Fenway Improvements

The Spring Training games began this weekend with the Sox taking two from the college kids (Boston College and Northeastern) and splitting with the Twins, their cross town rival. As Spring Training is still young, I thought I'd continue on the offseason happenings track by reporting in on changes at the Sox home ballpark, Fenway Park.

Over the last ten years (really since the current ownership group bought the Sox in 2002), Fenway Park has been receiving a facelift to address some functional issues, make some areas more comfortable, and (most importantly to the owners) to increase the capacity of the park. Built in 1912, Fenway is the oldest ballpark in the majors and one of the smallest (in fact, the smallest depending on how you count tarp covered seats in Oakland and Florida). Over the last ten years, improvements have increased the capacity of the park by 10%, from roughly 34,000 in 2001 to 37,400 now. Here’s a primer on the changes made each year.

Year I (2002):

Having bought the Sox midway through the offseason, the changes made in 2002 were relatively small. The Sox added the Yawkey Way concourse to be included as an area requiring a ticket during game days. This included improving the concourse area. Also added were 400 new seats including 160 dugout seats located between the backstop and the dugouts.

Year II (2003):

In 2003, the Red Sox added what are considered by some to be the best seats in baseball. The 269 Green Monster seats are perched atop the 37-foot wall in left field and provide a commanding view of the field where previously there had only been a net to catch home runs. Also added in 2003 were 133 more dugout seats and 87 home plate seats. Year II also marked the addition of the Big Concourse area beneath the centerfield and right field bleachers, providing expanded concessions and fan amenities.

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Year III (2004):

The Budweiser Right Field Roof Deck was added in 2004, adding 192 seats around home plate shaped tables and a bar area. Also completed in 2004 were refurbishments to the Third Base Concourse which expanded the space and concessions available to fans.

Before:

After:

Year IV (2005):

The Fenway Park playing field had always been a source of contention until 2005. The field was said to put funny hops on ground balls and was notoriously poor at draining after even medium-sized storms. In response, the entire playing surface was removed, an extensive drainage system was added, and the field was re-sod. Also done in 2005 was a renovation of the home clubhouse including the addition of a weight room for the players. Fans benefited from the addition of the First Base Deck and improvements to Lansdowne Street including the addition of Game On! Restaurant.

Year V (2006):

Year V saw the replacement of the glassed in .406 Club with the open air EMC Club and the State Street Pavillion. This change connected the first and third base pavillion levels in one coherent line and supposedly eliminated some of the adverse wind currents Wade Boggs (among others) had complained about when the .406 Club was built. The pavilion level was also expanded to include five additional rows of seats, adding roughly 1,300 seats overall.

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Year VI (2007):

Private suites were renovated in 2007 and the visitor’s clubhouse benefited by the addition of a batting cage. The press box was also expanded. For everyday fans, the 3^rd base deck was added providing additional restrooms and concessions.

Year VII (2008):

The Coca Cola Corner was added to include 412 new seats in left field in 2008. Additionally, 800 new State Street Pavillion seats were added along with two new private suites. The first year of a five year program of concrete repair and waterproofing was started with repair to the centerfield bleacher seats and bowl.

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After:

Year VIII (2009):

Concrete repair continued with work on the lower bowl and seats. Most seats were replaced but the original wooden grandstand seats were refurbished and reinstalled. The roof deck along the first base line saw the addition of 560 new seats. Twenty-eight new seats were also added to the expanded Budweiser Right Field Roof Deck (built in 2004).

Year IX (2010):

Improvements in 2010 included expanded concessions behind home plate. Concrete repair continued with repair to the left field bowl and seats. As was done in 2009, seats were replaced except wooden grandstand seats. Finally, the visitor’s clubhouse and grounds crew areas got a face lift as well.

Year X (2011):

In the last year of major improvements, the centerfield video screens are being replaced with three HD screens. Concrete repairs are to be completed this year with work done of the right field bowl; grandstand seats again will only be refurbished while all others are replaced. A ticket booth will be added to Gate D (behind home plate on Yawkey Way) as well.

