Tuesday Links: Any trade with the Nationals will come at a high cost for Red Sox

With Max Scherzer now in the fold, the Washington Nationals “super rotation” is something that should only be tampered with should an irresistible deal slide across GM Mike Rizzo’s desk. In adding the former Cy Young Award winner to an already...

Year End Awards: Minor League Edition

With the Governor’s Cup series serving as the only games remaining on the minor league schedule, it seems like a good time to hand out this season’s year-end award.  Bear in mind that not all of the awards I’m giving out will be positive–and of...

The MLB Draft: The Henry Ownership Years

With the 2013 Rule 4 draft finally in the books, I thought it’d be fun to take a look back at all of the drafts that have occurred during the John Henry ownership era.  In this piece, we’ll review their successes, their failures, the trends they’ve...

The TrollBag – Part One

Ok. So I had a simple thought coming into this week’s column: I wanted to do a mailbag. We’ve had a long-standing tradition here at Fire Brand of mocking Nick Cafardo’s regular mailbags, and let’s face it—those things are ridiculous. What I wanted to accomplish, then,...

A Look Back at Baseball America’s Top Red Sox Prospects in 2006

After spending a rousing afternoon playing shuffleboard, I kicked back poolside over champagne coolies with my archrival and BFF, Murray Chass, and waxed about our days writing about the game of baseball.  He expressed how his deep seeded irrational fear of back acne...

Season Preview: Pawtucket Red Sox

I will be writing a team preview for each of the Red Sox minor league affiliates over the next four weeks. First up the Pawtucket Red Sox, who feature a new manager (Gary DiSarcina), and a roster filled with valuable depth for the major league team as they look to...

Player Development: How Did Theo Do?

Theo Epstein’s stated goal when he took over as General Manager of the Red Sox was to turn the Sox into a “player development machine”. He envisioned a pipeline of minor league talent that would replenish the major league roster whenever needed. So how successful was...

Friday’s Links – A Front Office Change-Up

“I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning. I think about it all day and I dream about it at night. The only time I don’t think about it is when I’m playing it.” – Carl Yastrzemski Honestly, who isn’t glad that Pedro...