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...

3 Up 3 Down Rebukes Satan

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...

Five Burning Questions

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...

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,...

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...