* In Red Sox history, there are some quotes that linger.
Rookie manager Dick Williams made headlines before the 1967 season when he vowed “We’ll win more than we lose,” a seemingly absurd guarantee for a team that had finished in ninth place the year before, 18 games under .500. Turns out, Williams knew of what he spoke.
Others, however, didn’t age quite as well.
More than a decade later, owner/GM Haywood Sullivan waved off calls to sign free agent lefty Tommy John, assuring one and all that the Sox “knew something” about John that made him a bad investment. John went on to win 43 games for the rival Yankees over the next two years, suggesting that Sullivan’s intel was perhaps suspect.
In the 1990s, GM Lou Gorman explained that the Red Sox had fired Joe Morgan and replaced him with Butch Hobson, in part because the Sox were afraid that other teams were going to hire Hobson away from them. That fear, in retrospect, was ill-founded.
More recently, on the day that the Red Sox introduced Craig Breslow as their new chief baseball officer, team chairman Tom Werner promised that the Red Sox would go “full throttle” in their efforts to improve the roster this winter. It’s still (relatively) early in the offseason, but so far, the Red Sox have mostly sputtered and stalled out.
Maybe reports in recent days that had the Red Sox offering Japanese free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto in excess of $300 million will prove true and the Red Sox will end up winning the bidding. That would go a long, long way to restoring confidence in ownership’s commitment to winning and could help vault the Red Sox back into playoff contention.
But if the Red Sox are ultimately outbid and Yamamoto signs elsewhere, it’s hard to see how the Red Sox generate the kind of necessary winter buzz they so obviously need. It would seem they’re not seriously in the running for Blake Snell and every other available free agent pitcher is at least a rung below elite.
And while his intentions may have been pure at the time, Werner will have some explaining to do and his words will instead live in infamy.
* There hasn’t been a lot to celebrate when it comes to the Patriots’ season, but David Andrews deserves some praise — not only for his play on the field where he ranks ninth among NFL centers by Pro Football Focus, but also the way he conducts himself.
After every game, win or lose (far more losses this year, obviously), Andrews is typically the first player to take questions from reporters. He does so with unfailing patience and grace, all the while conveying the frustration that comes with being a co-captain of a team enduring a season heading nowhere.
* I like the snarl in Jeremy Swayman’s game. Swayman isn’t afraid to administer a two-hander to anyone encroaching on his space in front of the net. He’s no match for Billy Smith — aka “The Hatchet Man” — but he’s making his presence (and truculence) known to all those intent on messing with him.
* My son, the film buff, wants to know why more hasn’t been made of the fact that the Joe Pesci’s character in Goodfelllas was named….Tommy DeVito.
Meanwhile, it’s worth asking: Is DeVito-mania just the latest version of Linsanity in New York? The latter didn’t have much shelf life, as it turned out.
* Quite apart from the fact that they haven’t addressed their most obvious and pressing need, the Red Sox have made some nice small moves this offseason. Breslow essentially traded a year of Alex Verdugo for a year of Tyler O’Neil, which I would do in a heartbeat. Some of the other depth moves have some potential for upside, too.
Not that anyone wants to hear about those.
* Looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for that hockey fan in your life? Try Tough Guys by Dale Arnold (Triumph). Arnold profiles a long list of NHL’s enforcers, who talk about their peculiar roles. Among his subjects: Chris Nilan, Jay Miller, Terry O’Reilly and P.J. Stock. It’s a revealing read into an increasingly rare subculture and comes recommended.
* On the subject of Christmas gifts for the sports fan in your life, I can think of no more worthy charitable endeavor than The BASE, which uses the power and passion of baseball and sports to engage urban youth in a positive, success-driven culture that sets them up for academic and career success.
The BASE has teamed up with the K Men — the group who hang placards in the Fenway bleachers to track strikeouts — and together have designed limited edition T-shirts to help benefit The BASE. Visit www.bostonkmen.org to see the shirts and find out how to purchase them.
* Doesn’t it seem like the vast majority of NFL games now go down to the wire, with the winner dependent on who has the ball last? It makes for some thrilling finishes, but also reinforces the notion that the league is full of a lot of mediocre teams, most of which aren’t capable of protecting a late-game lead.
* Seeing Normand Léveillé on the ice is at once inspiring and heartbreaking. Felled by a near-fatal aneurysm at just 20, he’s battled the after effects of that fateful night in Vancouver some 40 years ago. Along with Tony Conigliaro, Darryl Stingley, Reggie Lewis and others, he goes down as one of the Boston athletes who were cut cut down in the prime of their careers and of whom we constantly ask: “What if….?”
