FEEDING THE MONSTER: EXCERPTS

"Big Papi's Sudden Impact," The Boston Phoenix, July 18, 2006.
Excerpt on David Ortiz's emergence in 2003 as a bona fide star. The article begins:

By midseason, it was clear the 2003 team was an offensive powerhouse on par with baseball's all-time best. For the month of June, the Red Sox had four of the top 10 batting averages in the league: Garciaparra (.398), Millar (.373), Trot Nixon (.356), and Manny Ramirez (.351). The Sox led all of baseball that month with a team-wide .315 average. Combined with the team-wide .308 average in May, the entire roster had compiled one common benchmark for batting excellence over the course of two full months. In June, the team hit more home runs--42--than in any month since 1998 and scored more runs than in any month since 1961.
Perhaps most incredibly, they were doing this largely without the offensive firepower of David Ortiz...

"Bye, Nomar," ESPN.com, July 12, 2006.
Exclusive excerpt on the final contract negotiations between Nomar Garciaparra and the Red Sox, and on the days leading up to and including his trade to the Chicago Cubs. The article begins:

In 2000, Nomar Garciaparra, the Boston Red Sox's superstar shortstop, was in the third year of a five-year deal he'd signed in the spring of 1998, when he had only one full season under his belt. The contract was worth $23.25 million, for an average of $4.65 million a year, and the Red Sox held options worth around $11 million a year for 2003 and 2004. Neither Derek Jeter nor Alex Rodriguez, the two elite American League shortstops to whom Garciaparra was most often compared, had signed this kind of lucrative contract early in his career. Instead, after the 2000 season, both players signed gaudy, long-term deals...

"The Breakup," The Boston Globe Magazine, July 9, 2006.
Exclusive excerpt on what led to Theo Epstein's quitting -- and then returning to -- the Red Sox last fall. The article begins:

When Theo Epstein became baseball's youngest general manager in December 2002, he signed a contract that ran through October 31, 2005. Those years appeared, to most outside observers, to be blessed ones: the Red Sox made the playoffs three seasons in a row for the first time in their history, and, of course, they won the World Series. But unbeknownst to almost everyone within the organization, the relationship between Epstein and CEO Larry Lucchino, the man who'd brought Epstein to the Red Sox from the San Diego Padres, had been souring for more than half the time that Epstein had been in the job...

Sneak Peeks
Before the book's publication I posted a series of excerpts, including ones on the day John Henry and Tom Werner won their bid to buy the team, on why the Red Sox decided to sign David Ortiz, on Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series, and on the signing of Curt Schilling.

Outtakes
Previously unpublished selections from interviews with Tim Wakefield, Bill James, Terry Francona, Nomar Garciaparra, Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon, and Kevin Youkilis.