DHL Dan CCXVIII - Change Of Attitude?

Shank believes the recent re-signing of Red Sox skipper Alex Cora just might mean a different direction for the team:

Let’s hope Alex Cora’s deal is a sign that Red Sox are spending again, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while observing that “WAR” has yet to be chiseled on any plaque at Cooperstown …

▪ Alex Cora has agreed to manage the Red Sox through the 2027 season. Cora’s three-year, $21.75 million contract extension was announced by the team Wednesday.

This is great news for Sox fans. Also somewhat surprising. Cora, who would have been a free agent at the end of this season, had stated repeatedly that he would not negotiate once the season started.

This is why four weeks ago I told you to enjoy these final months of Cora because, “There is nothing to indicate he’ll be back next year.” (My finest prediction since “Mavericks in seven.″)

Good for Red Sox ownership to pay close to market rate for a manager who has become the face of the franchise. Former Brewers manager Craig Counsell — with a résumé shy of Cora’s — got $40 million over five years from the Cubs last winter. The Red Sox have responded by making their skipper the second-highest-paid manager in baseball history.

If this does mean the Red Sox are going to start spending again, I think we see the template already - "to pay close to market rate".

Things To Avoid In Sports Columns

Politics tends to be a topic that doesn't mix well with sports. This is why:

As always, the world revolves around the Red Sox … even when it comes to presidential politics

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Everything in life comes back to the Red Sox … even the stunning news that President Joe Biden is dropping out of the 2024 race for the Oval Office.

In the days leading up to Biden’s Sunday afternoon shocker, there was considerable pressure on the aging president to stand down. Multiple Democratic senators and representatives were urging him to step aside.

Clearly, the last straw was Representative Jamie Raskin’s four-page letter to Biden in which he compared the 81-year-old commander-in-chief to Pedro Martínez melting on the Yankee Stadium mound after throwing too many pitches in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series.

“Martínez one of the greatest pitchers in Red Sox history, began to tire badly after 118 pitches,” wrote Raskin (D-Md.). “Martínez vigorously protested that he could continue and gave it his all despite the statistics about what happens when pitchers play after throwing for so long.

DHL Dan CCXVII - Hall Of Fame Worthy?

That's the question Shank has about former Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia:

Is Dustin Pedroia a Hall of Famer? We asked him about his chances.

Picked-up pieces while ever-grateful that we emphatically said “no” to the 2024 Olympics . . .

▪ This weekend in Cooperstown is a reminder of why baseball’s Hall of Fame is the one fans care about most, and how it’s nice that we’re back to real baseball discussions (dare we say “arguments?”) regarding who qualifies for diamond immortality.

For too many years it’s been about closed-door lobbying by small committees, performance enhancers, and/or the dreaded character clause that asks BBWAA voters to consider factors other than what a guy did on the field. This is how we got a Hall that features Harold Baines but does not include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, or Manny Ramirez (you can add Curt Schilling, whose debatable candidacy was blown up by his own big mouth).

... So what about Boston’s own Dustin Pedroia? The diminutive second baseman is eligible for the first time this winter and faces a high hurdle for admission.

Why is it every single fucking time I read a Shank column about Pedrioa, he has to mention his height in some sort of negative fashion? It's unprofessional and nauseating - to hell with Shank for that 'need' to constantly bring it up whenever he writes about Pedroia.

DHL Dan CCXVI - Into Darkness

Shank's most recent column dives into (what else) the bad parts of Ted Williams' life:

Ted Williams was the greatest hitter ever, but there was bad luck and darkness in his family life, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering why MLB doesn’t go back to having players wear their own team jerseys and hats at the All-Star Game . . .

▪ The death of Claudia Williams was announced Wednesday by the Red Sox, with the permission of her husband of 17 years, Eric Abel. Claudia was Ted Williams’s last surviving child.

Boston’s Splendid Splinter was the greatest hitter who ever lived, but there was a lot of bad luck and darkness in his family life.

The slugger’s only sibling, brother Danny, died of leukemia at the age of 39 in 1960. Ted’s eldest daughter, Bobby-Jo, was estranged from her dad in his final years and died of liver disease at the age of 62 in 2010. Ted’s only son, John Henry Williams, died of leukemia at the age of 35 in 2004. And now we learn that Claudia Franc Williams died at the age of 52 in December.

DHL Dan CCXV - For Sale

A few weeks after winning their 18th banner, the owners of the Boston Celtics are getting out while the getting is good:

Who’ll be next to own the Celtics, how long will it take, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while watching the USS Constitution take its annual victory lap . . .

▪ The Celtics just won a championship, Jayson Tatum got his extension, the whole band is back for next season, and it looked like everything was coming up Green around here.

Then, wham! The Celtics announced that the franchise is for sale. The team statement said the Grousbeck family, which holds the majority stake, has decided to pursue a sale “for estate and family planning considerations.”

It’s seismic sports news. We’ve had ownership stability for almost the entirety of this successful century. The Bruins have been owned by Jeremy Jacobs for 49 years, Bob Kraft bought the Patriots in 1994, and John Henry’s group took over the Red Sox in 2002. Irv Grousbeck and son Wyc took control of the Celtics in December of that same year.

And just in case you thought Shank's lost a bit on that ol' asshole fastball (Beetle on 98.5 The Sports Hub pointed this out this morning) ...

In conversations with some sources close to the situation, I’ve come away convinced that soon-to-be-90-year-old H. Irving Grousbeck is the one driving this sale and that 63-year-old son Wyc (one of four children of Irving Grousbeck) — managing partner, governor, and CEO of the Celtics, and always identified as the team’s owner — actually owns a relatively small stake in the franchise.

H. Irving Grousbeck — still teaching at Stanford Business School — has been the money behind the group since the beginning. (Forbes lists “Irving Grousbeck and family’s” worth at $1.8 billion.) There’s every indication that the billionaire rarely seen at Celtics games is motivating this sale in an attempt to get his affairs in order.

He made his fortune as cofounder of Continental Cablevision and is no doubt interested in ongoing negotiations for the NBA’s media rights. A nine-year deal is set to expire at the end of next season and the new deal, reportedly close to $76 billion, will have considerable impact on franchise values.

I emailed the elder Grousbeck late Wednesday, requesting comment on my assertions, and he responded Thursday with a polite no comment.

When I texted Wyc with, “You OK if I say your personal stake in the team is less than 2 percent?” he answered, “We hold as a family — all unified . . . We are a family and I also have a Celtics family is my comment. Thanks.”

I wonder what prompted Shank to try and pull Wyc's pants down like that? Time will tell, and I'll post something on it once it hits the news.