After nearly a decade of contending, the Red Sox have fallen hard during the last two seasons. Their struggles have been well documented and discussed ad nauseam. This afternoon in Yankee Stadium they begin the 2013 season with low expectations, but moderate hopes. No one quite knows what to expect from this club, other than they will be better than the 69-win team of a season ago. Most predictions have them at or near the bottom of the AL East, but it’s not out of the question that they could reach a win total in the high 80’s.
Red Sox information overload is everywhere – Chad Finn’s media column ran yesterday, and looks at the intense coverage that the Red Sox receive.
Bobby Valentine Trashes Boston Media, Defends Comments On Kevin Youkilis – If you missed it over the weekend, the ex-Boston skipper unloaded on the Red Sox media.
“All the Boston [media] ever wanted to do is prove that they were a tougher media than New York,” Valentine said. “And I don’t paint everyone with the same brush — I think some of those guys are absolutely terrific people. And a good group of ‘em are absolute horses asses who are unprofessional, lazy and should not be in the business up here, in my opinion.
“I had one guy never talk to me the whole year because he said to me he didn’t like the answer I gave him in spring training,” Valentine continued. “He covered my team the whole year! I think the New York media knows more about baseball and is more professional.”
While it is really hard to take anything Bobby V says seriously, what he says here as at least a kernel of truth to it. There IS a competition with the New York media going on, whether those involved want to admit it or not.
Jackie Bradley Jr. causing a stir -Most of the talk around the team this spring has involved the rookie outfielder, who will make his MLB debut this afternoon. Gordon Edes looks at Bradley and how his parents saw this coming. Scott Lauber has Fred Lynn and Nomar Garciaparra offering praise and advice for Bradley.
A new beginning? Red Sox look to move on, build from embarrassment of 2012 – Alex Speier looks at the Sox putting the past behind them while trying to achieve a dramatic reversal in 2013.
Red Sox will be better . . . but by how much? – Sean McAdam looks at what we know about this team, and what we don’t know.
Plenty to like at dawn of new era – John Tomase says that at the very least, you won’t hate this team, and that right there is an improvement.
Best chance for Sox to change perception starts Monday – Tim Britton says that no matter what the Red Sox have said and done off the field, the only way to change things is on the field, starting today.
If Farrell can rebuild rotation, Sox can rebound – Christoper Smith says that it is as simple as “If you can pitch, you have a chance.” He also says we should Enjoy this team for what it is right now.
The future is now – Dave D’Onofrio says that the presence of Bradley on the opening day roster indicates that importance of getting off to a good start this season.
Will Middlebrooks wants to be one of the best – Peter Abraham has the Sox third baseman with high ambitions.
Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry Never Goes Out Of Season – Dom Amore says that no matter where the teams are in the standings, the games are still meaningful. One of the side points for today will be the presence of Kevin Youkilis in the Yankees lineup.
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Bruins escape Buffalo with 2-0 win – Joe Haggerty looks at the Bruins ending March with a win.
Surge in 3rd lifts Bruins to win – Steve Conroy says that is was better late than never for the Bruins.
Check CelticsLinks.com for all the coverage of last night’s Celtics loss to the Knicks in New York.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
I liked Pete Abe’s column about what to expect, with the best/worst case scenarios…. but I disagree with him about the best case option. The best case with this team isn’t a 90-win season, it’s more like a 95-98 win season. IF everything breaks in their direction, of course. Why? Because last year’s Orioles, with a roster that had much less talent than this year’s Red Sox, won 93 games. A superior roster with all the breaks should exceed that win total.
Now what are the odds of that happening? Slim, mainly because it requires Ortiz to get back quickly, and that doesn’t look likely at all. But I think Jonah Keri put it best on Grantland: if you’re looking for a team that has a chance to really surprise people, the Red Sox are your best bet.
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Agreed. Especially since we’ve come to expect so little from their pitchers lately that if Lester and Buchholz are both really good, we’ll all be shocked and the Sox will be much better than expected.
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Though anything is possible, I still expect the wildcardS to come out of the AL West (most likely Angels winning division, with Texas and Oakland getting both WC’s). Don’t forget those three teams were really good last year and now have the Houston Astros 18 times to get a bunch of wins.
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The Boston media reaction to Bobby Valentine’s comments says more about them (the media) than it does Valentine.
In the interview Valentine complimented Red Sox fans and also thought the 2013 Sox team would surprise this year.
You’ve never seen that represented anywhere in the Boston media’s commentary to the Bobby V interview in the NY Post.
The only thing they’ve focused on were his comments about them and their brethren.
The media has proven Valentine right through their own cut and paste representations of what Bobby V actually had to say.
Dale Arnold got his boxers completely in a bunch on Sunday when talking about this. D & C went on and on about it this morning. Globe headline said Valentine was taking shots at “Boston”. NO such thing happened in the interview.
Make the score Bobby V 1 – Boston Media 0
Problem with today’s media is far too many of them think they’re just as important as the teams and players they cover. What they fail to realize is if they fell off the face of the earth tomorrow nobody would miss a sports world beat.
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Most — not all, as there are, fortunately, notable and refreshing exceptions — of the local sports media have become nothing more than pathetic caricatures of each other. They write, blog, and talk more for the reactions they can elicit from each other versus providing solid, relevant content for the readers and listeners they are allegedly supposed to be “serving.”
Think it’s a coincidence that more and more of the important local stories are being broken by national sports media versus the local folks? The local gang are all too busy trying to be “edgy” and “contrarian” when in reality all they’re being is a gaggle of DBs.
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Outside market news but this must set some record? Probably also has to be some barometer/market setter for others out there:
@sportswatch Mike Francesa’s new WFAN deal is through 2017 at about same $5 million per year current deal pays, a person familiar with terms said.
Makes more than many ESPN on TV do. Insane.
http://t.co/NImmsD7qRU
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Why not? Mike F is the absolute best. This Boston listener prefers Miked Up over the local stations. He doesn’t let the callers drone on and on like on EEI or the Sports Hub, so it’s a rather informative listen.
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