Considering the 2017 Red Sox

It was a long, frustrating season. There were many times I wanted to give up on them. Mostly I wanted to fire Farrell. But the frustration of this season doesn’t lie at just at Farrell’s door.

1. The Missing Papi. Yes, his play was missed. More than that was probably his presence. Some of those young players needed him in tough times. It is hard to know but I suspect things would be different in the clubhouse controversies.
2. Clubhouse Controversies. Price was seriously out of control. The fans just want you to perform as you have for years. It really isn’t complicated. But he thinks he can act like Ted Williams. I understand him being frustrated with the media, but not the fans. I didn’t think he was a good fit here, and still don’t think he was. He treatment of Eck was similar to Manny’s antics that got him gone. Part of me hopes he’s gone. Pedroia struggled with leadership during the Machado events, and not reigning in Price.
3. Injuries. There were the guys who missed serious time, especially the starting pitchers. Stephen Wright missed the season. Rodriquez was not right even when he was pitching. Price was in and out. Fister actually had some good starts, but that you had to rely on him was crazy. But when your depth keeps getting hurt or can’t throw strikes this is what happens. But it was the injuries that hampered guys: Bogaerts, Betts and Moreland all had injuries that put them in prolonged slumps. Pedroia was having a good season before his knee became too much of a problem. Hanley’s shoulder had an unknown effect on his play.
4. Sloppy Baseball. There were too many “error repeaters”, guys who kept making the same mistake. I love Benintendi but he ran into too many outs. He wasn’t the only one. There was some sloppy defense at times.
5. Farrell, Farrell, Farrell. He “protected” players. Fine. But he needed to correct players. He didn’t need to protect Price in the Eck incident. He made so many mysterious moves. He’d play guys who struggled for guys who were playing well. Too many mystifying moves, and not just in the playoffs. You play Devers and put Marrero in late for defense. But Farrell plays Marrerro based on the “match ups” despite the actual statistics that screamed, play Rafael.
6. Dombrowski. The Sale move was great. Moreland played well, but this team had no power. The pen needed help due to injuries from last season, which should have been addressed. His was a mixed report card.
7. The B’s regressed. Some of it was injuries. Some was struggling to get out of funks or the sophomore wall. I think we’ve seen the best of Bradley. Betts and Bogaerts had injuries and should be better next year. Benintendi worked through the problems and likely learned some important lessons. But their missing production was a serious problem for this team.

This will be an interesting off season. It began with a bang. Finally Farrell was fired. He was never Dombrowski’s man. But you don’t fire a guy who just survived cancer. They should have let him go after last year’s sweep and kept Luvollo. But he lost the clubhouse in addition to the bonehead moves that probably had Dombrowski throwing darts at his picture.

1. New manager. Looks like it will be either Alex Cora, Brad Ausmus, or Ron Gardenhire. I’m surprise Gabe Kapler isn’t in there. Of those three, I only want Cora. I’ve wanted him as manager for a few years now. He’s smart, articulate, gets analytics and builds relationships. He seems to have good EQ. Gardenhire apparently has good EQ as well, but is old school and doesn’t like the analytics that Farrell seemed to ignore or his book was a  few years old. Ausmus has a low EQ and struggles in dealing with the press. We don’t need Farrell part 2. Cora, please. Whomever it is they need to build a good staff. Perhaps Butter got complacent but they didn’t seem to fix fielding problems. Too many hitters had prolonged slumps and Porcello never quite got his mechanics figured out this year. That shouldn’t be happening. Update: Gardenhire was hired by the Tigers.
2. New slugger. I’d like J.D. Martinez, but that would necessitate a move like trading Bradley. Both Benintendi and Betts can play center field. Bradley may help get you pitching. Hosmer is another option and he’d fill the hole at first. But they need a solid veteran slugger who can help change the club house culture like in 2013.
3. Surgeries have begun. Ross was first, and the least significant. E-Rod’s surgery was overdue and hopefully will resolve his issue with the balky knee so he can trust it again. Hanley’s shoulder surgery was probably overdue. Perhaps he returns to a fearsome hitter instead of the shell of himself he was this year. Pedey should have one on his knee but it may be a problem going forward. This does create some short-term issues. E-Rod won’t be ready to begin 2018. This means you need Wright and Price healthy and ready to go. Assuming you keep Price after sitting him down and telling him he’s been an ass. Who knows when and for how long Pedroia will be healthy. They need a good back-up plan for him. Nunez would be a great one, if you can convince him to come back.
4. Good-bye Chris Young. He was pretty useless this year. Does this mean Castillo gets another chance? Or does Brentz finally get a chance? Brentz may add some power to the line up. If you go for Martinez, you have Sam Travis ready to play first. He’s not really a power bat, at least yet. Unless you want to move Devers there instead of Chavis. Devers and Chavis would give you 2 power bats at the corners. I’m not sure Chavis is ready for the big leagues, so now you need Devers at 3rd with Marrero as the utility/defensive replacement. Tough decisions, to be sure.All of this is why you need a manager who can work with the young players, unlike Farrell.
5. 6-man modified rotation? Having Wright is a big advantage if he’s healthy. He could give you one start per starter per month. Sale could get some rest throughout the season so he’s ready to dominate when you need him too. Not May but September and October. In between those irregular starts, the knuckleballer can provide long relief. Now that Farrell is gone he won’t be a pinch runner and messing up his shoulder on slides.
6. The Unexpected Moves. Dombrowski can’t stand pat. They barely beat the Yankees, but that doesn’t mean they are the better team. The Series-bound Yankees have figured out what the Red Sox haven’t in 2 tries: how to win in the post-season. Their many young stars are progressing. The Sox have to get better too.

