According to WEEI’s Rob Bradford, the Boston Red Sox are hoping to have their coaching staff vacancies filled before the Christmas holiday. 

Currently on the Sox’s coaching staff is manager Bobby Valentine, hitting coach Dave Magadan, third base coach Tim Bogar and bullpen coach Gary Tuck. With these positions already filled, GM Ben Cherington needs to find a bench coach, first base coach and pitching coach to complete the coaching staff.

These openings came to be after bench coach DeMarlo Hale decided to leave the Red Sox to join the Baltimore Orioles organization, pitching coach Curt Young decided to return to Oakland to be the A’s pitching coach and first base coach Rob Johnson was fired by the team. 

As for their rumored replacements, Cherington was able to confirm that former Astros pitching coach Brad Arnsberg and Rays minor league pitching coach Neil Allen have been interviewed for the pitching coach position. According to Bradford, there has also been speculation that current third base coach Tim Bogar could either slide over to first base or be the team’s bench coach next season, creating another vacancy. Either way, it appears that we will have a resolution sooner rather than later on who will be on Bobby V’s coaching staff next season.

For more Boston Red Sox coverage, visit our team page and blog, Over the Monster

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The Boston Red Sox have reached agreement on a one-year major league contract with free-agent catcher Kelly Shoppach, almost certainly ending team captain Jason Varitek’s 15-year career in Boston.

A source told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick the 31-year-old Shoppach will make a base salary of $1.35 million, plus performance bonuses.

The Red Sox announced the signing Tuesday night.

For the soon-to-be-40-year-old Varitek, the Shoppach deal should make official what Ben Cherington hinted at the winter meetings last week: that the catcher’s tenure in Boston was over. His 15 years, 1,488 games and 190 homers at the position are the most in team history.

“I have a great deal of respect for both [Varitek and Tim Wakefield] and feel like the best thing for the team and the best thing for them is, if there’s not a real role on the team, I’m not sure it’s fair, I’m not sure it’s the right thing for them or for the team, but we haven’t gotten to that point yet,” said Cherington, who did not offer Varitek arbitration. “I’ll talk to them again when we get closer to that.”

Shoppach made $3 million last year in Tampa Bay, where he hit .176 in 87 games. He joins incumbent catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who hit .235 with 16 homers and 56 RBIs in 103 games for the Red Sox last season. The acquisition of Shoppach, regarded primarily for his defense, raises questions about the team’s plans for top prospect Ryan Lavarnway, who seemed to be the front-runner to be Saltalamacchia’s backup.

This will be Shoppach’s second stint with the Red Sox, who selected him out of Baylor University in the second round of the 2001 draft. Shoppach spent five years in the Boston organization before going to Cleveland as part of a seven-player trade in 2006 that brought Coco Crisp in return. At one point early in his career, he was considered the team’s eventual successor to Varitek.

Shoppach’s best season came in 2008, when he hit .261 with 21 homers and 55 RBIs for the Indians. Since then, he has seen his production numbers decline each season. He does, however, seem to be a logical complement to Saltalamacchia. Among active catchers, Shoppach’s career .909 OPS against lefties is fourth-highest in the majors. Saltalamacchia, meanwhile, has a .603 OPS against left-handed pitching.

Last season, Shoppach had 7 homers and a .788 OPS in 108 at-bats against southpaws. Varitek had a .749 OPS and 2 homers in 72 at-bats versus lefties. Shoppach threw out 41 percent of base-stealers (18 out of 44) last season, tops in the American League. Varitek threw out just 14 percent (12 out of 85).

Varitek — who earlier this offseason said he was committed to playing in 2012, in Boston or elsewhere — leaves behind a legacy of leadership in Boston. Saltalamacchia told ESPNBoston.com last week that he tried to glean as much as he could from the captain last season.

“I knew last year it could be my last time with [Varitek], just like the year before when I got traded over here,” Saltalamacchia said. “I tried to gain as much as I could from him, and we still have communication. That line is always going to be open, regardless if he’s with me or not. I took advantage of every opportunity I had with him. To be able to play a full year and watch him really helped me grow as a player, and that’s really going to help me succeed.”

He wasn’t the only catcher on the Red Sox roster to express his admiration for Varitek.

