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...

TrollBag 2: Troll Harder

Last week, I had the bright idea of starting a Fire Brand mailbag. I thought I would have some fun with it, but mostly, it would focus on legitimate Red Sox analysis in a way Nick Cafardo typically fails to provide. I… was wrong. You can read the first part here....

The Advanced Scout – Los Angeles Angels

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...

The Advanced Scout – Texas Rangers

After taking two of three against the Yankees (thanks, rain!), the Boston Red Sox (35-23, first place in the AL East, 2.5 games ahead) return to Fenway Park to face the Texas Rangers (35-21, first place in the AL West, 1.5 games ahead) in a three-game series. The Red...

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,...

3 Up 3 Down Grabs First Place

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...

The Advanced Scout – New York Yankees

Having split the home-and-home series in Philly, the Boston Red Sox (33-22, first place in the AL East, 2 games ahead) head north to the Bronx for a weekend series with the New York Yankees (30-23, second place in the AL East, 2 games back). The Red Sox are 6-4 in...

Prospect Depth: Blessing or Curse?

In 2006, the Red Sox farm system hit their high water mark for player development under Theo Epstein. The system featured two position players who would go on to be stalwarts for the major league club, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. It also contained two pitchers...