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Home , Citgo, Will Venable

The Thursday, November 19, 2020

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Red Sox new bench Will Venable’s star is shining bright

Julian McWilliams

When Will Venable stepped on Princeton’s campus for his official recruiting visit before the fall of 2001, it was for basketball not baseball. He was a star on the court at San Rafael High School in Northern California. During his teenage years, basketball was Venable’s first love and what he saw as his future.

But Venable’s father, Max, a former major leaguer who carved out a 12-year playing career, knew his son. So, during the visit, as the younger Venable envisioned what it would be like to play for an historic brought to prominence by the legendary Pete Carril, Max slipped away to meet the Princeton baseball coach, .

The two had known each other in passing from their time in the majors. Sure, Max wanted to catch up on the time that had passed since they had seen each other, but Max also had a clear and distinct message for the Princeton skipper.

“He came up to the office just to kind of [say] hi and chat for a while,” Bradley recalled by phone Wednesday. “And he said, ‘Look, I think at some point, Will would want to play baseball. He hasn’t played in two years.’ ”

Venable didn’t turn an eye toward the baseball diamond early into his freshman year. It was all basketball. He averaged just over 15 minutes per game during his freshman campaign and the Tigers finished 16-12, second in the Ivy League. But as his father had predicted, the baseball bug would eventually him. After nearly three years away from the game, Venable felt it was the right time for a return and intimated that to Bradley.

“I said, ‘You want to go hit?’ ’’ Bradley remembered asking Venable at the time. “He said, ‘Sure.’ ” I go, ‘When was the last time you hit?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know, maybe three years ago.’ ”

The first five pitches Bradley threw Venable, he missed. The next five Bradley threw him, he popped up in the cage.

“Then he became our best hitter,” Bradley said.

Venable played three seasons for Bradley and turned himself into a seventh-round draft choice by the in 2005 after hitting .385 with nine homers during his senior season. He turned that into a nine-year playing career in the majors for the Padres, Rangers, and , hitting .249 with 81 homers while playing all three outfield positions.

This is an example of who Venable is. That’s why his latest challenge as the new Red Sox bench coach under isn’t random. Venable knows he’s capable. Furthermore, he understands when it’s time to make a shift.

“In his last year [in the majors in 2016], he called me and said, ‘You know, I could probably go make a team. But I think I really want to get onto the other side of baseball, you know, whether it is player development, coaching,’ ” Bradley said. “He knew it at that point.”

In 2017, Venable served as the Cubs’ special assistant to president , before taking on the role as the team’s first base coach for the 2018-19 seasons. In 2020, he became the Cubs’ third base coach. Veteran understands the road Venable took to get here and what he can offer the game and the Red Sox. The two were teammates in San Diego for parts of four seasons (2011-14). Then, Venable briefly coached Maybin last season with the Cubs.

“I don’t think there is a bad thing that I can say about Will Venable, the friend, the teammate, the coach,” Maybin said via text. “I’ve never met a guy more driven to be prepared. The thing I love about him the most is that he’s always finding a way to get better. I truly think the combination of him and Alex Cora is going to be something serious. Those are definitely two of the brightest minds in the game right now.”

Venable, 38, is widely considered to be a bright managerial candidate. For now, though, he’s beginning a new chapter with the Sox. One that his college coach thinks will be a successful one based on Venable’s shrewdness, of course, but also his human touch.

“He’s one of the best human beings that I have ever been associated with in my life,” Bradley said.

After a summer in Mississippi, Red Sox prospect Blaze Jordan is finally back in the swing of things

Julian McWilliams

Blaze Jordan finally felt what it was like to be a part of the Red Sox organization during instructional league play this fall. Jordan, the Sox’ third-round draft choice in June, spent an entire summer working out in his home state of Mississippi after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the minor league season. So, once he finally arrived at the Sox’ facility in Fort Myers, Fla., and returned to the baseball diamond, Jordan quickly found his comfort zone.

“It was easy to settle in,” the 17-year-old Jordan said last week by phone. “The coaches, they were great, and the guys, they were great, too. Overall, I felt like I got a lot better while I was down there and I was able to get a lot of good instruction down there, too.”

Beginning in middle school, Jordan was known as one of the top power-hitting amateurs in the country. Few could replicate his ability to hit tape-measure shots. This past summer marked the first time in a while that Jordan couldn’t display that power. However, once baseball resumed, Jordan’s skill set was still evident.

