Kuzul

“The players make the manager. It’s never the other way.”—Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson

It’s not easy being a manager in Major League Baseball these days.

From all of the egos in the clubhouse to the increased expectations on the field, being a successful manager today requires a certain kind of individual. He has to be able to deal with the multiple personalities of multimillion dollar stars, and he’s got to be able to deal with them in a way that can still garner their respect. That’s not always an easy task—just ask the managers that had to deal with Manny Ramirez on a daily basis.

If there is a feud between a star player and a manager, very few managers will come out of it on top. Owners are more likely to stick with their $100 million player and assume the manager lost control of his clubhouse.

Just last season, rumors surfaced out of Milwaukee that All-Star outfielder Ryan Braun wanted manager Ken Macha gone. It was already known that Macha had issues relating to today’s players, and surely enough he was fired immediately after the season. Braun was just signed to a $105 million extension.

Out of the 30 MLB teams, there are 12 that have new skippers to begin the 2011 MLB season. Six have had previous managerial experience, three took over on an interim basis at some point last season and three are brand-spanking new.

When ranking all 30 managers it was based on one question—If I could hire any manager currently in baseball to manage my team, who would it be?

Let’s get started.

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It may still be really early in the season, but as the weather heats up, so does the proverbial seat that each manager sits on.

A fast start can do a lot to assuage the demands of the fans, whereas a slow start can make the calls come louder and more bloodthirsty.

Again, I know that it’s early. I know that nobody’s getting fired anytime soon. However, what we can do right now is figure out who should start feeling uncomfortable if they can’t turn things around soon. 

I’ve tried to leave first-year managers off this list, since they should get a slightly longer leash to establish themselves.

Down the road, they may be in trouble. For today, most of them are safe. 

Did I say I know it’s early? This is all just speculation.

I realise I’ll catch flack for suggesting that people could be fired, just half a month into the season.

However, once again, I’m just looking ahead and predicting. That’s it. It might not come to pass. Who knows?

For now, let’s just enjoy the ride. 

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I am proud to announce that the Boston Red Sox have decided to open a brand new Institute for Advanced Science!

The venerable Daisuke Matsuzaka, who will surely become the most expensive physics professor in the history of the world, will be the first tenured faculty member. He will draw upon his vast knowledge in the area of streamlined, aerodynamic flight to raise a whole new generation of power-hitting, RBI-producing, pocket-protecting nerds.

You can still rest easy, however; this alternate career will not distract the man from his primary duty of raising the collective batting average of the rest of the league.

Okay, perhaps I am being a wee bit harsh, but the guy did manage to give up eight hits and seven earned runs in just two innings to the Tampa Bay Rays! This is a team that, going into the now-abbreviated three game series with the Red Sox at Fenway, had scored only 20 runs all season. In fact, if you remove the nine runs they scored in their only non-Sox victory, they only mustered 11 runs in eight games, and more than two runs in only two games.

In case I’m not painting the picture accurately, let me state this as clearly as I can: The Rays suck…

And yet the Red Sox, to their eternal credit, a testament to their unwavering resolve, were unwilling to be second best! They saw the Rays magical season of tragedy and horror and said, “we can do better than that!” And better they were, losing the two games they played in both spectacular and soul-crushing fashion before Boston fans began weeping so profusely that they flooded the field and forced a postponement of the final match.

This team is much too good at this…

Lester may have been the lone bright spot in the growing rubble of a rapidly crumbling season, building off his stellar outing against the Indians by throwing another seven quality innings. He allowed three earned runs and struck out another eight in a heart-breaking 3-2 loss on Tuesday night.

After the game, he demonstrated the tremendous class and character that can only be found in the spirit of a man of his caliber, when he told reporters, clad in only a towel the size of a face cloth and eating a salami sandwich the size of a basketball, that he “wonders if the Patriots need a backup quarterback.”

