The 2017 baseball schedule really starts to gain some steam now that Super Bowl weekend is finally upon us.
At least one Patriots superfan won’t be at the Super Bowl in Houston this weekend, though. Red Sox third base coach Brian Butterfield is resting up at home in Maine after a fourth knee surgery in as many offseasons.
Butter is such a Pats fan, he tells Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald, that he once thought about baseball-season housing near Foxboro just so he could drop in on morning practices before heading to Fenway, “but I thought that might be a little bit too extreme.”
Here’s a look at more news and notes of interest to Red Sox fans:
- The Providence Journal‘s Brian MacPherson notes that the market for righthanded power hitters swung more in two years than anybody could have possibly foreseen. Just two years after the mega-signing of Hanley Ramírez, MacPherson writes, he looks like a luxury the offense-rich but cash-poor Red Sox no longer can afford.
- The Diamondbacks (and their cadre of ex-Red Sox executives) are interested in one-time Boston reliever Craig Breslow, reports Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi. Breslow has been working at a new approach to revitalize his career after a tough season with the Marlins in 2016.
- Add Butch Hobson to the list of former Red Sox with connections now to Arizona. The one-time Boston third baseman (1975-80) is the new manager of the Diamondbacks’ Single-A affiliate, the Kane County Cougars. Hobson tried a few non-baseball activities since his last game in 1982 (he worked in the fertilizing business and had a restaurant) but always comes back to the ball field, managing in the independent Atlantic League since 2000. “I don’t think I can do anything else really well,” he says.
- The Red Sox prevailed in the arbitration hearing with reliever Fernando Abad. Boston will pay Abad $2M in 2017, instead of the $2.7M that the pitcher was seeking.
- The New York Post declared the Dodgers and Red Sox the winners of the off-season. Columnist Ken Davidoff picked the Nationals and Tigers as the winter’s biggest losers.
- One-time Red Sox pitcher Matt Albers has a new home with the Nationals after signing a $1.15M deal with the club. Albers will earn additional incentives for appearing in 25, 30, 40, 45, and 50 games, reported Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors.