Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Your Morning Dump...Where Hanrahan is looking for a second opinion

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Now three days after walking off the mound with a strained right forearm, closer Joel Hanrahan continues to feel so much soreness that he’s having trouble gripping a baseball.

And so the Red Sox are seeking the opinions of two noted orthopedic surgeons.

The images from Hanrahan’s MRI exam have been sent to Dr. James Andrews and Dr. David Altchek. Based on the findings of the Sox’ medical staff, the MRI didn’t indicate structural damage to the elbow but confirmed a strain of the flexor mass, where the tendon meets the joint.

According to Hanrahan, there’s some question over whether the damaged tendon has been protecting the ligament as it’s supposed to. If the ligament has been affected, surgery may be a possibility, although the Sox hope that is an extreme scenario.

“That’s one of the things they’re looking at, to see how that ligament looks,” Hanrahan said. “I think you could probably go through this clubhouse and look at everybody’s ligament and it’s not going to be like a 12-year-old’s ligament. So that’s one thing they’ll look at, to see if that ligament has been compromised.”

The Red Sox expect to hear from Andrews and Altchek today. In the meantime, Hanrahan has been icing his arm and riding the exercise bike.

Herald: Notebook: Joel Hanrahan seeks second opinions

We all knew there would be a point in the season when Andrew Bailey would miss some time due to injury. Possibly extended time. And, that has happened.

Joel Hanrahan sucked a bit, missed some time, Andrew Bailey impressed, Hanrahan returned to eventually get his job back, now Junichi Tazawa is the man in the 9th inning. No one expected this situation.

Now Dr. James Andrews is in the picture, even though he is the best in the biz, we shouldn't expect a good outcome in terms of a timely return. This injury is worse than initially thought and the Sox are down both of their closers.

I guess losing 2 closers doesn't matter much because we haven't seen many save situations lately. This team is looking awful.

Related: Globe: Hanrahan seeking a second opinion | WEEI: Dr. James Andrews looking at Joel Hanrahan's arm images |

On Page 2, Did Adrian Gonzalez make David Ortiz a better hitter?

Your Morning Dump...where Lester is glad 2012 is over

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

The manager, Bobby Valentine, is expected to be fired after Wednesday's season finale, probably by the end of the week. The owners have been ridiculed, the general manager maligned, the sellout streak mocked, the marquee players traded.

"It's been a long year for a lot of people for a lot of different reasons," Lester said. "Like I said, I'm glad it's over. Move on. It's over for me. I'm going into a much-needed offseason. Regroup, come back in spring training, be ready to kick some people's asses and go from there."

If only it was that simple. The Red Sox have now missed the playoffs three straight seasons, and the slide might just be accelerating. This team is beset with questions, not the least of which is how to improve its starting pitching. With one game left, the starters have a collective ERA of 5.15. Only the dreadful Indians, Twins and Rockies were worse.

Lester finishes his season with a 9-14 record and 4.82 ERA. The wins are his fewest since he began taking a regular turn in the rotation in 2008. The ERA is the highest. The rate of strikeouts per nine innings (7.27) is a low.

ESPNBoston | Jon Lester relieved to put grim season behind him

Us, too.

One of the most perplexing parts of this season was Lester's performance. Other things were predictable. We knew Valentine was a mess. We knew Salty only makes contact with the ball once a week. We knew Ellsbury is hurt all the time, and Youk's time here was expiring, and that we had a lot of bad contracts.

But the one stable part of the team was supposed to be Lester.

Instead, he couldn't even get to 10 wins? I know wins have more to do with the team at large than the pitcher's ability, but the rest of his stats don't look much better. 

Once the season mercifully expires tonight, the Ted's Army crew will get hard at work on what we would do in the offseason, and we'll be rolling those plans out over the coming days. One thing we'll each have to address is what the deal is with Jon Lester. Was this season a fluke? Should our expectations be adjusted? Is it time to purge him from the roster, too? Or can he get back to the guy in the picture, who threw no-hitters and was inspirational?

It's worth pointing out that the advanced stats indicate Lester had a bit of bad luck. Lester's FIP was 4.12 -- up just 29 points from last year's 3.82. His ERA, however, advanced by 1.35. So it's probably fair to say the defense behind him wasn't that good, and that he went through some bad streaks rather than just being a consistently bad pitcher.

It all ends tonight. And by "it all" I don't just mean 2012. I mean the Bobby Valentine Era, the Daisuke Matsuzaka Era -- there's a lot we can put behind us. And then we can start to look forward.

On page 2, our old friends were eliminated.