So, thanks to the deluge of tears, the Red Sox have two days off. Rumor has it that Terry Francona has already locked the clubhouse doors and refuses to let the players leave until they “think about what they’ve done!” Pedroia did throw a brief tantrum, but Franconca called him into his office and made him sit in the corner until he calmed down enough to take his daily nap.

When the Blue Jays come to town on Friday, all of Red Sox Nation will watch carefully as the team tries to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and squeeze out a couple of wins. Otherwise, I suggest they go for broke and start actively trying to lose; running out singles to third base, pitching from shortstop, forgoing the center fielder, letting Papelbon close…

If they’re going to lose, they may as well make us laugh.

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As the dawn of the 2011 baseball season comes, one thing above all is certain: The 2011 Boston Red Sox are the greatest collection of baseball players ever to grace the game with their hallowed presence. Put this team against anyone, from any era, and they will stomp the snot out of them without even breaking a sweat. The 1927 Yankees? Don’t make me laugh! The 1998 Yankees? They had David Wells; need I say more? The 1932 Yankees…

Okay, enough with the Yankees. The point is, every newspaper, radio station, television analyst and homeless person has been telling us near nonstop just how undeniably, invariably and spectacularly awesome this team is.

I saw one such breakdown on a local sports network that claimed the Red Sox have a legitimate chance to sweep all major awards, win over 100 games, win the World Series, cure cancer and raise Papelbon from the dead. And I can’t think of a single reason to doubt their analysis.

Well, unless you count the three consecutive losses to start the year where they were outscored 26-11, Carl Crawford struck out five times and pitchers surrendered 11 home runs en route to a team ERA of 9.75 and a BA of .200…

But why would we worry about that? They were playing in Texas! If there is anything we can be more certain of other than the extreme talent possessed by Francona’s sexy, brooding squad of man-some is that Texas rarely obeys they laws of physics.

When a scientist tells a Texan that the Earth has gravity, a Texan will defiantly pull up his Wrangler’s, don a ferocious scowl and jump right off a bridge. And I think, as Americans, we should encourage this behavior.

The Sox have a much needed day off today before they head up to Cleveland, trying very hard not to touch anything on their trips to and from the ballpark. And I think the day off is a very good thing because it gives the Boston sports talk show hosts and diligent listeners a chance to completely flip out and threaten to kill everyone with fire.

I don’t believe I have ever seen a turnaround in faith this rapid and jarring since all the way back in the good ol’ days of 2010, which was the last time the Sox lost three or more in a row and made life not worth living anymore.

The only potential salvation lies in the arm of the Texan named Josh Beckett (assuming he hasn’t met any scientists recently), who spent most of 2010 trying to remember where his keys were. If it weren’t for the now infamous and successful transnational search, spearheaded by an international coalition of military forces, just before the winter meetings, Beckett might still be struggling.

We owe the outcome of this all-important game four to the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice to discover that the keys were actually on his counter the whole time, under a piece of paper that “wasn’t supposed to be there.”

I will join you again on Friday to discuss the arrival of the Yankees (the 2011 version, so don’t panic) at Fenway Park for this first time this season and chronicle their inevitable and merciless slaughter, unless, of course, they happen to win.

Where are my nachos?

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From a hardcore Red Sox lifer and armchair Orioles fan (gotta love that Camden Yards), I am a Buck Showalter admirer. Heck, I think he’s the best thing to happen for that team since Albert Belle retired.

The results for the Birds after he took the helm last year speak for themselves. Not only did he turn around what would have been an abysmal season, Buck actually got his young crew playing like October meant something other than golf and Xbox 360.

He makes any team better by his sheer presence. The thousand yard stare and instant authority will get more out of any given club than almost any manager. But as baseball gears up for the Showalter-Orioles era, Buck has stepped on Superman’s cape for his opening act.

For those who hadn’t read the minor war of words this past week, Buck Showalter called into question (among other things) the ability of GM Theo Epstein to put a winning team together without the Wayne Manor-like trappings that come with a big-market franchise in Boston.

