Management
The Red Sox
came into this season after a disappointing 2001 campaign that was devastated by
injuries. The team’s star
shortstop, Nomar Garciaperra, was hampered by a wrist injury and had to undergo
surgery during the season. Although
he did return towards the end of the season he was not fully recovered and
struggled to get back to his all-star caliber of play, and eventually went back
on the disabled list. Another blow
that hurt the team was the injury to catcher Jason Varitek.
Varitek was in the middle of a break out season when he dove for a foul
ball and broke his elbow. He also
underwent surgery and returned to the club this spring, feeling one hundred
percent recovered. The other major
injury came to the league’s best pitcher, Pedro Martinez.
Martinez began the season with Cy Young hopes and did not disappoint the
Boston faithful before the end of May. However,
Martinez was hit by shoulder injuries and went onto the disabled list on June 10th.
He returned in August, pitched ineffectively, and finished the year on
the disabled list.
The
organization began a complete overall for 2002 when the Red Sox were purchased
from the Yawkey group for nearly 700 million dollars.
The club was bought by the John Henry and Tom Werner ownership group, who
bested ownership groups led my lawyer Miles Prentice and Cablevision CEO,
Charles Dolan. One of the first
moves new President and CEO Larry Lucchino did was change the general managers.
The club finally ousted Dan Duquette and promoted assistant Mike Port to
act as interim general manager. Duquette
had been the club’s general manager since 1994 and made many acquisitions for
the team, both good and bad. Among
the best moves he’s done include the signing of Manny Ramirez as free agent
before 2001 season, and trading closer Heathcliff Slocomb to the Seattle
Mariners for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.
His faults usually lied with shortsighted transactions, such as trading
prospect Dennis Tankersley for a past his prime Ed Sprague in 2001.
Thus far, Port has done a competent job as the general manager, signing
such players as Rey Sanchez and Rickey Henderson to major league deals to fill
in important holes in the team.
Part of the team’s collapse last season can also be
attributed to the team’s managers. Manager
Jimy Williams was fired with about a month left in the season.
General manager Dan Duquette and Williams did not see eye to eye, while
Williams wanted to have more control of the on field personnel, Duquette was
reluctant to oblige. Duquette then
hired pitching coach Joe Kerrigan to take over for the remainder of the season.
The team responded with a downward spiral, at one point losing nine in a
row, and 13 of 14, starting the Kerrigan era a mere four games behind the
Yankees in the division, and finishing 13½ games back.
As soon as Mike Port was named as the interim general manager during the
off-season, he gathered with the new owners to determine whether Kerrigan was
the right choice for manager. The
group decided against Kerrigan and named third base coach Mike Cubbage to become
the interim manager during spring
training
while they searched for the right man for the job. Just 5 days after firing Kerrigan the team hired Grady
Little, who had been the bench coach of the Red Sox just 2 years ago, and was
the bench coach of the Cleveland Indians. Both
Kerrigan and Cubbage were offered a chance to keep their
former positions with
the team. While Kerrigan rejected
the offer, Cubbage agreed, and continues to serve as the team’s third base
coach. Little has been known as a
player’s coach and gets along with his players very well.
He had been a successful minor league manager for nearly 16 years and
finally got his chance to become a big league manager when the Red Sox offered
him the position. The players have responded well to Little’s managing style
and have flown out of the gates to the best record in baseball.
With a winning percentage of .744 going into the weekend, Little is off
to one of the best starts for a first year manager in the storied franchises
history.
Back
Players
Conclusions and Statistical Glossary
Works Cited