Remembering Nomar Garciaparra in Boston

One of the more interesting names in Red Sox history with an origin from his fathers first name turned backwards and his last name is a combination of his parents last names. He was not only an elite athlete, but with a 4.0 GPA in high school and majored in business management at Georgia Tech. He was then drafted 12th overall by the Boston Red Sox in 1994 with the 12th overall pick.

After three years in the minors he made his first full season in 1997 with the Red Sox. He led the league in AB, hits and triples. He won the rookie of the year award and was voted 8th in the MVP award voting. His season would only be a taste of what was to coma as over the next 6 seasons he would total 40.6 WAR according to Sean Smith’s WAR calculations.

This amazing 7 year span even includes his forgettable 2001 season including the Sports Illustrated cover, a wrist injury and only 21 games played. That’s how great he really was and comparing him to Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez he was right in the middle with Rodriguez totaling 54 WAR in his first seven full years and Jeter with 35.1.

While in Boston he was often known for his first pitch swings and infield pop ups, but that never hurt his production. He was not much for taking walks with a career BB% of 6.6%, but much like Dustin Pedroia he could hit most anything around the plate. He only struck out 10% of the time on average.

All-Aughts Team of the Decade SS: Nomar Garciaparra

With the close of the decade, it’s time to look back at the decade that was; the decade that completely changed the face of the Red Sox.

We’re going to be creating a full 25-man roster and create the Red Sox Team of the Decade. Today, we’ll take a look at shortstop, with Nomar Garciaparra doing the honors as our shortstop of the decade.

Look at what Nomar meant to Boston. An entire generation was weaned on Nomar. He provided a homegrown electricity to the team. Between him and Pedro Martinez, Boston was a team to watch.

OAK 6, BOS 0: The Return of Nomar

Brett Anderson knew all the spotlight would be on Nomar Garciaparra which eased him into the game. Anderson, however, managed to be the show last night at Fenway Park.

Nomar returns.

Nomar makes his return to Fenway, for the first time…

I had moved to Florida, but was visiting New Hampshire, and was doing so for well over a month. Nomar was breaking out, and I was watching, diligently, each and every day. If I was busy, and couldn’t watch the game, then I’d wait for the evening news. If not the news, I would check the paper. But mostly I would just watch it, and wait until Nomar came up, again, each and every time.

He was the next best thing. Sliced bread was the greatest thing since Nomar, well before it was the greatest thing since Matt Wieters. And boom! I was again where my heart wanted me to be. I was a Red Sox fan.

Lady Luck is a fickle mistress — just ask the Sox and Yankees

This decade has been the most monumental in the franchise’s history. Not only did new ownership arrive, but Fenway Park was revitalized, a Nation was born (in the media, that is), a new generation of stars (Nomar, Manny, Pedro, Big Papi, Papelbon, Pedroia) put their stamp on their team… oh, and there were those two World Championships as well.

All this was done thanks to the incredible work that Theo Epstein and the rest of the baseball operations put in to give us the players that we root for every day. They are, to be certain, the reasons why we have our first two rings since 1918.

But let’s not count out Lady Luck. Lady Luck is a fickle mistress; you never know when she’ll turn on you.

American League West Preview…And the rest of the remaining divisions too.

The Angels do not get on base much, and they haven’t hit for all that much power of late. I am a stat-guy. So I believe that an offense needs to do these things to score enough runs. There is only so much that can happen as a result of “hit and runs” and taking the extra base. Now, taking the extra base is great, and often overlooked–as is baserunning in general. But a team must get on base enough, in order to score enough.

The Abreu acquisition was great. For that amount of money, the team put aside their philosophy of having only players who can play defense, and sacrificed “it” for a little offense. There is no risk in signing Abreu, and he should still hit for average, get on base, and flash enough power to make him a quality all-around player.

Nomar called Sox to play, Evan chatting Tuesday night

I previously wrote that Nomar Garciaparra would be a good option for the Sox to bring in as a backup infielder. Bottomline Rob left a comment saying he was unsure if the burned bridges from 2003-4 had been repaired for that to be likely.

Well, Cafardo in today’s Globe:

[Nomar] placed a call to the Sox front office inquiring about their potential interest. He would have provided some protection at third and first, but the Sox felt they were all set in that department and passed. Garciaparra, who spent a lot of time in Boston this offseason having his calves worked on, then signed with Oakland.

I can understand passing to give Lowrie and Lugo playing time, but should one of the two eventually be traded and a hole opening up for 2010 and Nomar’s healthy and able (all of the previous are big ifs, of course) … it would make for a nice homecoming.

Also, I will be chatting with New England Sports Country (click “Red Soxx Country in the sidebar or the upcoming link) Tuesday night at 8 p.m. (I did this last spring also). Mark it on your calendar and join us then. There will be pre-selected questions (submit them to NESC2006[@]cox.net [take out the brackets, this was to prevent spam] and then a free-for-all.

Hope to see you all then!

How dependent are we on Mike Lowell?

Mike Lowell is prepared to hit the field and play in a game in two weeks, he reported yesterday. Although he hasn’t suffered any setbacks with his right hip, he also hasn’t been running the bases yet, which could make or break his progress.

It’s very possible, although no noise has been made about it, that Lowell could suffer a setback which would either a) postpone his regular season debut or (worst case) b) knock his 2009 season out entirely.

Should Lowell not be able to start on Opening Day, this means Julio Lugo would start at shortstop with Jed Lowrie manning third base. There’s a problem with this, however.

My favorite Red Sox players

Pedro – drgandy

On Friday, the Boston Globe ran down the worst breakups in Red Sox history going around the diamond by position. It’s a nice (and sobering) read.

It made me ask myself “who would be on my personal ‘favorite Red Sox’ team?” My list is here and includes famous names such as Pedro Martinez and obscure names such as Jeff Frye

Youkilis named AL’s best hitter; is he for real?

In fan voting, Kevin Youkilis was tabbed the AL’s best hitter, an honor formerly bestowed on such luminaries like Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez.

The official title of the award is the Hank Aaron award, and it comes on the heels of Youk’s MVP-caliber (career?) season, a season in which he led the AL in RBI per at-bats (one for each 4.7).

Is Kevin Youkilis another Edgar Martinez? Or will he become another Nomar Garciaparra? Is he destined to flame out quickly or will he enjoy another decade of production?