Stacy Wakefield, the widow of former Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, has died after her own battle with cancer. “Our hearts are beyond broken,” the family said in a statement distributed by the Red Sox. Her death comes less than five months after her husband died of brain cancer. At the time of his … Read more
Welcome to spring training, one of the great inventions in history. You may think we’re kidding. But ask anyone who had to pick up a snow shovel in the last week if they think we’re kidding. It may be tempting to say: What about the wheel? What about the microwave? What about the iPhone? What … Read more
The Boston Red Sox just made their most notable acquisition of the offseason. And no, he’s not a player. Fenway Sports Group, the holding company led by John Henry, Tom Werner, Sam Kennedy and Mike Gordon that owns the Red Sox, announced Friday that Theo Epstein has joined its group and will serve as a … Read more
The Hall of Fame is made for players like Adrián Beltré. As a pure hitter, reliable slugger and slick third baseman, Beltré had few peers: No other infielder in the history of baseball has 3,000 hits, 400 homers and five Gold Glove awards. Beltré, now 44, was a lock for the Hall of Fame. As … Read more
Maybe we’ve had Tom Werner’s “full throttle” quote all wrong. Perhaps he meant the Red Sox were preparing to choke the life out of another offseason. It’s scary to think how far they reside from fourth place in the American League East at the moment, let alone the playoffs. Under new chief baseball officer Craig … Read more
Thoughts on Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 12-year, $325 million free-agent contract with the Dodgers, which according to a league source includes a $50 million signing bonus and no deferred money: First, the numbers. They’re staggering. Yamamoto, 25, received the largest guarantee for a pitcher, $1 million more than Gerrit Cole, before ever throwing a pitch … Read more
By Andrew Baggarly, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon Yoshinobu Yamamoto has yet to stand on a major-league mound, but that hasn’t deterred an abundance of baseball executives and talent evaluators from describing him as one of the most talented pitchers on the planet. He’ll certainly be paid like it. The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed … Read more
SportsCenter 5 confirms the Boston Red Sox have offered their head of baseball operations job to Craig Breslow, a former player who was in the organization during two World Series championship seasons.MLB.com’s Ian Browne and ESPN’s Buster Olney are both reporting that Breslow has accepted the Red Sox’s offer to be the team’s new leader … Read more
The Chicago Cubs expected that Craig Breslow would be poached to run another major-league team at some point. The Cubs also understood that Breslow, a rising executive with a Yale degree and a World Series pedigree, would be selective about his next opportunity. Just as the Boston Red Sox will have to determine whether Breslow … Read more
The Boston Red Sox set up Chaim Bloom to fail. His end occurred soon after his beginning. One hundred and eight days after the Fenway Sports Group hired Bloom as its chief baseball officer, John Henry’s ownership group authorized a trade of Mookie Betts to the Dodgers. The move made little sense then. It makes … Read more