“Having seen him so much as an amateur, you almost get a little sense of prospect fatigue,” said Red Sox amateur scouting director Paul Toboni, who had a huge say in drafting Jordan. “But it’s kind of refreshing when you see him pop into instructional league and you see some of our player-development guys wide- eyed. He’s got crazy bat speed and is going to have good power.”

Said Jordan: “I was seeing the ball really well. I still have to make a few adjustments.”

One of those adjustments is pitch selection, something both Toboni and Jordan acknowledged as an area for improvement.

“He’s got hand-eye coordination, he can handle different pitch types,” Toboni said. “He does a lot of things that are conducive to being a good hitter with time. For me, I think when it’s going to click, he’s going to find a way to shrink the zone and force pitchers to come into him.”

Controlling the strike zone and remaining disciplined are often problematic for young players, particularly a player with Jordan’s ability. At the amateur level, advanced hitters can often fall into bad habits like chasing pitches out of the strike zone just because they have the ability to square them up.

Yet, as competition stiffens, so does the pitching and the velocity, forcing hitters to focus on not expanding. It’s a skill that Toboni said he thinks Jordan will discover with time, maturation, and more at-bats.

On the defensive side, Jordan strictly played third base. He said the Sox helped him with his positioning and simplified his glove action. He had a habit of flipping his glove prior to fielding a grounder. The Sox eliminated that.

“The game was a lot quicker, but I was able to slow it down by making those adjustments,” Jordan said. “I’m pretty confident playing over there next season, too.”

If there is one question mark, it’s Jordan’s defense. Jordan, who doesn’t turn 18 until Dec. 19, already carries a mature frame at 6 feet 2 inches, 218 pounds. He’s not the most athletic player for the position, and perhaps he fits the profile of a first baseman.

Nevertheless, the Sox have said that they feel Jordan could stick at third base. He can sometimes be rigid and lack fluidity, but Toboni, too, is confident he can play the position.

“I think he has a legitimate shot to stay there,” Toboni said. “I think most teams, probably as an amateur, take him as a first baseman.

“But the one thing about Blaze is that he’s incredibly mature. I think he has a good feel for implementing the adjustments that he has to make. I think that’s oftentimes overlooked. But if he knows the adjustments he has to make, he’s going to work toward making those adjustments.”

* The Boston Herald

Red Sox’ Chaim Bloom leading his front office with Theo Epstein in mind

Jason Mastrodonato

Before he accepted the offer to be the Red Sox’ chief baseball officer last October, Chaim Bloom reached out to Theo Epstein.

They had met before, though Bloom doesn’t remember when, and it felt appropriate to discuss what it’d be like running a Sox organization that Epstein once captained through a nine-year span that included two World Series titles and one infamous gorilla suit incident.

Before stepping into Epstein’s old shoes, Bloom wanted him to know he respected him.

“I made sure to tell him that I knew how important people here are to him and the culture here is to him,” Bloom told the Herald by phone Wednesday. “And I understood it was my responsibility to make sure to do right by him. And I’ll take that seriously.”

Epstein, who announced Tuesday he’d be stepping down from his role atop the organization and is likely taking a brief hiatus from working in baseball, had created a culture known for having a rigorous work schedule, but one that demanded teamwork and a healthy dose of entertainment along the way.

“Yeah, that seems clear to me,” Bloom said. “We’re all working really hard. If you can’t find ways to laugh, find ways to have fun in the midst of that, you’re probably not going to be at your best.”

Epstein was a Yale University graduate in 1995 after majoring in American Studies, while Bloom graduated from Yale in 2004 with his focus on an equally ambiguous major of Latin classics.

“I think it was a sign that people with backgrounds like mine were being taken seriously and had paths forward,” Bloom said.

When Bloom arrived at Fenway last October, he felt the essence of a culture that Epstein had started creating two decades earlier.

“I think it became a model for a lot of front office cultures around the game,” Bloom said. “Now that I work here, I still see that culture. Although it’s gone through a lot different changes over the years and people have come and gone, that culture he shepherded in the beginning is still in place.

“Talking to people and fusing my impressions as a competitor for so many years, with what I see being on the inside, in terms of people looking out for each other, having each others’ backs, the family feel this organization has, that this department has, I know a lot of that can be traced back to the early days when this group was just getting started with Theo at the helm.”

Bloom is trying to make his own mark on a Red Sox organization that once saw Epstein sign David Ortiz in 2003, snap an 86-year championship drought in 2004 and drafted Dustin Pedroia that same year.

