Boston Red Sox vs. Detroit Tigers Tickets

Boston Red Sox Tickets
Boston Red Sox Schedule
Fenway Park Seating Chart
City of Palms Park Map
Red Sox Spring Training
Red Sox Fort Myers
Red Sox Information
Boston Red Sox History
Red Sox World Series
Red Sox 2007 Tickets
Red Sox Season Tickets
Red Sox vs. Yankees
Boston Red Sox Logo
Boston Red Sox Roster
Fenway Park Parking
Fenway Park Directions
Boston Red Sox Stadium

Detroit Tigers News:

Three years ago, Jeremy Bonderman was the youngest of the young Tigers trying to stick in the Major Leagues through 119 losses. Now was the Tigers' turn to make sure he sticks in Detroit.

What was a core of young players has become a group the Tigers are trying to keep together. Detroit took its biggest step yet towards doing that Monday by agreeing to terms with Jeremy Bonderman on a four-year, $38 million contract.

The deal means Bonderman will remain under contract through 2010, the same timeframe to which the team signed third baseman Brandon Inge earlier this month. For a pitcher in a market that has become a financial windfall for even second-tier free-agent arms, the deal is a huge step for the Tigers, whose strength lies in the starting rotation.

"He's one of the best young pitchers in baseball," Tigers president/general manager Dave Dombrowski said. "People tend to forget he's only 24 years of age. He's got an outstanding slider, good fastball, his changeup's coming. We just think he's the type of guy you want to build your foundation around."

What was expected to be the trickiest decision of Detroit's offseason ended up not being a tough decision at all. Even before Bonderman put up three solid starts in the postseason, Dombrowski said the club had chosen to pursue a long-term deal once the season ended. Talks started during last month's general managers meetings and picked up during the recent Winter Meetings.

Though Bonderman struggled over the season's second half, he won three of his final four starts in the regular season, then held the Yankees to two runs over 8 1/3 innings in the decisive Game 4 of the AL Division Series. He followed that up with 6 2/3 quality innings against the A's in Game 4 of the ALCS before allowing two runs over 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision in Game 4 of the World Series at St. Louis.

Boston Red Sox News:

The Red Sox are nearly finished with the revamping of their coaching staff. This, after the club announced on Monday that Gary Tuck will be the new bullpen coach.

Tuck joins pitching coach John Farrell and hitting coach Dave Magadan as new members of Boston's Major League staff for 2007. The Red Sox are still looking for a first-base coach to replace Bill Haselman, who left the organization to pursue other opportunities.

This is the second consecutive offseason the Sox have hired a new bullpen coach. Al Nipper was promoted to that role last year, but wound up spending the entire year as the pitching coach due to the hip woes of Dave Wallace.

When Farrell was hired as pitching coach last month, general manager Theo Epstein said that Nipper was a candidate to serve as bullpen coach for 2007. Though the Red Sox decided to go in another direction, the club is discussing other options with Nipper for next season. Ralph Treuel, who served as Boston's interim bullpen coach last season, will return to his former role as Minor League pitching coordinator.

Tuck served as the bench coach for the Marlins in 2006. He has 23 years of professional coaching experience for the Astros, Yankees, Indians and Marlins organizations. In fact, Tuck won World Series rings as the Yankees' catching instructor in 1998-99.

Manager Terry Francona's coaching staff has just two holdovers -- bench coach Brad Mills and third-base coach DeMarlo Hale.