Phil Seibel Seibel had a cup of coffee, and was all over the Red Sox organization this past year, but managed to get 7 starts in Pawtucket, where he had a 3.02 ERA. Seibel is a very promising pitcher that just needs an extended look to become a solid major leaguer.
Jamie Brown Brown got eight innings of work in for the Red Sox, posting a 5.87 ERA and a 4.82 ERA in Pawtucket, starting a majority of the games. Brown is now going to Japan to join the Hanshin Tigers.
Abe Alvarez Abe started one game, against the Baltimore Orioles, and went five innings. The 21-year old had a 3.66 ERA in 26 games started for Portland and will most likely pitch in Pawtucket this year. Abe is going to evolve into a very solid #3, #4 lefthanded starter. He is a soft-tosser, but has excellent control. Alvarez will probably see some more action as a Red Sox this year.
Pedro Astacio The veteran appeared in five games, starting one, for a total of nine innings. His most memorable event in a Red Sox uniform came in the final 2004 game at Fenway, where I stated:
And now, the two main events of the game. One not so feel-good, one very much so feel-good. The not so feel-good brewed in the top eighth, when Pedro Astacio came on in relief of Curt Schilling. Astacio was quickly ejected after throwing at Kenny Lofton; the benches had already been warned. Astacio was ejected by first base umpire Tim McClelland, may I add. This is the same McClelland who egregiously blew two calls during Thursday’s game, which I actually did not talk about. These two calls were not even close, and he blew yet another one yesterday. Today he decides to eject Astacio even though the home plate umpire did not find cause enough to eject Astacio. I thereby suggest MLB take a look at McClelland’s savings account in Switzerland and perhaps note who sent McClelland some money very recently. Anyhoo, Francona comes out to argue the ejection, but bye-bye Astacio. Terry Adams comes in and shuts the Yankees down.
Astacio has been rumored to be close to signing with another team this off-season.
Frank Castillo The Red Sox’s former #5 starter was mostly a Pawtucket starter this year, but did appear in exactly one inning for the Red Sox, alowing one hit, one walk, and no runs. So thanks for pitching a scoreless innings.
Joe Nelson The former heralded Braves prospect gave us a tidy 16.87 ERA over three innings.
Jimmy Anderson Jimmy Anderson was acquired from the Cubs for a young minor leaguer who will not amount to anything, then was traded back to the Cubs for someone more valuable: Ricky Gutierrez. In six heart-wrenching innings, Anderson put up a 6.00 ERA, but amazingly had a 0-0 record.
Bobby Jones Bobby Jones won the second lefty job out of Spring Training, lost a tight game against the Orioles in the beginning of the season, and that was all she wrote. Walking in the winning run kind of gives you grounds for a demotion.
Lynn Jones, Ron Jackson, Brad Mills, Terry Francona, Euclides Rojas, Dale Sveum, Dave Wallace all made up a very strong coaching staff. Lynn Jones was a very capable first-base coach, but then got injured while doing work at home. Bill Haselman took over as first-base coach in Lynn’s absence (Haselman is now bullpen coach) and I didn’t have any issues with Lynn at all. Ron Jackson, well, it’s no accident I think, that Ron arrived in 2003 and the Red Sox offense put in a record year in 2003 and gave us another dominating 2004. Brad Mills was and is the bench coach, and I haven’t really heard anything about Mills, he seems to be really quiet. I can’t tell if he brings anything to the club, but to be honest, bench coaches are pretty overlooked in the major leagues. Quick, name the bench coach in 2003. Can’t, huh? Only a lucky stroke of genius allows me to remember it was Jerry Narron. Terry Francona, I defended him all year, saying I thought he was a good manager and a great clubhouse guy, and I did waver on him a few times, but I got my money’s worth in the playoffs when he outmanaged Joe Torre. I’m looking forward to stability at the manager’s seat that we have not had since Jimy Williams was fired. Here’s hoping he outlasts Jimy as manager (4.5 years) in which case he would be the longest tenured manager since 1947, Jim Cronin’s 13th and final season with the Red Sox as manager. As for Euclides Rojas, all the accounts I heard said he was a great bullpen coach. The Red Sox thought so, too, and attempted to make him Portland’s pitching coach. However, Rojas apparently was furious at the ‘demotion’ (they wanted to groom him to be a pitching coach in the future) and has now left the organization. Dale Svuem … well, he had a very good handshake to players who hit homeruns, let’s leave it at that. As for Dave Wallace, I don’t know what to make of him. He’s certainly fine, otherwise we’d hear bad things about him, but perhaps it’s just because Joe Kerrigan isn’t around anymore. When he was, I heard a lot about how great Joe was, etc. etc. but Dave remains fairly anonymous.
John Henry, Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino, Theo Epstein John Henry is a great owner, bar none. He has changed a lot of things about the Red Sox – how they go about business, how they treat the stadium, Fenway, the list goes on, and he’s struck gold everytime. Tom Werner handles NESN and he’s bringing NESN to the forefront and is really doing a solid job with NESN. Larry Lucchino can be contentious at times, but is the driving force behind most of the Red Sox. If you check out the link that I provide in Larry’s name, Larry gives five objectives he wants to reach, written in winter 2002. He achieved all. As for Theo, well, he’s the Boy Wonder for a reason. He’s going to give us great leadership for years to come.
Dana Levangie, Jim Rowe, Chris Correnti, Chang-Ho Lee, Bill Morgan Nothing to say about these guys, but they deserve some recognition for their hard work (all athletic trainers and assistants) so thanks, guys. (One note: Dana Levangie is no longer the bullpen catcher for the Red Sox.)
Thanks to everyone who had a part in the 2004 Red Sox Season. And thanks to the fans too, because the Red Sox would be nowhere with us. That concludes the 2004 Player Review.
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