“Knowing what’s been achieved here in the past, I think that drives you further,” Bloom said. “It’s not a mystery what this town is like, what this region is like, when there’s a championship team playing in . That goal, and knowing what that looks like, is a real motivator.”

Epstein brought championships to Boston and Chicago after long droughts. But he’s also helped revolutionize the game out of the steroid era and through the current more analytical-driven style of roster building.

During his parting comments in Chicago on Wednesday, Epstein said he had regrets about his own impact on the game, which has been criticized for being too heavily based around numbers. Strikeouts and home runs are at all-time highs, while the baseball has never been put in play as infrequently.

“It is the greatest game in the world, but there are some threats to it just because of the way the game is evolving. I take some responsibility for that,” Epstein told reporters on a conference call. “Executives like me who have spent a lot of time using analytics and other measures to try to optimize individual and team performance have unwittingly had a negative impact on the aesthetic value of the game and the entertainment value of the game in some respects.

“Clearly, the strikeout rate is a little bit out of control. We need to find a way to get more action in the game, get the ball in play a little more often, allow players to show their athleticism some more, give the fans more of what they want.”

Bloom generally agreed, but had a different take.

“I think we still have such a great game,” Bloom said. “So, I think we have to keep that in mind. The game of baseball in any form is just an incredible product and we shouldn’t be ashamed of that.

“And I do think some of the innovations that have come into the game, in the service of winning, that have just come out of competition, have probably made the game on the margins a little less exciting as an entertainment product. You can’t blame teams for trying to win. That may mean it’s our responsibility as an industry to explore ways to continue to make what is a great game as accessible as possible for as many people as possible.”

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox 40-man roster overhaul to continue Friday: Top prospects , Bryan Mata, others will be added

Christopher Smith

Ten players who finished the 2020 regular season on the Red Sox’s 40-man roster no longer remain in the organization. The roster turnover will continue Friday (tomorrow), the deadline for MLB teams to protect Rule 5 Draft eligible minor leaguers.

The Red Sox’s 40-man roster is at 36 players. Boston is expected to add at least six prospects — Jay Groome, Bryan Mata, , , Hudson Potts and Jeisson Rosario — to its 40-man roster Friday.

Boston also could protect a seventh minor leaguer, , after his strong performance at fall instructional camp.

And so the Red Sox will need to open at least two roster spots, maybe three, to make room for these six or seven prospects.

Twenty-five percent of the 40-man roster from the final day of the regular season is gone.

The Red Sox outrighted seven players — José Peraza, César Puello, Dylan Covey, Tzu-Wei Lin, Robinson Leyer, Mick Kickham, Godley and Andrew Triggs — off the 40-man roster. Boston declined Martin Perez’s $6.85 million option for 2021, making him a free agent. The Mariners claimed Domingo Tapia off waivers from Boston. Jackie Bradley Jr., meanwhile, elected free agency.

The Red Sox then reinstated Dustin Pedroia and from the 60-day as well as Andrew Benintendi, Colten Brewer and Kyle Hart from the 45-day IL. Eduardo Rodriguez also was reinstated from the injured list to make 36 players on the 40-man.

SoxProspects.com Ian Cundall tweeted Nov. 13, “A name to watch at the 40-man roster deadline is RHP Eduard Bazardo. 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.”

Cundall noted “there’s a good chance” another team could select Bazardo in December’s Rule 5 Draft if the Red Sox don’t protect him.

A team that drafts an unprotected player must give $100,000 to the player’s previous team. The player must stay on his new team’s 26-man roster for the entire next season (barring an IL stint) or be returned to his former club for $50,000. The Red Sox drafted Jonathan Arauz in last December’s Rule 5 Draft after the Astros left the second baseman/shortstop unprotected.

This will be Bazardo’s second year of Rule 5 Draft eligibility. MassLive.com speculated in November 2019 that Boston might protect Bazardo, but the organization did not add him to the 40-man roster then. He went undrafted in the 2019 Rule 5 Draft and remained in the organization.

The 25-year-old native recorded a 2.21 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, .206 batting average against and 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings in 73 ⅓ innings for High-A Salem and -A Portland in 2019.

The Red Sox re-signed Stephen Gonsalves and Josh Ockimey to minor league contracts earlier this month. But they also will be Rule 5 Draft eligible if Boston doesn’t add them to the 40-man roster by Friday.

