34 replies to this topic

[SoxLegacy]

As per WEEI: http://fullcount.wee...leaves-red-sox/ No reason given.

[mabrowndog]

Bradford

 

Multiple major sources have confirmed that Red Sox bullpen coach Gary Tuck has chosen not to return for the 2013 season. It is unclear why Tuck has chosen not to return after initially agreeing to join manager John Farrell‘s coaching staff earlier in the offseason.

 

Earlier this offseason, the Red Sox had retained the services of Tuck, who was in the option year of his contract. The 58-year-old had been with the Red Sox since 2006, serving as both the team’s bullpen coach and catching instructor, having been courted by John Farrell to become the Toronto Blue Jays’ bench coach prior to the ’11 season.

 

Tuck, who had left the Red Sox for a stretch during the 2012 regular season due to personal reasons and also required time to recover from double hernia surgery in spring training last year, would have been the lone member of the Red Sox’ 2012 major league coaching staff to return for ’13. At this time, there is no known replacement for the highly regarded instructor, though it is worth noting that Chad Epperson, the team’s minor league catching coordinator, filled in for Tuck as the bullpen coach during his leave in 2012.

 

FWIW, PeteAbe tweeted that Epperson could be Tuck's replacement while voicing doubt that Jason Varitek would be interested in a full-time coaching gig.

 

Considering camp starts in a week, this is pretty shitty timing on Tuck's part. If he's got a personal or health issue, then all is forgiven IMO. But if this is a professional decision, he's clearly leaving the club in a lurch with most other candidates already having found employment elsewhere.

[adam42381]

Opening the door for Tek to return?

[Jordu]

Opening the door for Tek to return?

Ding ding.

[SoxLegacy]

Hey mods, sorry if this should be in the Coaching Staff thread, I forgot about that one.

[E5 Yaz]

Tek, like Pedro, is an assistant to the GM, learning about the machinations of running a front office while not having to travel with the team. And he'd drop that to become bullpen coach?

[adam42381]

Ok, maybe not.

[BoSoxLady]

Ryan Lavarnway tweeted last week that he was in Fort Myers to attend "Camp Tuck". Resigning one week prior to ST makes no sense unless there's a personal issue.

[mabrowndog]

According to Michael Silverman, he's retiring. 

[Jordu]

According to Michael Silverman, he's retiring.

OK, I'm wrong about Tek. Dopey thought.

Silverman says Tuck's retiring? Two weeks before ST is an odd time to decide to retire.

[Van Everyman]

Wasn't Tuck the guy who wasn't even talking to Bobby V last year? Got to wonder if that experience ha anything to do with it.

[Harry Hooper]

OK, I'm wrong about Tek. Dopey thought. Silverman says Tuck's retiring? Two weeks before ST is an odd time to decide to retire.

 

Maybe the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak? Tuck may may have agreed to stay on in good faith but realized after the minicamp that he wasn't going to physically hold up for the 2013 campaign.

 

 

Bradford had an interesting note: "Tuck is believed to be the only coach in major league history to have won World Series rings with both the Red Sox and Yankees."

Edited by Harry Hooper, 29 January 2013 - 10:14 PM.

[terrynever]

Tuck allegedly has had depression issues in the past. Working with Valentine certainly didn't help.

[SoxLegacy]

Tuck allegedly has had depression issues in the past. Working with Valentine certainly didn't help.

Just watching last season depressed me, I can't imagine working with Bobby V.

[Trautwein's Degree]

Tuck allegedly has had depression issues in the past. Working with Valentine certainly didn't help.

 

Enough, Larry. 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Opening the door for Tek to return?

 

 

Ding ding.

 

Bullpen coach is hard work, lots of travel, and traditionally pays worse than any other uniformed position.  I don't see Jason Varitek taking all that on.  Not even as a path towards Manager.

[Red(s)HawksFan]

While Tek as the full time bullpen coach is highly unlikely, I think this probably opens the door for him to take a larger role in spring training working with the catchers.  A Camp Tek thing in place of Camp Tuck.

[smastroyin]

Hey mods, sorry if this should be in the Coaching Staff thread, I forgot about that one.

 

No apologies necessary - new threads are good!

[JimD]

This is very odd considering that Farrell wanted Tuck to be his bench coach in Toronto (which would suggest a strong working relationship between the two).

[mabrowndog]

Cafardo tosses Rich Gedman's name into the mix. Geddy was recently named hitting coach for Portland.

 

Nick also has comments from Farrell: "He felt it was time to retire. Talented guy. Will miss him."

 

 

[ItOnceWasMyLife]

Maybe the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak?

