Minutes ago, Red Sox President/CEO Larry Lucchino issued a statement confirming that he will be stepping down at the end of the season. He explained that he has been planning to cut back ever since 2004, the year of Boston’s first championship. Lucchino thanked Boston ownership and he offered up a strong endorsement for Sam Kennedy, his likely successor.
“I believe the end of this year is a good time for this change. We would have preferred to announce all of our transition plans at once, including my new role, but I can tell you we all feel strongly that Sam Kennedy, who has been with me for 20 years, should be the next President of the Boston Red Sox. Sam will do a terrific job. He is able, well-prepared, and fiercely dedicated to the Red Sox and to Boston,” Lucchino said.
Here’s more on the Red Sox..
- Scott Miller of Bleacher Report (on Twitter) hears that Lucchino will take some time away and then maybe look for one more run with one more club.
- The Red Sox didn’t make a splash at the trade deadline, but they did at least explore making some big moves, John Tomase of WEEI.com writes. A source familiar with Boston’s thinking wouldn’t name names of potential targets, but he told Tomase said they, “threw a couple of things out there.” The Red Sox were in the market for a young frontline starter but, as GM Ben Cherington acknowledged, those don’t come cheap.
- One splashy move to explore would have been trading for Reds closer Aroldis Chapman and converting him to a starter. However, a source told Tomase that the Red Sox did not go down that path.
- When the Red Sox fielded calls, they got more calls on center fielder Mookie Betts, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, and catcher Blake Swihart than anyone else, a source told Tomase.
Didn’t Chapman say he didn’t want to be a starter a couple years ago when he failed at doing so during Spring Training? Any club attempting to trade for him shouldn’t have expected to convert him to a starting pitcher.
An anonymous source says they didn’t go down the path of acquiring him. Breaking news, truly
The news was that they didn’t explore any trades for Chapman, not that they didn’t acquire him, obviously
Not sure why the Red Sox are still holding on to Swihart for dear life. I’d move him in the right deal in a heartbeat. They have Vazquez and Hanigan for next season and if Vaz isn’t ready to start the season they have Leon in AAA. Swihart’s been okay in the majors, but hasn’t been the hitter he was advertised as and has had shaky defense. Now I can see if there was nothing out there they wanted that Swihart could have brought them, but they should surely be willing to listen on him.
Swihart has has like 159 ABs how about giving him a moment
It’s not just the hitting. He hasn’t been good at much he’s done. He doesn’t throw out runners, or play defense very well and hasn’t hit. I’m not saying that won’t improve, it very well may, but considering him untouchable has to stop. He may very well settle in and provide Varitek-like numbers at some point, but I would much prefer to have Vaz as the catcher with an actual ace than to have two potentially good catchers and no one to throw them the ball.
You have to remember that Swihart was brought up way too early out of necessity, he should still be in the minors if you ask me
He’s a 23-year old catcher who was thrust onto the Major League spotlight far sooner than he or anyone else expected. His development clearly isn’t done; he’s just doing it at the Major League level now due to team needs. His minor league track record speaks to the fact that the ability is there on both sides of the ball, but it’ll take some time to figure out whether he can translate it to the bigs. The Red Sox can’t trade him before they know what kind of player he’ll be, his upside is too much.
He would have been due for a promotion in September. He hasn’t played well up till this point. He’s not a good pitch caller, hasn’t hit very well, and doesn’t even throw out guys at a league average rate. Either he or Vazquez has to go eventually. If they intend to make a trade for an arm, he would be someone to consider including.
A lot of Red Sox fans said the same thing about Lavarnway…
he was never a consensus top prospect
If you’re going to do a post called “Red Sox Notes” wouldn’t it be worth mentioning Porcello was put on the DL?
Since it hasn’t officially happened per the MLB transaction page or Boston’s own official MLB page at this time it would be hard to announce it as “was”
Why should it surprise anyone that all the other teams wanted Betts, Boegarts and Swihart? They are there best trade chips but they seem to forget to get quality you must give up quality.
They are also young players that play premium positions and are under team control. What would they have gotten that really would have improved this team? Those are guys you build around not trade.
Hope if they get Chapman and try to convert him into a starter, he has more success than Daniel Bard.
I’m surprised no interest in De Aza. A nice bat and a good glove to come off the bench.
I think it’s a bit ridiculous of teams to ask for players like Swihart, Betts, or Bogaerts. Teams don’t just give away their top prospects anymore. They are such valuable on-field assets in this day and age as free agents become more expensive that you’re just wasting your time holding out for teams to give up talent like that, especially with teams like the Red Sox or Dodgers who can just spend money to address a need.
Unless the Sox really plan on keeping Bradley, they probably shouldn’t have brought him up. As trade bait, his AAA numbers are very good and would catch the eye of other teams looking for a GG caliber CF. By bringing him up, he continually proves that he cannot hit big league pitching–thereby lowering his trade value.