Bobby Poyner and Mike Shawaryn also are Rule 5 Draft eligible and teams might have interest. More teams could select players in the Rule 5 Draft this year because they are on tight budgets in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Boston Red Sox owners ‘looking into’ buying another major North American sports franchise (report)

Chris Cotillo

Fenway Sports Group, the parent company that owns the Red Sox, is “looking into” purchasing another major North American sports franchise, according to Michael Silverman of the Boston Globe. According to Silverman, the company could purchase a “NHL, NBA, NFL, WNBA, MLS, or NWSL (team) to join the Red Sox and ” in its portfolio.

The conglomerate is also considering purchasing another European soccer club to pair with Liverpool and exploring acquisitions in sports betting, esports and data analytics and real estate, according to Silverman. The group, which is led by John Henry, chairman Tom Werner and president Mike Gordon, has owned the Red Sox since 2002.

Fenway Sports Group already owns the Red Sox, the Liverpool club, 80% of NESN, Roush Fenway Racing, Fenway Park and Liverpool’s stadium, Anfield. Expansion into another North American sports league would represent a next step for the group, which is not known to have bid for an NHL, NBA or NFL franchise since buying the Red Sox nearly two decades ago.

In October, reported that Henry was looking to take Fenway Sports Group public through a merger with RedBall Acquisition Company, which is co-chaired by Gerry Cardinale and Athletics vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane. The possibility exists that Beane, who has worked for the A’s since 1990, would leave baseball and “turn his attention to other sports business ventures, particularly European soccer, an area he has demonstrated a passion for in recent years.”

Why did Boston Red Sox bring back suspended relay operator J.T. Watkins? ‘He should have his employment taken on its own merits,’ Chaim Bloom says

Chris Cotillo

Appearing on WEEI on Wednesday afternoon, Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom explained the team’s somewhat controversial to bring suspended former video replay coordinator J.T. Watkins back to the organization.

Watkins was suspended for the 2020 season after found that he -- on an episodic basis -- used video feeds to view signs and revise his scouting reports during games in 2018, which is a violation of baseball’s rules. Last week, The Boston Globe reported that Watkins was back in the Sox’ organization as a professional scout.

Bloom said he considered the totality of Watkins’ impact when deciding his future.

“It ultimately fell on my shoulders to take a stance on that after considering everything,” Bloom said on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria.” “Certainly something that, I think, J.T. should have the question of his employment taken on its own merits. I think -- and you can see a lot of it in the commissioner’s report -- as much as the commissioner found that he had committed a violation, he also recognized that the state of where the rules were and the position he was in, basically, was a very difficult position for someone to be in. That was something we factored in. We also thought he has come back in a pro scouting position. Independent of what the report lays out that he did, he’s a good person who treats people well and he has been a good employee and a great teammate. That’s something we factored in, too.”

Watkins, 31, is a West Point graduate and former minor-league catcher who has worked for the club in a front office capacity since 2017. From 2017 to 2019, Watkins traveled with the club and was in uniform, working alongside video coordinator Billy Broadbent and advance scouting manager Steve Langone on the team’s video staff. When Alex Cora was hired as manager in 2018, he overhauled the advance scouting department, taking Langone off the road and having the three-man crew travel with the Red Sox throughout the season.

After investigating the Red Sox for alleged improprieties related to sign-stealing, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred exonerated Cora and the team’s front office, blaming the violations on Watkins.

“The issue in this case stems from the fact that Watkins—the employee responsible for decoding an opponent’s signs prior to and following the game—also was the person stationed in the replay room during the game to advise the Manager on whether to challenge a play on the field,” Manfred wrote at the time.

As part of the decision, MLB ruled that Watkins could not serve as the Sox’ replay room operator in 2021, so he was not allowed to return to his old role, even with Cora being re-hired as manager earlier this month.

“We did feel it was most appropriate, if he was going to come back, to come back in a different role,” Bloom said. “That was a role he also wanted to take on. He’s not going to be in our clubhouse, he’s not going to be with our traveling party but he’s going to be able to contribute to the organization in a scouting position. He’s got great feel for the game. I know it’s probably an unanticipated detour for his career but we’re confident he’s going to make us better in that position and add some value in that position.”

Boston Red Sox sign Michael Gettys (31 homers at A in 2019) to minor league contract

Christopher Smith

The Boston Red Sox have signed Michael Gettys, a power-hitting , to a minor league contract, per the MLB transaction log.

