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About Alex Speier

Before he joined WEEI.com, Alex covered the Red Sox for several New England and national publications, including the New Hampshire Union Leader, Boston Metro, Boston Herald and Baseball America. Alex graduated from Harvard, where he served as the captain of the debate team, an experience that has been of surprisingly little use in press boxes across the country.

 
COLUMNS
Alex Speier
05/10/2009 - 4:05am
Five Things We Learned While Watching 'The Best Player in Baseball, Bar None'
Evan Longoria is 23 years old, less than three years removed from college. He has played 152 games in the majors. And yet it is already clear that he is on a unique career trajectory. He spent all of six days in the majors before signing a deal that could keep him with the Tampa Bay Rays through 2016 for a total of $44.5 million. By that point, it was already apparent to the baseball world that, so long as he remains healthy, that deal would be a bargain.
Alex Speier
05/09/2009 - 4:11am
Five Things We Learned From Another Late-Game Surge
Copy, paste. For the second time in as many nights, the Red Sox entered the sixth inning having done next to nothing offensively. And then: boom. One night after the Sox scored 12 runs in the sixth inning before recording an out, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 13-2 lead, they rallied for five runs in as many batters on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays. In the process, Boston turned a 3-0 hole into a 5-3 advantage in an eventual 7-3 win.
Alex Speier
05/08/2009 - 3:41am
Five Things We Learned From a Record-Breaking Inning
There was no warning. For five innings, the Red Sox lineup produced as one might have expected. The leadoff hitter (Jacoby Ellsbury) was out. So were the third (David Ortiz) and fourth (Kevin Youkilis) hitters. The Sox had touched Indians starter Jeremy Sowers for a run in the first inning, but could do nothing thereafter. Through five innings, Boston had one run on four hits, and when Tim Wakefield walked off the mound at the end of his sixth inning, he was trailing, 2-1, and staring at the likelihood of a hard-luck loss.
Alex Speier
05/06/2009 - 5:40am
Five Things We Learned From The Sox' Fifth Straight Win Against the Yankees
The Red Sox have taken all five of their games against the Yankees this year, but it would be a mistake to assume that a sizable gap exists between the two clubs. The Yankees could have - and, in some cases, should have - won each of those five contests. On Tuesday, the Sox claimed a 7-3 win that, like their four prior triumphs against the Yankees, was about the details.
Alex Speier
05/05/2009 - 5:46am
Five Things We Learned: There Is Room for Drama at the New Yankee Stadium
NEW YORK—At Fenway Park on April 24, in the first game between the Red Sox and Yankees this year, the Sox took a 5-4, 11-inning victory that they had no business claiming. Down to their last out with a two-run deficit and Mariano Rivera on the mound, Jason Bay crushed a two-run homer that tied the game, and Kevin Youkilis eventually won the contest with a walkoff homer in extra innings.
Alex Speier
05/04/2009 - 10:07am
Damon wants to stay a Yankee
It is almost hard to believe that former Red Sox icon Johnny Damon is in the fourth and final year of his $52 million deal with the Yankees. His departure following the 2005 season (which served as a prelude, in many ways, to the Yankees' 11th hour swoop on Mark Teixeira this offseason) sent the Sox front office as well as New England into a state of shock.
Alex Speier
05/03/2009 - 5:29am
Five Things We Learned From a Rare Win in Tampa Bay
Run support is a strange thing. In the past, Tim Wakefield was often betrayed by his offense. Over the past four seasons, the Red Sox had averaged five runs for each of the knuckleballer’s starts – not bad, all things considered, but well below the norm for an offense that has been a juggernaut in recent years.
Alex Speier
05/01/2009 - 3:26am
Five Things We Learned: A Tale of Two Pitchers
For the second straight night, Jonathan Van Every was called upon to provide the Red Sox with late-inning heroics. But on Thursday, the task facing the outfielder was very different, and far less thrilling than the game-winning homer that he launched in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s game against the Indians. Instead, Van Every was charged Thursday with the rather unsavory job of stopping the bleeding in the waning moments of his team’s 13-0 loss to the Rays.