 

Your Morning Dump... Where Mattingly is positively giddy over Gonzalez

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Given the way everything ended in Boston, it’s easy to forget just how good Adrian Gonzalez is.

“That’s an unbelievable trade,” Mattingly gushed before the Dodgers hosted the Diamondbacks last night. “An unbelievable trade. This guy is the (expletive). He can play. That’s how you win, with guys like that.”

The Dodgers clearly have no regrets over the megadeal that brought Gonzalez, Josh Beckett [stats], Carl Crawford and Nick Punto west, and that’s because they have Gonzalez.

“He’s unbelievable. It really was kind of the perfect storm: The year (the Red Sox) were having, where they’re at (with) the cap, all of that stuff.”

While Mattingly spoke, a broad smile never left his face. As much as Red Sox fans feel like the Dodgers are suckers for taking on more than $260 million in contracts, Mattingly looks like a guy who’d make the trade every day.

“I’m not going to sit here and complain about having freaking Adrian Gonzalez,” Mattingly said.

Herald - Fore-Gonz conclusion

While I was pretty bummed about losing Adrian in the wake of the trade, I have come to see the bright side in all of this.  My concern now is that I simply don't trust that the people that got us into this mess have the restraint to not use that money to put us right back into a similar bind.  Time will tell.

While this trade shined a light on the fact that the ownership group and the front office need to change, we as fans need to change as well.  I've made this same plea over Ortiz in the past, but we need to stop looking for reasons to be unhappy, and instead appreciate what we have.

Adrian Gonzalez came to town with all the pomp and excitement a player like he deserves.  The Sox finally had a hitter that could pick up where Manny left off.  But the honeymoon didn't last forever. 

I don't think it's necessary to re-hash the entire Boston Gonzalez era, however short it was, but let me remind you that the first half of his first year here, Adrian put up obscene numbers.  .354 average, 17 home runs, 77 RBIs, 1.006 OPS.  The second half, while solid, wasn't nearly as impressive.  The first half of this season, he continued his 'good but not great' play.  Then, something clicked.  Adrian began tearing the cover off the ball again.  ....then he was traded.

We set extremely high expectations for Gonzalez.  In our head, we had a vision of who Gonzalez was, and when he didn't fit nicely into that mold, a good chunk of Sox fans turned on him.   Not like they turned on Beckett - they didn't reign boos on him as he stepped to the plate.  But they never embraced him the way he deserved. 

Much of it boiled down to the fact that he wasn't hitting many home runs.  Regardless of how productive at the plate he was, we fixated on the number in the home run column.  We wanted a "slugger", not a hitter.  Adrian has that in him, so it wasn't unrealistic to expect.  But since he wasn't bashing home runs, we became skeptical.  And then we looked, and found, some reasons to dislike him.  His post-game comments weren't fiery enough.  He, for whatever reason, blamed last season on "God's plan".   He provided silly reasons to dislike him, and some of us pounced on him.  

Regardless of the number of home runs he hit in his 1 and 2/3 years in Boston (42), let's not forget the fact that we lost one of the top 5 (probably top 3) first basemen in the league.  If you read those comments from Mattingly above, he certainly realizes what he has.

Rest of the links:

Herald - Jarrod Saltalamacchia wants to catch on | Jon Lester’s best month ends on down note | Globe -Mike Aviles deals with a new Red Sox reality | Sox get swept under by Angels | WEEI -Hunter: 'I'm sure [Crawford's] a lot happier' | Brentz headlines Sox' Arizona Fall players | CSNNE - Ellsbury 'comfortable' with Red Sox | Report: Pedroia tries to set the record straight

Adrian Gonzalez is still whining about life in Boston

Via the LA Times:

As for why the Boston media didn't take to him, he said, "They didn't like that I was a calm person. I won't throw my helmet, I won't scream, I won't use bad words if I strike out. That's what they want over there."

Gonzalez wasn't bothered by the sudden and dramatic change in his public image.

"You can't control what others say," he said. "I was the same person in San Diego. They took me over there and I didn't change. My intensity, how I prepared, everything was the same. When they took me over there, they took me over there to drive in runs. And I did that."

He drove in 117 runs last season, third in the American League and fifth in the majors.

But there were whispers that Gonzalez had lost power. He hit 27 home runs last season after averaging 34 the previous four years, including 40 in 2009 and 31 in 2010.

"What took my power away was the Green Monster," he said of the 37-foot wall at Boston's Fenway Park.

"I used to hit line drives that way and they would be doubles," he said. "That took away five home runs from me last year. So I would have had 32."

Talk about a guy not getting it. Sure, we like our leaders to have a feisty demeanor, but that's not the end-all, be-all.