Gettys is a 25-year-old right-handed hitter who the San Diego Padres drafted in the second round (51st overall) in 2014.

He belted 31 home runs, 29 doubles and five triples with 91 RBIs, 96 runs, 14 steals, a .256 batting average, .305 on-base percentage, .517 and .822 OPS in 128 games (551 plate appearances) for San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate, El Paso, in 2019.

But he also struck out 168 times compared to walking 33 times. His strikeout rate has been a serious issue. He had a 30.5% strikeout percentage at Triple A in 2019, a 33.8% strikeout percentage at Double A in 2018 and a 37.2% strikeout percentage at High A in 2017 (Fangraphs.com).

As @redsoxstats pointed out on Twitter, Gettys also has an above-average with a strong arm:

Other signings

Boston re-signed Enmanuel De Jesus to a minor league contract. The 23-year-old left-handed pitcher from Venezuela posted a 3.58 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and .275 batting average against in 24 starts for High-A Salem in 2019.

Kevin McCarthy also has officially signed with the Red Sox. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported the news last week.

MassLive.com wrote Nov. 12: McCarthy, a 28-year-old righty, has made 169 appearances for the Royals since 2016. In that span, he posted a 3.80 ERA, 1.409 WHIP and 5.7 K/9. He was a big part of Kansas City’s bullpen in 2017 and 2018 (3.23 ERA in 98 games) but struggled in 2019 and made only five appearances in the majors in 2020, being optioned to the Royals' alternate training site less than a month into the season.

* WEEI.com

After listening to Chaim Bloom, it's clear the Red Sox should absolutely call on Blake Snell

Rob Bradford

Digesting what Chaim Bloom had to say on OMF Wednesday, one Hot Stove idea got at least a little more interesting.

The Red Sox should call on Blake Snell and/or Kevin Kiermaier.

Why did Bloom's words advance the idea? Because before you can entertain such trade scenarios there has to be willingness by the Rays to make a deal with one of their East rivals.

It was former Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos who said during the offseason leading up to Roy Halladay ultimately being dealt that, sure, he would trade with division foes, but it just might cost them a little more.

Bloom, of course, has great insight to how Tampa Bay might be thinking when it comes to pulling off such trades. It's why his explanation of the approach with Lou Merloni, Glenn Ordway and Christian Fauria should be noted.

"Having been there, I don't think so," said Bloom when asked if he felt the Rays would be reluctant to deal with the Red Sox. "I think that's one of the things I learned over times there is that you have to be fearless. If you believe in your process, even if it's something that is risky, even if it's something that might be unpopular, you have to be willing to follow that. A lot of the things that worked out over time there were not that popular upfront or they were perceived as being risky out of the shoot and it just came down to if you have good people and a good process and you believe in it you have a chance to make some gains. Sometimes to do that you have to be willing to take some incoming upfront. But if you get scared off by that or you get scared off by maybe this will look bad or what will people say, things like that, then you're going to miss out on some opportunities. So obviously there are a lot more eyeballs on our organization, no question, but that's mindset I've tried to take here."

It's a start.

But once that call is made, and an acceptance to start the discussion is hatched, then comes the reality of what it might take to pull off such deals.

Kiermaier has two more years of arbitration eligibility, while Snell possesses three. But keep in mind that this is a Rays organization that is still very much strapped for cash -- (with both players expected to make upwards of $10 million in 2021) -- and has a history of trading players a year too early instead of a year too late.

Kiermaier is obviously a good fit for the Red Sox because they need a centerfielder and, defensively, he is one of the best in the game. The 30-year-old has taken a downturn offensively in recent years, but would automatically represent perhaps the most athletic player on the diamond for a team in desperate need for such a dynamic.

Snell is a whole different ballgame.

Remember when the Red Sox went all-in to get Chris Sale? At the time the lefty had three years of control left on his contract, same as Snell. He was heading into his Age 28 season, same as Snell. And, of course, we remember the cost of doing business when it came to securing the then-White Sox ace: Two of the top prospects in baseball in Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech.

The problem is that the Red Sox don't possess those kind of almost-ready-for-the-majors high-end prospects, with some semblance of proven farm system depth behind them, like they did in 2016.

Bloom seems very much intent on prioritizing building up this minor league system before starting to pick from it for these sort of deals.

But, conversely, if you do value a no-doubt-about-it ace, like Dave Dombrowski did, then it's a worthy investment. Eduardo Rodriguez might have one more year in Boston, while both Chris Sale and can leave after 2022. Three years of Snell allows to see exactly which of the Red Sox' young arms can be heir apparents (if any).

