Red Sox fans yesterday celebrated Truck Day, the "unofficial start of spring training," as workers began loading a "JetBlue-sponsored big rig parked outside Fenway Park just after 7 a.m.," according to Marie Torto of the BOSTON GLOBE. Team President & CEO Larry Lucchino said that "the theme for the Red Sox this year is 'new things ahead.'" He added that he was "happy to see the turnout for Truck Day" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/6). In Boston, Michael Silverman notes Lucchino keeps "a lot of little black books," and at the top of a page of notes he took the day after the '12 season ended "is written: 'Lessons Learned.'" One such lesson Lucchino wrote read, "Free agency philosophy: Pay more money for fewer years." Silverman writes it is an "intriguing list, almost a tease, really, but not especially profound or groundbreaking." Lucchino agrees that many of the lessons "are old ones the Sox already knew but forgot and then needed to be reminded of." Silverman: "Say what you want about these owners and operators, at least they can't be accused of trying to put lipstick on a pig." They are "not in denial, and they're also not giving up on themselves, either." But why should the owners and Lucchino "be believed when they say they can clean up after themselves?" Lucchino said, "I can understand some people being skeptical. Our job is to provide them with a product they can be proud of." Lucchino said he will "eventually" get to reading former Red Sox manager Terry Francona's book, but for now, "I've got more compelling, true, non-fiction I want to read." He added, "The notion [Red Sox Owner John Henry and Chair Tom Werner] are not passionate baseball fans and deeply committed to winning is just absurd and offensive" (BOSTON HERALD, 2/6).
