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Ex-Yankees 1st-rounder among non-roster invitees to Red Sox spring training

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Ex-Yankees 1st-rounder among non-roster invitees to Red Sox spring training


Come February a former New York Yankees first-round draft pick, will get a chance to prove himself to their longtime rivals.

Left-hander T.J. Sikkema, 27, is one of seven non-roster invitees to Red Sox spring training, the club announced Tuesday.

Catcher Jason Delay, infielder Vinny Capra, lefty Alec Gamboa, and right-handers Osvaldo Berrios, Hobie Harris and Devin Sweet round out the group.

The Yankees drafted Sikkema 38th overall in the ‘19 draft. He was one of three minor league pitchers they dealt to the Kansas City Royals for former Red Sox star Andrew Benintendi at the ‘22 MLB trade deadline.

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Sikkema spent the last two years in the Cincinnati Reds organization. Last year he reached Triple-A for the first time, and pitched to a 3.47 ERA over five games (four starts) with nine earned runs allowed over 23.1 innings, following the late-August promotion.

While the Red Sox had a top-ranked farm system last year, their catching depth is notoriously thin. Delay, 30, has 134 games of big-league experience with the 2022-24 Pittsburgh Pirates, including 131 behind the dish, a career .231/.333/.400 line in the majors. He spent last season with the Double-A and Triple-A levels of the Atlanta Braves organization.

Capra, 29, appeared in 47 major league games last season, 24 with the Milwaukee Brewers and 23 with the Chicago White Sox. Since his debut with the ‘22 Toronto Blue Jays, he has played 67 big-league games over the last four years.

Though a lifetime .133/.181/.188 hitter in the majors, Capra brings defensive versatility to the table. In just 58 fielding games, he has already covered third base, second, shortstop, left and right field, and made three pitching appearances.

Gamboa, 28, comes to the Red Sox after a season split between the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets and the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball League. He was the Dodgers’ ninth-round pick in ‘19, and owns a 4.23 ERA over 131 career minor league games, including 41 starts.

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Berrios is one of several former St. Louis Cardinals who will be in Red Sox camp next month. The Puerto Rico native split last season between Cardinals’ Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis. Working primarily in relief, he logged a 5.12 ERA and struck out 62 over 58 innings (40 games, four starts).

Harris’ name will likely be familiar to Red Sox fans, as he spent all of last season in Triple-A Worcester. The 32-year-old righty posted a 4.05 ERA with 45 strikeouts over 31 relief appearances and one start. He also has 16 games of major league experience, from his time with the ‘23 Washington Nationals.

Like Sikkema, Harris is a former Yankees draft pick; they selected him in the 31st round in 2015.

The Red Sox signed Sweet to a minor league deal last month. He has seven games of big-league experience between the ‘23 Seattle Mariners and then-Oakland Athletics. He spent last season with the Philadelphia Phillies’ Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, with whom he posted a 5.08 ERA over 46 games, including two starts, and struck out 49 batters in 51.1 innings.

Tumbling from top spot

Entering last spring training, the Red Sox earned the top spot in Baseball America’s farm system rankings for the first time since the publication began their assessments in 1984.

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“The Red Sox have returned to the top of the farm system rankings, even after dealing four prospects to the White Sox to bring Garrett Crochet to Boston,” Baseball America’s explanation stated. “No other organization can match the trio of Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, and Boston’s pitching depth has improved as well.”

The publication’s annual Prospect Handbook ranks the Red Sox 14th.

Chalk some of that up to the aforementioned trio making their respective big-league debuts and progressing out of prospect eligibility. Players like Anthony don’t exactly grow on trees.

Other top prospects, like slugging outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia, have since been traded away. (Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow has made a staggering 49 trades since taking the reins in November ’23.)

At present, most of Boston’s current top prospects are in the lower levels of the farm system. Three of the organization’s top five on MLB Pipeline are expected to debut in 2027 or later; the exceptions are lefties Payton Tolle (No. 2) and Connelly Early (No.4), who both debuted late last season but remain prospect-eligible.

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Boston, MA

Boston Public Schools closed Monday, city declares a snow emergency – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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Boston Public Schools closed Monday, city declares a snow emergency – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


BOSTON (WHDH) – Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Sunday declared a snow emergency starting at 8 a.m. Sunday and announced that Boston Public Schools will be closed on Monday.

Residents are advised that a snow emergency/parking ban will take effect starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Once the snow emergency goes into effect, vehicles parked on major roads and main arteries will be towed. The City is urging residents to abide by snow regulations and encouraging all drivers to use caution if traveling. Residents are also encouraged to sign up for emergency notifications through AlertBoston and to call 311 for non-emergency related issues. For any emergency, residents should call 911.

Boston City Hall and other municipal buildings will be closed on Sunday and Monday.

All Boston Public Schools and central offices will be closed Monday due to snow. All BPS extracurricular activities, sports, and programs on Sunday and Monday will also be canceled.

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“Boston is preparing for the snow, and we need everyone to help stay safe and check on your neighbors, family, and friends,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “Our city workers will be working around the clock throughout the storm, and we ask everyone to make plans to stay inside and stay off the roads wherever possible to give our crews the space to clear the roads and respond to emergencies.”

Stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest storm updates.

(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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Boston state senator talks about his property tax disagreement with mayor

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Boston state senator talks about his property tax disagreement with mayor


A lengthy debate is playing out between Beacon Hill and Boston over property taxes.