My problems with Gonzo surfaced with the infamous bitch-and-moan comments about playing too many Sunday night games and blaming God's will on last season's collapse.

Oh... and there's the little thing about texting ownership and calling for a team meeting so you can demand the manager be fired.

Even though he's 3,000 miles away, this guy still pisses me off.

Your Morning Dump... Where the winds of change are blowing

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Whether or not the deal goes down, we now have beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt proof that Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington is prepared to make like Michael Corleone taking out the heads of the other four families in his own clubhouse.

Forget about tinkering under the hood or making a couple of surgical strikes to purge the likes of Beckett or John Lackey.

This is wiring Fenway with enough TNT to sink the Poseidon.

Let the healing begin, because the Red Sox have taken their first significant step toward erasing the stench of the last calendar year. And if they’re thinking this big now, there’s every reason to expect even more in the coming months.

It already feels like a new day, which is exactly what the franchise needs. The focus of this deal from a PR standpoint should be Beckett, because removing him from the equation immediately makes the club about 25 percent more likable.

Herald - Sox poised to blow it all up, start anew

The more I thought about this trade last night, the sicker I felt.  It may be the right move, but I don't like it.  When you boil it down to its core, we're being robbed of Adrian Gonzalez due to Josh Beckett's surliness and Carl Crawford's elbow. 

And, in the process, the Red Sox are freeing up salary figures that are equivalent to the GDP of several small nations, as well as getting some top-tier prospects in return.  I guess the plan now is to sit back and hope that the Sox spend that $270 million more wisely than before?  I'd argue that Gonzalez's 7 year $154 million contract was pretty shrewd, especially when compared with Prince Fielder's 9 year $214 million deal.  So, I guess we'll try to use that money to get more players like Gonzalez and good contracts, like the one we gave Gonzalez? 

I know, I know... I need to get past losing Adrian.  I just never got a chance to say goodbye.

Emotions aside, I love the balls that Henry and Lucchino told Cherington to display in this move.  This Sox squad needed an overhaul.  The organization needed a change in direction.  And this move clearly shows that we're getting both.  The key cog in this transition will be what the Sox do with Ellsbury.  If they flip him this offseason, we know that we're in full-blown rebuilding.  If they try to throw half of the money they saved in this deal at his feet, well, then what was the point? 

So we're about to embark on what is shaping up to be an absolute wild offseason for the Red Sox.  And amidst all this change, don't be shocked to see Papi take his talent to somewhere like New York this offseason.  He's already unhappy with this franchise, and he's certainly not going to want to hang around while the Sox rebuild for the next 2-3 years.  Sadly, I doubt the Sox are going to be putting up much of a fight to keep him.  I hope I'm wrong.

But we're not talking about funerals anymore, are we?  Well played, Henry.  Well played indeed.  Other than, you know, taking Adrian away from us.

On Page 2, the players react

Recap: We don't need no stinkin' Gonzalez...

 

...just kidding.  Please come back.  ADRIAN!  ADRIAN! ADRIAAAAN!!

Amidst all the uncertainty surrounding the Gonzalez/Crawford/Beckett trade to the Dodgers the Sox played a pretty solid game of baseball, beating the Royals 4-3.

Lester won his third straight game, and dropped his ERA below 5 in the process.  So, hooray for that.  It was another night where he wasn't in total control, but did enough to get through the Kansas City lineup.  He left the game in the 8th with what I'm assuming is a hamstring injury.  He grabbed the back of his leg after throwing a pretty poor pitch, so it doesn't look good.  At least we don't have to worry about him being out for any time of playoff push.  He ended the night with 6 K's, 4 walks and surrendered the 3 Royals runs.

Once Lester was pulled, Valentine wanted to make sure he didn't leave any reliever in too long so Padilla, Miller and Bailey were each responsible for an out in the 8th.  Bailey stayed in and finished off the 9th, getting his first save as a member of the Boston Red Sox. And if you squint just right as he's on the mound, he almost looks like Papelbon.

Sox batters left a bunch of guys on base, but you probably already guessed that would happen.  The big story of the night - other than, you know, the Sox trading away the best player to come to Boston in quite some time just so they could dump some salaries - was the return of David Ortiz.  Papi didn't disappoint, hitting a two-run single in the first, and following that up with a double in the third.  Ciriaco had himself a two-hit, two RBI night as well, with the two RBI's coming on a nifty little double where he popped a ball well out of the strike zone right over 3rd base.  He then stole third just because he's Pedro Ciriaco and he can seemingly steal bases at will.  Ellsbury also had a two-hit night, but struck out instead of driving Ciriaco home.  Ryan Lavarnway even got a hit!