Fundamentally, I agree with the principle behind his complaints. I have been a firm salary cap believer for many years, going back to the early-2000s when New York’s payroll trumped the competition by a cool $80-90 million annually. The NFL is Exhibit A on why firmer payroll limits actually improve the sport by balancing talent across the League.

Would this negatively impact my team? Absolutely. The Red Sox would be forced to dilute their current talent pool down, which almost assuredly means the departure of two or three impact players over the next few seasons. But the game will be bettered by breaking up the power broker teams and seeing postseason baseball again in Kansas City, Oakland, Washington, and Pittsburgh.

But…my sympathies for the plight of small market teams stretch only so far. The current revenue-sharing model pours millions, and in some cases tens of millions, of dollars into the pockets of low income teams every year. There have been seasons when the Marlins actually spent less on their team than the total amount received from the rest of the League.

Showalter also singled out the Red Sox’s free agency pick-up of Carl Crawford, needling Epstein for spending so much more than everyone else offered, a tactic which requires no special intelligence.

While the Red Sox definitely priced Crawford out of reach of nearly every other team in the hunt, their deal came on heels of the shocking contract struck by Jayson Werth and the Nationals. Washington may get a pass for setting a skewed free agency standard this offseason, given their franchise’s desperate need for an attendance boost after Stephen Strasburg’s injury.

The irony is that it’s often been the mediocre also-rans whose forays into free agency have established bloated high-water marks for baseball elites. Baltimore (Albert Belle in 1998), Colorado (Mike Hampton in 2000), Texas (A-Rod in 2001), Toronto (Vernon Wells in 2006), and San Fran (Barry Zito in 2007) are all guilty of establishing ridiculous precedents in order to get talent in small-mid markets.

Getting back to the issue of Showalter’s criticism of Theo Epstein…Buck may have lamented the big contract, which is a highly visible symbol of franchise wealth. But large free agent signings are not synonymous with the big teams, and frankly are not Showalter’s problem. No, the Orioles’ biggest hurdle is the Red Sox’s ability to pay market rates to everyone on top of their deals with the A-listers.

I also have to take exception with the idea that Buck suggests Boston’s money can take the place of strategy. Let’s not forget that Theo cut his teeth in San Diego, one of the stingiest clubs in modern baseball.

Theo & Co. also deserve a tip of the cap for their work on the farm system. This is one area where the losing clubs don’t get much of my patience or sympathy. The top 15 draft picks are untouchable. They can’t be traded for under any circumstances, or lost due to a Type A signing. Fundamentals are fundamentals, and the inability of teams like Pittsburgh or Houston, whose drafted talent chronically under performs winning teams with lower picks (like the Sox), is frustrating and inexcusable.

I’ve rambled quite a bit, but I wanted to illustrate how unnecessary Buck’s comments were, particularly his choice of targets. I empathize with his team’s needs and the realities of playing in the AL East. Major League Baseball is an unfair game, and I’ll be the first in line to sign a petition to spread the talent out. But attacking the Red Sox on their merits is like spitting in the wind. As if they needed more motivation.

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Playing in the American League East, it’s important to keep a competitive team on the field every season.

The Boston Red Sox and general manager Theo Epstein know that very well, so they went out and improved their team more than any other in baseball.

When it was all but set in stone that free agent outfielder Carl Crawford, who was considered the second-best free agent behind Cliff Lee, was going to Anaheim, the Red Sox snuck in like a thief in the night to sign him. Seven years and $142 million is quite the check to write, but for the Red Sox, self-improvement is an obsession.

Still not done, Epstein then sent top prospect Casey Kelly and two others to San Diego for probably the most underrated slugger in the National League, Adrian Gonzalez. Put simply, Gonzalez was the entire Padres offense; taking him from PETCO Park to Fenway Park is going to be quite the show.

Throw Bobby Jenks into the bullpen to join Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon, along with a healthy Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury returning to the lineup, and the Red Sox have built themselves a World Series favorite.

The starting rotation has some question marks, especially in the forms of John Lackey and Josh Beckett. Each is coming off the worst season of his respective career, and as we all know, pitching wins championships.

