harmony

A Seattle perspective on the Red Sox series: https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2023/5/15/23724374/series-preview-seattle-mariners-at-boston-red-sox-may-2023

Audit a free online course in sport analytics: https://www.edx.org/course/sport-analytics-data-driven-decision-making

FWIW the thread was started in General Baseball Forum, not the Talk Sox Forum, because of the broad scope of the book Winning Fixes Everything.

The incident was no secret in when the Red Sox rehired Alex Cora In November 2020: https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2017/12/alex_cora_boston_red_sox_manag_2.html ... and the Boston front office almost certainly was aware of the incident when Cora was originally hired in October 2017. The Red Sox brain trust saw enough in Cora to hire him regardless. Mere speculation but the parties likely addressed the behavior and agreed to specific conditions of employment. Winning Fixes Everything is not a book about Alex Cora; it's a detailed examination of the evolving culture of the Houston Astros and Major League Baseball. Read it.

The reported drunken incident involving Alex Cora was buried in a 329-book about the culture of a Houston Astros franchise that went from three straight 100-loss seasons to two World Series titles. The incident certainly did not merit mention in the book's liner notes (or in any promotion of the book). Alex Cora is not a focus. Winning Fixes Everything provides a detailed account of the evolution of the Astros and Major League Baseball the past two decades. The book is highly recommended. Is the title to this thread considered clickbait? if so, to what end? The thread's creator lacks the standard clickbait's financial incentive. The short shared passage could be of interest to Boston fans because Alex Cora is the current Red Sox manager. Or not:) But this fan of another team would be interested in a similar report about his team's current manager. At any rate, thank you for the feedback.

That was more troubling than the reported drinking. That language is common in many workplaces but probably crosses the line when directed in anger at a co-worker. The word would be even more egregious if directed at a woman.

Alex Cora was not a focus of Winning Fixes Everything, which critically examines a Houston franchise that challenged, and sometimes crossed, ethical and legal boundaries. The book is recommended for anyone interested in technology's role in the evolution of Major League Baseball.

Alex Cora reportedly is the current manager of the Boston Red Sox.

That's a harsh judgment if based on only a condensed summary of three pages from a 329-page book: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/winning-fixes-everything-evan-drellich?variant=40828339322914 Winning Fixes Everything chronicles in critical detail the Astros' rise from three straight 100-loss seasons to a World Series title and beyond. The accounts in the book may or may not be accurate. Reserve judgment until the entire book is read. People are complex. Alex Cora probably is complex. It's easy to label as fake news any information that tarnishes the image of a hero. We've seen it before.

The new book Winning Fixes Everything by former Red Sox and Astros beat reporter Evan Drellich includes interesting disclosures about the relationship of Alex Cora and A.J. Hinch when Cora was a bench coach and Hinch the manager of the 2017 Houston Astros. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/winning-fixes-everything-evan-drellich?variant=40828339322914 At an August 2017 game in Tampa, Cora assumed the managerial duties when Hinch was ejected in the first inning. Astro Hall of Famer Craig Biggio had no day-to-day duties with Houston but hung out in the dugout for that game. After the game Cora reportedly stormed into A.J. Hinch's office screaming "Why do you have Biggio watching me? You don't think I can do this on my own?" The Astros flew back to Houston and on a team shuttle bus Cora played music loudly on his speaker. Players and other team personnel, trying to reach their families by phone in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, could not hear their loves ones over the music. Astro broadcaster Geoff Blum reportedly approached Cora: "Any other day, crank it. But if you can just turn it down a little bit, and let us kind of figure out how we're goig to get home, see the families are OK ..." "Oh, you want me to turn it down?" Cora shot back. "You want me to turn it down? I'll turn it down. How about I just turn it off?" Blum returned to his seat on the bus but Cora was soon hovering over him. "I bet if Puerto Rico was going through this you'd be playing the music," Cora reportedly said. Blum replied "You got to be kidding me. How dare you say that?" Cora reportedly then called Blum a "c***." The yelling continued for about five minutes before the team exited the bus. When Blum tried to apologize Cora reportedly snapped at Blum and Hinch, "He's your buddy, you want him to be your bench coach, you don't trust me," Cora said to Hinch. Cora reportedly called Hinch "a f***ing c***." The second rant lasted about 10 minutes in front of most of the team. Reports were that Cora was clearly drunk and "sort of being a drunk *******," according to the secondhand account of one front office employee. To quote the book: "'Cora really likes to drink,' said someone who traveled with the Astros. 'Any road trip I was on with him, or plane flight I was on with him, he was drinking a lot. Him and Craig Bjornson, CB, were basically wasted on every single flight. Such much so that Cora would turn into the equivalent of like, the scary homeless person that's talking to themself doing like drunken tai chi in place, and you're like: Oh, my God, what's wrong with that guy? Like, Cora would get that level drunk on basically every single trip.'"