Political leaders are seeking solutions as residential rates rise due to falling commercial values. At the heart of that debate is Massachusetts State Sen. Nick Collins.

“You have to make policy decisions backed by information, and that’s how we’re going to continue to approach policy debates in the Senate,” said Collins.

The Boston Democrat, who represents parts of the city including Southie and Dorchester, put forward legislation earlier this month to address the ongoing issue.

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“This authorization would allow cities and towns, and particularly the City of Boston, to issue rebates to taxpayers to mitigate the tax increase they just absorbed,” said Collins.

Property taxes are at risk of spiking at the start of 2026 as the city combats falling commercial property values.

That plan passed on a 37-1 vote and counters a proposal from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu that would temporarily shift more of the tax burden onto commercial properties.

Collins calls that idea a “march of folly” and a “bad idea.” Wu has said Collins did not bring up his concerns in the past and suggested he’s either misinformed or purposely misleading voters.

“The mayor is trying to use games and tricks to distract from the fact that the proposal was flawed,” he said. “It was overwhelmingly rejected by the Senate.”

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But some argue that Boston deserves to have a deeper ability to make these decisions because the city serves as the economic driver for New England.

Collins agrees, but only in part.

“Yes, but not bad ideas,” said he said.

Mayor Michelle Wu is proposing an increase on property taxes for businesses to help alleviate the financial strain for homeowners. NBC10 Boston’s Sue O’Connell hit the streets to see what Bostonians think of the ongoing debate.

The public tiff hasn’t slowed as the Senate’s plan now heads for the House of Representatives.

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“The only way that good tax policy — in this case, to provide relief to homeowners, not just in Boston but statewide — gets blocked is by politics,” Collins said.

Tune in Sunday at 9:30 a.m. for our extended @Issue Sit Down with Collins. He weighs-in on the ongoing disagreement with Wu and whether the lines of communication are still open despite that public back-and-forth.



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Back off man, he’s a musician: Bill Murray & His Blood Brothers perform in Boston – The Boston Globe

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Back off man, he’s a musician: Bill Murray & His Blood Brothers perform in Boston – The Boston Globe


Bill Murray, comedy great and wise guy of the century, was almost a doctor. True story: a young Murray was on a pre-med track at Regis University, right up until he was caught packing 10 pounds of pot at an airport, and dropped out of school before the powers that be had the chance to expel him. The arrest sent him home to Chicago and into the kooky realm of comedy. One iconic “Saturday Night Live” stint and countless films and classic lines later — “back off man, I’m a scientist” comes to mind — and it’s apparent that his impromptu career change panned out just fine.

But Murray would have been just as well-served to pivot to a different sector of the entertainment industry, as his show at Boston’s House of Blues demonstrated Thursday night. On tour as Bill Murray & His Blood Brothers, the 75-year-old actor and his band skillfully stormed through a selection of covers, seemingly for no other reason than a love of their craft.

From left: Albert Castiglia, Mike Zito, Bill Murray, and Jimmy Vivino.Ben Stas for The Boston Globe/The Boston Globe

On the band’s website, Murray’s billed as the group’s lead singer, and his flair for the dramatic serves him well as a shimmying, shuddering frontman. But if someone at the House of Blues were none the wiser about the older gentleman in the beanie and button-up shirt, he’d seem like an unassuming bandmate who was content to cede center stage for half of the performance. Of the evening’s 12 songs, Murray only took the lead on half of them, and otherwise happily cycled through instruments at a percussion station of sorts, complete with chimes, a cowbell, a shaker, a pair of congas, and a mic for backing vocals.

He didn’t even approach the front of the stage to sing lead until the third song, Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London,” a pick that allowed Murray to ham up the chorus’ howls. Whenever he took a back seat and returned to his instruments, Murray’s core bandmates — guitarists Mike Zito, Albert Castiglia, and Jimmy Vivino — took the lead for blues-soaked covers of song such as Prince’s “Little Red Corvette,” plus an original by Zito and Castiglia called “In My Soul.”

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The only guests who were likely to have walked away disappointed Thursday night were those who thought they’d bought tickets to a novelty act in the vein of Murray’s SNL character Nick the Lounge Singer. Ever the entertainer, the actor didn’t shy away from his fine-tuned ability to warp his face and voice, but Murray wasn’t kidding around.

“I love your city,” he told the crowd. “I’ve been here a lot of times. I’ve made a lot of friends. Some are here tonight, some are gone. We’re gonna play tonight for the ones that are gone, OK?”

Bill Murray sang lead vocals for half of Thursday night’s performance at the House of Blues.Ben Stas for The Boston Globe/The Boston Globe

When Murray sang “Like A Rolling Stone,” he didn’t ask “how does it feel?”, he bellowed it, arguably with more conviction than the original. His exuberant rendition of Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309 / Jenny,” which felt like a shared karaoke session between Murray and the equally eager crowd, warranted a quick spin from the House of Blues’s disco ball, as did a cover of the Stephen Stills song “Love the One You’re With” that tapped in Cape Ann musician Juliet Hawkins as a singing partner.

If that sounds like a celebrity seeking a quick check, or a restless actor desperate to branch out, I’d advise you to buy a ticket, see for yourself, and back off, man.

This guy’s a musician.

BILL MURRAY & HIS BLOOD BROTHERS

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With the Jimmy Carpenter Band. At the House of Blues, Thursday


Victoria Wasylak can be reached at victoria.wasylak@globe.com. Follow her on Bluesky at VickiWasylak.bsky.social.





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