Last season, Lackey went 14-11 with a 4.40 ERA and 1.42 WHIP, both well above his career marks. His numbers were down across the board from 2009, including K/9 (7.10 to 6.53), BAA (.263 to .277) and K/BB ratio (2.96 to 2.17).

Beckett missed two months last season due to a back injury, and he finished the season 6-6 with a 5.78 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. If you subscribe to the “every other season theory,” you expect a great season from Beckett, or at least great by comparison to his 2010 campaign.

A .349 BABIP certainly strengthens that position. But until we see it, Beckett remains a concern.

On top of the Lackey and Beckett issues, you can wonder if Clay Buchholz’s 2010 season was a fluke and which Dice-K is going to show up this season, the 2008 or 2010 version.

With so many questions surrounding their starting rotation, how can the Red Sox be favored to reach the World Series?

You might be inclined to think it’s because of the returning health and offseason additions to their lineup. After all, you can add Crawford and Gonzalez to almost any lineup and produce a winner.

Throw those two guys into the same lineup as David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis and Pedroia, and that’s just plain scary.

Yet the World Series expectations have nothing to do with any of that.

It has everything to do with the guy in the dugout pulling the strings and moving the pieces—Terry Francona.

Since Francona took over, the Red Sox have won at least 86 games every season. He is, of course, the manager who broke “The Curse” with a World Series title in 2004 and delivered a second championship in 2007.

Francona boasts an impressive 654-480 record as Red Sox manager and, for my money, deserved to win Manager of the Year honors last season.

Why?

Because the Red Sox managed to win 89 games last season while leading the league in trips to the disabled list. Francona is the master of improvisation and adaptation. Perhaps no other manager in baseball had to deal with as many moving parts as Francona did last season.

In all, the Red Sox had 11 different players land on the DL in 2010, including Beckett, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Mike Lowell, Buchholz and Victor Martinez.

Darnell McDonald; Bill Hall; Daniel Nava; Eric Patterson. These are the names Red Sox fans had to become familiar with last season.

Such was the life of Terry Francona.

That team of minor leaguers and guys more likely to have been released than become starters managed to win 89 games.

Flash forward to 2011, and it’s a different situation.

Of course, it’s a long season, and injuries can occur, but if a patchwork team can win 89 games under Francona, imagine what he can do with a healthy team of starters that now includes the slugging Gonzalez and speedy Crawford.

Red Sox fans have to love what their team did this offseason, but they should love Francona more.

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When Josh Beckett was traded to the Boston Red Sox in 2006, it was assumed he would be an Cy Young candidate and an ace for years to come. He was 25, an absolute hoss, and seemingly the reincarnation of Roger Clemens: a hard-throwing intimidator and strikeout king without fear.

And for the most part, he’s worked out for the BoSox just fine. He has pitched well—maybe not as consistently as Boston wanted—but he did lead the Red Sox to a Series victory in 2007, where he pitched lights out. His 2007 postseason: 4-0 with an ERA around 1.6.

Fast forward to now. Josh Beckett is no longer the ace of the Red Sox staff—Jon Lester is. He’s not the No. 2 pitcher either—Clay Buchholz is. In fact, Beckett is the No. 4 pitcher in the Red Sox rotation and is being jiggered by Terry Francona to make sure he starts the season against the Indians and not against the Yankees and Rangers.

Whoa…what’s happened to Beckett? Can he not even pitch to the Rangers without Red Sox Nation quaking in their caps? What’s wrong?

Well, checking the Fangraphs.com site, we see that Beckett has only lost only a touch off his mph, so arm strength is not the issue. No, looking further at the numbers, what the trouble seems to be is Beckett’s inability to spot his pitches like he used to. His curveball, once rock-reliable has lost movement and has earned a -2.1 wCB. His fastball, formerly his bread-and-butter pitch, has seemingly abandoned the lower half of the zone. Now up in the strike zone, Beckett’s wFB has plummeted and as a result, Beckett is relying more on his two-seamer and cutter to try to get better movement on his pitches.

