Do you know me?
Photo from the Boston Globe Archives
You’re going to find this hard to believe, since no one except this guy has mentioned it this week, but I won the Rookie of the Year award AND the AL MVP award back in 1975. That’s right, I won them both in the SAME FREAKING SEASON. But has anyone discussed that this week? No. All we keep reading about is how Cal Ripken, Jr., Ryan Howard and now Dustin Pedroia (good kid, by the way, I’m very happy for him) are the only MLB players to win Rookie of the Year and follow it up with the MVP award. Can you believe that shit?
Go ahead and Google me…you’ll see. I’ll wait.
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Good, you’re back. So what did you see? You didn’t find any recent articles mentioning my Rookie of the Year and MVP award in the same year did you? What the hell is up with that?
Oh yeah, and did I mention that I also won the Gold Glove in 1975? Mmmhmmmm. I did. Probably would have won the damn Silver Slugger too if it existed in ‘75. (And, lest you forget, I was on the All Star team that year too. Damn straight.)
Hey, I’m not here to take attention away from Dustin Pedroia. Pedie is an ass-kicker of the highest degree. Kid deserves every award and accolade thrust upon him. But, seriously, WTF? If it’s such a big deal to get these awards in consecutive years, think about how friggin’ hard it was to get them both in the same season. It wasn’t a damn cakewalk people, I busted my ass. And I was TWENTY-THREE years old! Two years younger than Pedroia when he won the MVP, FIVE years younger than Howard when he got HIS MVP and the same age as Cal Ripken, Jr when he got his. It wasn’t a fluke, it wasn’t an easy road and it gets me a little cranky when people conveniently FORGET that it even happened.
I’m not asking for a lot, folks. Just a little recognition. Don’t be so mesmerized by what’s happening now that you forget what’s happened before, peeps.
In closing, I’d like to congratulate Dustin Pedroia on his accomplishments. Does me proud to see the Red Sox developing players like him from within. And if you’re so inclined, check out my website and learn a little something about the past.
PS: This guy says “hi” too.
You know what I hate?
Proof that good looks, not necessarily talent, are what will get you and keep you a job at NESN:
NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, announced today that Heidi Watney and NESN have agreed to a multi-year contract extension. Watney joined NESN in May 2008 and served as the network’s Boston Red Sox game-day reporter delivering pre-game, in-game and post-game updates and interviews from the ballpark. Heidi also works as an anchor/reporter for NESN SportsDesk and contributes to NESN.com with a weekly column.
“Heidi is a talented reporter whose versatility and work ethic help her deliver the news and stories that consistently connect the fans with the team,” said Joel Feld, NESN’s executive vice president of programming and executive producer. “We are very happy to extend her contract and expect her to take on an even larger role with NESN and NESN.com.
The woman knows as much about baseball as I do nuclear physics. But she sure looks pretty trying to say the phrase “toeing the rubber” - let’s give her an extension!
NESN makes the baby Jesus cry. That’s all I’m sayin’.
And so it begins
Coco celebrating better times - Photo by Kelly O'Connor
(Sidenote to MLB…thank you for making this official just as I was taking a lunch break so I didn’t have to wait until tonight to write this!)
So, aside from Free Agents (who I’m not counting just yet), we have our first casualty of the 2008 off-season: Coco Crisp. The Red Sox Hen is not a happy woman, I don’t mind telling you. My niece Madison will be pretty damn bummed as well.
Me? It’s fair to say I’m sad for Coco. It can’t be fun to be traded. It ESPECIALLY can’t be fun to be traded from the Red Sox to the Kansas City Royals. But I don’t hate this trade. Ramon Ramirez could very well be a fantastic addition to the bullpen. I’m going to let Alex Speier take it from here:
That development seems to have transpired today, with the Sox bolstering the back-end of their bullpen with a right-hander whose changeup acts like a split-finger fastball, and generates ample swings and misses. Ramirez went 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 71.2 innings this year while holding opposing hitters to a miniscule .222 average.
There are ancillary benefits to the addition of another bullpen arm, particularly one who is not yet arbitration eligible. Ramirez will allow the Sox greater flexibility either in the potential usage of Justin Masterson in 2009 or in using some of their pitching depth in a trade this offseason.
