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For some reason Blogger isn't inserting paragraphs. Maybe that's my punishment for taking two months off...

Louuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu....

Former Red Sox General Manager James "Lou" Gorman, who was part of the organization in some capacity for nearly 30 years in various capacities for various ownership entities has gone to the great front office in the sky. Lou is most remembers for helping to create a competitive team in the late 1980's, resulting in playoff appearance in '86, '88 and '90, when it wasn't as easy to get into the postseason as it is today. The Boston Globe has coverage here, here and here. Like any prominent member of a prominent franchise with a once-legendary and prolonged history of coming up short, Lou took a lot of heat for plenty of stuff, not all of which was his fault. Certainly he can't be blamed for John MacNamara's brain cramp in 1986, and although he gave up two future all-stars to get Mike Boddicker in 1988, it was Boddicker that helped Boston to two more division titles. Trading future HOFer Jeff Bagwell for one month of Larry Andersen in 1990 certainly hurt, but I never really held that against him. Boston had a chance to make it to the World Series that year, and at the time of the trade Sox closer Jeff Reardon was presumably out for the season with a ruptured disc, and Boston needed bullpen help. Bagwell was a AA prospect behind another HOFer, Wade Boggs, and Scott Cooper at AAA. Yeah, Gorman and his scouts missed on this one, but sometimes you have to roll the dice. Hard to remember these days, but for many years the Red Sox had a policy of not signing Type-A Free Agents, as they preferred to build their organization through trades, reclamation projects, and good draft picks. That worked in 1986, and also in 1988, when they fielded an entirely home-grown lineup for most of the season -- unheard of today. Prior to 1990, Boston got into the Free Agent game signing both Tony Pena and the aforementioned Reardon, both of whom played key roles in that division title. Unfortunately, future signings (Jack Clark, Matt Young, Danny Darwin, Frank Viola...) tended to be past their prime and generally fell short of expectations; meanwhile, the Sox lost key contributors like Bruce Hurst and Boddicker to free agency while they still had something left. In the view of this reporter, Gorman's biggest blunder -- to the extent he can be held responsible for this -- was the firing of Joe Morgan at the end of the 1991 season, when the Sox finished behind Toronto for the division title due in large part to a number of key injuries and subpar seasons from some of the players mentioned above. Nonetheless, Roger Clemens won his third Cy Young Award and the Sox had a strong young nucleus including rookie sensation Maurice "Mo" Vaughn. Morgan had one year left on his contract and no clear successor, yet someone pulled the trigger, Gorman made the announcement, an overmatched and unready Butch Hobson was promoted from AAA, and the Sox sunk into last place for the next three seasons. Gorman was subsequently succeded by another native New Englander, Dan Duquette, and the rebuilding began again, but not before Gorman signed a young prospect from North Carolina -- his given name was Christopher, but he went by an abbreviation of his middle name "Trotman." Trot Nixon, who would be the one Gorman-era holdover ten years later when the Sox hoisted their first big banner since 1918. Thanks for the memories, Lou.

Dwight Evans might like this...

Charter members of the VRWC who also have an interest in the the occasional athletic endeavor may find this new blog interesting over at NRO. Enjoy!