This is a crossroads kind of off-season. They will either get better or worse. If better they will be in contention for championships. Worse, and the next few years will be just as frustrating as this one, or more. Now is when Dombrowski has to earn his keep.

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Considering a Book Contract

The last few weeks have been really busy for me; both in ministry and at home. In the midst of that I received a contract offer from a publisher. I had submitted that book a few years back.

This publisher had approached me just over a year ago. They were interested in it, but wanted me to pay for the publicist. That just wasn’t going to work for me financially.

A few weeks ago they made me a new offer in which they would cover the cost of the publicist. In the meantime another company looked at it. They liked it, overall, but believed it needed some major editing in places. I had asked someone to read the book and make some suggestions to help me identify those places that I needed to re-write to fix the problems.

Making a decision was not easy. I thought my process might be helpful for other people as they seek to make decisions.

Essentially, I used a triperspectival method as John Frame explains it in a number of his books. The 3 perspectives are the normative (what does the Bible say), the existential (who am I in this decision) and the situational (what are my circumstances in this decision).

Normative. The Scriptures note that of the writing of books there is no end. I think my book provides a different approach to the subject at hand. It could be a helpful addition to the many very good books on the subject matter.

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Considering a Surgery

Sunday night I boarded a flight with my son. The flight would take us to LA despite the fact that his first name and our last name was misspelled (Cavellaro it isn’t). That trip would result in surgery.

Apparently I still can’t focus my iPhone

CavSon was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate in 2006. In 2007, while still in China, his lip was repaired. After we adopted him in 2008, we had his palate repair and then revised. He will need a bone graft after his baby teeth are gone and the adult teeth are in. In light of this, we applied to the Shriners’ Hospital cleft team. The surgeon took a quick peek and said “he needs some surgery.” He was originally slated for surgery in November, the first opening the surgeon had at Shriners’. A few weeks ago we got a call informing us that there was a cancellation.  Suddenly, he was scheduled for May 7th.

CavSon was understandably nervous. He wasn’t looking forward to being apart from his mom and sister. But none of us expected what happened. A 3 hour surgery took about 6 hours. There was more extensive work done than we expected. To do that, the surgeon met some unexpected issues. In addition to elongating his palate (so he can make more sounds for his speech), there was some revision to the hard palate, as well as his lip (yet again). It is hard, at times, to sort our what is necessary and important and what is a result of the surgeon’s perfectionism. I’m just a parent, a pastor etc. You just aren’t sure.

With the length and extent of the surgery, CavSon did not rebound as quickly as he did in 2008. He was just a mess. I know it was irrational, but I felt like I’d failed my son, miserably. It was heartbreaking to watch those tears slowly slide down those cheeks intermittently. It didn’t help that he looked like he’d lost a battle with a baseball bat. Swollen, sutured and scabbed he was.

I won’t bore you with the stories of the vomiting up blood, my endless search for sleep, how little food I was able to eat and the joy of holding his bedpan.

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Considering Lips, Wildlife and Another Milestone

It has been nearly one month since CavSon had his surgery.  He is doing well except for eating dirt this afternoon.  The stitches in his mouth are coming out so that makes things interesting.  We have a difficult time figuring out what is food and what is a clump of stitches.  This picture is a few weeks old but you can tell how much better his lip looks after the revision.

