As the word
came out on Saturday night that Larry Lucchino would be stepping down as the
Red Sox President and CEO, it brought about mixed emotions. After all, Lucchino
is the man who is ultimately responsible for bringing in the disaster that was
Bobby Valentine, who managed the Red Sox to a dismal 69-93 record in 2011. But
at the same time, he’s widely thought of as the man who was behind putting
together the World Series championship teams of 2004, 2007, and 2013.
Ultimately,
Lucchino’s legacy will probably be remembered as a good one, but while he did
deliver three trophies, all in all, his results have varied, and he’s made some
very costly decisions.
Just this
year, Luchhino locked Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez into long-term deals,
and right now those deals aren’t making him look so good. Sandoval is currently
hitting .260, which shouldn’t a surprise. The Panda hasn’t hit for anything
better than .280 since 2012, and you should expect him to be producing much
more than he is. The Red Sox, however, seemed to think in the offseason that he
would be better, and locked him into a five-year, $95 million contract. It
seems clear now that Lucchino’s decision to sign Sandoval was based on a
knee-jerk reaction that was the result of his 2014 postseason performance.
Perhaps Lucchino’s greatest failure
came in 2011, when he put together what seemed to be a World Series caliber
team, and somehow the squad finished in last place. If you’re not familiar with
the situation, it was basically the result of one man: Bobby Valentine. The Sox
hired Valentine, who, to put it mildly, is a complete idiot, in the offseason
per Lucchino’s orders. In fact, Lucchino even overruled newly named general
manager Ben Cherington, in the decision to hire Valentine, and has since taken
the blame for it.
Over the past four years, it’s been
hard to claim that the Sox front office has really had a plan. While what they
did worked in 2013, they have been so bad in the surrounding seasons that you
have to put some blame on the folks up top.
With that said, Lucchino has done
some good things for the Red Sox. Principle owner John Henry even went so far
as to say in an interview with WBZ that Lucchino “is a Hall of Fame baseball executive who has left an
indelible mark on Fenway and the relationship between the Boston Red Sox and
New England.”
About that, he’s right. Lucchino is a marketing genius.
He’s the main reason why when you turn on NESN every night, you see a
chalk-full Fenway Park. In fact, he’s the reason why you see Fenway Park at
all. If Lucchino wasn’t at the helm, there’s a good chance that the Sox would
have torn down Fenway, and if that were the case, they’d be playing in some
spruced-up modern park right now. Lucchino has to get credit for that.
The ownership has also used Lucchino has somewhat of a
punching bag for fans to use when things don’t go so well. Granted, a lot of
that may be warranted, but he’s the only one who seems to take the blame when
things aren’t going well for the team.
***
On the local front, the Vermont
Mountaineers smothered the Laconia Muskrats yesterday afternoon in game one of
the opening-round best-of-three series of the NECBL playoffs. It was quite an
offensive showing from the Mountaineers, who notched 13 runs in the game.
The Mountaineers look to be in great
shape going into game two of the series, but it hasn’t been an easy road for
the Mountaineers to get there. Almost 20 Mountaineers have come and gone due to
injuries and coach’s requests, but somehow the team has been able stay on top
of it, having to sign new players all the time. “Even though we’ve had so much
turnover, it’s been incredible chemistry in the dugout,” Mountaineers GM Brian
Gallagher said. “It’s been a roller-coaster season with guys leaving and
getting hurt. We were losing key players that I thought we’d never be able to
replace, and we’ve had guys come in and really fight hard.
Gallagher also credits a lot of the
success to manager Joe Brown, who coaches a small-ball game that is difficult
for some players to pick up mid-season. “It’s been a challenging summer,” Brown
said. “I have a certain way that I like to coach the game so I’m not just
looking for bodies, I’m looking for the right bodies.”
The success that the squad has had
is a major credit to the recruiting work that Brown and Gallagher put in
throughout the winter and into the summer. The ‘Neers look to do it again
tonight as they take on Muskrats in Laconia for game two of the series.
Contact Jasper Goodman at jgoodman@radiovermont.com. Follow Jasper on Twitter @Jasper_Goodman.
No comments:
Post a Comment