Theo Epstein and Peter Gammons Host 14th Annual Hot Stove Cool Music Benefit Concert this Saturday at Paradise Rock Club

Theo Epstein will return to Boston on Saturday night, along with Hall of Fame journalist Peter Gammons, to host the 14th Annual Hot Stove Cool Music Benefit Concert. The concert will be held at the Paradise Rock Club at 7:00pm. Doors will open at 6:00pm. The event benefits Epstein's Foundation to Be Named Later.

Foundation To Be Named Later (FTBNL) was launched in Spring of 2005 by Paul Epstein, a social worker in the Brookline public school system, and his twin brother, former Boston Red Sox Executive VP and GM and current Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein. Named after the MLB trade term "player to be named later," the mission of FTBNL is to raise funds and awareness for non-profit agencies, working on the front lines, serving disadvantaged youth and families. FTBNL invests in programs that teach leadership, education, and healthy development of families.

FTBNL has given over $6 million in grants and in-kind donations to over 200 non-profit organizations and has sent approximately 4,000 children, who would not otherwise get the chance to go to a game, to Red Sox, Cubs, and Celtics home games. The Peter Gammons/FTBNL College Scholarship (named in honor of Hall of Famer and FTBNL Champion, Peter Gammons) is the signature program of FTBNL and has sent more than 36 young people with high financial needs and high educational potential to the college of their choice. Each Gammons Scholar gets an adult mentor and a laptop computer to ensure college success.

This year's Hot Stove Cool Music Benefit Concert will feature rock super group The Baseball Project, featuring members of the iconic rock band R.E.M.; rock and soul band Trigger Hippy, featuring Joan Osborne and members of The Black Crowes; indie rocker Howie Day, Boston-born Kay Hanley, and rising stars Kingsley Flood.

Gammons and his Hot Stove All-Stars will feature Paul Barrere from Little Feat, Buffalo Tom’s Bill Janovitz, Belly’s Tanya Donelly, Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper, the Upper Crust’s Chris Cote, Seth Justman from the J. Geils Band, Will Dailey, Jed Parish & Lucky Jackson from The Gravel Pit, with actor-comedian Mike O’Malley serving as emcee.

The concert will be followed by the Sports Roundtable on January 21, which will feature a candid forum about "Building and Maintaining a Winning Culture" with Gammons and a number of sports executives, players and journalists participating, including Red Sox pitcher, Craig Breslow.

VIP tickets to the concert and roundtable as well as general admission tickets for $40 are on sale now, and can be purchased at FTBNL.org

Leave Lester Alone

Peter Gammons accidentally-on-purpose let it slip that Jon Lester seemed unhappy here in Boston. And during the All-Star Break, with no other sports news to sink one's teeth into, the story exploded. It even prompted Lester himself to Tweet that he was in fact happy to play here.

If Jon Lester is unhappy here, I can't really blame him. This team hasn't won a playoff game since 2008, hasn't been to the playoffs since 2009, has finished in 3rd place since 2010, and suffered an infamous collapse in 2011.

The team has changed managers, changed GMs, and their clubhouse character is questioned (rightfully so) on a daily basis.

And who would be happy working for Larry Lucchino and John Henry?

I criticize Lester all the time because he seems whiny, but I can't disagree with his whining here. I criticize Lucchino for being a bad boss, Cherington for being a sock-puppet, and Valentine for being a reality TV show personality. How can I criticize Lester for not enjoying working for these guys?

And do we want Jon Lester happy?

Didn't we hate how careless Beckett and Lackey were as the team collapsed last September? They were happy as the team went down the drain and it pissed us off. As General Patton said: "I wouldn't give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed."

Jon Lester is 5-6 with a 4.49 ERA. If he were happily joking around with Peter Gammons and laughing it up with the dugout with David Ortiz, I'd be pissed at him. And so would a lot of Sox fans. I think he's as disappointed with his performance this year as we are, if not more so.

And he should be. He shouldn't be happy. I'm glad that at least one key player on this team is unhappy with losing.

Here's what actually happened. Gammons was told something juicy by a person in the Sox front-office. That's why he let it slip on The Hub, and then later that same day on The Fan. It was a leak, a nugget of speculation that would elicit a reaction.

What is the Machiavellian motivation for the leak? I don't know. Maybe the Sox want to gauge fan reaction to a possible Lester trade. Maybe they're laying the foundation of the "he didn't want to be here" campaign they'll launch after Lester is traded or leaves.

Or maybe they wanted fans to speculate if this team was going to "blow up" the roster just so Ben Cherington could declare that he won't blow up the roster. Although, keep in mind this is the same guy who declared that Youkilis would start over Middlebrooks when he returned. Cherington will do whatever puppet-master Larry Lucchino commands he do.

I don't mind Lester being unhappy. I'm unhappy. Misery loves company.

In honor of Friday the 13th, I published this post at 1:13 PM, or 13:13.