It hasn’t worked. Contact against his pitches (not down in the zone anymore) is way up from where it used to be. Walks are also up to a career high for Beckett. Most telling, perhaps, is his swStrk (strikes swung on and missed) which is an all-time low. In short, he’s putting fatter pitches nice and up in the zone.

What’s also interesting to note is his change-up has actually gained almost three mph. So not only is his fastball slowing a bit, his change is speeding up. What the heck? How does that happen?

Well, last May, Red Sox manager Terry Francona expressed a concern with Beckett’s repeatable mechanics. According to the massblog.com of last May 29th:

“Josh Beckett’s return from the disabled list hit a roadblock yesterday after the Red Sox became concerned with the pitcher’s inability to repeat his delivery in a side session where he threw 20-25 pitches. Manager Terry Francona…said that Beckett was changing arm angles on his deliveries and that his inability to remain consistent is a cause for concern.”

Also, early last season, in the Boston Globe, (former) pitching coach John Farrell said:

“An additional side with Josh to reinforce, particularly out of the stretch, him getting back to a proper balance point and not getting his delivery too spread out to where he loses a downhill plane to his fastball. When he gets into a proper position, his curveball is less readable by an opposing hitter. Part of this is a constant use of the slide step that can cause some of the habits that we’re trying to recorrect here.”

If Beckett’s fastball isn’t really losing all that much mph, but batters are hitting him harder and he’s walking more per nine IP, logic would dictate that Farrell and Francona are right and that Beckett’s mechanics are fried, and he can’t locate like he used to. Seemingly this started somewhere in late 2009, when Beckett’s ERA ballooned from a mid-August low of 3.10 to a season’s end of 3.86 with a number of bad performances. Former pitching coach Farrell is quoted as saying on seacoastonline.com in late August after Beckett gave up 15 runs in 13.1 IP in 2 starts:

“(Poor) location of his pitches has caused the numbers to be where they are. It’s been a matter of missing with some fastballs up in the strike zone or a curveball that hasn’t had the same finish.” … And, Farrell added, that is easily correctable.

“For the majority of the season, he’s been so dominant in the bottom of the strike zone,” Farrell said. “Now, every effort is being made to get him down in the zone again. … But a little tidying of Beckett’s mechanics could produce a dramatic turnaround.

“There may be some times when maybe some added effort or an attempt to get some added velocity has caused him to get a little spread out (with his delivery) and caused him to throw the baseball on a little bit more of a flat plane rather than the downward angle that all pitchers need.”

For Yankee fans, the question is clearly, “Can Josh Beckett return to dominance?” Early signs are…not yet. Despite even more work on mechanics (new pitching coach Curt Young is shortening Beckett’s stride in an effort to get him to repeat his delivery more easily), spring training has been a repeat of last year, with nice flashes of hard heat and a sharp curve, then a terrible inning where he can’t seemingly get anyone out. So far, Beckett has the 5.02 ERA and a WHIP of 1.4.

Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz are an awesome No. 1 and 2. John Lackey had a so-so 2010 and at age 32, it’s possible, but not guaranteed that he will be better in 2011, though most projections figure he will be somewhat better. In any event it’s questionable that Lackey will be as dominant as he used to be pitching to Jarrod Saltalamacchia in tiny Fenway Park. And Dice-K, minus a great 2008 season, has been a disappointment.

The key is Beckett. If he returns to form, the Red Sox have a dominant starting three. And a dominant starting three pretty much ensures you’ll win a short playoff series. If Beckett doesn’t return to form, however…well then, the Red Sox blew a sack full of money on a pitcher who’s busted.

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Spring training is upon us. The Red Sox have been busy this offseason. The Yankees, on the other hand, were uncharacteristically quiet. How could the New York Yankees make noise this offseason with a payroll of over 200 million dollars? Yes, even the “Evil Empire of New York” has limitations on how much they can spend.

This article will break down the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry as it stands today and forecast what the 2011 season may hold for each team and/or their players.