Maybe the two teams just don't match up right now. Wrong teams, wrong time. But at least we have an idea of where they might be coming from when thinking about such a proposition.

Let the conversations begin.

Red Sox lock up former Padres power-hitting top prospect

Rob Bradford

The Red Sox have added an intriguing power-hitting outfield prospect.

Michael Gettys, a second-round pick of the Padres in the 2014 MLB Draft, has signed a minor-league deal with the Sox. The 25-year-old spent all of the 2019 season in Triple-A, slugging 31 home runs in 128 games for El Paso.

The knock on Gettys has been his inability to make consistent contact, striking out 168 times in 507 at-bats during his last full season.

Gettys was taken with the 51st overall pick in 2014, agreeing to a $1.3 million signing bonus, jumping to straight out of Gainesville (GA) High. He had been committed to play collegiately at the University of Georgia.

Gettys, who does not have an invite to Red Sox' big league camp, got 10 at-bats for the Padres in last season's 1.0.

* NBC Sports Boston

How could help Sox move on from Mookie

John Tomase

*Throughout this month we'll put a member of the 2020 Red Sox and one of their most notable statistics under the microscope while assessing their season and what lies ahead. Today's installment: Alex Verdugo.

4 That's Verdugo's streak of seeing his average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS increase. It also happens to be the length of his career.

Verdugo debuted in 2017 with the Dodgers at age 21 and hit .174. His average has since increased each season, to .260, .294, and this year's .308, when he earned one fifth-place MVP vote. His OBP has similarly climbed from .240 to .367, his slugging percentage from .304 to .478, and his OPS from .544 to .844.

If Verdugo continues on this trajectory, he will be an All-Star and the Red Sox won't have to feel quite so bad about trading away MVP Mookie Betts. Verdugo may never be Betts, but he's already a mild facsimile, and he should only improve.

What went right for Verdugo in 2020 Verdugo was easily the team's MVP after hitting .308 with six homers and 15 RBIs. He also recorded a league-leading seven assists in the outfield, where he showed off a cannon arm in both left and right.

Beyond putting up numbers, Verdugo played with an infectious energy that would've made him feel right at home with the "Idiots" in 2004. He's exactly the kind of player the Red Sox need if they want to win back fans and create some buzz, because he's got personality to spare.

He's also impressively calm in the box, especially against left-handed pitching, which suggests a ceiling of All-Star and everyday linchpin atop an order.

What went wrong for Verdugo in 2020 It's easy to forget now, but Verdugo arrived from the Dodgers with a broken back that required months of rehab. Had the season started on time, it's hard to say when Verdugo would've been available, but it certainly wouldn't have been on Opening Day.

The back -- which he injured on a swing in L.A. in 2019 and then reinjured almost immediately -- will be worth monitoring moving forward, because Verdugo generates impressive torque with his swing, which leaves him at risk of re-injury.

Early outlook for 2021 The Red Sox don't have a lot to feel great about heading into an uncertain offseason, but Verdugo's emergence certainly qualifies as the most positive development of 2020.

He embraces the idea of being the center of attention in a baseball-crazed market, and one suspects that if and when the Red Sox return to contention, the well-rounded 24-year-old will be right in the middle of the action.

* BostonSportsJournal.com

New hire for Red Sox illustrates how role of bench coach has changed

Sean McAdam, BostonSportsJournal.com

Like seemingly everything else in baseball, the role of bench coach is currently evolving.

When the position first became popularized some 20 or so years ago, the bench coach was seen as someone who could serve as an in-game guide and navigator for the manager. Picture a travel companion — in the pre-GPS era — on a long cross-country trek, sitting in the passenger seat, offering directions, monitoring levels and suggestions for upcoming rest stops.

In a baseball sense, the job was to offer helpful reminders about who was due up the next inning for the opposition, prepare reserve players for pinch-hitting or pinch-running situations and analyze matchups while serving as a sounding board for the manager.

When Alex Cora was first hired by the Red Sox two years ago, Cora had only spent one season in the dugout, serving, ironically, as a bench coach. He had little experience running a game and balancing the innumerable decisions that have to made over the course of a given game.

Cora’s first choice for the position was Dana LeVangie. Cora liked LeVangie’s instincts and scouting acumen. But then-president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski rejected that request, arguing that Cora needed a more seasoned presence in the dugout, someone who had managed extensively and could help slow down the game for a first-year manager.

