The Wednesday, November 18, 2020

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Will Venable chosen as Red Sox next bench

Alex Speier

Alex Cora has a new bench coach.

A major league source confirmed multiple reports that the Red Sox are naming Cubs third base coach as Cora’s bench coach. Venable, 38, has been on the Cubs' coaching staff for three years, following a nine-year big league career with the Padres, Rangers, and Dodgers (2008-16).

Venable — who attended Princeton, where he played both and basketball — grew up around the game, as his father, , had a 12-year big league career. That background helped him to blend traditional baseball sensibilities with modern analytical perspectives in a fashion that has endeared him to both players and front-office members, making him the sort of natural conduit who profiles as a future manager.

Venable had a first-round interview with the Red Sox for their managerial vacancy in October. At the time, some evaluators viewed him as a near-certain future manager with the only question about his current candidacy being whether he had enough experience for the position.

“He should be managing some day, if not now,” said one major league source.

Now, Venable appears to be taking another step toward gaining that experience.

Ron Roenicke had served as Cora’s bench coach in 2018-19, before serving as manager for the 2020 season. The Sox hired as their bench coach in 2020, but did not retain either Roenicke or Narron after the season.

Aside from those two and bullpen coach Craig Bjornson, the Sox retained the rest of their coaching staff.

What’s next for Fenway Sports Group? Another soccer team could be on the way

Michael Silverman

Fenway Sports Group is about to its next growth spurt.

Even in the midst of a pandemic and worldwide recession — compounded locally by a Red Sox fan base left disenchanted over a payroll reset that sent superstar out of town — the Boston-based global sports conglomerate is scaling up, not back.

Scooping up another North American sports franchise, be it in the NHL, NBA, NFL, WNBA, MLS, or NWSL, to join the Red Sox and Roush Fenway Racing?

FSG is looking into it.

A European soccer sibling for its thriving Liverpool Football Club?

Looks likely.

Considering acquisitions in the sports betting, esports, and data analytics realms?

Yes.

Launching a real estate venture in the heart of Boston?

Check.

Connecting the dots from a recent flurry of project announcements, pending deals, capital infusions, new investors, and power flexes indicates a long-term strategy by Fenway Sports Group focused on using increased financial brawn to expand its portfolio of properties and multiply its revenue streams.

“If two unicorns came together and collided, there’d be rainbows coming from it — I think that’s the capital markets right now and the sports industry, and even though sports is going through a relatively difficult time now, I don’t think anybody doesn’t think the future isn’t better than the past,” said Marty Conway, a member of the Georgetown University faculty focused on sports, media, and business.

“The demand right now is for sports and global sports, and there are a few places — FSG is one of those — that can return that. They’ve got the expertise, they’ve got the leverage, they’ve got the experience, and they’re in a position to make things happen.”

Taking into account FSG’s recently announced plans to co-develop four parcels of land around Fenway Park (with further expansion over the Mass Pike possible one day), the company’s vision can be seen as a bet-hedging strategy, allowing for it to grow and also allocate its new revenues to nurture properties such as the Red Sox or Liverpool, which are sustaining significant losses during the pandemic without game-day revenues.

If all of this planning helps them avoid situations such as the one with Betts, where they felt they had no choice but to trade a franchise cornerstone, then FSG’s forward-thinking strategy might be the kind a Red Sox fan could get behind.

To date, news this month that FSG could transform before the end of the year from a private to a public company by merging with the RedBall SPAC marks the most significant sign of its growth mind-set.

That transaction, which still has hurdles to clear, could inject as much as $1.5 billion of RedBall-raised capital into FSG and lift its value into large mid-cap company territory of some $8 billion.

Sensing an opportunity In Forbes’s most recent valuations last December, FSG was valued at $6.6 billion, making it No. 3 on the sports empire list, one spot ahead of the Yankees' parent company ($6.1 billion). FSG was behind Jerry Jones’s holdings (Dallas Cowboys plus real estate, hospitality service, esports) worth $6.9 billion, and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment ($8.4 billion), owner of the Los Angeles Rams, Arsenal FC (Premier League), Denver Nuggets, and Colorado Avalanche, as well as media and real estate holdings.

In the past year, FSG already has received an undisclosed investment from one of its newer partners, the Dallas-based Arctos Sports Partners.

Some of the 20 known FSG individual partners will use the new liquidity to cash in a portion of their shares. But principal owner John Henry (who also owns the Boston Globe), chairman Tom Werner, and other partners plan to use the bulk of the money from outside investors to replenish current subsidiaries like the Red Sox and Liverpool when needed as well as spend it on new assets.

