Bill Buckner will return to Boston as a coach?

[SCM33]

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/15564/sox-coaching-staff-bill-buckner-an-option

 

 

I love it. First base coach, or hitting coach....or a little of both.

[Emmz]

Maybe Ad Gon can coach him on how to field a ground ball.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

Maybe Ad Gon can coach him on how to field a ground ball.

 

http://starsmedia.ign.com/stars/image/object/143/14352076/fouad_family-guy_pictureboxart_160w.jpg

[jung]

Did not realize that Magadan was definitely staying. That is a good sign but I do think it suggests the Sox should really consider getting somebody to come in specifically to work with Crawford. Dave has already been here and whatever problem Crawford is having Dave has not been able to help him figure it out.

[SCM33]

Maybe Ad Gon can coach him on how to field a ground ball.

 

Oh come on, the media of this city put him and his family through hell about that when the losing of the WS was not even his fault.

 

The guy was a borderline HOF player and we would be lucky to have him teaching the guys his knowledge. Not many borderline HOF players are hitting coaches minus Don Baylor and Chili Davis...why not add him as a first basecoach and help out some of the guys with their hitting along with Magadan?

[Emmz]

I'm kidding, really, one play doesn't make a player, regardless of it's impact. If Ted Williams dropped a easy fly ball that would have got the Red Sox into the World Series had he caught it, he'd still be the best hitter in the history of baseball, he could do that 20 years in a row and he'd be the best hitter in baseball history.

 

Hell, Brett Favre is the King of throwing interceptions in the worst possible scenarios. How do you think someone with that kind of talent, with those monster stats only produced one super bowl ring? You could make a very strong case that he's the best QB of all time, could you not?

 

I agree, bad moments and choking do not make you any less of a player, especially in this case. I think it's a great idea.

[Youk Of The Nation]

I've been hearing this everywhere. This rumor has legs.

[Gringo]

This could be a huge error

[mvp 78]

I'm going with no.

 

Boston fans forgave him in 87 and again when he returned in 90. The lazy national media just kept running with it because it's an easy story.

[a700hitter]

I'm going with no.

 

Boston fans forgave him in 87 and again when he returned in 90. The lazy national media just kept running with it because it's an easy story.

This is true. I am old enough to remember it Popular belief is to the contrary due to press stories that he was run out of NE. I remember when they brought him back as a broken relic in '90 to take a final bow. He got a huge ovation on opening day. He was an empty shell, and the Sox had to release him a few weeks after. Ever the self absorbed *******, Buckner was furious and declared that the Sox would regret the move.

[a700hitter]

Maybe Valentine will ask Lasorda to be his bench coach. LOL! That would be entertaining. There would be no "beer on the bench" scandal, but there would be pasta in the dugout.

[sleepyhollow]

When Valentine was questioned about Buckner, he merely replied that they were great friends but that doesn't mean that I'm going to fill positions with friends. I'm going to look for people who can work together as coaches and with me and help bring a winning team to Boston.

[jete02fan]

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/15564/sox-coaching-staff-bill-buckner-an-option

 

 

I love it. First base coach,[/color] or hitting coach....or a little of both.

lol..back to the scene of the crime :-)

[FredLynn]

lol..back to the scene of the crime :-)

 

I heard he will be the new baserunning coach.

[Billy Mueller]

Did not realize that Magadan was definitely staying. That is a good sign but I do think it suggests the Sox should really consider getting somebody to come in specifically to work with Crawford. Dave has already been here and whatever problem Crawford is having Dave has not been able to help him figure it out.

 

Not to get off subject, but I mildly disagree. Players have down years all the time, especially when they go to different teams. I believe there were several factors, outside Magadan, that contributed to his lack of success. Obviously early on he was pressing, which wasnt that unusual. He's a notorious slow starter anyways. I think the pressure kind of got to him. As soon as he started to pick it up, he went on the DL. I would follow the situation closely this year, but now that Carl has a year under his belt in Boston and knows what to expect, I see him relaxing a little more and having a good season.

[jung]

Not to get off subject, but I mildly disagree. Players have down years all the time, especially when they go to different teams. I believe there were several factors, outside Magadan, that contributed to his lack of success. Obviously early on he was pressing, which wasnt that unusual. He's a notorious slow starter anyways. I think the pressure kind of got to him. As soon as he started to pick it up, he went on the DL. I would follow the situation closely this year, but now that Carl has a year under his belt in Boston and knows what to expect, I see him relaxing a little more and having a good season.

 

I would tend to agree were it not for the fact that CC could not handle a pitch in one particular location which really became his downfall for the year. I am sure the Sox have this information but I think we would find if we had been charting him that he got crushed on any pitch down and tailing away from him and eventually everybody went after him right there.

 

I agree that nerves contributed to his problems last year. If you did not believe that from his plate appearance then his performance in the field would seal the deal on that issue. Not blaming DM either.

 

However to have fallen pray to pitches in one location time after time suggests that there is something else going on. Either he is not seeing those pitches the way he once did or cannot get to them the way he once did.

 

Batting is something like golf in the once sense that it is very hard to figure out what has changed when something has changed. Maybe he has opened his stance even the littlest bit more and can't get to those pitches or it has change his angle of view on those pitches and does not see them as he once did or maybe his vision has changed. That sounds like an effort at humor but it actually happened to Jim Rice one year and has happened to other ballplayers as well.