Ron Roenicke, who had managed parts of five seasons in Milwaukee and countless seasons in the minors, was the veteran, calming presence brought in to help guide Cora through the choppy waters. He was, in retrospect, the perfect choice: experienced, steady and deferential, while not afraid to challenge Cora, having once served as his manager in the minor leagues.

But as Cora returns for a second stint with the Sox, both he and the position have grown. With two years of managing on his resume, Cora isn’t in need of someone to hold his hand.

Instead, Cora needs someone to manage — not the game itself, which Cora is doing, but rather, everything else: the incessant flow of information that comes from the analytics department, the day-to-day goings-on that occur hours before gametime, the coordination of schedules.

More than ever, it’s an administrative position now. The bench coach is no longer wing man, but instead, more of coordinator.

Into that role steps Will Venable, who only a few weeks ago was being interviewed for the job that eventually went to Cora. A former two-sport athlete at Princeton, Venable is bright and engaging, accomplished at building relationships and transmitting information. Someone who has worked with Venable recently suggested that he’s future managerial material, an assessment the Red Sox obviously shared.

It doesn’t matter much that Venable hasn’t games before. After a nine-year playing career, Venable spent an off-season as a special assistant to Theo Epstein. He then spent two seasons as the Cubs’ first base coach before moving to third base coach in 2020.

But his lack of dugout experience is inconsequential, as the job is changing.

Venable will be a human clearing house of information. He’ll be providing data to others on the coaching staff. If Cora needs to know how many times in the last five days has been up in the bullpen, it will be Venable’s job to know.

Two aspects of the job will remain largely unchanged from past bench coaches. Venable will be tasked with running spring training — organizing and scheduling drills and workout times, which players are to report to what fields, and assist Cora in scheduling which players will make upcoming road trips.

Also, Venable will be the conduit between Cora and the players. If is being given a day off in three days, it will be Venable’s duty to inform Bogaerts of that news. Conversely, it will be Venable who will be the sounding board. Players with questions about their usage or responsibilities can go through Venable, with knowledge that their concerns and issues will be relayed to the manager through a sort of baseball chain of command.

Of course, Venable will be encouraged to offer his viewpoint and commentary on the game as it unfolds. He can suggest a particular matchup that could work in the Sox’ favor, or remind Cora of a move that could be a made in an inning or two. All input is welcome.

But that won’t be his primary job description. Alex Cora doesn’t need an assistant manager any more. He’s more in need of administrative assistant.

* The Athletic

The Alex Cora first-day photo three years in the making

Chad Jennings

Red Sox team photographer Billie Weiss arrived at Fenway Park around 8 a.m. He was there for a celebration — or an interrogation — set for that afternoon, depending the point of view. The plan was to set up his gear, then head to the Hotel Commonwealth to recreate a bit of history.

Just as he’d done three years earlier, Weiss was going meet Alex Cora in the hotel lobby, follow him over the David Ortiz Bridge, get a perfect shot of him against the Citgo sign in the background, and document the very moment Cora stepped into Fenway Park as the new Red Sox manager.

But Cora beat him to the punch, arriving at Fenway before even before early bird Weiss.

“All of a sudden,” Weiss said, “it was like, there he was in the office.”

For a week now, that’s been the story of Cora’s re-introduction. It’s just kind of happened, natural and familiar, less scripted and less stressful than it might have been given the circumstances.

From last Tuesday’s press conference through various radio and television interviews since, Cora has faced questions about his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal of 2017 and his connection to the Red Sox subsequent sign stealing of 2018. Team president Sam Kennedy has addressed the organization’s willingness to bring Cora back despite his cheating, and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has explained his own process of getting to know, trust and ultimately hire Cora, despite an outside perception that ownership was never going to let him hire anyone else.

What could have been a public relations nightmare has been a smooth rollout. The negative optics of Cora’s return — which are undeniable to all and overwhelming to some — were not a roadblock to his candidacy, and they have not been a total disruption of his return. If anything, in the midst of this awful year both on and off the field, Cora’s arrival has been more of a high point than a new low.

“It felt like Day 1 of good things to come for the organization,” one team employee told The Athletic. “You could feel a collective sigh of relief among the few people who were there that day.”

Officially hired on November 6 and re-introduced at an outdoor press conference on November 10, Cora had four days to prepare for what he would say. He had all summer to think about it, really.