“Jason Varitek has been an absolute icon, not only in the Boston community but in my heart for a very long time,” Lavarnway told ESPNBoston.com last week. “He’s been my favorite catcher that I watched growing up, and if he doesn’t come back next year and I have the opportunity to get some more innings and try to make a bigger impact on this team, the biggest thing I know is that I’m not going to try to be Jason Varitek. I’m going to be Ryan Lavarnway, and I’m going to do the things that I do well to help the team win.”

New Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said last week that he did not plan to name a captain if Varitek did not return.

Information from ESPNBoston.com’s Gordon Edes and Joe McDonald was used in this report.

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Red Sox slugger David Ortiz accepted the team’s offer for salary arbitration, according to the team’s official web site.

With a few hours left before Wednesday’s midnight deadline, Ortiz’s representatives informed the Red Sox that the slugger had accepted the club’s offer of arbitration, according to boston.redsox.mlb.com.

Though the acceptance of arbitration guarantees Ortiz will return to the Red Sox for one more season, the designated hitter still has hopes of getting a multiyear deal before the process ends in January.

In arbitration, Ortiz would get a raise from the $12.5 million salary he earned in 2011, perhaps making as much as $14 million to $15 million. The Red Sox had offered him a two-year, $18 million deal.

The decision by Ortiz to remain with the Red Sox came hours after he was named the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter for the sixth time in his career, and first since 2007.

“Well, when you have someone who wins an individual award and honor the previous season, you’re always excited about him being on the team, and last year David – I guess it’s just been announced, he’s the DH of the year, and how could I not be excited about having the DH of the year as a DH?” Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said.

Ortiz. 36, hit .309 with 29 home runs last year. He also re-established his ability to hit left-handed pitching.

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BOSTON (WFAN/AP) — A man who had his “dream job” working in the Red Sox clubhouse as a teenager says that ended abruptly when the clubhouse manager sexually assaulted him.

Charles Crawford is one of two Massachusetts men accusing Donald Fitzpatrick of abusing them in the early 1990s.  The other is a former batboy who is keeping his identity anonymous.

Crawford said at a news conference Monday that Fitzpatrick assaulted him twice in the clubhouse at Fenway Park.

The statute of limitations has expired for filing a lawsuit or seeking criminal charges against Fitzpatrick, who died in 2005. Both men are asking for $5 million settlements.

In 2002, Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty in Florida to attempted sexual battery on a child under 12. The following year, the team settled a lawsuit with seven Florida men who said Fitzpatrick molested them during spring training beginning in the 1970s.

The New York Daily News reports that Red Sox team executives have agreed to meet with Crawford’s attorney Mitchell Garabedian to “resolve this matter.”  Garabedian expects that additional victims will come forward with further claims against Fitzpatrick.

“It would not be surprising if other victims come forward.  Fitzpatrick was a serial pedophile,” Garabedian told The Daily News.

The Red Sox took action against Fitzpatrick in 1991 when they became aware of the situation by relieving him of his clubhouse duties.  Red Sox counselman Daniel Goldberg spoke about the matter to The Boston Globe.

“The Red Sox have always viewed the actions of Mr. Fitzpatrick to be abhorrent.  When the team, then under a previous ownership group, became aware of the allegations against Mr. Fitzpatrick in 1991, he was promptly relieved of his duties.  The club is unaware of any specifics regarding the matters brought forward recently by two individuals,’’ Goldberg stated.

Previously, the Red Sox paid $100,000 to a former clubhouse attendant who displayed a banner in front of television cameras reading “Donald Fitzpatrick Sexually Assaulted Me” during a 1991 West Coast trip.  More recently, the Red Sox reached a 2003 settlement for $3.15 million with seven accusers after Fitzpatrick was found guilty in 2002 for attempted sexual battery during Spring Training in the early 1970?s.

Garabedian successfully sued the Archdiocese of Boston and Reverend John Geoghan for $95 million after a well-documented sexual abuse scandal.

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

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Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The Boston Red Sox have reportedly finished their exhaustive search for a manager to replace the beleaguered Terry Francona Wednesday by hiring ESPN analyst and former Texas Rangers and New York Mets skipper Bobby Valentine as their 45th helmsman in team history. The move is expected to be announced in a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

The Red Sox and new general manager Ben Cherington scoured dugouts throughout the majors to find the puzzle piece that will help put the Red Sox back together after what was a monumental collapse at the end of the 2011 season. They interviewed keen baseball minds like Pete Mackanin, the bench coach for the Philadelphia Phillies. They wooed Dale Sveum, whose meeting with team officials in Milwaukee must not have gone well since he ended up in Chicago as the Cubs’ head man. They considered the temperate and smooth Gene Lamont, who ended up being their second choice down the stretch.