It’s not a coincidence that FSG sees this particular moment of economic volatility as one ripe for an opportunity to grow.

When the company, then known as New England Sports Ventures, started off with its $700 million purchase of the Red Sox in 2002, the sale was completed just as the US was emerging from a recession.

Forbes last valued the Red Sox at $3.3 billion.

FSG’s second-most significant splash came in 2010, when it snatched up Liverpool for $493 million soon after a global recession had left its previous owners cash-strapped.

KPMG recently valued Liverpool at $2.6 billion.

“Private equity thrives in uncertain times,” said Conway. “It’s not surprising, because that’s when a lot of folks move and sense that ‘maybe there’s some opportunity here because valuations have been hit, and if we have the cash, and access to the cash, now’s the time to move.’ ”

A new entry into European soccer, where clubs are more affordable than most North American sports franchises, could be one of FSG’s first moves.

Led by Gerry Cardinale, a private investor who sits on the board of both the Yankees' parent company and the YES network, and Oakland A’s executive Billy Beane of “Moneyball” fame, RedBall’s mission as stated in its prospectus is, in part, to acquire “sports franchises, including European football clubs, with intrinsic brand value,” as well as “sports, media and data analytics businesses.”

According to SEC filings, one of Fenway Sports Group’s limited partners, Seth Klarman, and his Baupost Group hedge fund recently invested $52 million in RedBall.

With the RedBird Capital Partners firm he leads, Cardinale purchased 85 percent of the French second- division Toulouse FC team last July. Beane is a part-owner of a second-division English team and adviser to a Dutch team.

Speculation is high as to which European club FSG might target.

Speaking on a panel in Abu Dhabi a month before both the Toulouse purchase and two months before the RedBall announcement, Cardinale spoke of attractive opportunities for soccer clubs ranked mid-level in their leagues in London, Madrid, France, and the Netherlands.

A spokesperson at RedBall did not immediately respond to requests to speak with Cardinale and Beane. FSG also declined comment on its plans.

Daniel Rascher, a sports economist and professor at the University of San Francisco, said that a club from a Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, or Danish league, one at the bottom of the first division or top of the second, could be an attractive target.

“You could buy into those pretty inexpensively, and then it’s relegation and promotion — you buy new players, win, move up, and there you are,” said Rascher. “That’s probably their model; they just have to pick the right team and find who’s in a big market with a historical fan base but is struggling as a club for the last 10 years.”

Conflicts of interest? European soccer does not prohibit cross-ownership of teams among the different national leagues, said sports lawyer Daniel Geey of the British Sheridans law firm, but there would be a hitch if, say, Liverpool were to meet another FSG team in a European competition.

“If they have a minority stake and can’t exert influence over the other club, that might be deemed OK, so the level of the investment might be an important element,” said Geey.

A merger of RedBall and Liverpool would require approval from , which could have concerns about conflicts of interest with Beane and Cardinale. Having a baseball team go public and thus open its books also may give MLB pause, with labor negotiations with the players on a new CBA expected to be vitriolic.

MLB declined comment.

Henry, along with top executives at Manchester United and others in the Premier League, was behind the recent “Project Big Picture” plan in which the top six teams in the Premier League would secure better voting rights and bigger slices of broadcasting revenues than the other 14 teams, while distributing financial relief to second-tier teams. They’d also reduce the size of the Premier League to 18 teams.

The plan, which smelled like a power grab to the teams left out of the talks, wilted under fierce resistance.

That tempest was soon followed by Henry’s name being associated with another leaked plan, a European Super League that would leapfrog in importance over the top competition, the Champions League. The plan ensured that a team like Liverpool would become a permanent member of the league with no worries about having to qualify.

A Super League would allow Liverpool and the world’s other elite clubs to lock in lucrative revenue streams on an annual basis while also playing against each other more often in matches that would attract considerable interest and ratings.

There’s no consensus on that plan — some version may yet be formed — but Liverpool’s lead role in both restructuring plans is in part an outgrowth of its emergence as one of the top one or two teams in Europe over the last three years.

FSG is capitalizing on Liverpool’s elevated perch in the global soccer market by pursuing new broadcast, merchandising, and sponsorship opportunities around the globe, including China, as well as more investment in its Liverpool infrastructure designed to better the team on the field and increase game-day revenues.

