Red Sox: Handing out turkey awards for Thanksgiving
The Boston Red Sox had some turkey moments during the 2017 season. This is a few I have selected.
Thanksgiving is upon us and the headliner is the turkey around whom the expected feast centers. Turkeys have made an amazing comeback in Massachusetts as the once native bird has returned in numbers estimated at 25,000. My own yard is in a residential area and the birds occasionally roost on out tool shed until my Norwegian Buhund dig takes enforcement steps.
Turkey also has developed another and more negative connotation. The term is generally applied to being negative or to be blunter – stupid. This is usually the result of the domesticated or bred for slaughter birds. As a youth, there was a turkey farm near my house and that assumption is correct. There are no domesticated turkeys in the bird MENSA Club.
So, I will go with the negative version since the wild ones have developed some reasonable survival skills. During the baseball season, several “turkeys” became clear as the Red Sox season droned on. Now I will honor a few and I happen to be an expert on turkeys (negative) based solely on some of the columns I have written.
Here are a few “turkeys” that are linked to behavior or performance or both.
The blame game is very easy for us who stand outside and look in at the Red Sox. Just who does what? The finger-pointing has given me an advanced case of arthritis. There is always something to be critical of and especially so when we can implement hindsight.
Dave Dombrowski is the real public image of management since he oversees everything baseball – president or some such title. But is he really Machiavelli? There is someone else pulling the strings – not that DD is a puppet, but we all have orders to follow and in baseball, you follow them explicitly or find another gig.
So, the ultimate turkey in this mini-tirade is the owner John Henry. Henry has created a model franchise that has consistently been competitive, mostly entertaining and has given the long-starved fan base respect (ah – take that, 2004 Yankees!) that comes with three World Series Championships. There have been potholes along the way and you may have to sell a body part to afford a ticket, but this is not the Yawkey years.
Everyone knew the Red Sox needed a bat as in big time home run bat. At BSI we wasted a barrel full of internet ink speculating on just who it would be? My favorite was the same as David Ortiz’s favorite – Edwin Encarnacion, but the Red Sox did nothing. I get it about the reset on the luxury tax, but, guys, manipulate the contracts a bit as this was a train wreck in 162 game motion.
The Red Sox offense was not mule meat, but a long way from the usual ribeye Red Sox fans expect. Now that mistake is going to be (hopefully) rectified with a worldwide search for a slugger of note. Giancarlo Stanton? J.D. Martinez? Someone will fill the void and consider the market conditions the failure to address this is 2016 offseason will probably cost $100 Million extra or some prime talent. A very expensive turkey.
A difficult task is attempting to defend the indefensible when it centers around a player who is easily an all-time top ten favorite of mine. And that is top-ten baseball and not just the Red Sox, but Dustin Pedroia certainly gets a turkey thanks to the great spiking and beanball incident during the season.
Manny Machado of the Orioles is certainly not on the Nobel Peace Prize short list and his questionable slide into second base resulted in a spiking of Pedroia. Pedroia said he didn’t feel it was intentional and apparently considered it part of the risk of being in the line of fire. A no big deal. MLB did not send Machado to the hothouse so that should have ended the issue. Matt Barnes thought otherwise.
Barnes instituted his version of baseball justice disguised as a high hard one designed to get Machado’s attention. It most certainly did, but Pedroia could be seen tossing Barnes – who was immediately ejected – under the proverbial bus with signaling that Barnes was not following his (Pedroia’s) orders.
You simply must keep your mouth firmly closed in such situations. Pedroia did not. Barnes said his toss was “unintentional,” but Pedroia had already gone public with you “Don’t do that” and his captured mouthing to Machado regarding the pitch.
The size of this turkey is two-fold and that means contract and physical appearance. Say goodnight, Pablo Sandoval! The Red Sox finally realized the error – errors are a Panda specialty – of their ways and sent the rotund one out to baseball pasture with $50 Million in severance. The Panda saga now joins the litany of bad contracts, but at least the Red Sox got something back from the Carl Crawford debacle.