Regardless of everything else swirling around Fenway right now, winning ballgames is fun.  Let's do that more often.

BOX SCORE

Sox-Dodgers trade appears to be done

 

It's being reported both Adrian Gonzalez and the Dodger's James Loney are being held out of their respective lineups tonight.  That's certainly not a coincidence.

Expect reports of this deal being completed to be rolling in shortly.

ESPN has some details:

The Dodgers and Red Sox are closing in on a deal that would send Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to Los Angeles, though a few hurdles remain before it's official, multiple baseball sources said Friday.

Pitcher Rubby De La Rosa will be headed back to Boston as the centerpiece of the deal, sources say. De La Rosa made his first major league appearance of the season Wednesday, having had Tommy John surgery about 13 months ago. Also included are first baseman James Loney and prospects Ivan De Jesus (infielder) and Jerry Sands (outfielder), according to sources, plus another top prospect that is still unknown.

The Dodgers optioned De La Rosa to Triple-A Albuquerque on Friday afternoon. Gonzalez was scratched prior to Friday's game and summoned to the clubhouse, along with Punto. Loney was a scratch as well, and was called to manager Don Mattingly's office.

I'm suffering a bit of shell-shock, so I'll refrain from commenting on this for right now... other than to say what the rest of you have been thinking all afternoon.  Is it worth losing Gonzalez just to be able to dump Beckett and Crawford?

That question won't be answered for some time, but we all wanted a major overhaul of this team.... be careful what you wish for.

Dodgers awarded Adrian Gonzalez in waivers, Sox have a now-or-never decision to make

The Los Angeles Dodgers were awarded Adrian Gonzalez off of waivers. The Red Sox now have 72 hours to decide whether to keep him, see if they can trade him, or just letting him go and let the Dodgers assume Gonzalez's contract. 

Once it was known that Gonzalez was placed on waivers, it was widely assumed that the Dodgers would put in a claim, as it was reported that they tried to acquire him before the July 31st trade deadline. 

Now the time is ticking and the front office has a chance to really start the rebuilding process. This would open up 6 years/$127 million remaining on his contract and that could be used to try and re-sign Jacoby Ellsbury, use that for another cheaper replacement in the free agent market, like a Mike Napoli, and use the remaining to bolster other areas, like the rotation. But Adrian is too good of a player to just let go to save some cash. Having that cash freed won't be a panacea to what plagues this team but...it would certainly help.

As far as a trade goes, two things must happen for it to happen. One is that the Sox must be willing to pay a little of the contract (something like $20 million) and the other is that the Sox will get only prospects in return. The Dodgers have been super aggressive ever since Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Partners took them over and are trying to win right away and Adrian Gonzalez would fix their glaring hole at first base. They haven't lost many of their prospects either since most of their acquisitions they have just assumed all the money remaining on player's contracts. 

A dream scenario would be that maybe the Sox could be willing to take Josh Beckett in the deal. But that would be incredibly unlikely considering that they want to win now and Beckett is in the midst of his worst year in baseball, even if they could get him at a discount. For those that are wondering, John Lackey can't get traded since he's on the 60-day DL. 

In all likelihood, the Sox will take Gonzalez off of the waiver wires and keep him. He's too good of a hitter to let go and despite the fact that he hasn't fit in this city ever since he arrived here, he's still a hitting savant, who is now hitting .300 and is on pace for 120 RBI's despite an awful start to the season. He's the guy Sox fans have been waiting for since Manny was booted from this team and their is a chance that he can still lead this team to a title.

Having said that, if the Red Sox want to trade him, they won't have a better chance to do so. This is the one of the few teams that have a need at first base and are desperate to bring a title to Los Angeles that they would take the contract and quite possibly give prospects in return for him. If they wanted to wait in the off-season to move him, would the Dodgers even be willing to listen if they believe Gonzalez was the missing piece of the puzzle? Doubtful. After the Dodgers, which team has a major need at first and be willing to take Adrian and his contract? No one, which makes this a now or never type deal.

So the Sox have a major decision to make. Will they finally throw up the white flag with this team and start rebuilding?

 

Recap: Lester dominates, Sox beat the Yankees

Johnny Lester, Adrian Gonzelz, Pedro Ciriaco and Nick Punto quadruple-teamed the Yankees, as the Sox win 4-1.