“What FSG covets is the certainty that we get here in the West — you’re not going to get relegated out of Major League Baseball or the NBA,” said Conway. “The more you get Western and American owners involved throughout Italy and England and France, with the exception of Germany [where club ownership rules are more restrictive for outsiders], we’re going to have more of that.”

FSG has been assessing and exploring the feasibility of expanding its footprint not just in Boston but around the globe for years.

Now, its actions signal that the company stands poised to step out and turn its plans into a reality.

* The Boston Herald

Report: Red Sox set to name Will Venable as new bench coach

Steve Hewitt

Alex Cora appears to have his new right-hand man.

The Red Sox are set to name Will Venable as their new bench coach, according to multiple reports. Venable has worked for the Cubs since 2017 and served on the coaching staff over the last three seasons.

WEEI.com was the first to report that the Red Sox had chosen Venable.

The 38-year-old Venable had reportedly interviewed for the Red Sox’ managerial opening last month before the team decided on Cora, and also reportedly interviewed for the Tigers’ opening. Venable, who was the Cubs’ third-base coach in 2020 and their first-base coach the previous two seasons, is clearly on the radar as a future manager in baseball, making this move a natural next step.

Venable played baseball and basketball in Princeton before spending nine seasons in MLB. He played for the Padres, Rangers and Dodgers before being hired as ’s special assistant with the Cubs in 2017.

The Red Sox had a vacancy for their bench coach after they parted ways with manager and bench coach Jerry Narron.

Roenicke, who was Cora’s bench coach in 2018 and 2019 before taking over for him in 2020, hadn’t been ruled out to return to the role, but the Red Sox ultimately went in a different direction. Roenicke had been hired as Cora’s bench coach in 2018 to make up for Cora’s lack of experience as a first-time manager, but Venable obviously has considerably less experience.

“For experience, everybody was like, ‘He’s so experienced.’ I’ve only managed in the big leagues for two years and been a bench coach for one. I’ve been on the bench for three. I still need help in that department,” Cora said last week when asked about his bench coach vacancy. “It’s not like I know everything, I’ve got the system down. I still need help. We’re going to go over names. We’re going to pick the right guy.

“One thing for sure – we’re going to have a great all-around coaching staff. I feel pretty confident that we are ready to take the next step in that department and we’re going to be better than in ’18 and obviously ’19. Obviously in ’19, we lacked a few things, starting with the leader, with myself. There were a few things that I saw throughout the season this year with different teams that I would love to apply here with the Red Sox.”

The Red Sox still need to fill their opening for a bullpen coach after Craig Bjornson’s contract wasn’t renewed. The rest of their coaching staff will return in 2021.

After the Red Sox’ 2019 debacle, Alex Cora has a new plan

Jason Mastrodonato

Alex Cora is right; the Red Sox were a sluggish team to watch in 2020.

As the championship manager returns for a second stint in the Sox’ dugout, he’s promised to make the Sox a faster, and thus more entertaining team in 2021.

“I still believe you’ve got to play fast,” Cora said when he was rehired last week. “You take a look at the teams around the league — the Rays, the Dodgers, the Padres — for how powerful they are, they hit the ball out of the ballpark, but they still the bases well. They were defensively-plus teams. And I felt like watching the Red Sox, they were a little bit behind.”

Cora is clearly onto something with the Red Sox looking like a slow team on defense and on the bases. But a dive into the numbers reveals one way in which they were actually faster (to their determinant): at the plate.

The 2020 Red Sox were like if the 2018 Red Sox replaced their water coolers with Mountain Dew. They were up there hacking. They were swinging early, they were swinging often and they were swinging at everything.

The 2020 Red Sox swung at 48.5% of the pitches they saw, third-highest percentage in baseball just two years after Cora encouraged the 2018 Red Sox to be aggressive. Even the ‘18 team swung just 45.9% of the time, 19th in MLB, and showed plenty of restraint at the dish.

The ’18 squad also hit the ball harder, on average, than any team in baseball, with an average exit velocity of 89.9 mph. This year? The Sox finished 14th while averaging 88.5 mph.

As the Red Sox look to rebalance their lineup with more speed, they also could use a leadoff hitter, unless Cora thinks (.367 on-base percentage) is the best man for the job. Verdugo handled it brilliantly in 2020, though Cora prefers aggressive sluggers like Mookie Betts and in the top spot, and failed miserably when he went for a more patient, on-base/average guy in for the start of the 2019 season.

