Ringing The Bell

Lack Of Pitching

Lackey's often expression of frustration
on the mound sometimes were thought to
have shown up his teammates.

The downward spiral of the Boston Red Sox organization continued Tuesday with a major injury to their already thin pitching staff. Right-hander John Lackey will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss his 2012 season before it even got started.

Newly appointed general manager Ben Cherington broke the news in his promotion press conference just hours after his predecessor Theo Epstein was formally introduced as the new president of baseball operations of the Chicago Cubs.

Lackey is coming off the worse season of 10-year career, where he was 12-12 and posted a career-worst 6.41 ERA in 160 innings. He led the majors in earned runs surrendered with 114 and hit batsman, 19.

In his first two years in Boston, Lackey's record is barely above .500 at 26-23 and has a 5.26 in his 61 starts. Prior to the 2010 season, the Texan signed a similar five-year $82.5 contract that New York gave A.J. Burnett just an offseason before.

Next season will be the third year of that contract and with this recent news, it has been three years of disappointment.

Lackey is the third pitcher in the Red Sox organization to undergo reconstructive elbow surgery, joining Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka and left-hander Rich Hill to suffer the same fate. Fortunately for Cherington and the Red Sox, Matsuzaka, who will be in the final year of his current contract, should be pitching for the club midseason.

In the team's historic September collapse, where Boston went 7-20 in the season's final month to miss the postseason for the second straight, Lackey, along with fellow teammates Jon Lester and Josh Beckett, was accused of drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse on days they were not pitching.

And when he was on the mound he didn't provide much help either. In his five September starts, opponents hit .353 against Lackey, going 0-2 and 9.13 ERA.

There had been speculation the San Diego Padres would be interested in acquiring the 33-year-old right-hander from Boston this offseason, but this injury has quieted any talk of that now. San Diego and Boston have a well working relationship thanks in large part to their now former GM Jed Hoyer.

Hoyer had been the assistant GM to Epstein in Boston until he took the GM job with the Padres in October of 2009. He will now join Epstein in Chicago as the GM of the Cubs.

A move back to the West Coast would have ensured Lackey a reunion with his former pitching coach in Anaheim, Bud Black. Those were the best years of Lackey's career, including winning Game 7 of the 2002 World Series as a rookie, winning a career-high 19 games in 2007 and leading the American League in ERA at 3.01 that same season.

The Red Sox are in the midst of some major personnel changes with the change at GM and the uncertainty who their next manager will be after Terry Francona decided it was time for a new voice at the helm after the season, but that won't stop owner John Henry and CEO Larry Lucchino from putting a contender on the field for the Fenway Faithful in 2012.

With their lack of pitching, Boston will be in the market for starting pitching this offseason with the availability of left-hander C.J. Wilson and possible open bidding for another Japanese import phenom, 25-year-old Yu Darvish.

As for Lackey, it has been a long two years for the 6-foot-6 righty in Beantown and it will be an even longer road back to a big league mound and his once All-Star form.

So Long El Grand Orange

Williams finished his managerial career with
1571 victories.

The baseball world lost one of it's true generals Thursday with the passing of Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams. Williams died in a local hospital close to his home in Henderson, Nevada after suffering a ruptured aortic aneurysm, he was eighty-two. With his passing, Williams leaves behind quite a legacy as one of the many baseball lifers and legends.

During his twenty-one year managerial career, Williams became quite a colorful character, but more known for his hard-nosed attitude and fiery personality. He was a favorite of many with his ability to motive his teams to win and win they did.

In his first season as a big league manager, Williams led the then-still cursed Boston Red Sox to the "Impossible Dream" in 1967 with their first World Series appearance since 1946. There they would surprise many by forcing the series to seven games against the St. Louis Cardinals, but lose to the eventual World Series MVP Bob Gibson for the third time on baseball's biggest stage.

After spending only two more seasons in Fenway Park, Williams decided to head across the border and become the third base coach for the Montreal Expos, a team who would eventually manage. He did that for a season before heading back to the American League after being hired by then-Oakland Athletics' owner Charlie Finley.

There would be the place that cemented his place in baseball history.