The 2011 season in Boston was as volatile and disastrous as any in my major league memory. A 7-20 September highlighted by a complete collapse in the final game of the regular season against the Baltimore Orioles left the Sox on the outside of the playoff window looking in. But that’s only where the circus started. Since then, the almost comical indictment of their fried chicken-eating, beer-drinking starting pitching staff only served to throw ridicule on the team’s leader, Francona, and light the flame under what will obviously be a shake up to the Red Sox roster in the offseason. GM wunderkind Theo Epstein has already high-tailed it out of town to take on the challenge of ending another curse as architect of the Cubs. Francona was accused of losing the team due to his dealing with personal family issues and the toll it may have played on the man, let alone his managerial skills. Who knew a couple of drumsticks and a few Harpoons could cause such turmoil?

The answer is that no one knew, because for all intents and purposes, the whole situation was probably overblown. A group of pampered millionaires who were being raked over the coals in one of the toughest media towns on Earth decided to cruise to the finish line, and it manifested itself in chicken and beer.

Considering the Boston media and the payroll the organization consistently commits to developing World Series contending clubs, I question whether the spotlight on whoever dons the Boston B isn’t already bright enough without the disparagement of a new coach who, if history serves, will call them out on the carpet for putting a batting donut on the wrong way. Bobby Valentine has never been one to pull punches. He’s always been demonstrative, outspoken to a fault, at times misspoken to his own detriment. The man will be Ozzie Guillen without the need for subtitles. Before I even question the acumen of his managerial resume, I simply don’t believe that’s what this Red Sox team needs right now.

The new leadership in the Red Sox front office has to perceive the problems in that locker room in 2010 and ’11 and begin to weed them out. The nature of the core of this Red Sox team has already changed from the team that broke the curse in ’04 and reaffirmed it in ’07. The names Varitek, Ortiz, Papelbon, Lowell , Mueller and Millar are memories. This is Jacoby Ellsbury(notes) and Dustin Pedroia’s(notes) team. They have to lead and get the Carl Crawfords of the world to follow. The pitching staff is going to need some revamping, and despite the far reaching limits of their payroll, the youth of their staff is going to need to step up and the backend of the bullpen is going to need to be addressed with Jonathan Papelbon(notes) already out the door to Philadelphia .

If you were a free agent this offseason, would you now go rushing to Boston with all the instability there, considering they just hired a manager whose reputation is a stone buster? Perhaps the answer to that question is absolutely, if only the man’s managerial record were more impressive. Why is it that when a coach shows charisma enough to make him a viable television analyst his ability to lead other men suddenly skyrockets in the industry? Has Bobby Valentine changed that much since he was fired from the Mets in 2002?

In 15 years of managing in the majors, Valentine has a .510 winning percentage and one National League pennant with the 2000 Mets. When he lost his job with the Rangers in 1992, it took four years for another team to hire him. He hasn’t managed in the majors since 2002. Why is that? He managed for years in Japan and won a title with the Chiba Lotte Marines before he lost that job as well and came back to the States to work for ESPN.

Has Bobby Valentine changed that much? Have the faults that cost him two jobs and left him on the sidelines for nine years been corrected? Has he softened with age where the teaching skills he possesses will come to the forefront and he’ll leave all the dugout disguises and media malarkey behind? For a franchise that puts as much on the line to be a winner each year as the Boston Red Sox, I just can’t justify the risk that those answers are yes.

Valentine hails from Stamford, Connecticut . If you don’t know the geography of Connecticut you would think that it’s a New England town and Valentine will fit in well in Boston . But Stamford is tucked nicely into that little corner of the southwest part of the state that might as well be New York . From his days with the Mets, Valentine has been bathed in the Big Apple.

How much time do you think Red Sox Nation is going to give a New Yorker to right the ship?

SOURCE:

baseballreference.com

ESPN.com

Pete Lieber is a freelance writer and Philadelphia sports enthusiast. Follow him on Twitter at @Lieber14.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Thanks for reading! .

Just in case you need a few more turkeys on this holiday, Sports Illustrated has posted a slide show of its “2011 Turkeys of the Year.”

If you’re a member of Red Sox Nation, you don’t have to wonder who tops the list.