 

So I would buy the nerves thing if not for the fact that he really got killed by pitches in one location. In fact by year end you could see a 6-3 out coming just about from the point when a particular pitch left the pitchers hand and could even see pitchers grooving their pitches to get to that spot where CC was just an out every time. Usually pitchers still have to work you to get you out. By year end, pitchers hardly bothered and were just trying to hit that right spot where CC could not help but swing but could not hit the ball a lick. It became the opposite problem to a guy that cannot lay off the rising fast ball but can't hit it either. That said I do think CC's problem will be way easier to fix than guys that cannot lay off high heat.

[boy racer]

From his end it's a great prospect. I'd wanna get the hell out of Brockton.

[3rdManOut]

Would Bill really want to come back at all?

[BornToRun]

I would love it if this happened. Billy B back in a Sox uniform, hell yes.

[SoxSport]

Don't do it, Bobby. There are too many bad memories of '86. Let the dead stay buried.

[SCM33]

Don't do it' date=' Bobby. There are too many bad memories of '86. Let the dead stay buried.[/quote']

 

that was over 25 years ago.....weve won 2 WS since then.

 

Time to move on from the 86 WS which was not even his fault.

 

You are more than welcome back to Boston Bill.

[boy racer]

Don't do it' date=' Bobby. There are too many bad memories of '86. Let the dead stay buried.[/quote']

 

That's not good enough of an excuse. If he's an able coach, which he most definitely is, he could certainly be used on Boston's staff.

[VA Sox Fan]

that was over 25 years ago.....weve won 2 WS since then.

 

Time to move on from the 86 WS which was not even his fault.

 

You are more than welcome back to Boston Bill.

 

Amen to that!

[boy racer]

The guy was a great player. One missed ground ball and the stigma won't budge.

[seabeachfred]

Oh come on, the media of this city put him and his family through hell about that when the losing of the WS was not even his fault.

 

The guy was a borderline HOF player and we would be lucky to have him teaching the guys his knowledge. Not many borderline HOF players are hitting coaches minus Don Baylor and Chili Davis...why not add him as a first basecoach and help out some of the guys with their hitting along with Magadan?

 

Since you are apparently a big fan of Buckner you will be pleased to know, if you don't already do, that when Bill was introduced to the crowd on Opening Day, 2008 at the end of the WS flaf raising ceremony, the crowd went absolutely nuts with cheers and applause. He took a rotten rap back in the 80's but I think most Red Sox fans would welcome him to the coaching ranks with open arms. He was popular out here in LA, was loved in Chicago and had the fans in his corner in Boston until that one unfortunate error. Of course, maybe the team should take the real rap. The Mets were down to their last strike in a 5-3 game and neither Schiraldi or Stanley could get that last strike.......and didn't the Red Sox blow a three run lead in the seventh game two nights later for the Series loss? Plenty of blame to go around for that miserable experience.

[SoxSport]

I can understand the feelings of some of the younger guys here, who weren't around in '86.

 

But those that were remember it well. Some not too well. The '86 World Series collapse makes the '10 September collapse look like a picnic. The Mets did not win that Series; the Red Sox lost it.

 

It just wouldn't be fair to Buckner. I doubt he would do it.

[a700hitter]

I can understand the feelings of some of the younger guys here, who weren't around in '86.

 

But those that were remember it well. Some not too well. The '86 World Series collapse makes the '10 September collapse look like a picnic. The Mets did not win that Series; the Red Sox lost it.

 

It just wouldn't be fair to Buckner. I doubt he would do it.

Blowing the '86 Series was only 2 games. It was excruciatingly painful, because the Sox hadn't won a World Series in 68 years and they were 1 strike away, but it was two games. The Mets were prohibitive favorites going into that series and rightly so, because they were the much better team. The 2011 collapse was night after night of futility after being the best team in the league for months. A month of suffering vs 2 games. Everyone has their opinion, but I lived through both fiascos, and 2011 was worse for me. I had a headache for an entire month.

[iortiz]

Blowing the '86 Series was only 2 games. It was excruciatingly painful' date=' because the Sox hadn't won a World Series in 68 years and they were 1 strike away, but it was two games. The Mets were prohibitive favorites going into that series and rightly so, because they were the much better team. The 2011 collapse was night after night of futility after being the best team in the league for months. A month of suffering vs 2 games. Everyone has their opinion, but I lived through both fiascos, and 2011 was worse for me. [b']I had a headache for an entire month[/b].

 

I'm still using aspirins since then

[jung]

I agree with 700. For me it was like the real Mets finally showed up and so did the real Red Sox. For me in some ways even Bucky F***ing Dent was worse then the Mets fiasco.

 

Both pail in comparison to the collapse of 2011.

[SoxSport]

From Valentine's comments this morning about keeping Magaden, I would be surprised if Buckner was in the cards. They have enough baggage problems from last year. No sense in creating the possibility of more.

 

Buckner, by the way, was victimized by his manager in that '86 WS game. He never should have been on the field at that point--hobbled with bad ankles, while his defensive replacement sat on the bench.