Looking at the resurgence of the Boston Red Sox this offseason by means of key acquisitions Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, one has to wonder, will the Red Sox push the Yankees around in 2011? Are they better than the Yankees? 

When Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman was asked if he agrees that the Red Sox are better on paper today than the Yankees, he said,

“I would agree because they have a deeper starting rotation. I’m not saying they’re going to beat us. We’re not conceding anything. But if somebody asked me right now, they might be a finished product. We’re an unfinished product,” he said last night at a charity event.

“But you don’t win championships in the winter, you win them in the summer. We’re looking forward to going head-to-head with everybody and anybody.” 

“That does not discount anything I have got here,” Cashman said. “It’s just that I have more work to do. I might have the answers right here in front of me. I like what we have coming. Is it ready right now or not yet for an American League pennant race? We’re going to find out and weigh that vs. what becomes available over time. But what I do have, I’m very proud of. And what I do have is going to compete for that title. Can I make it better? I can make it better.”

His opinion that, as of now, the Red Sox are better is shared by most in baseball. There are of course exceptions, including Hank Steinbrenner.

On Tuesday, Hank Steinbrenner had this to say about Brian Cashman’s comments and where his team stands heading into the 2011 MLB season..

“I think we’re the hunter. At the end of the day, listen, no one’s conceding anything. No one’s conceding anything. But as I described the other day in full force, if this was the start of a race..from their winter, they (the Red Sox) qualified for the pole position. Their pole position right now is better than ours because of the winter that they had compared to the winter that I personally had.”

“When you guys are looking at me straight-faced in the eye and (say) what did you think about their winter and where does that put them compared to you, I think they’re the hunted, we’re the hunter and that’s as simple as that and I don’t think anybody would disagree with that,” Cashman said.

“You can make with it whatever you want, I don’t really care, but that’s not selling us short. I like our talent. I like our talent a lot. I give myself an incomplete. Simple as that. If you want to insult anybody …I’m insulting myself. It’s as simple as that. I have more work to do.”

Brian Cashman also was quoted as saying, “We have a lot of talent here because they (the Steinbrenners) allow us to go the extra mile to try and find as much as we can to put us in position to succeed,” Cashman said.

“We almost got back to the World Series but almost obviously is not good enough in our market, so every now and then, a healthy reminder of what comes with not crossing the finish line, that’s going to happen. Why we fell short, how we fell short, the bottom line is we fell short.”

Now that we have heard the sentiment from around the league, let’s now analyze for ourselves which team is better. A good place to start is by looking at the projected opening day lineups. Next, an assessment of the two team’s defenses and pitching staffs will be in order. Lastly, every team is only as good as the coach(es) behind it, so we will take a look at each team’s coaching staff.

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Ranking Major League Managers can be a tricky business. Managing can be, like standing on a razor edge; one wrong move and you’ll get cut. 

It seems that no matter, what the city, or team, managers are always on the hot seat.  Security in this job, is never guaranteed, so it comes as no surprise that, entering the 2011 season we have twelve teams sporting new managers. 

What may come as a shock, is that seven of these men, are rookie managers; untested in any way, shape, or form. This makes it as difficult, to rank these seven men, as a blind man judging a beauty pageant. 

With this in mind, I am going to give it, that “ole college try” and rank these men from bottom to top, heading into the 2011 season. 

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In the blitzkrieg of high-profile signings that has been the Red Sox’ offseason, too easily have nagging questions escaped our rose-colored tunnel vision. As star-struck as Boston fans are right now, we’d be sealing our own fates if we hitched our hopes to two free agents and threw caution to the wind.

One important decision yet to be made is who mans the shortstop position in 2011. As critical as the starting pitching is to the Red Sox’ fortunes, it seems highly unlikely that any additions or subtractions will be made at this point. That hand has been dealt.

But Terry Francona can still improve the Red Sox in small but significant ways if he makes the tough decision to start Jed Lowrie over Marco Scutaro. Here are six reasons why…

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