Red Sox vice president of media relations Kevin Gregg said it’s not uncommon in situations like that — a negative storyline with a relatively predictable line of questioning — for a player, coach or executive to rehearse answers and ask Gregg for feedback.

Is this answer too strong? Would saying this make it better or worse? Does answering this way get my point across?

But Gregg said Cora did not rehearse. At least, not in that way. Cora and Gregg had a 10-minute phone call, and Gregg followed up with an email.

“Literally, that was it,” Gregg said. “The lead time and obvious topics led to us not spending as much time as you might expect to prepare for something of this magnitude.”

Ultimately, the organization put its faith in Cora’s own accountability and communication skills. Ownership had been singing his praises since the day he left, so the internal narrative didn’t need adjustment, and the insistence that Bloom was free to make his own decision was going to be the Red Sox story whether anyone believed it or not.

“There was not a lot, if any, scripting,” Kennedy said. “It was just a genuine recollection of what happened.”

Cora opened his portion of the opening news conference with a 500-word statement in which he apologized, took responsibility for his actions, said he deserved his year-long suspension, and promised to use it as a learning tool to make himself a better father, manager and person. He was not combative, did not point fingers, and addressed both ownership and the front office by name, a reminder of his familiarity with those around him.

“Thank you for trusting me,” he said. “Now, let’s get back to work.”

It was only later Cora admitted his heart was “pounding 1,000 miles per hour.”

After the televised news conference from home plate — held outside to mitigate risk of coronavirus — Cora held a 30-minute video call with Red Sox beat writers, then did a one-on-one interview with NESN host Tom Caron. Two days later, he was a guest on WEEI’s afternoon show with Glenn Ordway, Lou Merloni and Christian Fauria. On Friday, he did a couple of segments on Sirius/XM radio and a CBS Boston interview with Dan Roche. Monday morning was the last of his rollout interviews, a seven-minute segment on MLB Network in which Cora told the now-familiar story of his own summer-long uncertainty about his future, the five-hour interview with Bloom and general manager Brian O’Halloran in a Puerto Rican airport hangar, and ultimately his return to Boston.

By the end, he was answering the usual managerial questions about what the team needs to do to get better. The stain of suspension, Cora has said repeatedly, will be with him forever, but he’s in the process of managing with it.

“I wouldn’t say that there wasn’t concern or worry (about the optics of bringing Cora back),” Kennedy said. “Once I knew all the facts associated with 2017 and 2018, that’s when I became entirely comfortable … I think it just speaks to authentic, open, trusting, direct communication. I do believe that telling the truth and acknowledging mistakes — we all make mistakes, Lord knows — and apologizing for the mistakes and committing to learn from them, was a really important factor here.”

Here’s another factor to consider: Weiss said he’s been always struck by the way Cora thinks about marketing, branding and messaging. It seems unusual for someone in his position. Cora has encouraged the Red Sox social media team to get up close and personal with the team, and he’s suggested ways to better promote individual players’ personalities. In 2018, on the first day of his first spring training, Cora asked for an impromptu team photo of not only the players and coaches, but also the front office executives, support staff, and peripheral employees.

“He’s aware of the whole package,” Gregg said. “And how other things relate and can affect the bottom line of the business.”

Extrapolate that and apply it to this situation. Cora would have recognized from the beginning that his transgressions went beyond the game itself. He not only would have to answer to the league and serve his suspension, he would have to clean up his own mess if the Red Sox were to bring him back. The time since his re-hiring has been a public relations minefield the Red Sox have navigated primarily by putting a microphone in front of Cora and letting him speak.

If it were someone else, would the Red Sox have felt a need to do their own damage control or to more carefully script a response?

“With someone else, who knows if we even would have been in that position?” Kennedy said.

On the morning of that initial news conference, when Weiss found Cora already at Fenway Park, the photographer asked whether the manager might need to get anything from his hotel before the event began. Cora did have to go back, he said, and so Weiss tagged along and got the shot he’d envisioned. It was a shot of Cora crossing the bridge, the Citgo sign looming in the background and Fenway Park unseen ahead. It was the same shot Weiss captured three years ago, when Cora first got the job, except this time Cora was wearing a mask and carrying some unseen baggage.

“It felt the same,” Weiss said. “It felt familiar. It felt easy.”

And when Cora actually got back to the ballpark for the first day of his second chance?

“It felt,” Weiss said, “like we were turning a corner.”