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Coming Soon:

Overall, the improvements to Fenway have been fantastic. They’ve blended into the existing structure while still adding modern convenience. The Green Monster seats, Budweiser Roof Deck, Coca Cola Corner, and EMC Club/State Street Pavillion all look like they’ve always been there. It’s been a true success of this ownership group to expand the seating capacity of the park so drastically and not eliminate the quirks, charm, and aesthetic coherence of the park. Next season will mark the 100^th anniversary of Fenway and with the renovations made, we can all hope to have many more years at the historic field while may teams are moving into newer, cookie cutter stadiums.

Offseason Recap

The Red Sox have put together quite the offseason since last year. Many of the Red Sox faithful have been frustrated with the team’s management and with what have felt like “bridge” years the last few seasons. Seasons where the front office was seen to be trying to stay competitive but not really committed to winning a championship this year. Instead, management seemed to be content to create a bridge between the successes of previous seasons and successes in future seasons while skipping success this season. As an example, last year’s team was built around run prevention by adding pitching and defense at the expense of offense. The big signings of the offseason were SS Marco Scutaro (our 6^th SS in the last 7 years), 37-year old Mike Cameron, and former Angel John Lackey. Although the season was largely marred by injuries, for the most part the run prevention experiment seemed a failure.

Theo Epstein’s been given a lot of latitude since bringing a World Series championship to Boston for the first time in 86 years in 2004 though. So he was given a pass on the disaster of last year, finishing a distant third in the AL East (ditto on 2006, by the way). But the masses were going to revolt if something big wasn’t done this year. We needed a spark to keep the fans coming and the sellout streak alive. We needed to out maneuver the Yankees at the Winter Meetings. Above all, we needed someone who could mash the ball.

Well, ask and ye shall receive. Here’s a recap of the additions and subtractions since last year.

Add Adrian Gonzalez, Subtract Adrian Beltre

The biggest splash of the offseason came in the form of a player long known to be coveted by the Sox. San Diego received prospects Reymond Fuentes, Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo, and a player to be named later in return for slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez is exactly the player the Sox offense needed: a legitimate power threat to complement Ortiz while still fitting into the high OBP model Moneyball made famous. The prospects lost had exciting potential (especially Kelly, a SS/SP combo you don’t see often), but in my mind you have to grab the proven MLB talent when it’s available.

The fallout of the trade was that Adrian Beltre’s services were no longer needed (Youkilis moved across the diamond, back to 3^rd). I really enjoyed the Beltre era, both in Seattle and in Boston. His defense was astounding and, to me, he was a known quantity at the plate. He gets a lot of flack for putting up big numbers in contract years (48 home runs in 2004) but outside of 2004 and last year, his numbers have been remarkably consistent: home run totals in the 20’s, batting average between .260 and .270, and an OPS around the mid 700’s. Fortunately for Beltre, he put up much bigger numbers last year and correspondingly fleeced the Rangers for a 5-year, $80 million contract. Best of luck; happy trails.

Add Carl Crawford, Subtract Victor Martinez

Where the Gonzalez trade excelled in impact, the Crawford signing made up with surprise. I heard NOTHING about this deal going down until it had already been completed. I have to admit that I’ve never been excited about Crawford as a player, though I hated playing against him 19 times a year as a member of the Rays. That probably stems mostly from my preference for more pop out of a corner outfielder then blazing speed. But when it comes to speed, the conversation starts and ends with Crawford. This guy stole 5 bases against the Sox in ONE GAME last year! A few years ago, he tagged up at second base on a sacrifice fly to deep center and scored before the throw got to the plate. This guy is greased lightening.

The Sox signed Crawford to a 7-year, $142 million contract and if he continues to put up the numbers he has (.350 OBP, .470 slugging, +15 UZR) he’ll be worth every penny. And if he doesn’t, he’ll still be worth the contract since he won’t be playing for the Yankees.

