Max Ramirez is singin' those 'Come and Go Blues'

From ESPNBoston.com:

Catcher Max Ramirez, who was claimed off waivers by the Red Sox from the Texas Rangers on Jan. 5, is now heading to the Chicago Cubs. The Sox announced that Chicago had claimed Ramirez off waivers on Monday when Boston had to open a spot for reliever Hideki Okajima.

Okajima's deal became official Monday.

Ramirez, 26, batted .217 in 26 games for Texas last season.

Buckner, Gedman & Chile Davis

Two well known former Red Sox players have joined the ranks of coaches in the Greater Boston area. It was reported last week that Bill Buckner will be managing the Brockton Rox of the independent Can-Am League. Today Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports that Rich Gedman, a native of Worcester, MA, will be the hitting coach for the short-season Single-A Lowell Spinners.

Chile Davis will be the hitting coach for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. Davis is a 3 time All-Star who played for Giants, Angels, Twins, Royals and Yankees. The switch-hitter had a lifetime batting average of .274 and hit 350 home runs in his 19 year career, landing him 4th overall among all time leaders in that category.

You can read Abraham's report of all the Red Sox staff moves here.

Box score from the past (04.15.20)

I decided to go way back, (or as Chris Berman might say, 'back, back, back, back'),  to the earliest Red Sox box score I could find, April 15th, 1920.

Another Ramirez

Max Ramirez is the player that the Red Sox were after last year when the Mike Lowell trade fell through, (thankfully!*) RHP Matt Fox is the player who was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Ramirez. Ramirez is 28 y.o. a catcher who has a pretty good looking offensive minor league line: .298/.395/.477/.972, 147 doubles, 5 triples, 77 home runs, 401 RBI, 335 runs in more than 600 minor league games in the Braves, Indians and Rangers organizations. Although he has appeared in 38 MLB games, his production at the plate was considerably less (.217 BA) than in the minor leagues. Insurance if Salty falters? Perhaps.

Matt Fox, 28, pitched 1.2 innings of relief with Boston last year allowing 2 ERs after being claimed by the Red Sox off waivers from the Minnesota Twins on September 9, 2010.

*I am an unabashed Mike Lowell supporter. I always claimed that 35 years old is not that old. In a stroke of luck by not consumating the trade with Texas last year, Lowell was available to play 1B for the remainder of the 2010 campaign after Youkilis suffered his thumb injury. While I wasn't happy that Youk was injured, I sure was happy to see Mike finish his career in a Boston Red Sox uniform.

Rangers catcher Max Ramirez hangs on to the ball after tagging out the Angels' Torii Hunter at home plate.

Box score from the past (04.22.07)

It is a rare feat hitting 4 home runs in a row in 1 inning. The last team to do it was the Arizona Diamondbacks in August of this past season. The Red Sox did it on April 22, 2007. Manny, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, and 'Tek all connected for solo round-trippers off of pitcher Chase Wright. I can still hear Jon Miller's voice, "And that one is headed for New Hampshire!" Drew was part of a Dodger quartet that pulled it off just 1 season prior. And in another unlikely coincidence, J.D.'s brother Stephen, of the aforementioned D-backs was part of that home run bashing quartet. Maybe I should head back out again for another lottery ticket?

Uncanny coincidence

I clicked on a link today when I was reading another Red Sox blog and found myself looking over a list of final Red Sox W-L records over the past 100+ years. I know I have looked over similar lists in the past and don't know how I could have missed this, but these numbers jumped right out of the monitor this time:

1983 W-78 L-84 Pct .481 GB 20
1987 W-78 L-84 Pct .481 GB 20
1997 W-78 L-84 Pct .481 GB 20

Now what are the chances of this happening 3 times in 14 years? No matter, I'm off to buy a lottery ticket.

15 Most Unusual Wind-Ups in MLB History

Matt Rudnitsky put together a list of the "15 Most Unusual Wind-Ups in MLB History" which includes at least 6 pitchers who have played for the Red Sox, and Bronson Arroyo is not one of them.