Cora’s assessment that the Red Sox were too slow on the bases in 2020 seems a bit off, on paper at least. They stole 31 bases, 11th-most in MLB, and their extra-base taken percentage of 42 was league average. Under Cora in 2019, they were 16th in stolen bases and fourth in extra-base-taken percentage, a slight improvement.

But where Cora was inarguably accurate in his assessment of the 2020 Red Sox is in their decrepit range on defense.

For the first time in a decade, the Sox weren’t nominated for a single Gold Glove Award. The SABR Defensive Index, which ranks defensive players and is used for 25% of the Gold Glove voting, ranked the Red Sox 25th in MLB with negative-12.1 runs saved above average.

Losing Betts in right field hurt, but Verdugo and Kevin Pillar were excellent in his absence. It was more about the Sox’ inconsistent play on the right side of the infield, ’ difficult season at third base and a collective failure in left field.

“As a manager, as a coaching staff, I think spring training is going to be a lot different than in 2018 and 2019,” Cora said. “I do believe we have to catch up with the speed of the game. You look around and you look at the Padres, you look at the Rays, you look at the Dodgers, how athletic they are and how fast the game is, we have to catch up with that, and it starts in the offseason obviously with the workouts and then when we get to spring training.”

The Red Sox were notoriously lackadaisical in spring training in 2019, when Cora and his coaching staff decided to rest their players as much as possible for a slower buildup after the long postseason the year before.

The results were horrendous, and Cora paid the price with endless questioning about his spring training planning throughout the year. Pitching coach Dana LeVangie lost his job.

Come February, expect a different tone this time around.

“It’s not going to be what you see in ‘18, ‘19, kind of like building up,” Cora said. “Yeah, we’re going to build up of course so that we don’t get hurt, but at the same time, I think the drills are going to be more dynamic. It’s going to be more game-time stuff and I think they’re going to have fun doing that. If we do that and we catch up with the speed of the division and other teams, we’re going to be in a good spot.”

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox prospect Chris Murphy plays for friend he calls ‘sister’ who died of cancer (minor league notebook)

Christopher Smith

Red Sox pitching prospect Chris Murphy always told MLB scouts he plays for Jessica Tovar when they interviewed him before the 2019 Draft.

Tovar, who Murphy refers to as his sister, died of rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, at age 26 on July 14, 2012.

“The one common question that they all had was, ‘What separates you from someone else in terms of drive? How do I know if we picked you, you would want to stay in when things get rough?’" Murphy recalled during a phone interview with MassLive.com. "And my story is her. Because I promised her tickets to my first major league game. And that is something I still hold close to my heart; something I still want to do.”

Murphy posted a 1.08 ERA (33 ⅓ innings, four earned runs), 0.90 WHIP and .197 batting average against for Short Season Lowell in 2019 after Boston drafted him in the sixth round. He has the message — I play for Jessica — tattooed on his chest. He also has those four words written inside each of his hats.

Tovar was a family friend who lived in his neighborhood in Granada Hills, Calif. She baby-sat Murphy and his sister, Ashley. But she was so much more than their sitter. Murphy was a sister.

“She was super close to my family. She was around every single day until she passed away," Murphy said. "So I would consider her a sister.”

Murphy left Tovar a ticket to his first professional home game with Lowell at LeLacheur Park on July 14, 2019, which marked the seven-year anniversary of Tovar’s passing.

“She’s always been my drive because she was at every single one of my games growing up while my dad was coaching me. She’d be in the dugout," Murphy said.

Tovar was best friends with Murphy’s older sister, Courtney Murphy.

“When my older sister moved out, Jessica was over all the time anyways,” Murphy said. “She was baby- sitting us. She lived right down the hill. So she’d pick me and my sister up from school every day, take us to her mom’s house. That’s where I got fat as a kid eating Mexican food. I have my best memories with her, honestly."

On National Siblings Day in 2012, Murphy shared photos of Tovar with him and Ashley. He refers to Tovar as his sister in many of his Instagram posts.

Rhabdomyosarcoma “is a rare type of cancer that forms in soft tissue — specifically skeletal muscle tissue or sometimes hollow organs such as the bladder or uterus. RMS can occur at any age, but it most often affects children,” according to Mayoclinc.org.

“She seemed great for a while and then the last two weeks, it was a very fast decline for her once she got really sick,” Murphy said. “She battled it for two years before it really hit her hard.”

Tovar died the summer before Murphy entered his freshman year at Granada Hills High.