Alex Speier
04/29/2009 - 4:13am
Five Things We Learned From the First Sox Loss in Two Weeks
It was fun while it lasted for the Red Sox. The 11-game run came to a sudden and unexpected halt on Tuesday. Once the Sox put the wood to the Indians to jump out to a 5-1 lead in the second and a 7-3 lead entering the bottom of the third, a 12th straight ‘W’ seemed inevitable. The Sox, after all, had not lost any game all year in which they’d held the lead after three innings. Nor had Boston lost any game in which it had held a lead of four or more runs.
Alex Speier
04/27/2009 - 5:07am
Five Things We Learned: Don't Blink When Ellsbury Is On Base
Ultimately, it was a series of three games that embodied why meetings between the Red Sox and Yankees have long been considered must-see events. The weekend was rich with moments that had never been seen before and may never be seen again by most who bore witness to them. The signature moment of Sunday night’s 4-1 Red Sox victory over the Yankees at Fenway was a straight steal of home by Jacoby Ellsbury. A perfect storm of circumstances permitted the event:
Alex Speier
04/26/2009 - 4:50am
Burnett Offers a Reminder of the Dangers of Big Money for Pitchers
For the Yankees – or any other team investing big money in a free-agent pitcher – the fear is that they get what A.J. Burnett produced on Saturday. That doesn’t mean that New York or any other club is quaking about the prospect of a $16.5 million-a-year pitcher giving away a six-run lead in every start. The Yankees have every reason to believe that Burnett’s almost unfathomable inability to hold onto a lead that grew to a half-dozen runs after three innings was a rare – and perhaps one-of-a-kind – occurrence.
Alex Speier
04/25/2009 - 4:28am
Five Things We Learned From an Unprecedented Walk-Off
The Red Sox’ 5-4 win over the Yankees was a rare triumph indeed - in fact, it was one-of-a-kind. The Red Sox trailed, 4-2, entering the ninth against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. But the future Hall of Famer gave away the lead when Jason Bay battered a ball to left-center, barely clearing the Green Monster for a game-tying two-run homer.
Alex Speier
04/23/2009 - 11:32am
Money Not An Issue For Bay
Plenty of attention has been devoted to the status of Jason Bay’s next contract. The question of whether the free-agent-to-be will be with the Red Sox beyond the 2009 season looms over his performance this year. That issue will reverberate throughout this season. Increasingly, Bay’s significance in the Sox lineup is apparent. In the sixth spot in the batting order, he offers an impressive combination of power and patience, someone for whom totals of 30 homers, 100 RBIs or 100 walks would not come as a surprise.
Alex Speier
04/22/2009 - 2:40am
Five Things We Learned on a Rainy Day at Fenway
No baseball game? No matter. Rain may lead to the cancellation of a ballgame, but it can do nothing to prevent an education in Five Things on the eve of a day-night double-header between the Red Sox and Twins.  JOIN THE CLUB, NICK GREEN...AND BE CAREFUL, FOR SHORTSTOP IS A DANGEROUS PLACE IN BOSTON
Alex Speier
04/21/2009 - 8:45am
Hunter Jones' Life As a Major Leaguer Begins
Afterwards, the emotion was pure. Hunter Jones had some mementos in his locker after he recorded a scoreless ninth inning – a pair of authenticated balls for the first and third outs of the inning, as well as an authenticated lineup – but he also had something more.
Alex Speier
04/20/2009 - 6:02pm
Five Things We Learned: Masterson Brings the Heat
It’s easy to forget how far the Red Sox came in a stretch of five games. It was less than a week ago that things could have gotten messy in a hurry. The team had sunk to last place with a dismal 2-6 record. The starting shortstop (Jed Lowrie) and an 18-game winner (Daisuke Matsuzaka) had both landed on the disabled list. The bullpen had been torched. The lineup had been feeble.
Alex Speier
04/19/2009 - 3:59am
Five Things We Learned: Red Sox Getting Healthy at the Orioles' Expense
