BOSTON The Red Sox fired Bobby Valentine on Thursday and cast their first scapegoat for a season gone horrible, irreversibly awry. The model franchise that won two World Series over four seasons is now the model of dysfunction: an ownership group that can't shake rumors of its desire to sell a piece of the team, a cast of players that finished 69-93 and the man tasked with bridging the two, Valentine, gone from the major leagues never to return. Of course, the Valentine who so quickly alienated his entire clubhouse, prompted a mutiny and spent the remainder of the season as the lamest of ducks was entirely in the cards, too, and surprised nobody who considered how his ego would mesh with a group of super-sized ones.
PHILADELPHIA Ryne Sandberg is back in the big leagues. The Philadelphia Phillies promoted the Hall of Fame second baseman to their coaching staff as third-base coach and infield instructor. Sandberg had spent the past two seasons managing Philadelphia's Triple-A affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The Phillies also promoted Steve Henderson to hitting coach and Rod Nichols to bullpen coach. The moves came a day after the Phillies fired first-base coach Sam Perlozzo, hitting coach Greg Gross and bench coach Pete Mackanin.
CHICAGO The Cubs have promoted Shiraz Rehman to assistant general manager. The 34-year-old Rehman joined Chicago last November as assistant to the general manager after spending six seasons in the Arizona Diamondbacks' front office. He also worked under Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer as an intern in the Boston Red Sox's baseball operations department in 2005. Chicago now has two assistant general managers, with Randy Bush continuing to serve in a role he has held since December 2006. The Cubs announced the move on Thursday.
ARIZONA In news we could see coming for the past couple of months, the Arizona Diamondbacks officially relieved indefinitely suspended play-by-play man Daron Sutton and color analyst Mark Grace of their announcing duties on Thursday after both finished the 2012 season on the sidelines. There's already speculation that current White Sox analyst Steve Stone could be a candidate to fill Grace's role. Former Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly could also be in play because his announcing contract with the Chicago Cubs just ended.
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