“Going into high school, she was pretty much my best friend at that time,” Murphy said. “And I was this little 5-2 shrimp of a kid not knowing what to do in high school and not having her guidance on anything. It was tough. But I got over it. It took my a while to get over it, but I did, and kind of embrace it for the better. That’s kind of how I’ve carried it out.”

He celebrates Tovar’s life by working at his baseball career. Tovar and Murphy shared a passion for baseball — and the .

Tovar was a fan of both the Yankees and Dodgers, but she rooted for the Dodgers whenever her two favorite teams played each other.

Murphy’s father Michael Murphy was both a Yankees and Mets fan when he grew up in Northport, a village on Long Island, N.Y. Michael raised Chris a Yankees fan.

“My family would bring her along to a lot of games (to Dodger Stadium), for sure. That was a common theme,” Murphy said.

Murphy has the hashtag #iplayforjessica written next to a purple heart in his Instagram bio.

“It is my drive,” Murphy said. “I don’t pitch for myself out there. I don’t pitch to do well for myself. I could care less what happens at the end of the day as long as I give it what I have — and I know that’s all she would want.”

Baseball America ranked the 6-foot-1, 185-pound left-hander Boston’s No. 13 prospect in its 2020 Prospect Handbook. Murphy throws a four-seam fastball, changeup, curveball and slider. He has above-average spin rate, which helps him induce a high number of swings-and-misses.

He embraces analytics.

“My swings-and-misses don’t come low in the zone,” Murphy said. “They all come up in the zone. There’s also that spin rate and true spin factor. ... If I spin it at 2,400 and I’m getting 99 to 100% efficiency ... to a hitter it looks like it’s about two balls above where they’re swinging. I think that’s about what it looks like. I’m not sure what the whole scouting report is."

His walk rate dropped dramatically after he turned pro. He averaged 4.8 walks per nine innings at the University of San Diego, then an outstanding 1.9 walks per nine innings at Lowell.

“I think it was the analytics that helped just telling me, 'Don’t throw the fastball down. Your best out-pitch is going to be a fastball up at the letters,” he said.

The Red Sox development staff explained to him his fastball plays better up in the zone, something he knew. As an amateur, his pitching instructor used Rapsodo and TrackMan technology. He was asked to pitch down in the zone near the kneecaps at San Diego.

“It’s hard to throw your offspeed off of low fastballs and get swings,” he said. “When I got to Lowell, the pitching coordinator and the pitching coaches all said, ‘Hey, throw your fastball at the belt level as often as you can and then you throw your other stuff off of that and they’ll also be strikes.'

“In college, I never felt like I was wild," Murphy added. "I just feel like I got in a lot of tough counts, long at-bats that led to walks. And it was just always harder to get guys out in college just because if they’re (staying on) the fastball down in the zone and I throw a changeup in that same spot, they’re probably not going to swing. Whereas if I throw fastball middle-in, middle away and it plays up in the zone and they swing through it, and I throw a changeup in the same spot, they swing over the top of it. ... My fastball changeup is a good mix.”

He recently returned home from the Red Sox’s six-week fall instructional camp at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers where he worked on his changeup/slider mix. He focused on pitch tunneling.

“My velo was good. My changeup was good. My curveball was pretty decent. It was about making my slider a little bit tighter, a little bit better while I was there,” Murphy said.

He sits 92-95 mph with his four-seamer. He hopes to average 93.5 mph in 2021.

He said the motion of his delivery hasn’t changed much since high school, but he feels he has more control over his body. He described his delivery as very simple.

"I’ve definitely over the years made it much more simple and looking smooth, yet explosive.”

Murphy threw four or five times a week this summer after the minor league season got canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. He threw in a game against his buddies every Saturday.

“I’d get two, three, sometimes four innings in, just kind of whatever I wanted to do that week, whatever I wanted to work on,” Murphy. “So I got quite a few innings in over the quarantine. And I focused on getting my body in better shape. I was 195 pounds in spring training. Didn’t like exactly how I felt. So I kind of dropped it down to 185. And I feel super healthy now. I’m more athletic, nimble.”

Murphy comes from a passionate sports family.

“Both of my parents have loved baseball and softball,” he said.

His mother Jennifer Murphy was a talented softball player who received an invitation to try out for the Silver Bullets, a women’s professional baseball team. She instead decided to focus on trade school to become an electrician.

“So she’s always been super athletic,” Murphy said. “My dad’s always loved baseball.”