The Red Sox received the right tonic at the right time. The Orioles may have come into Boston with a 6-3 record, having won series against the Yankees, Rays and Rangers, but that mark was something of an illusion. Baltimore arrived in the series having permitted 69 runs in nine games, an average of 7.7 per contest that ranked as the worst in baseball.
Alex Speier
04/18/2009 - 4:17am
David Ortiz Looks for his Groove
Cooperstown-electee Jim Rice was flipping through the pages of the Red Sox pre-game media notes when he stopped at the notes on the hitters. He pointed to the name at the bottom of the page and wheeled towards David Ortiz. “You’ve got to start hitting your weight,” Rice bellowed. Ortiz, featuring a meager .176 average, .293 OBP and .206 slugging mark prior to last night’s game, seemed amused by the challenge. “It’s coming up,” he grinned. “First I’ve got to get to (Dustin) Pedroia.”
Alex Speier
04/18/2009 - 3:40am
Five Things We Learned: Lessons from a Monumental Comeback
The magnitude of the Red Sox’ comeback was immense. The team was down by a touchdown and extra point in the top of the second inning, as the Orioles clubbed Boston starter Brad Penny mercilessly.
Alex Speier
04/17/2009 - 7:52am
Penny Power: Red Sox Starter's Fastball Returns to Life
There hasn’t ever been much mystery to what Brad Penny does on a mound. That remained the case in the right-hander’s Red Sox debut. In his first inning with his new club, Penny unleashed 15 pitches. Of those, 14 were fastballs. The hard-thrower rarely veered from that approach, sticking with his bread-and-butter pitch for 65 of his 86 (75.6 percent) offerings against the Angels.
Alex Speier
04/12/2009 - 3:23am
Five Things We Learned: Penny Brings Value In First Start
Facing elimination in a playoff series? That’s a must-win situation. A three-game losing streak in April? Clearly, the same dire consequences are not in play. Certainly, the Red Sox had not moved to DEFCON 1 on the basis of three defeats – two to the Tampa Bay Rays at home and another in the series opener against the Angels on Friday – in the season’s first week. Even so, it would be tough to say that there wasn’t some hint of elevated stakes in the fifth game of the young campaign.
Alex Speier
04/10/2009 - 3:17am
Five Things We Learned: Matsuzaka Still a Man of Mystery
As last season ended, so it began. The Red Sox and Rays, competitors in last year’s American League Championship Series, became reacquainted in a three-game series to commence the 2009 season. And, just as they did last October, the Rays showed that they were capable of taking two out of three games at Fenway Park.
Alex Speier
04/09/2009 - 12:42am
Five Things We Learned: Strength of Rays and Red Sox Apparent
Last year, the Red Sox and Rays exchanged volleys throughout the year but spent much of the year incapable of breaking serve. The home team swept the first four series of the year between the two teams until finally, in September, the Rays broke the spell by taking two of three at Fenway. This year, the back-and-forth started a bit earlier. After the Red Sox claimed a 5-3 victory on Opening Day, Tampa Bay rebounded with an impressive 6-2 win at Fenway Park. (For a recap, click here.)
Alex Speier
04/08/2009 - 1:18am
Varitek Begins His Battle Against History
Jason Varitek got off to a strong start in his quest to achieve the near-impossible. The catcher is coming back from the sort of season that typically signals an irreversible slide. Players in Varitek’s age bracket (he turns 37 on Saturday) have rarely come back from offensive seasons as bad as the one he had in 2008 to achieve the status of even an average player. Last year, as a 36-year-old, Varitek hit .220 with a .313 OBP with a .672 on-base plus slugging percentage. His OPS+ was 73, meaning that his OPS was roughly 27 percent worse than the league average.
Alex Speier
04/07/2009 - 7:48am
Five Things We Learned on Monday: The Rainout Edition
Surely novelty has to count for something. Monday’s postponement of the scheduled game against the Rays marked the first time the Red Sox home opener had been cancelled since April 11, 2003. It was the first time the club’s Opening Day game got scuttled in a generation, dating back to a snow-out in Chicago on April 6, 1982 (no word on whether the White Sox had been planning on wearing shorts that day). So at least the Sox had that going for them … Which is nice.