Lester was the main story today, winning his second consecutive game.  The last, and only other time he's done that was back in May.  He threw 7 strong innings, giving up only 5 hits and 1  run while striking out 4 batters.  He wasn't overpowering, but he did pitch his ass off.  The key to this Sox team right now is building some momentum and confidence for next year.  If Lester can keep stringing some good starts together, that'll help.  The B-Squad, Bailey and Breslow took care of the 8th.  Aceves got the save. 

The offense wasn't great -- Sox batters left 16 men on base. Surprise! -- but they did plenty to get the win.  Gonzalez hit a two-run shot in the 1st.  Punto smacked a double to right that brought Ciriaco home from first (which should have been a triple, but Jones misplayed the ball).  The final run coming on a wild pitch that brought Podsednik home.  Gonzalez (2 hits) and Ciriaco (4-4) were the only Sox batters with a multi-hit game.  In addition to the RBI double (triple), Punto stole a base (as did Crawford and Ciriaco) and had a great game at 3rd as well.

On the negative side, Lavarnway went 0-4, bringing his average down to .107.  Someone should probably tell him that he's supposed to be the future catcher of this franchise.  And Ellsbury went 0-5, and wasn't able to bring Punto home from 3rd after his double (triple).  Oh, and Cody Ross went 0-4 and struck out 4 times.  Plus, Derek Lowe pitched and got the final out for the Yankees.  So that happened.

But beating New York always puts an extra hop in my step, even if they're 12 games up in the standings.

BOX SCORE  (Photo by Jason Szenes/Getty Images)

Your Morning Dump...where Adrian gets tossed

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Gonzalez wound up grounding to second, then was ejected by Everitt after saying the quick-pitch should have been ruled a ball. When Gonzalez’s plea fell upon deaf ears, the first baseman said, “Mikey, you stink,’’ which earned him his second career ejection.

“I wasn’t ready to hit,’’ Gonzalez said. “I wasn’t out of the batter’s box. When I come set up with the bat on my shoulder and the pitcher comes set, I kind of get into my position to hit and I was still in a position where I wasn’t ready to hit. My argument was that they called that same play a ball on Franklin [Morales] earlier in the year. He does the same thing and the umpire said it was a ball. It needs to be universal. It can’t be interpreted by each individual. That’s my argument.’’

Valentine came out of the dugout to take up Gonzalez’s argument, and wound up getting tossed as well. It was his fourth ejection of the season and 41st of his managerial career.

“Adrian thought maybe Mike should’ve called something and he didn’t call it,’’ Valentine said. “Adrian told him what he thought and I reiterated it.’’

Globe | Orioles defeat Red Sox, 5-3

You know it's getting bad when Adrian Gonzalez is using the S-word at umpires.

This team finds new ways to disappoint us every night, and last night was no different. The weird Crawford misplay, Gonzalez and Valentine getting tossed for pretty placid complaining, Cook falling apart -- it just goes on and on.

On the one hand I understand Gonzalez's frustration, but I also hate how long it takes players to be "ready to hit." Not specific to this situation, just generally -- there's no need to step out of the box after every pitch, adjust every piece of clothing on you, check out the ladies in the stands...every player thinks they're Nomar these days. Enough.

Maybe it's time to just bail on the Red Sox for the rest of the year anyway. That's what John Tomase thinks.

Come on, we've got better things to do. End-of-summer vacations, barbecues, root canals -- there are plenty of things on our calendars that beat watching this team.

Of course, that's not how it works. We'll still watch, because that's how it works. But hopefully they don't continue down this spiral. The playoffs are basically out of the question at this point, but we can at least look for things to have some hope about for 2013.

Things like:

1. The continued improvement of Jon Lester

2. Healthy, consistent play from Carl Crawford

3. A September call-up of Jose Iglesias in which he dominates (#freejoseiglesias)

4. Signs that Andrew Bailey is better than Alfredo Aceves

Surely there are more, but that's what I'll have my eye on.

Globe | Red Sox worried about leaks | John Henry, Red Sox awash in spin cycle - while keeping eye on the (soccer) ball | Bobby Valentine mum on dugout moment with Pedroia | Herald | It's time to call it quits, Sox aren't worth our attention | David Ortiz cooling his heels | Alex Ochoa, Jon Lester laugh off controversy | Sox come apart, again | John Henry again backs Bobby V, refutes story | ESPNBoston | Bobby V's Sox on wobbly legs | Cook self-destructs as hard-luck Sox fall | Aaron Cook, Red Sox lose no-hitter, then game to Orioles | Henry: Players blamed themselves | Bobby V: 'Totally responsible' for record | CSNNE | Red Sox lose lead, fall to Orioles | Henry: No one asked for Valentine to be fired | Epstein gives thoughts on Pesky's passing