Give Sandoval some credit as his first spring training in Boston Sandoval showed up in Florida like it was an audition for Shamu. But that was a Sandoval tradition as he gained and lost weight in an Oprah Winfrey type cycle. Boston will accept fat if the fat can play – this one could not.
The next season it was all over for Sandoval as shoulder surgery sent the Panda into a long recovery hiatus, but the good news was spring of 2017 when Sandoval no longer look like Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. The bad news was Sandoval had left any baseball skills in limbo waiting to be resurrected.
That resurrection was not in the Boston playbook and Sandoval was gone and arrived back at his original home – the San Francisco Giants. Sandoval said all the right things to placate the Giants and the wrong things regarding his Boston experience. The reunion was not a success as Sandoval did little.
The endearing legacy of Sandoval happened on the last day of the season when Panda rocked a walk-off home run to win the final game of the season for the Giants. That also moved the Giants from the first pick to the second pick in the draft.
David Price had some real issues with Trump-like Twitter exchanges during the 2016 season. Price’s poor performances – at least “poor” for $32 Million – drew some Red Sox Nation outrage and mutual broadsides were exchanged. Hey, David, have you ever heard of “Johnny from Burger King?”
Price certainly knows how to select battles he has absolutely no chance of winning or endearing himself to the media and fans. In 2017 it escalated to a kerfuffle with broadcaster/analyst Dennis Eckersley. This followed on the heels of some rather pointed and obscenity-laced comments directed at the media. So, the ax to grind was ready.
Seems Mr. Price took exception to some honest evaluation by Eckersley of just regarding pitching. Management at all levels had the immediate and Red Sox like response to doing the turtle. All crickets from Manager John Farrell to the executive level. As Jerry Jones would say “running the asylum” – I will sanitize Jones’ comment and made the necessary revision.
Price is making himself a noted public enemy with his behaviors, but there is always some glimmer of the positive. The historic playoff dysfunctional Price suddenly found some minor redemption working out of the bullpen in the playoffs, but, hey – they still lost.
It is a long road back for Price who must now win the fans back after being paid zillions and just not earning it. A 20+ win season and some playoff perfection could make Price feel the love of Red Sox Nation.
Being runner-up for the Cy Young Award is like being the second man to step on the moon or the second-place finisher in the Miss America Contest – you are either forgettable or a historical footnote. Chris Sale finished second for the Cy Young Award that he seemingly had locked up until his late-season fade.
Was the fade a shock? Sale closed out August and September with a 4-4 record and 4.09 ERA which is a rather attractive number unless you are a pitcher of the caliber of Sale. For his career Sale is now 25-29 and 3.56 ERA for the final two months. Is it wear and tear? That seems a valid assumption for the exclamation point thin Sale.
Redemption for Sale is just a playoff game away and just how did that work out? If you were a Houston hitter nothing seemed more delectable than to have Sale tossing at you. Sale’s first foray into the postseason was a start that saw Sale give up three taters and seven earned runs in five innings. But there is always another chance and that came in game four of the ALCS.
Sale came in to relieve Rick Porcello and almost shut the door on the Astros until Alex Bregman tied it up. After Sale departed ace reliever Craig Kimbrel let it totally get away and Sale has postseason loss number two.
Maybe 2018 will see a more Sale like August and September, but don’t bet the farm on it.
This one is like shooting turkeys in a barrel or in this instance something significantly larger – a turkey is a very big bird. Step right up, Rick Porcello, and your league-leading losses (17) and home runs allowed (38).
All season long the mantra was mechanics as Porcello was attempting to find the pitching magic of 2016. He failed. The 2017 season became an extended march of Porcello’s playoff performance of 2016 and that continued right into the 2017 postseason. Porcello was simply the Porcello of old.
Porcello apparently has the same disease that inflicts the Boston staff when the real games (playoffs) are on the line – failure. Porcello and the remaining brethren get you there but seem to vaporize with the extra attention, pressure, and talent that surfaces in crunch time.
I would expect Porcello to be just what he has always been and not the anomaly of 2016 – a solid mid-rotation pitcher who will get you innings and a reasonable shot at having your team come away with a win.