Audio On Demand

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Jeff Van Gundy on Doc and the Celtics

Jeff joined the show to discuss the rumors of Doc heading to the Clippers. Jeff said that he will not discuss his future but that his brother would be a great candidate anywhere.

Stephen A. Smith on Doc to the Clippers

Stephen A. joined the show to discuss the status of trade negotiations between the Clippers and the Celtics. Stephen said that it is a 50-50 proposition that Doc ends up in Los Angeles.

"Celtics Summer Cooler" With Sean Grande and Cedric Maxwell - Hour 2

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John Farrell Manager's Show w/ Dave O'Brien

Dave O'Brien talked to John Farrell before the last game of the Baltimore series. The skipper said that the Sox have played tough through this stretch of long games.

Jonny Gomes postgame with Joe & Dave after the third game in Baltimore

Jonny Gomes talked to Joe Castiglione & Dave O'Brien after the third game of the Baltimore series. The Sox slugger hit a homer and scored two runs in the win.

Pierre McGuire, NBC Sport…

Pierre McGuire, NBC Sports, on the Stanley Cup Finals

Pierre McGuire joins Mut and Merloni after a Bruins win and discusses the play of Rask and the defense, the Hossa injury, and Jagr.

Tony Amonte, CSNNE: on Hossa injury

Tony Amonte calls out Marian Hossa for missing Game 3 and recaps the Bruins win.

Barry Pederson on the game three win

Barry joined the show to discuss the Bruins 2-0 win over the Blackhawks in game three. Barry continues to be impressed by the play of Bergeron.

Barry Pederson on the gam…

Barry Pederson on the game three win

Barry joined the show to discuss the Bruins 2-0 win over the Blackhawks in game three. Barry continues to be impressed by the play of Bergeron.

Jeff Van Gundy on Doc and the Celtics

Jeff joined the show to discuss the rumors of Doc heading to the Clippers. Jeff said that he will not discuss his future but that his brother would be a great candidate anywhere.

Bruins two wins away from the Cup

The guys opened the show discussing the Bruins' dominating Game 3 win over the Blackhawks. Gerry thinks the series is over.

Pierre McGuire, NBC Sport…

Pierre McGuire, NBC Sports, on the Stanley Cup Finals

Pierre McGuire joins Mut and Merloni after a Bruins win and discusses the play of Rask and the defense, the Hossa injury, and Jagr.

Tony Amonte, CSNNE: on Hossa injury

Tony Amonte calls out Marian Hossa for missing Game 3 and recaps the Bruins win.

Andy Brickley, NESN: Previews Game 3 between the Bruins and Blackhawks

Andy Brickley joins Mut and Merloni in studio to take phone calls from the listeners and to preview Game 3 of the Stanley Cup.

Bruins take game three, c…

Bruins take game three, control of the series: Response and reaction

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An hour with Jack Edwards: Bruins look to take control of the Stanley Cup Final

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Stephen A. joined the show to discuss the status of trade negotiations between the Clippers and the Celtics. Stephen said that it is a 50-50 proposition that Doc ends up in Los Angeles.

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Shawn joined the show to discuss the Bruins' OT win in Chicago. Shawn said that there was a heated discussion during the first intermission Saturday night in Chicago after the team's poor first period.

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The guys opened the show discussing the rumors regarding Doc Rivers being part of a deal between the Celtics and the Clippers.

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Both Xander Bogaerts and Anthony Ranaudo punctuated their strong 2013 seasons with head-turning events on June 13. On that day, Bogaerts, the Red Sox' top prospect, was promoted from Double-A Portland Pawtucket, with the 20-year-old becoming one of the youngest position players in the affiliate's history. On that same day, right-hander Anthony Ranaudo punched out 13 batters for Double-A Portland, the most strikeouts by a Red Sox minor leaguer since Jon Lester in 2005. They joined Minor Details to discuss both those accomplishments and their seasons to date.

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