft-injured JD. Granted it’s just a one year deal, but it’s for $9.5 million. The deal, yet to be confirmed by the Sox, means Jose Iglesias spends another season in Pawtucket where he can hopefully concentrate more on his offensive production.

It’s not like they’re taking on a big bat with Drew. In his seven years in the majors, his overall batting average is .265 with 77 total home runs and 349 RBIs. He’s definitely not going to be snatching Big Papi’s spot in the line up, that’s for sure.

Drew battled ankle problems last year after breaking his right one back in 2011 and played in just 79 games last season split between Arizona and the A’s. Sounds about right for a Drew… (sorry, did I say that out loud?) Or perhaps the Sox will get lucky and he’ll have a season like he did back in 2008 when he batted .291 in 152 games with 21 round trippers.

For once I would like a player to come to Boston and kick ass like they’ve never kicked it before. I’m sick and tired of the “can’t handle the Fenway spotlight” excuse. Just maybe Stephen Drew will kick some ass. I need someone to kick ass in 2013. I can’t handle another season of mediocrity.

Rumor has it that the Red Sox are still “in the mix” for free agent, Josh Hamilton. Is it just me or do the Sox seem to have a surplus of outfielders going into the 2013 season? Last time I checked, you could only field three guys at a time out there. Don’t get me wrong… I wouldn’t mind seeing Hamilton and his rather large bat in the line up instead of Jonny Gomes but not at the expense of a ridiculous Crawford-like contract.

That’s where the problem lies. Hamilton is supposedly holding out for a contract of at least six years, but it doesn’t appear that any of the teams interested are willing to pony up that kind of cash or commitment. Probably smart considering his propensity for injury. The Red Sox are comfortable with three years. Hamilton is not. But with no big offers rolling in from the other teams involved, there is still a chance that the Sox could snag him for a short time.

If the Hamilton thing doesn’t pan out for Boston, have no fear, they have a back up plan. NESN reported that their “fall back plan” if they get shut out of the Hamilton lottery is to look at signing Nick Swisher. Yeah… because their offensive numbers are sooooo similar. Honestly though, Swisher was one of the few Yankees I actually liked so I wouldn’t mind seeing him put on the red socks. And he comes with a lot less baggage and better yet, he doesn’t need a babysitter. It might just be worth it.

I could do without the drama that follows Hamilton. I could also do without the fear of paying that much for a player that could completely crack under the Boston pressure — you know it’s going to take at least $25 million a year to make this guy happy. And really? If Ben Cherington is interested in writing a big check, I’d prefer to see that money go to someone that’s going to boost this feeble pitching staff. Kyle Lohse, anyone? How about Anibal Sanchez?

David Ortiz (Keith Allison, c/o flickr.com)

It looks like the DH position in the Red Sox line up will be buttoned up for the next two years. That’s, of course, if the big man, David Ortiz can stay healthy and that pesky achilles injury suffered this past season doesn’t become a reoccurring issue.

According to Boston.com, there are multiple reports indicating the Red Sox and Big Papi have agreed on a two year deal worth $26 million. The Boston Globe is working to confirm the deal.

The feelings on resigning Ortiz across Red Sox Nation have been mixed. Some feel he’s too old and injury-prone at this point in his career to earn the big bucks — especially in an era where teams are depending less on a high-powered bat in the DH spot in line up. Others, like me, are happy to know that smiling face will be taking up real estate in the dugout through the 2014 season. Even better if he continues the success he had in the first half of last season where he his .318 in 90 games with 23 home runs.

Ortiz has always been the bright light on this team even when times were tough and things were looking bleak. I’m not looking forward when his retirement day comes… I’m sure there will be many tears. But for now, I’ll just enjoy the time we have left together and hope he hits the stuffing out of the ball.

Dear Mr. Farrell,

First I would like to say “Welcome back!” It’s been a long couple of years without you here in Boston and let’s just say, it has not been good. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. The 2011 season was borderline fabulous… until September when the pitching staff spent more time stuffing fried chicken into their pieholes than actually pitching. I think you would’ve brought the hammer down on that whole shit show if you had been here. I’m sorry you didn’t get that chance.

The 2012 season was a whole different story — a story I don’t care to relive. Ever. And that’s what brought you back to us. As you get ready to embark on this new adventure back in Boston, I have to ask one thing of you. Can you please bring back the team I love so much? The team that took the field last season was not the Red Sox I know. It was a team I loathed (and let me tell you, there aren’t many Sox teams that I can say that about.) That team was the result of a lunatic at the helm that NO one liked.

I have confidence you won’t let that happen again. I believe the players respect you and therefore, they’ll come to the ballpark next spring ready to play their asses off every day. I sure hope so because as a fan, I’m not sure I can handle another year having to listen to some off-his-rocker, whack job of a manager who may or may not be a compulsive liar.

So Mr. Farrell, I wish you the best of luck with this team. I hope they come back healthy and prepared for battle because this last place crap isn’t going to cut it.

Cheers,
Stacy

PS: I’m available for consultations if you need someone to bounce around some ideas with.