But Alex Verdugo attempted four steals last season.

Have analytics spoiled the game of MLB? One-time Red Sox beat reporter Evan Drellich addresses the issue at The Athletic in a column with the headline: "An MLB owner told Rob Manfred ‘analytics is an arms race to nowhere.’ The commissioner agrees": https://theathletic.com/4368996/2023/04/01/rob-manfred-mlb-analytics-front-offices/ Subscription required.

At No. 13 the Boston rotation is ranked ahead of the Seattle rotation at No. 17 by FanGraphs: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-positional-power-rankings-starting-rotation-no-16-30/ ... despite this summary:

Seattle fell from No. 2 to No. 24 on MLB.com's preseason farm system rankings after in the past two years graduating four prospects who last season posted 5.3, 4.2, 3.2 and 3.0 fWAR. The Mariners retain at least five years of team control over Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby. The current ranking includes the Mariner signing of Felnin Celestin, the second-ranked prospect in the January international class. The Seattle farm, which was also drained by trades for Luis Castillo and Eugenio Suarez, should be bolstered by three picks among the top 30 in this year's June draft.

It may depend on whether teams ranked immediately ahead of the Red Sox could include their players who barely lost prospect status.

MLB Pipeline has released its Top 30 prospect list for each team, including the Red Sox: Red Sox Top Prospects | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball

James Paxton may have exercised his modest player option knowing his overall health better than anyone (except perhaps his physician). The hamstring is but a minor issue. But thank you for the feedback.

When James Paxton signed with Boston in December 2021 the Red Sox were coming off a season that fell only two games shy of the World Series. Then again, the previous offseason Paxton signed with a Seattle club coming off a third-place finish with a 27-33 record. Point gratefully accepted.

There are good reasons why a Scott Boras client would exercise a player option for only $4 million to stay with a team coming off a last-place finish.

What pitcher would be a Luis Castillo-type acquisition at this year’s trade deadline? Are the Red Sox likely to be buyers, sellers or both at the trade deadline?

We had a Jay Groome sighting on Friday (with new teammate Xander Bogaerts): MLB Gameday: Mariners 3, Padres 2 Final Score (02/24/2023) | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM Follow MLB results with FREE box scores, pitch-by-pitch strikezone info, and Statcast data for Mariners vs. Padres at Peoria Stadium

https://www.inquirer.com/phillies/phillies-noah-song-navy-roster-spring-training-20230223.html

The Red Sox fared well on the FanGraphs’ Top 100+ prospect list released Wednesday: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-top-100-prospects/

How the 2023 Red Sox can defy their postseason odds: How these MLB teams can defy low 2023 playoff odds WWW.MLB.COM As Spring Training gets under way, some teams have more reasons to be optimistic than others about their postseason chances in the year ahead. But with every team starting from square one, there’s room for some surprises. The odds are against the nine clubs below making the playoffs in 2023,

Here is the John Henry interview from Sean McAdam at the Boston Sports Journal: https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2023/02/19/john-henry-weighs-in-on-teams-approach-to-spending-free-agency-xander-bogaerts-and-chaim-bloom Behind a paywall, the interview of Henry by Jen McCaffrey at The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/4229567/2023/02/19/red-sox-owner-john-henry-qa/?source=emp_shared_article