by jcookson | Jun 21, 2013 | Boston Red Sox, Dustin Pedroia, Greenville Drive, Jose Altuve, Lowell Spinners, Mookie Betts
Coming into this season, there were few signs that second baseman Mookie Betts was headed for a breakout year. Drafted out of high school in the fifth round in 2011, he struggled at the plate for the short season Lowell Spinners in 2012. His first few weeks this...
by jkeller | Jun 20, 2013 | Adam Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Andrew McCutchen, Brandon Mauer, Brett Gardner, Carlos Gomez, Carlos Santana, Chris Davis, Coco Crisp, Curtis Granderson, Daniel Nava, David Ortiz, David Wright, Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedroia, Edwin Encarnacion, Evan Longoria, Howie Kendrick, J.J. Hardy, Jhonny Peralta, Jose Bautista, Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Paul Goldschmidt, Robinson Cano, Troy Tulowitzki, Yadier Molina
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is one of my favorite mile markers of the summer. I’m not talking about a horrendous “Celebrity” Softball game, or the even more unbearable Home Run Derby. I mean the actual baseball game, and nothing else. I...
by dpoarch | Jun 16, 2013 | Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jose Iglesias, Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino
I think we can all agree that stats are pretty dumb, right? I mean, why talk about things like stats, when storylines fit so much more nicely with generalizations? Rather than use silly things like facts, I think we should watch the players and then kind of guess....
by jreilly | Jun 15, 2013 | 2013 Boston Red Sox, Daniel Nava, Dustin Pedroia, Felix Doubront, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, John Farrell, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes, Jose Iglesias, Mike Carp, Mike Napoli
Before the 2013 baseball season began, speculation surrounding the Red Sox was that they headed into the season with plenty of offensive positional depth at both the Major League and Minor League level. However, fans and writers alike still questioned the actual...
by chipbuck | Jun 10, 2013 | Alex Wilson, Allen Webster, Anthony Ranaudo, Blake Swihart, Boston Red Sox, Brandon Jacobs, Brandon Workman, Brian Price, Bryce Brentz, Bryce Cox, Caleb Clay, Casey Kelly, Christian Vazquez, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Devin Marrero, Drake Britton, Dustin Pedroia, Dustin Richardson, Garin Cecchini, Henry Owens, Jackie Bradley, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Place, Jed Lowrie, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Reddick, Kolbrin Vitek, Kris Johnson, Kyle Weiland, Lars Anderson, Manny Delcarmen, Matt Barnes, Michael Almanzar, Michael Bowden, Reymond Fuentes, Ryan Kalish, Ryan Lavarnway, Ryan Westmoreland, Sean Coyle, Tommy Hottovy, Trey Ball, Will Middlebrooks, Xander Bogaerts
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...
by jreilly | Jun 8, 2013 | Boston Red Sox, C.C. Sabathia, Craig Breslow, Daniel Nava, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Joe Nathan, Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes, Kevin Youkilis, Mark Teixeira, Michael Kirkman, ron washington, Ryan Dempster, Shane Victorino
A little more than a week ago Fire Brand’s Dan Podheiser wrote about the upcoming “Stretch from Hell” that the Red Sox were about to embark upon. They were slated to play 25 games in 27 days; 22 of those games were going to be against teams with winning records. The...
by scandage | Jun 7, 2013 | Albert Pujols, Alberto Callaspo, Alex Wilson, Alfredo Aceves, Andrew Bailey, Andrew Miller, Andrew Taylor, Boston Red Sox, C.J. Wilson, Chris Iannetta, Clay Buchholz, Clayton Mortensen, Craig Breslow, David Ortiz, David Ross, Dustin Pedroia, Erick Aybar, Ernesto Frieri, Felix Doubront, Garrett Richards, Hank Conger, Howie Kendrick, J.B. Shuck, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Joe Blanton, Jose Iglesias, Josh Hamilton, Junichi Tazawa, Kevin Jepsen, Koji Uehara, Los Angeles Angels, Mark Trumbo, Mike Carp, Mike Trout, Pedro Ciriaco, Peter Bourjos, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Madson, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Scott Downs, Sean Burnett, Stephen Drew, Texas Rangers, Tommy Hanson
After taking two of three against the Rangers, the Boston Red Sox (37-24, 1st place in the AL East, 1.5 games ahead) welcome the Los Angeles Angels (26-34, 3rd place in the AL West, 10.5 games back) to Fenway Park for a three-game series. Friday night’s game was...
by chipbuck | Jun 5, 2013 | Allen Webster, Boston Red Sox, Darnell McDonald, David Ortiz, Drew Sutton, Dustin Pedroia, Garin Cecchini, Jed Lowrie, Jon Lester, Jose Iglesias, Matt Barnes, Michael Almanzar, Xander Bogearts
Today, I’m taking a look at five pressing (ok, four pressing and one not so pressing) questions that are currently facing the Red Sox organization. Let’s jump right in! 5. Should we be concerned with Matt Barnes‘s performance in Portland? Entering...
by dpoarch | Jun 2, 2013 | Alfredo Aceves, Boston Red Sox, Bryce Brentz, Clay Buchholz, Clayton Kershaw, Cleyton Mortersan, Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedroia, Felix Hernandez, Garin Cecchini, Garin Cecchini, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jake Peavy, James Loney, Jon Lester, Lars Anderson, Los Angeles Dodgers, Michael Young, Seattle Mariners, Will Middlebrooks
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,...
by jreilly | Jun 1, 2013 | 2013 Boston Red Sox, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Nava, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Felix Doubront, Jackie Bradley Jr., Jacoby Ellsbury, John Lackey, Pedro Ciriaco, Ryan Dempster, Shane Victorino, Stephen Drew, Will Middlebrooks
The mark of a very good baseball team is resilience. In other words, the ability to withstand injuries, weather the storm that is an elongated losing streak, and understand what your job is night in and night out regardless of the circumstances. The 2013 Boston Red...