 

This makes the most sense.  He had a great reputation for hard work and when that type of individual sees that they can't keep up to their own standard, they call it a day regardless of the timing.  Think Kerry Wood. 

[Rudy Pemberton]

Yeah, it seems like the most likely scenario here is that Tuck felt he owed it to Farrell to at least give it a chance, but after a long off-season and some time back, he realized he didn't want to be doing this anymore. Much better to decide now than in the middle of a season, I think, and if he doesn't want to be here, he shouldn't be. Good luck to him.

[MalzoneExpress]

Bradford had an interesting note: "Tuck is believed to be the only coach in major league history to have won World Series rings with both the Red Sox and Yankees."

Babe Ruth was a first Base coach for the Dodgers for part of 1938, and I'm pretty sure he won World Series rings with both the Red Sox and Yankees.

 

edit: brs3's interpretation is correct because Johnny Damon would also qualify in my interpretation, so never mind. 

Edited by MalzoneExpress, 30 January 2013 - 02:49 PM.

[brs3]

Babe Ruth was a first Base coach for the Dodgers for part of 1938, and I'm pretty sure he won World Series rings with both the Red Sox and Yankees.

I think Bradford was saying he's the first to win a championship as a coach with both teams

Edited by brs3, 30 January 2013 - 02:36 PM.

[joyofsox]

As far as players, Ramiro Mendoza also won championships with both teams.

 

 

EDIT

 

Wiki informs me: "Mendoza was the only player in the last 75 years to win a World Series ring with both the New York Yankees (1998–2000) and Boston Red Sox (2004) before Johnny Damon and Eric Hinske joined that club in 2009."

Edited by joyofsox, 31 January 2013 - 05:27 PM.

[RingoOSU]

Kevin Cash also won in 2007 and 2009.

[mabrowndog]

MLB.com's Evan Drellich with Lavarnway's thoughts on Tuck & Epperson.

 

 

Gary Tuck expected the impossible of his catchers.

 

"He would say, 'I want you to be perfect," Red Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway told MLB.com on Thursday by phone from Florida. "And then he would say, 'Now is that possible?' And you expect someone to say, 'No, we're human beings. We're not perfect.'

 

"But he -- without delay -- would be like, 'Yes. And you will be perfect, after I'm done with you."

 

 

 Tuck, 58, made the decision to retire this week when he was in Florida to work out with Lavarnway, who's still green relative to most big league catchers.

 

"He texted me one night and said, 'Hey, we're not going to go in tomorrow,'" Lavarnway said.

 

 

In place of Tuck in Florida now is Chad Epperson, who would be entering his fourth season as the franchise's Minor League catching coordinator. If Epperson turns out to be Boston's choice to replace Tuck on the Major League staff, Lavarnway is on board.

 

Red Sox farm director Ben Crockett said Thursday that nothing was settled regarding Tuck's replacement.

 

"I have a great relationship with Eppy," Lavarnway said. "I don't want to say who I think they should pick. But I think Eppy is very qualified. Since Tuck retired, Eppy has come down and been working with me one on one. He's been down here for me."

 

Epperson spent eight years as a manager or coach in the Red Sox's farm system before becoming a catching coordinator. He was a manager from 2004-09 and spent 2002-03 as a hitting coach with the organization.

 

 

[JimBoSox9]

I know nothing about Epperson except to say I've had mild-to-medium good thoughts about the catchers developing in the system the last couple of years.

[SoxScout]

Looks like there has been a minor surprise:

 

EvanDrellich: Dana Levangie named Red Sox bullpen coach. Spent past seasons as Major League advance scout for Red Sox

[Lose Remerswaal]

Former Sox draftee from AIC, made it to AAA. The was the Sox bullpen catcher until (I believe) he had a shoulder problem that made it impossible to throw the ball back to the guy warming up.

[cannonball 1729]

Wasn't he the advanced scout that tipped the Sox off that Matt Holliday would try to steal second in Game 2 of the 2007 World Series?

[David Laurila]

The questions that come to mind for me are: "How well do Nieves and Levangie know each other?" and "Why don't the Red Sox, unlike the majority of teams, have a former pitcher in this position?"

[SoxLegacy]

Interesting! I remember the name from his minors time. Cannonball, you are correct--Levangie was credited with that tip.

[Ted Cox 4 president]

I remember when Joe Pignatano, former catcher, was bullpen coach of the Mets, starting in the late '60s. He had a successful run. 

[RingoOSU]

11 of the current bullpen coaches were either catchers or position players, including Cleveland's Kevin Cash, who I'm sure we all fondly remember:P.