By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

Editor Hank Hryniewicz’s Little Sports Desk that Could (the Boston Herald’s) appears to be on the verge of scoring a huge coup for its pages with the landing of the Lawrence Eagle Tribune’s Rob Bradford.

Final details are still being worked out, according to our sources, but an announcement is expected this week with Bradford likely on board in the next month or so if no snafus are encountered. (It is believed that the MetroWest’s Albert Breer is also on the Hank Herald short list.)

“We have a sports reporter opening at the Herald and we are currently interviewing candidates for that job,” said Hryniewicz via email. “Until a hire is made - and I have not hired anyone yet - I cannot really comment further.”

Said Bradford in a brief phone conversation: “I have not been offered a job.”

Breer did not immediately return an email from Shots this morning.

However, Shots has been told by multiple local sportswriters that Bradford is the top choice of Hank Herald as the Herald sports desk undergoes some cosmetic changes. ESPN Radio 890 AM’s and (Pats writer) Mike Felger is going to be shifting to a reduced role for the paper as he focuses more on his TV (Fox Sports New England) and radio responsibilities at 890. Felger’s move has been in the works for several months as Shots even heard rumblings of it during our Spring Training stint in Ft. Myers and later from some New York writers covering the NCAA Tournament.

It’s not expected that Felger will take the complete “Gerry Callahan Role” - where that WEEI radio host writes once a week for the paper - but it is a safe bet to guess that Felger’s main contributions will be his in-season Report Card, game columns and another weekly feature/column. The in-season workload won’t appear all that different for Felger, according to our well-placed Herald source, but the move will free him up more in the so-called “off-season” for his other duties.

In Bradford, the Herald would be getting one of the region’s most talented and forward-thinking writers, who has already established his “Bradford on Baseball” blog as must-reading for true Sox fans. The ability to transfer the power of that blog and the following Bradford has established with his outstanding writing and his WEEI 850 AM presence could very well shift the balance of power on the Red Sox beat into the Herald’s corner with top of the order hitters Blogford, Jeff Horrigan, Michael Silverman and utility man Tony Mazz going up against the Globe’s line-up of Amalie Benjamin, Nick Cafardo and Gordon Edes.

As one local Herald competitor said, “It’s like they’re adding a guy and not losing Felger at all. That’s huge for them. Bradford’s a monster.”

Bradford jumped from the Lowell Sun to the Eagle-Tribune in October of 2005 and in the two years since, he has gained a national following for his outside-the-box approach to Sox stories and his limitless connections throughout baseball (not to mention a good handle on Celts and Pats matters).

Even at a time of uncertainity for the Herald, the move would make sense for Bradford, who is hampered by an under-developed Eagle-Tribune website and a lack of exposure at that suburban paper. The safe money says that the Herald isn’t going anywhere and any time Bradford could milk out of the paper would likely lead him nicely to his next job. It would be a tremendous hire for all involved and should really put the Globe on alert that the feisty sports pages of Hank Herald aren’t sitting idly by while the Borges’ Group figures out what plagiarism actually is and awaits their hero’s return to the desk.


David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. And can be reached at shotsATbostonsportsmedDOTcom