Red Sox Lose Victor Martinez to the Detroit Tigers

Last offseason, the Red Sox front office lost Jason Bay to free agency largely due to phantom health concerns. This year's free agency period is still young but today, according to a few media outlets, they lost free agent Victor Martinez to the Detroit Tigers. Needless to say, this is a major loss for Boston.

I was hoping this was not going to happen but saw it coming a long time ago, which is why I felt the Sox needed to get a longterm deal done with him prior to the start of last season. Still, I didn't expect the team with the second-highest payroll in baseball ($170 million payroll in 2010) to get outbid by any team (not named the New York Yankees) for V-Mart, let alone an average club like the Tigers.

This is a Red Sox team that is, after all, overpaying Daisuke Matsuzaka as well as the best DH in the game, David Ortiz, the latter by about $6 million. If you have to overpay for V-Mart, so what? Dice-K and Ortiz likely won't be around a few years into a new V-Mart contract anyway. And, owner John W. Henry just bought an international soccer team (Liverpool F.C.).

Therefore, money should not be the issue here, but that and apparently longevity was, since Detroit reportedly offered V-Mart $50 million over four years, while the Red Sox gave him a choice of $36 million over three years, or $42 million over four years. If these figures are true, Epstein has some explaining to do, as this makes the Sox organization look cheap.

He was willing to overrate J.D. ("DL") Drew and give him $70 million over five years ($15 million per year) at the age of 31. Yet V-Mart, at this same age and with much more durability (despite his thumb injury in 2010 that kept him out of 22 games), flexibility on the field and leadership skills, gets no more than three or four years? This doesn't make any sense.

This article was first published earlier today and can be read in full at Blogcritics Magazine

Red Sox Win Seven-Game Homestand, Lose Key Bat For The Year

As usual, a lot has happened in Red Sox Nation since last I wrote – some good, some bad, and in one case, very bad.

On Tuesday, August 3, before the second of four games against the lowly Cleveland Indians, Mike Lowell was activated from the DL and put in the starting lineup. That’s the good news. The bad? First baseman Kevin Youkilis was placed on the DL and is now done for the year with a torn muscle/ligament in his right hand thumb.

The Return of Mike Lowell

This is no doubt a huge loss, but if it wasn’t for the fact that Lowell, a World Series MVP just a few years back is still here, with something to prove to the organization, I would say this is a blow the Sox would not be able to overcome. I’m not saying Lowell will put up Youk-like power numbers (though he did hit three bombs in one game while rehabbing recently), but he’ll at least give you some power, a good batting average and good defense. His very presence in the lineup and at first base means that weak-hitting Kevin Cash stays on the bench, so Victor Martinez can catch, instead of V-Mart starting at first base and Cash catching when Lowell isn't in the lineup.

Tuesday night was pretty special. Not only was it the only Red Sox game I bought tickets to and attended this season, it was the night Lowell got his first start coming off the DL at first base. And what did he do? After the first standing ovation as he came to bat, he took the first pitch he saw out of the yard to give the Sox a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. He got two more standing ovations in his next two at-bats, and cracked a big smile after making a diving play at first base later in the game.

With starter Josh Beckett looking like his old self, fooling Indians hitters for eight innings with mid-90s fastballs, sharp curve balls on 103 pitches and earning his third win of the year and first at Fenway Park this season, it was a perfect night to be at Fenway as the Sox won the game, 3-1.

This edition of my Dead Red column was first published at Blogcritics Magazine. Read the full article at that link.

Hangin' Tough: Red Sox Have First Winning West Coast Trip Since 2004

Every time the Red Sox seem to be on the verge of collapse, they somehow, some way pull off some big wins to keep from falling impossibly far behind a playoff spot – they are currently 5.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the AL Wild Card. With a ton of games coming up, more regulars coming back from injuries, and very little time off, it was crucial that Boston get hot again.

