Red Sox Update 12/18

It’s been a while since the Red Sox season ended in utter embarrassment. So now it’s time to look to 2012 and how to build a roster that can make it a full season without imploding:

Manager

Bobby Valentine is the new manager of the Boston Red Sox after a two month search. It seemed that new General Manager Ben Cherington had favored Dale Sveum to take over as manager from Terry Francona, but management were not sold on Sveum and new Cubs General Manager Theo Epstein swooped and nabbed Sveum.

Many baseball analysts have been clamoring for Valentine to rein in the Sox clubhouse and I agree. Francona has always been and will always be a player’s manager, but the current roster of players do not have the personalities that mesh well with a player’s manager. Players like Josh Beckett and John Lackey, amongst many others, took advantage of the leeway Francona gave them. It’s time for a hard-nosed, disciplined manager to set some ground rules. The players are certainly embarrassed by the September collapse, but I want to make sure that the antics in the clubhouse will stop and Valentine will certainly do that. Continue reading “Red Sox Update 12/18”

Jonathan Broxton Signs with Royals

Just a short post today:

The Kansas City Royals made a strong signing today in agreeing to a deal worth $4 million guaranteed with Jonathan Broxton. Broxton spent much of last year injured, making just 14 appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Before his injury, Broxton was a very good closer with a career ERA of 3.19. He’s just 27 years old still and agreed to become a setup man for the Royals.

As a Red Sox fan, this is the exact signing I was hoping they’d make. Broxton could compete with Bard for the closer’s role and if he had lost it, he would have become the setup man. Not just that, but he’s okay being a setup man – something many of the other elite closers on the market are not going to be.

But even beyond the Red Sox, Broxton has proven he can be a great pitcher. Whether he pitches that well after coming back from this injury is unknown, but his price tag isn’t outrageous and it is only for one year. How many teams around the league could use a strong setup man? Or even use a chance at having a strong setup man?

Broxton is anything, but a sure thing. But he has lots of potential and has already proven that he has the stuff. So congrats to the Royals on a strong pickup and to the Red Sox: why didn’t you try to sign him?

What Was Bernie Fine’s Wife Thinking?

When Bobby Davis and Mike Lang first came forward saying that Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine sexually molested them, I, like many, was suspicious. The accusations came just days after the scandal involving Jerry Sandusky, the long-time assistant of former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno. It just seemed too coincidental for Davis and Lang to wait until just that moment. And given that Lang is Davis’ step-brother), it seemed more like a way for the two men to get a payoff then anything else.

Well, I owe both men an apology for doubting them.

Today, Outside The Lines released a 2002 audio tape of a conversation between Davis and Fine’s wife, Laurie Fine, in which she admits:

I know everything that went on, you know. I know everything that went on with him … Bernie has issues, maybe that he’s not aware of, but he has issues … And you trusted somebody you shouldn’t have trusted.

Davis recollects Laurie Fine telling him that she once witnessed the molestation herself, peeking through a window and seeing her husbands horrifying acts.

And yet what did Laure Fine do? Nothing. Zero. Zippo.

How could she possibly sit back and let her husband sexually molest a young boy? How could she continue to let it happen? Why didn’t she tell Davis not to come over? Or get rid of the personal room that Davis had in their home? Why didn’t she go to the cops or to Syracuse University? Why didn’t she do anything in her power to put a stop it?

We’ll never know the answer, but it is despicable that she did nothing. Even worse, Davis claims that he and Laurie Fine also had sexual relations themselves when he was 18. Laurie Fine goes on to say:

You know, he needs … that male companionship that I can’t give him, nor is he interested in me, and vice versa

So neither husband nor wife had any interest in each other but they did share one thing in common: a revolting, sexual interest in Bobby Davis.