Both Michael and Jennifer are from New York. They both graduated from Northport High, but were about six years apart and didn’t meet until later in life.

Michael moved to California after graduating high school to start a career in carpentry.

Michael initially lived in Hollywood with his uncle John P. Ryan, an actor and producer who has 77 acting credits, per IMDb.com. Ryan appeared in Runaway Train, Bound, The Right Stuff and Three O’Clock High.

Chris Murphy has four siblings, brother Brandon and sisters Courtney and Ashley.

Ashley plays Division I softball at the University of Hawaii.

“She’s also a pitcher. Funny how that one works,” Murphy said.

Baseball America wrote Murphy “profiles best as a starter during the development process.” But he certainly could end up pitching out of the Red Sox bullpen in a couple years.

“I love either role,” Murphy said. “My last two appearances in Lowell were out of the pen. And the appearances I made out of the pen in college have been some of the most fun appearances I’ve made because I can just blow it out for one inning, be a little bit more of a bulldog on the mound. As a starter, I’m more mellow. But coming out of the pen, I have a little edge to me. A little more swagger, I would say. I think it’s super fun coming out of the bullpen. If they had me do that, I wouldn’t mind at all, but I do like starting as well.”

MURPHY DOES MORE THAN JUST PLAY BASEBALL

Murphy found a job at DICK’S Sporting Goods during the coronavirus shutdown.

“It’s something to keep money in my pocket, pay some rent, not have to worry about anything really and whatever the Red Sox were giving me during that time," Murphy said. "When I left (for instructs), I told them I’d be back in a month and a half.”

His job was waiting for him when he returned.

It’s common for minor leaguers to work jobs in the offseason.

Chris Mazza worked in brick masonry before making the majors.

Jeffrey Springs worked several part-time offseason jobs in the minor leaguers. He did landscaping, worked at the YMCA and gave pitching lessons.

Josh Taylor spent offseasons working on the loading docks at the Phoenix Convention Center.

LOWELL MOVING TO HIGH A?

As MassLive.com reported Friday, the Lowell Spinners, the Red Sox’s Class-A short-season affiliate since 1996, likely will become a High-A team in 2021 or not survive as an affiliated professional club, according to industry sources.

A plan has been discussed for Lowell to join the soon-to-be formed Mid-Atlantic League with the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets) and Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees).

The Wilmington Blue Rocks, Aberdeen IronBirds and Jersey Shore BlueClaws also potentially could join the new Mid-Atlantic League.

GILBERTO JIMENEZ ‘BUILT LIKE A RUNNING BACK’

SoxProspects.com Ian Cundall tweeted Nov. 13, ″I’ve heard from multiple sources that OF Gilberto Jimenez was the top player at Red Sox instructs, followed by Triston Casas. Jimenez has filled out considerably and is now built like a running back. He’s still an elite athlete, but has started to drive the ball at the plate."

NBC Sports Boston’s John Tomase wrote about Jimenez, “Listed at 5-11, 160, he actually now tips the scale at 220 pounds, and he still has room to grow.”

Baseball America has Gilberto Jimenez, a 20-year-old speedy , ranked Boston’s No. 7 prospect. He slashed .359/.393/.470/.863 in 59 games at Lowell during 2019.

MassLive.com wrote a feature story on Jimenez in September 2019. When he is back in the , his cousins pitch him corn kernels.

SEVEN RULE 5 DRAFT PLAYERS ADDED TO ROSTER?

Friday marks the deadline for when Rule 5 Draft eligible players must be added to the 40-man roster. The Red Sox are expected to protect at least six Rule 5 Draft eligible minor leaguers, , Bryan Mata, Hudson Potts, , and Jeisson Rosario.

Could they add a seventh?

SoxProspects.com Ian Cundall tweeted Nov. 13, “A name to watch at the 40-man roster deadline is RHP . Bazardo’s velocity was 93-97, up from 91-95 in 2019. He also has a plus CB with an elite spin rate of ~3000 rpm that he can command.”

Last offseason, MassLive.com named Bazardo as a player who the Red Sox might try to protect from the 2019 Rule 5 Draft. The Red Sox left him unprotect and he went undrafted.

The 25-year-old Venezuela native had a 2.21 ERA and averaged 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings in 73 ⅓ innings for High-A Salem and -A Portland in 2019.

Cundall also tweeted, "Bazardo was excellent at instructs and threw a lot, so other teams got a good look. If the Red Sox don’t protect him, there’s a good chance a team would take a shot on him in the Rule 5 draft given he has the potential for two plus pitches and at least average control.