An Unlikely But Clean Sweep In Anaheim

When word came Monday that newly acquired Angels ace Dan Haren would make his first start against the Red Sox, a collective “Uh oh!” could be heard around Red Sox Nation. Then, for once, the Sox caught a break. Haren got injured by a Kevin Youkilis line drive in the fifth and left the game, which Boston won 6-3 behind Clay Buchholz, who went seven strong innings, allowed one run, and punched out seven Angels en route to his 11th win. David Ortiz hadn’t hit more than one homer in the second half until this night, when he hit two bombs, numbers 20 and 21, and drove in three runs overall.

Another welcome sight Monday night was the return of starting catcher Victor Martinez (from a broken left thumb). He had an RBI single this night, which was a revelation, since the collective output of Gustavo Molina, Dusty Brown, and Kevin Cash never homered, drove in a run, or hit an extra base hit in 65 total at-bats for the Sox this year.

Note: This article was first published at Blogcritics Magazine

Red Sox Continue Battling Injuries And Division Rivals For Playoff Spots

The Red Sox lost last night 6-5 at the Trop to Tampa Bay and as a result, its place atop the AL Wild Card standings and now sit in second in that playoff chase. Worse, the BoSox now sit in third place in the AL East for the first time since June 26, when they were percentage points behind the Rays for second place, and have fallen to two-and-a-half games back of AL East-leading New York.

The fact that it took this long for the Sox to show signs of wear and tear is simply amazing. With Clay Buchholz, Manny Delcarmen and Jason Varitek joining Mike Lowell, Dustin Pedroia, Jeremy Hermida, Jacoby Ellsbury, Victor Martinez and Josh Beckett on the disabled list last week, that gives Boston nine players out of action until at least the All-Star break. That’s an amount that could field almost an entire other team’s starting lineup.

You’d be hard–pressed to find another major league team missing that much talent and still find itself at or near the top of two playoff races for as long as Boston has been. Last night, the injuries finally began to take its toll on Boston – more on that game next week – as it began its final two series before the All-Star break against divisional foes Tampa Bay and Toronto.

Now, here’s more of my take and highlights of last week’s happenings in Red Sox Nation.

For the full post of this week's Dead Red column, first posted at Blogcritics Magazine, click this URL.

Boston Is "Riding The Nava Wave"

This week in Dead Red: Tim Wakefield passed a milestone, Dustin Pedroia is hitting again, the Sox unveiled a statue of Red Sox legends outside Fenway Park, and Sox catcher Victor Martinez remained hot at the plate. But first, following in the footsteps of Darnell “Mac” McDonald, another Triple-A call-up made an unexpected but explosive debut over the weekend.

I say Daniel Nava. You say, "who?" Here’s a kid who was told he’d never make it to pro ball. He was cut as a walk-on from his original college team at Santa Clara University, then resorted to being the team’s equipment manager. After graduation, he went undrafted and still trying to live the dream, played with the Chico Outlaws from the independent Golden Baseball League. He was cut after a tryout but then later made it to fill a roster spot.

In 2007, after finally getting a chance to play, he batted .371, hit 12 homers and had a whopping 1.100 OPS. This earned him the distinction of being named the independent league’s #1 prospect as rated by Baseball America. Seeing that, Red Sox assistant director of professional scouting Jared Porter signed him for a $1 with the promise to pay the Outlaws $1,500 if the Sox kept him after spring training in 2008.

In his short, four-year minor and independent league career, the 27-year-old switch-hitter (and natural lefty with good patience at the plate) batted .342 and hit well everywhere the Sox organization sent him, most recently in Pawtucket where he was hitting .294, with a .364 OBP, 8 HR and 38 RBI. And with Adrian Beltre not only rupturing opposing pitching but crushing teammates’ ribs (via freak on-field collisions, first Jacoby Ellsbury and now Jeremy Hermida, who is on the DL until late June), Francona needed to call up an (unknown) outfielder from the PawSox, and Nava was the lucky one to get that call over this past weekend.

For full post of this week's column at Blogcritics Magazine (where it was first posted earlier tonight), please click and read here.