We have lots of visits from the local wildlife lately.  CavWife discovered a turtle in the garden recently.  The kids were fascinated by the turtle.  I’m not sure they have seen one so up close and personal.  When I first bought the house in 2000, there were plenty of rabbits hopping around.  With the growing population, including stray cats, the rabbits disappeared.  I had not seen one for a few years- until this last week.  He came hopping across our front lawn, and the kids got a quick look before he scampered off.  A few days later he appeared between the bushes in our backyard.  I think he might live in the yard behind us.  Their motion sensor light will go on at night.

The heat has returned with a vengeance here in central Florida.  And it has been dry.  There has been no appreciable rainfall in the last month or two.  The grass is crunchy beneath your feet.  CavSon won’t go on it without shoes.  With water restrictions we can only water once a week.  I abide by them, but apparently not everyone does.  Plenty of green lawns around.

To escape the heat we went over a friend’s home today to go swimming.  I’m not sure CavSon had been in such a big pool.  He was not liking it too much.  He wouldn’t let go of us.  CavDaughter enjoyed herself, splashing around.

Here is CavDaughter riding our neighbor’s bike.  She took to it quite well.  The only hang up has been getting started if the peddles are in the 12-6 positions.  Yes, she usually wears her (oversized) helmet.  This bike may be hers shortly.  The little girl who owns it has outgrown it and will get a new one for her birthday in June.  She wants CavDaughter to have this one.

So many people have been so generous to us the last few years.  I am amazed at God’s goodness through both Christans and non-Christians.  I’m not some mega-church pastor and we live quite modestly.  One way we have gotten by is through the generosity of others- clothes, swingsets, bikes etc.

We did get to Toys ‘R Us yesterday.  No luck finding a gender neutral beginners scooter.  So we bit the bullet and bought one with butterflies and lots of pink.  We’ll buy another one, in a more masculine style, for the boy soon.  But after I put it together, he was the first one to hop on and ride.  He has not figured out the tricycle yet, but pretty much gets the scooter.

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Happy Belated Birthday

I was waiting for these photos to arrive via e-mail.  Last Friday we celebrated CavSon’s 2nd birthday.  It was the estimated birthdate, but it works for us.

Yes, it was a bit subdued as a result of his recent surgery.  But we did go out for frozen custard.  The kids loved it, and the stars hanging from the ceiling.  As you can tell in the 2nd photo, he really doesn’t like having things on his head.

He is now 3 weeks out from his surgery, and doing quite well.  We have stopped using the arm restraints in the last few days.  He is happy that now he can drink from his cup on his own.  The stitches are beginning to fall out so we will not have to irrigate his mouth much longer.  We’ve transitioned him from a liquid diet to a soft food diet.  We even enjoyed some Chinese take-out the other night.  Nothing exciting for them- steamed veggies and steamed rice. 

I moved the seat of the tricycle lower to see if he can learn how to peddle it.  He’s been getting on the trike and pulling a Fred Flinstone, using his feet to walk himself around.  CavDaughter has been experimenting with a neighbor’s bike with training wheels.  She looks great in her new pink helmet slowly moving down the street.

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with some friends.  One of them grew up in northern California.  Each May his father had a conference in southern California that inevitably fell on Cinco de Mayo.  So he grew up celebrating it though he is a gringo.  It was a great excuse to gather our families, enjoy some tasty food including enchiladas and fried ice cream, and some, ah, traditional Mexican beverages.

After the kids left for baths, the men settled into a game of Knights of Catan, one of the expansions of Settlers of Catan.  I lost miserably this week.  But we enjoyed one another’s company. 

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A Weekend and a Day

It was a jam packed weekend filled with fun and frustration.  It is fun hearing that you don’t have any cavities!  It is also fun trying to teach my daughter how to cut paper with her new scissors.  She still uses both hands to open it, and wants to hold them at an odd angle.  Yes, it will take time.  But it was fun.

Frustration?  I was certainly frustrated with the same daughter was angry with me because I didn’t want her walking around with the blade unit from the Magic Bullet.  She can’t grasp that I’m trying to protect her from potentially dangerous situations.  All she knows is that I’m blocking her pursuit of fun.  It also was frustrating not being able to find a gender-neutral scooter for my kids at the W-M. 

Fun was watching my son play with his new cars.  A neighbor gave him the Cars collection.  He really enjoys playing with them- captivated really.  And he has not seen the movie.

Fun was watching him pretend to throw a baseball.  I had the Sox-Rays game on and he was mimicking the pitcher.  It was even funnier looking when I put his arm restraints back on.  He seemed captivated by baseball this weekend.