I like shoring up the bullpen and I especially like having the flexibility to use Masterson however they see fit. I’ll definitely miss Coco - hell, in 2008 the guy sucked up wanting to be a full-time player, didn’t pull a Jay Payton on the team and just played his part all season long. He had a good season, probably got more playing time than he anticipated, and no one voted him off the island! I wish Covelli nothing but luck in Kansas City and hope the Royals fans take good care of him!
I wonder how Ramon Ramirez feels about pirates?
And there was much rejoicing!
Dustin Pedroia today at his MVP presser / Photo by Ross D. Franklin/AP
And why not? Dustin Pedroia helped take the team to Game 7 of the ALCS this year, won a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger and now the MVP! In spite of just about every writer in the free world wanting to put him in a neat little box labeled “Scrappy”, he’s proven that he’s a hardcore dirt dog who plays his ass off and does it well.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Pedroia said. “I was just excited . . . having my name in with all those players. You look around the league, there are a ton of great players. When you have your name come up in that category, you get excited and honored. For me to be in that category was an extreme honor for myself.”
And he has quite a way with words. 
Kevin Youkilis came in third (behind Justin Morneau) in the voting. Not too damn shabby, huh? I’m really not looking for too many changes to be made to this team for 2009. There are a few places we could use some fresh blood…like our pitching…but I’d be really happy if they left the infield intact, thanks.
I’m also happy because the team still has Brad Mills and DeMarlo Hale sticking around since the Seattle Mariners chose Oakland A’s bench coach Don Wakamatsu as their new manager. Sure, it’s a totally selfish happiness because, obviously, both of them wanted the position or else they wouldn’t have interviewed for it…but I don’t care. Selfish I’ll be. There are times when I like change and times when I want to ignore change - this is one of the times that I want as much to stay status quo as possible. So far, so good.
Random Quotes
Cincinnati Reds starter Bronson Arroyo remembers when he signed a three-year, $11.35 million contract in 2006 with the Red Sox. He was traded six weeks later.
“The longer you play the game,” Arroyo says, “you realize there’s no loyalty. I wanted to stay in Boston, gave them a discount, and got shipped out. It makes you little leery of people’s intentions.”
What Bronson doesn’t mention is how his agent told him not to give the Sox a discount because it would make him easier to trade. Hell, I entitled an entry “Oh, Bronson, what have you done?” the day it was announced that he signed the new deal. Everyone saw what was coming except Bronson. Which to this day, makes me very sad. Man, I miss him back in Boston.
Girls Rock!
Eri Yoshida photo by STR/AFP/Getty Images
Filed under “It’s about damn time“:
A 16 year-old knuckleballer, who happens to be female, has been drafted by the Kansai Independent Baseball League thus making her the first woman to play professional baseball in Japan on the the same team as the men.
Eri Yoshida will be playing for the Kobe 9 Cruise. She’s a right-hander and is one out of 33 players drafted for the new league.
Given her age, there’s bound to be negotiations regarding her being able to play and travel with the team (”Mom! EVERYONE’S going on the road trip!! Why can’t I???” I hate you!!”) but just her being drafted has some major, historical impact on the game. Her being 16 will prove to encourage my niece to continue practicing fielding grounders.
According to various sources, Eri said she wants to follow in Tim Wakefield’s footsteps but becoming a professional knuckleballer.
Then again, knowing the press, they told her about Wakefield and she said something like “Yeah, that sounds good!” and now they’re touting her as a fan of his.
Regardless, this news is pretty damn cool! I look forward to seeing what the kid can do!
Revisionist History
Pedro and Manny in 2003 - Photo from MLB.com
Okay, so I’m usually the one bashing the Boston sports media for NOT giving players the benefit of the doubt and always coming down on the side that prefers to bash them instead of praise them. Not so this morning.
It began when I opened an email from Tru this morning that said nothing but “Check out Michael Silverman’s column in the Herald today. I think he slipped in the loo and hit his head…“.
I couldn’t imagine what Silverman could have written to get a reaction like this from Tru…so off to BostonHerald.com I went.
Let’s start with the headline to Silverman’s piece (yes, I know they, apparently, don’t write their own, but it’s a good indicator of the tone of Silverman’s article): Pedro Martinez feels Manny Ramirez pain (great use of punctuation there, Boston Herald).
Ah, the pain of making all that money and still not being happy. The pain of being absolutely beloved by the fans. The pain of being a mega-millionaire and mega-superstar and orchestrating your release from the team. DOES NO ONE CONSIDER HOW PAINED MANNY IS?????
