BOSTON — For a while, it had all the makings of a nice story.
Sean Newcomb was the local guy from Middleboro making good, a journeyman pitcher getting a chance to win a spot with the Red Sox, the team for whom he rooted as a young boy. The Massachusetts native had been part of five different organizations, and now, he was coming to pitch for his hometown team.
And when Newcomb edged out several others at the end of March and went from non-roster invitee to a player on the active roster on Opening Day, it really did seem like the stuff of which dreams are made.