From the website:

Our parade of fowl bumblers starts with the Boston Red Sox, who staged one of the greatest collapses in baseball history by blowing a nine-game lead in the season’s final month. Among the culprits: Carl Crawford, who batted .255 following his $142 million free-agent signing, and starting pitchers Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Jon Lester, who were accused of eating fried chicken and drinking beer in the clubhouse during games.

The only question, I suppose, is why they did not simply post a team photo? No, the entry was not sponsored by Bud Light or Popeye’s Chicken. By the way, here’s the team’s unofficial season highlight video:

And who can forget former Fenway Park left fielder Manny Ramirez, who comes in at No. 13:?

Another case of Manny being Manny? After testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs — his second violation of MLB policy — the 39-year-old slugger opted to retire rather than serve a 100-game suspension. He hit 555 home runs during his prolific career, but may be better remembered for his wacky — and often inexplicable — behavior.

For Celtics and other basketball fans, SI honors both sides in the ongoing labor disptue at No. 30:

Taking a page from the NHL circa 2004, NBA owners and players squared off over a new collective bargaining agreement and ended up jeopardizing the entire 2011-12 season with an angry stalemate. While the owners dug in on their hard line and Commissioner David Stern issued ultimatums, the players union led by Executive Director Billy Hunter rejected a 50/50 revenue sharing deal that would have meant a seven percent cut, split into factions, and filed two antitrust lawsuits. Meanwhile a Poll Position telephone survey found that 76 percent Americans say they don’t miss the NBA.

The Bruins did not make the list – at least not directly. But they were involved for the No. 31 and 35 entries, both from the Stanley Cup Finals:

Falling one win shy of the first Stanley Cup in the franchise’s 41-year history did not sit well with the Canucks faithful, thousands of whom rioted in the streets of Vancouver after their team lost Game 7 of the Cup final, 4-0, at home to the Boston Bruins. Windows were smashed, stores looted, and cars set afire amid $1 million-plus in damage. At least 140 people were injured. Some “revelers” were later publicly identified after photos of them running amok were posted on the web. One, a 17-year-old water polo player at the University of Calgary, was suspended by his team.

During a scrum at the end of the first period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Canucks winger Alex Burrows appeared to put the bite on the finger of Bruins center Patrice Bergeron. The NHL later declined to suspend Burrows after reviewing the incident and finding “no conclusive evidence” of the chomp although Bergeron was seen wearing a bandage on his digit after the game.

And finally, the Patriots are represented with the final entry, No. 36 on the list and formerly No. 92 in your football program, Albert Haynesworth:

The former all-pro defensive tackle, a notorious $100 million free agent bust with the Washington Redskins, was given another chance by the New England Patriots, who acquired him for a fifth-round 2013 draft pick in July. But not even Bill Belichick’s vaunted redemption factory could wreak the desired effect. In six games, Haynesworth had two tackles and no sacks and was served with his release on Nov. 8. Now the Tampa Bay Bucs, who claimed him on waivers, will see if they can squeeze anything out of him. “The thing that I would think about Albert, the way his last three years have played out, is that he hates football,” Chris Cooley, his former Redskins teammate told CBS Washington.

I can hardly wait to see the magazine’s “naughty and nice list” for Christmas.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

The Boston Red Sox offered salary
arbitration to designated hitter David Ortiz and right-handed
relief pitcher Dan Wheeler, General Manager Ben Cherington said
in a statement released by the team.

Free agents Ortiz, 36, and Wheeler, 33, have until Dec. 7
to accept or decline the offers. Since the team offered salary
arbitration, the Red Sox are eligible to receive two draft picks
for Ortiz — who is designated as a Type A free agent — if he
goes to another team.

Ortiz hit .309 with 29 home runs and 96 runs batted in
during 146 games with Boston last season. He finished fourth in
the American League in slugging percentage at .554 and on-base
percentage at .398. Ortiz earned $12.5 million this past season,
ESPN reported.

Wheeler was 2-2 with a 4.38 earned run average in 47 relief
appearances in his first season with the Major League Baseball
team.

The club decided against offering salary arbitration to
left-handed pitchers Erik Bedard and Trever Miller, right-handed
pitcher Tim Wakefield, outfielders J.D. Drew and Conor Jackson
and catcher Jason Varitek.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nancy Kercheval in Washington at
nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net

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The Boston Red Sox offered salary arbitration to
designated hitter David Ortiz and right-handed reliever Dan Wheeler.