And boxing.  We were at a friend’s house.  They were showing part of the Ali-Ernie Shaver fight, and his eyes were glued to the TV.  Thankfully he wasn’t practicing with his arm restraints on this time.

Frustrating was having CavWife ask anytime I either had been or was going to be near a computer and wanting me check on the progress of the laptop.  I kept forgetting.  We were both frustrated.

Even more frustrating was watching the Sox get swept by the Rays (who have a very good team this year).  Why?  Try no off days in 3 weeks and fending off the bug.  They were worn out and wasted 2 superior pitching performances by Buchholz and Beckett.  Beckett’s 13 Ks meant an extra point for my fantasy team which remains in first place at this VERY early juncture.  I was also frustrated with watching the Hawks play an amazing game to beat the Celtics.

CavWife is not sure why the NFL draft is a big deal.  I’m not sure why anyone would spend all day watching it, much less heading to Radio City Music Hall.  I did check in periodically to see how the Patriots were doing.  Some people watch to see where players from their favorite college teams and alma maters go.  My alma mater, Boston University, no longer has a football team and so my efforts to see one of them drafter were in vain.  I can’t remember the last Terrier drafted in football or  basketball.  Hockey is a different story.  I think the Patriots addressed their most pressing needs (youth and speed at linebacker and cornerback).  But who’s to say at this point?

Our study of 1 Peter wrapped up chapter 2 Sunday night.  Our group is in transition.  The youth pastor will soon have to take over the youth study since the intern is graduating and moving on.  My long-term status in up in the air.  So we aren’t sure if the group will be able to continue come the Fall.  Someone would have to step up.

Today I took our son to one of his post-surgical appointments.  We arrived early since you can’t predict the traffic into Orlando.  We enjoyed a walk around a nearby park.  He enjoyed the fountains and the water fowls.  We saw a group of ducks that included 8-9 ducklings.  We also saw a good sized turtle swimming around in the pond.  I like sharing those moments with him.  So much better than the wet bedding (an unfortunate result of the liquid diet he’s been on since the surgery).

The surgeon was quite pleased with the repair on the lip.  He thought the palate was looking much better.  We were rinsing it when we should have been irrigating it.  The white spot I feared was a hole or exposed bone is only a scab (huge sigh of relief).  He should only wear the arm restraints for another week.  Once the stitches fall out we no longer have to irrigate.  All in all- a very good report from the surgeon.  I did discover that the reason all the skin was peeling off of his thumb was that in the restraints he couldn’t put it in his mouth.  So it dried out, really dried out.

I finally remembered to check the progress of the laptop.  Still in the repair process (sigh) so no pictures of the family or the animals we have seen.

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Nearing Normal

I’d include a new photo, but I can’t seem to insert photos on the laptop, only the PC.  How very strange.  Nothing I’ve tried to resolve it has worked.  And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

CS has been home for 2 days now.  We were not sure what to expect.  We heard some horror stories from some people.  A few mentioned that it completely threw off the children’s sleep patterns.

The night after his surgery he woke up frequently, often needing some water.  The second night, our first back home, I slept like a rock for about 9 hours in the back bedroom.  CW was happy since I snore louder and longer when I am in such a state of exhaustion.  So she had CS duty that night.  He woke up about every 2 hours.  Last night he didn’t wake up until 6:20.  So, he is pretty much back to his normal sleep pattern.  Big sigh of relief there.

One family we know said their son was going to have his surgery in June.  The doctor recommended putting casts on his arms rather than restraints.  Sometimes kids do figure out how to get free.  The first 2 weeks are probably the most important, so he won’t pull at the stitches on his lip (creating some ugly scar tissue) or put something in his mouth that will damage the repaired palate.  He is adjusting fairly well to the restraints.  He’s able to do most things.  We feed him and help him with his cup.  We give him some freedom around bath time as well.  I do get concerned when he’s running around.  It is a bit hard to break your fall with arm restraints.  But he’s doing well.

He was still a bit “off” from the anesthesia (we think) when he got back.  He is back to being his usual self now.   He had a rash on his torso yesterday.  We think it was the penecillan.  He’s still on his tylenol w/codeine, but should go to straight tylenol tomorrow.  The pain and discomfort seem to have improved greatly (this was another reason he was waking up so much).

The 2 of them have been playing outside.  Sometimes I cringe, fearing that he’ll get hurt.

CW is now the Magic Bullet Queen.  She loves using it to puree his food.  She even pureed a biscuit yesterday.  It has been a big help.  He’s able to eat most of what we eat, just with one extra step.  Okay, we also have to spoon feed him.  And sometimes CD as well.  She doesn’t want to feel left out.