Boston Red Sox expected to name Will Venable as bench coach; Cubs third base coach interviewed for managerial opening

Chris Cotillo

The Red Sox are expected to name Cubs third base coach Will Venable as their bench coach, a baseball source confirmed Tuesday evening. The team has not confirmed the move but it is expected to be finalized in the coming ndays.

Venable, 38, interviewed for Boston’s managerial opening last month before the club decided to bring back Cora, who was suspended for the 2020 season after being implicated in the Astros' sign-stealing scandal. In his first two years as manager, Cora’s bench coach was Ron Roenicke, who took over as manager for 2020 and was let go at the end of the season.

Last week, after being re-introduced as Boston’s manager, Cora said the club had not yet settled on his new bench coach. Cora and Roenicke are believed to have discussed the possibility of reuniting in the dugout but it appears the organization will go in a different direction. Jerry Narron, who served as Roenicke’s bench coach in 2020, was let go last month.

“I’m going to float some names. (The front office) is going to float some names,” Cora said “Kind of the same process that we did with (Roenicke). For experience, everybody was like, ‘He’s so experienced.’ I’ve only managed in the big leagues for two years and been a bench coach for one. I’ve been on the bench for three. I still need help in that department. It’s not like I know everything, I’ve got the system down. I still need help. We’re going to go over names. We’re going to pick the right guy.”

Venable, a California native and Princeton alum, played parts of nine seasons in the majors as an with the Padres (2008-2015), Rangers (2015) and Dodgers (2016), hitting .249 with 81 homers in 967 career games. After retiring, he joined the Cubs' organization as a special assistant to Theo Epstein before being promoted to the on-field staff in 2018. Venable was Chicago’s first-base coach in 2018 and 2019 before shifting across the diamond in 2020.

Venable interviewed for at least four managerial vacancies other than Boston’s, being considered for the Cubs, Giants and Astros openings last winter and the Tigers' opening this year.

Barstool Sports' Jared Carrabis first connected Venable to the opening.

* RedSox.com

Venable to be Boston's bench coach (source)

Ian Browne

BOSTON -- Red Sox manager Alex Cora is set to hire Will Venable as his new bench coach, a source told MLB.com. The club hasn't confirmed the hiring, which was first reported by Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.

Venable was the third-base coach for the Cubs in 2020, after serving as the team's first-base coach in 2018 and '19. He was one of nine candidates who interviewed for the Red Sox’s managerial opening, but the club instead opted to rehire Cora.

In Cora’s first stint as Boston’s manager from 2018-19, his bench coach was Ron Roenicke, who served as the team's manager in '20.

Back then, it was vital for Cora -- a rookie skipper -- to have someone next to him on the bench with prior managing experience. That is no longer a necessity with Cora establishing a track record that includes winning a World Series championship in 2018.

The 38-year-old Venable gives the Red Sox a young voice who was a Major League outfielder as recently as 2016. He is known for his strong communication skills with players, something that is always vital in the role of bench coach.

Will’s father, Max -- also an outfielder -- played in the Majors from 1979-91.

With Venable's hiring, the role of bullpen coach is the only opening left on Cora’s staff.

* WEEI.com

Source: Will Venable to be named next Red Sox bench coach

Rob Bradford

It appears as though Alex Cora has found his next bench coach.

According to a major league source, Will Venable will become Cora's next right-hand man. Venable, who is currently the Cubs third base coach, interviewed for the Red Sox manager job before Cora secured the position.

The Red Sox have not confirmed the hire.

The 38-year-old Venable is considered a rising star in the coaching ranks, having manned the Cubs' first- base coaching box for two season before moving over across the diamond in 2020.

Prior to his on-field duties Venable had been a special assistant to team president Theo Epstein in 2017.

Venable played. both basketball and baseball at Princeton prior to a professional baseball career that included nine years in the major leagues. An outfielder, he last played in 2016.

Jared Carrabis of Barstool Sports was first to surface Venable's name as a possibility for the bench coach job.

* NBC Sports Boston

Only person who can keep Curt Schilling from Cooperstown? Himself

John Tomase

Curt Schilling's politics aren't really keeping him out of Cooperstown. But there's still time.

Well before becoming a Trumpy, Breitbarty, conspiracy-frothing object of derision, mockery and/or pity, the Big Schill faced a long slog to immortality.