In his first his season at the helm in Oakland, he led the A's to 101 wins and a berth to the American League Championship Series. Williams and Co. were promptly swept by the defending World Series champion Baltimore Orioles putting his job once again in doubt.

With Finley already changing managers ten times during his tenure with the club many believed Williams would suffer the same fate, but was eventually brought back for the '72 season.

He would reward Finley for his faith in him, starting a baseball dynasty. Williams led the A's to back-to-back World Series titles, becoming the first major league manager to accomplish that feat since Ralph Houk led the New York Yankees to back-to-back titles in '61 and '62.

It would be a while until Williams once again got a taste of the World Series. After the '73 season he headed south and managed the California Angels for three seasons before heading back to Montreal. He managed the Expos for five seasons, the longest tenure of his career with any one club.

In September of the 1981 season, Williams was relieved of his managerial duties, but is credited as the only manager to lead the franchise to a playoff appearance.

Then in 1982 he was hired to manage the San Diego Padres and in only his third year on the bench, Williams led a misfit group of San Diegoens to their first World Series appearance in franchise history. In one of the most entertaining World Series', Williams might be remembered for a move he decided not to make.

With the Detroit Tigers leading by a run in the bottom of the eighth inning of the eventual series-clinching Game 5, they had runners at second and third and one out, Kirk Gibson coming to the plate and Goose Gossage on the mound. Gibson, who had already homered in the game, had been dominated by Gossage throughout his career and everybody in the ballpark knew it.

Williams looked like he was going to intentionally walk Gibson to load the bases with first base open, instead his hard-throwing right-hander convinced him he could retire the power-hitting outfielder one more time.

Gibson launched a three-run home run deep into the October night, extending the Tigers lead to 8-4, putting the series on ice and giving them their first World Series title since 1968.

Gibson, left celebrates his second home run
in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series as first
basemen Steve Garvey, right shows his
obvious disappointment.

Williams spent only one more season in beautiful Southern California before landing his final managing gig. He managed the Seattle Mariners from 1986-88 before his fire finally burnt out and he retired from the game he loved.

Upon retiring, the St. Louis native had accomplished things few dare to dream. He is one of only two managers to lead three different franchises to a World Series appearance joining fellow Hall of Famer Billie McKechnie. Accomplishing that allowed Williams to join a club of only six other managers to have won a pennant in both the American and National League.

He also joins recently retired Lou Pinella as the only managers to have four different franchises win 90 or more games in a season.

For these achievements, Williams was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee back in 2008.

Known for his unmistakable mustache, red hair, and desire to win, the legacy of Williams will forever live in baseball lore and remind many how the game should be played.

A-Gon for MVP

The Boston Red Sox added another potent bat to their already dangerous lineup, trading for first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez. With this move to Beantown, he might be the front-runner for the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 2011.

Gonzalez is a former first overall pick by the Florida Marlins back in 2000 and one of the few that has lived up to his potential at the Major League level. A San Diego native, Gonzalez has played the last five seasons of his career with the San Diego Padres, becoming a two-time All-Star and  two-time Gold Glove winner in the process. Gonzalez has averaged 32 home runs in his five seasons in San Diego, hitting as many as 40 in a single-season.

All smiles in Beantown this offseason.

The Red Sox traded for Gonzalez, 28, seemingly right in the prime of his career and with his best baseball still in front of him. Leaving Petco Park might be just what the doctor ordered for Gonzalez, to push him over the edge for his first MVP Award in '11.  Gonzalez will be the centerpiece to an offense that all already includes the likes of Carl Crawford, 2008 AL MVP Dustin Pedroia and David 'Big Papi' Ortiz.

Since opening in 2004, Petco has been known as being a spacious pitchers park around Major League Baseball. The Fenway faithful might as well be the complete opposite, with a short right field porch and 37-foot wall in left field known as, the Green Monster.

Gonzalez is not your prototypical left-handed hitter, being know to spread the ball around the diamond. You can be sure that Gonzalez's numbers will go up in Fenway Park this season by him peppering that wall in left field.

With added protection behind him, something he never had during in time in San Diego, that might just launch Gonzalez to his first MVP Award.