 

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Home from the Hospital

If I have to do this again … shoot me.  I told CavWife this must have been payback for the China trip.

Yesterday morning I was up at 5:30 after not sleeping all that well.  CavDaughter woke me up twice, so that didn’t help.  Since I’d watched the Red Sox beat the Yankees late Sunday, I didn’t watch the come from behind victory against the Indians.  I was a good boy.  But tired even before loading CavSon into the car to head off to the hospital at 6 am.

He really did great yesterday morning.  I thought he’d become super-whiny since I couldn’t give him anything to eat or drink.  But he was in a good mood until crashing at 10:30.  I brought one diaper with me.  Shortly after arriving I noticed some leakage so I traipsed off to the men’s room to change him, seeing a sign that they had changing tables in there.  Sadly, 1. some guy occupied the bathroom for about 10 minutes, and 2. the changing table was in another bathroom.  I also learned they decided to save money on toilet paper and had an ample supply of sand paper in its place.  At approximately 8 am the magic moment I had feared came.  I asked the lady at the desk for a new diaper.  She directed me to the bathroom with a changing table!

A few minutes later they called us back for him to change.  A series of nurses checked in on us to make sure we didn’t need anything.  Very friendly people.  They put in a Barney video for him.  His first Barney experience.  I wanted him to hate it, but he liked it.  Blues Clues was not received quite as well.  He was restless and the surgeon was behind schedule.  I had not read a page of listened to anything but Barney.  Sadly, I’d left my headphones in the car.  After wearing him out he was ready for a nap when the surgeon came by to go over final details.  He was off for surgeon, happily waving ‘bye-bye’.

I spent the next few hours reading half the PCA Book of Church Order, which nearly put me asleep.  Then I went to the car to grab my lunch, once again forgetting the headphones.  After reading some of my novel, I gave up and went into the children’s waiting room which was empty.  A recliner was a great place to nap until the surgeon woke me up with the good news that he was in recovery.

I joined him in recovery, holding him until he was ready to head to the pediatric ward.  No reading, no sermons.  Up in pediatrics, he was doing pretty well.  But between the phone calls, crying and nurses talking to me I actually heard about 10 minutes of Grahame Goldsworthy.

Before he could leave in the morning he had to be drinking and eating.  He was pretty thirsty and quickly took care of the first.  For dinner he had some applesauce and babyfood bannanas.  Paydirt!  We just had to make it through the night.

My dinner was late.  A friend was bringing me dinner, but circumstances conspired such that he arrived at 8 pm, when visiting hours ended.  But we went off the cafeteria to talk.  He brought me a Joey Bag o’ Donuts and a beer from Moe’s.  He figured I probably would need one.  Oh, a true friend.

I was back in the room by 9:30 and started to watch a movie on the DVD player I borrowed.  After about 20 minutes I faced the fact I would not finish the movie.  I was in bed by 10, so very un-Cavman-like.  It seemed that every time I was close to falling to sleep something happened: a monitor alarm went off, he woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, a nurse came in, he was thirsty ….  It was as if they had some special detection device.

When the surgeon arrived he found everything in good order and the wheels were in motion for discharge.  He enjoyed his breakfast of applesauce and scrambled eggs.  He also had time to work the floor, flirting with all the nurses.  One of the interesting things about the hospital that I learned as the transportation specialist pushed us in the wheelchair is that they don’t allow child patients out via the parking garage, where I was parked.  So, I had to leave him with the specialist while I went to get the car and drive to the other side of the hospital instead of 150 feet in the parking garage.

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Preparing for Surgery

Assuming all goes well, and CavSon does not get sick, he will have surgery tomorrow.  His palate will be repaired, his lip scar touched up and tubes put in his ears.  It is outpatient surgery, so barring complications he and I will be there less than 24 hours.  I’ll be spending the night with him and need to bring things to keep me busy.

1. I’m loading up my MP3 player with some lectures by Graeham Goldsworthy and Piper & Chandler from the Text & Context Conference at Mars Hill.

2. I’m bringing the PCA Book of Church order to brush up “just in case”.

3. I’m bringing The Path to True Happiness by Martyn Lloyd-Jones and hope to finish it.

4. I’m bringing Jungle Pilot which is about Nate Saint.

5. I’ll also bring a novel.

Maybe I should bring my glasses since I’ll be doing so much reading.  I think the laptop will be staying home so CavWife can use it.  I’m not sure if they have wireless service there at the hospital.  Hmmm, I wonder if anyone I know has a portable DVD player.  I’ll have to check on that prospect.

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