In 2013, his first year on the ballot, he received 38.8 percent of the vote, a criminally low percentage for one of baseball's best big-game pitchers. Writers viewed his candidacy with skepticism for reasons that entirely missed the point of his greatness, and had nothing to do with politics. While it's true that he puked away a good chunk of his 20s, there's no doubt what he became.

And yet voters treated him like a Bert Blyleven-style long hauler. His totals dropped below 30 percent in 2014, and by the time he started doing his sad little JV Alex Jones impression before the 2016 election -- captioning a photo mocking the lynching of journalists with the cringeworthy phrase, "so much awesome," that should never be uttered by an adult, for example -- the handful of conscientious objectors who abandoned ship didn't really decimate his totals, dropping him from 52.3 percent in 2016 to 45 percent in 2017.

The three years since, however, have seen Schilling finally build the late-candidacy momentum that carried Blyleven, Jim Rice, and Tim Raines to belated Hall of Fame berths. He hit 70 percent last year and will never have a better shot at reaching the 75 percent enshrinement threshold than now.

The official ballot was released on Monday, and if Schilling doesn't get in, then no one will. After years of legendary first-time candidates like Pedro Martinez, Chipper Jones, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter, this ballot is mediocre. The best of the first-timers is probably former Gold Glove outfielder Torii Hunter or maybe steady White Sox left-hander Mark Buerhle, and neither of them is getting in.

The best of Schilling's fellow holdovers include Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, whose names remain tainted by their association with performance-enhancing drugs. Both topped 60 percent for the first time last year, so who knows, maybe resistance is softening. But a group of hardcore voters will never consider them.

Call to the Hall? Curt Schilling’s recent vote totals (75% needed for induction)

Votes Percentage 2015 215/549 39.2% 2016 230/440 52.3% 2017 199/442 45.0% 2018 216/422 51.2% 2019 259/425 60.9% 2020 278/397 70.0%

So that leaves Schilling. The only way he screws this up is if he decides to wade back into the culture wars in some ham-handedly stupid way, which would be entirely on brand, though it helps that he has descended into social irrelevance.

His Twitter timeline still contains all-caps phrases like, "OUTRAGE!" and "FALSE" and "FRAUD" amidst predictable fever swamp rantings about the Georgia recount and Dominion Software and child sex offenders and Venezuelan something or other and... oh my god, scrolling that bilge for two minutes made me dumber.

But outside of sharing his keen insight into the Bubba Wallace NASCAR noose controversy -- "It was all a lie," just like that actor Jussie Smollett, if you must know -- Schilling's rantings have received precious little mainstream media coverage, because we've had enough crazy in our lives for the last four years, thank you very much.

He needs to keep it that way, because he's operating on razor-thin margins, and he can't afford to alienate even a handful of voters.

Prime Time Performer Curt Schilling allowed two runs or fewer in 16 of 19 career postseason outings, good for a 2.23 playoff ERA to go along with an 11-2 record & 0.97 WHIP.

But if we limit our criteria to Schilling's playing career, the case becomes straightforward. A legitimate argument can be made that Schilling is the greatest postseason pitcher ever. He went 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 19 starts, earning MVP honors in the 1993 NLCS and 2001 World Series. He helped the Diamondbacks shock the Yankees in 2001 and the Red Sox end the Curse three years later on a bloody sock. In the final appearance of his career, he earned a 2-1 win over the Rockies in Game 2 of the 2007 World Series.

If the Hall of Fame is about honoring baseball's best, then there should probably be room for the guy who was virtually unbeatable on the biggest stage, especially when he also retired with the best strikeout-to- walk ratio ever, back before strikeouts lost all meaning. The rest of Schilling's stats -- 216 wins, 3.46 ERA in the heart of the Steroid Era, 3,116 strikeouts -- are good enough to complete his journey.

The question is if he can leave the Q-Anonning to others for the next six weeks. With President Trump refusing to concede the election and new conspiracies lurking around every corner, that may be a gargantuan ask, but if ever there was a time to muzzle up, it's now.

He's got my vote, by the way. I find him more sad caricature than dangerous demagogue. Do I wish he would've just remained a McCain Republican instead of someone damaged enough to suggest that crisis actors infiltrated the ranks of the Parkland survivors? Hell yes, I say from my seat aboard the Straight Talk Express.

But it's not like we're finding a spot for Aubrey Huff. Schilling has earned enshrinement on the merits of his career, and if we've got to kill the mic or pray for a tornado during his acceptance speech, so be it.