News and notes from around Red Sox Nation.
Well, this isn’t going to help put an end to the “Tampa Bay North” jokes. Craig Breslow just made the most significant front office hire of his tenure in charge of the Red Sox, poaching executive Taylor Smith from the Tampa Bay Rays. Smith graduated from college in 2018 and has worked for the Rays for seven years, most recently as their Director of Predictive Modeling. He will focus on analytics and likely be given a lofty title, though it isn’t yet clear what that will be. (Sean McAdam, Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
Taylor joins a front office in the middle of a shake-up, with several positions yet to be filled. One of those is a brand new position created by Breslow, called the Director of Baseball Sciences. While Breslow continues to look for a long-term candidate to fill that role, he’s given pitching guru Kyle Boddy the interim title. In light of the fact that it makes no sense whatsoever to slap the “interim” label on a job that was just created, I’d like to see Breslow work on hiring a Director of Knowing What Words Mean next. (Mike Masala, Sporting News)
After that, I’d really love a Director of Traveling Back In Time To Extend Mookie Betts, so we won’t have to hear all the inevitable “Mooke versus Alex Verdugo” stuff during the upcoming World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees. (Tim Crowley, NESN)
At least we have some memories of the 2004 ALCS and World Series to keep us warm this fall. Here’s Joe Buck, talking about the call he made at the end of the 04 series against the Cardinals. (Chad Finn, Boston Globe)
But hey, maybe Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu will take home some Gold Gloves to make us feel better. That would be nice, especially since Ceddanne Rafaela wasn’t named a finalist for the utility Gold Glove Award. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)