With the addition of Crawford, Mike Cameron is likely headed to the bench as the 4^th outfielder, a position I feel he is uniquely suited to on this team. Offsetting the Crawford signing was the loss of Victor Martinez. Martinez signed a 4-year, $50 million deal with the Tigers. He was and still is a premium offensive catcher but he never really felt like a member of this team. I remember reading that he broke down into tears when he had found out he had been traded from the Indians to the Sox. He just always had this aura of a hired gun, a mercenary to me. In Martinez’s absence, the Sox plan on trying out the once can’t-miss prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia at catcher and leave Varitek in a backup role. Saltalamacchia has been almost exactly replacement level in his brief time in the majors but it’s possible he’ll grow into his former expectations. Catcher is a position I feel comfortable having a weak bat so long as the defense and pitch calling is good. I believe Varitek and Saltalamacchia can and will provide just that for the Sox.

Bullpen Renovations

One area that has constantly plagued the Sox has been the bullpen. Theo’s always had trouble accurately projecting relievers and there have been a long line of failures (see closer by committee, Byung-Hyun Kim, or Eric Gagne). Last year was no exception so going into the offseason, this was a known area of need. The results?

Add Bobby Jenks (2 years, $12 million) and Dan Wheeler (1 year, $3 million). Compared to last year’s opening day roster, those two are taking Manny Delcarmen’s (signed a minor league deal with the Mariners) and Scott Schoeneweis’ (DFA'd?) place. The bullpen is a hard area to predict because the sample sizes are so small but I like these additions. Jenks was monumentally unlucky last year (career high .345 BABIP, 4.44 ERA compared to a 2.62 xFIP) so he’s a great buy low candidate with closing experience. Wheeler’s been a pretty consistent middle relief man for the Rays (think 3.25 ERA, 7-8 K/9) but his fly ball tendencies (50%+) may give him problems at Fenway this year.

Overall, it’s still hard to predict exactly how this pen will pan out but it's hard to imagine these additions will underperform last year's relievers.

The Bench

Changes to the bench didn’t cause much of a stir this offseason. Mike Lowell retired after 13 seasons in the bigs (5 with the Sox). Lowell was a great pick up in my mind. Seen as the dead weight associated with Beckett in the Hanley Ramirez trade, Lowell proved more than useful after having a dreadful 2005 with the Marlins. I hope he sticks around with the coaching staff somewhere.

Varitek remains on the bench and Cameron takes over as the 4^th outfielder with the Crawford signing. Bill Hall and Jeremy Hermida moved on to the Astros and the Reds, respectively. I’m not sad to see either of them go but their replacements are a little fuzzy. Jed Lowrie will be competing with Marco Scutaro for the starting shortstop position but my money (and the Sox’s really) is on Scutaro starting. The last bench spot is still up for grabs this spring training. With a backup C, OF, and middle infielder already on the roster, the safe bet would seem to be on a corner infielder, maybe Lars Anderson. Anderson is pretty raw at this point though and Lowrie can play third too so Francona may go with the best bat available to him which would likely be Darnell McDonald. Either way, I hope we don’t see too much of whoever gets the last bench spot.

So there you have it: a brief recap of the offseason changes. The overall results should be a solid bullpen, more power out of the infield and more speed out of the outfield. So long as the team isn’t decimated by injuries again and the starting pitching performs as well as they can, this very well could be a 100 win team. I can’t wait to find out.

Welcome

Welcome to my ambitious project for 2011!

This year I'm starting the blog your reading right now to gather my thoughts on the Boston Red Sox season. In a cross between Faithful and the Julie/Julia Project, the hope for this blog is to post each day the Red Sox play to document the highs and lows of the season and to keep track of what will hopefully be a historic year. I'll comment on who played well, who's looking terrible, what our chances are for (or in) the playoffs, and what that all means to me.

You may be asking yourself, "Why am I reading this?" The answer is, "I don't know." But perhaps you're actually asking, "How can someone living on the West Coast possibly watch every single Red Sox game this season?" Through the magic of the internet, my friend. I'm going to subscribe to MLB TV this year which will let me watch Red Sox games on my TV, even here in Seattle. The service comes with the ability to watch games after the fact so even if life interferes with my quest, I can still speed through the day's game at night and jot some notes down.

Still not convinced this is worthwhile? Well, me either. But I'm looking forward to giving it a shot; at the very least it should be entertaining. Today is the first day of Spring Training so expect a few blogs on the offseason happenings and the results of the Grapefruit League before the season officially gets under way.