They announced the moves before Wednesday’s deadline, also declining to offer
arbitration to catcher Jason Varitek, right-handed knuckleballer Tim
Wakefield, left-handed pitchers Erik Bedard and Trever Miller and outfielders
J.D. Drew and Conor Jackson.

Ortiz, 36, has played for the Red Sox since 2003 while Wheeler finished his
first season with the team.

The Sox are eligible to receive compensation for Ortiz, a Type A free agent,
and Wheeler, a Type B free agent. The players have until December 7 to accept
or decline that offer.

Varitek and Wakefield were cornerstones of the team that started a new winning
tradition for the Red Sox, but both are on the downside of their careers.

Varitek, 39, has played all 15 of his major league seasons in Boston and
Wakefield has pitched there since 1995, winning his 200th career game this
past season.

Former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who signed with Philadelphia earlier
this month, was a Type A free agent and will yield Boston compensation.

©2011 Sports Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The Boston Red Sox named two new assistant General Managers on Tuesday.

But the search for a manager for the team continues.

Recent rumors have former New York Mets manager and current ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine as the leading candidate to replace Terry Francona. Valentine interviewed for the job on Monday in Boston.

Reportedly, there are two other leading candidates for managing the Red Sox: Torey Lovullo and Gene Lamont.

Lovullo worked as the Blue Jays’ first-base coach this past season. Last year, he served as the manager of the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Lamont currently works as the Tigers’ third base coach. Previously, he managed the Chicago White Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Personally, I think Valentine would be the perfect pick for the Red Sox. The reason? He managed a major league team in a town with some of the toughest fans in the brightest media spotlight. That’s one of the reasons why I think Francona did so well in New England. Before coming to Boston, Francona managed in Philadelphia, where the fans and the media can be just as unforgiving as Boston’s die-hard supporters and relentless critics.

Because whoever Boston hires to manage the team, you can be sure everyone in New England will have something to say, especially if the team starts – or finishes – the way they did this past season.

That’s all the news for today.

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The Boston Red Sox wanted John Farrell to come back and manage the team. About a month ago there were rumors about Farrell, current Toronto Blue Jays manager and former Boston pitching coach, returning to Boston. The Blue Jays reacted by changing team policy and said firmly: no lateral moves. As the manager position for the Red Sox would be a lateral move, that was the end of the discussion, right? Wrong.

The Sox reportedly talked to the Blue Jays after the no lateral moves announcement (via NECN.com). Boston tried to convince Toronto to let them talk to Farrell. FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal wrote in his report that the “Sox never considered it likely that the Jays would engage in serious discussions about Farrell” and that the discussions broke off at that point.

Farrell is still under contract to manage the Blue Jays for another two seasons. The Red Sox interviewed current ESPN analyst and former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine about the open manager position on Monday.

For more Boston Red Sox coverage, visit our team page and blog, Over The Monster.

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Bobby Valentine will meet with the Boston Red Sox Monday to discuss the team’s managerial vacancy, a source close to the former Texas Rangers and New York Mets manager told ESPN on Sunday afternoon.

The 61-year-old Valentine, who is an ESPN analyst, has emerged as a possible front-runner for the Red Sox job after Boston elected not to offer a job to Dale Sveum, who on Friday became manager of the Chicago Cubs. Sveum was the only candidate on general manager Ben Cherington’s publicly announced list of bidders for the job to interview twice, but Cherington has since acknowledged there is at least one other candidate, who has been identified as Valentine, and perhaps more.

Valentine had a conversation with Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino in 2003, before Terry Francona was hired. During that process, Valentine also had come highly recommended to Red Sox majority owner John W. Henry by longtime Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda.

While in Japan, Valentine also worked with the Red Sox after they established a working agreement with Chiba Lotte in 2007.

The Red Sox had initially hoped to hire a new manager before Thanksgiving, but before leaving for the Dominican Republic, Cherington acknowledged that might not happen. Cherington went to the Dominican to scout Cuban phenom Yeonis Cespedes and make changes in the team’s international department.

The Red Sox’s search for a new manager, begun while Theo Epstein was still general manager, started after Sept. 30, when the team announced that it was not exercising the two-year contract option it held on Francona.

The Miami Marlins, Chicago White Sox, Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals all have made managerial hires since the end of the season. The Red Sox’s position remains the only one unfilled.

Information from ESPNBoston.com’s Gordon Edes contributed to this report.

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