Cheech Tremendous

You make it sound so inconsequential. The guy screwed over several organizations by gouging them for big contracts and then never playing to his full potential. Why should observers of the game see him as a sympathetic figure? Would you defend J.D. Drew were he not a Red Sock? I defended him before he played for Boston and openly encouraged a pursuit of Drew before he even opted out. In the era of free agency, players are just commodities. Organizations screw over players at every turn and the players, in turn, forgo loyalty for money. I don't have any problem with players acting their own interest because in the end, this is just a profession for them.

I want less Brett Favre coverage and more Deanna Favre.

Can't say that I saw many Dodgers games this year, but, c'mon, it's Grady Little. He had a winning record in Boston as well, but he was such an abject failure that the team was prepared to fire him even if they won the World Series. He was the worst manager in MLB during his first stint. I hardly think he learned much this time around. It does appear that the Dodgers have given up on being Boston West and have decided to be Yankees West. Bring on A-Rod and Pettite.

There might be more to this than you think. We have continuously heard since last offseason that A-Rod would get $30-$40 million a year as a free agent. But what evidence do we have that some team will actually pay that amount? Giambi was the highest paid player in baseball at $23 million last year. The highest paid non-Yankee was Many Ramirez at a little over $17 million. I think we all like to extrapolate a contract value based on last year's crazy free agent market, but at the end of the day we still need a team to destroy everything we know about free agent contracts to get A-Rod into that territory. I don't know why we should price escalation in free agent contracts to be linear. The diminishing marginal value for teams that have high payrolls might exclude them from going above and beyond for his services. Last year's biggest contracts have AAVs approaching $18 million. Perhaps that's the highest the market will bear and any bids will start with that as a baseline. Or I coud just be looking at this too logically and A-Rod gets a $350 million ten-year contract.

Most of the time when a player makes a lot of money and has a tenuous relationship with the media he gets labeled as a "cancer." Most sportswriters default to that angle when the player gets paid and the team doesn't have the success to go with it. Last summer when JD Drew signed with Boston I kept hearing about Drew being a cancer and always chasing the money. A little reseach on my part showed that he just happened to be a good, stay at home family man. The writers just disliked him because of the Philly contract thing and the fact that he treats baseball as a business instead of as a game.

I've heard conflicting reports about Bedard. Some say that he, Markakis and Guthrie make up the O's untouchable list. But there was an article a few weeks ago (I wish I could find the source) that indicated the team would deal him if they could get a similar package to ones being discussed for Johan Santana.

The Red Sox had a good offense this year. They were third in the American League in runs scored, but when you factor in ballpark effects (Fenway was the #1 hitter's park in MLB this year), you get something a little closer to average. As a patient OBP-driven team, they can make short work of bad pitching, but tend to struggle against more patient throwers. One way to address this might be the acquisition of some power in the latter part of the lineup. An upgrade to A-Rod certainly does that. Overall, while I'm not advocating a pursuit of A-Rod, I hope fans don't get overly attached to Mike Lowell. He's a 34-year old 3B who just had a career year in a contract season. His numbers, while good, were inflated by a ridiculous second half BABIP that is not sustainable. His defense is okay, but declining quickly. He rarely gets to any balls outside of his zone anymore. I'd like to have him back, but it's not worth breaking the bank because of some emotional tie. There are other options out there. If he can be had for 2 years, $26 million with a vesting or team option for a third, that's great. I don't suspect that to be the case. He'll get four years guaranteed from LAD, Philly or New York and that'll be it for Lowell. He deserves the big payday though, so no hard feelings if this is how things play out.

I guess thehartfoundation wants him in Miami. A quadruple post denotes he means business.

Even today, given everything that has gone down since 2004, I don't know how you could make the argument that you'd rather have Lowell over A-Rod given the option between the two. When you start talking contracts and payroll flexibility I can see the reluctance, but not a pure talent basis. Lowell has never been the player A-Rod is and he never will be. It's been discussed time and again, but there is no real evidence that A-Rod can't perform in the postseason. He has some abysmal postseason performances and some okay, but there is no reason to believe that he lacks the innate ability to come through. It's a reflection of small sample size and ridiculous expectations that have clouded the general judgment of his postseason results. Chemistry plays a role in the dynamic of any team, but it's an immeasurable quality and there is no way to say with any confidence that having Lowell around made this team better. In fact, it's almost silly to suggest such a thing. Winning promotes happiness. What makes you think that a downgrade in character would outweight the vast performance upgrade in a Lowell to A-Rod swap?

Meltzer is great at what he does, but at the end of the day he still has to run stories that are mostly hearsay or based on biased comments from the workers he has connections with. He's not in the locker room getting first hand accounts and he's not confirming his stories with Vince McMahon. It's nice that he is able to put together a nice product, but it's always going to be filled with inaccuracies because of the nature of the way the news is collected. You think Vince would confirm anything other than the official WWE line? No, he wouldn't and that's the point I was making. Meltzer is fabulous at what he does, but at the end of the day he's only as good as the info he's being fed.

Meltzer is great at what he does, but at the end of the day he still has to run stories that are mostly hearsay or based on biased comments from the workers he has connections with. He's not in the locker room getting first hand accounts and he's not confirming his stories with Vince McMahon. It's nice that he is able to put together a nice product, but it's always going to be filled with inaccuracies because of the nature of the way the news is collected.

By the way, what's the deal with Michael Kay? I was listening in on his radio show this afternoon and he said that if the Sox signed A-Rod they'd have him to play him at SS because Lugo is a terrible defender. What? I know Lugo had a bad year offensively, but he's still a good, borderline great defensive SS. Then he followed that up by saying he could go to the Mets because David Wright is a 1B masquerading as a 3B. Once again, David Wright is one of the better defensive 3B in the NL. By the way, A-Rod himself isn't exactly a dynamo with the glove anymore. What exactly is this guy basing his assumptions on?

Sigh. The Hot List leads with the story of Girardi being offered the Yankees job. They follow by discussing A-Rod opting out of his contract and the possibility of Torre ending up in LA. After exhausting these stories, they mention that the Sox won the World Series yesterday. Way to have your priorities straight. Oh, and then they cut away from the show for a good 20 minutes to listen in on Michael Kay discussing the ramifications of A-Rod and Girardi on the Yankees.

For Jair Jurrgens and Gorkys Hernandez. Jurrgens has okayish stuff and could slip in easily as a #4 starter in Atlanta. He doesn't have a ton of upside, but he's got enough to contribute. Hernandez is young and all tools. Projects as a speedy CFer, but he's a few years away at best. Decent deal for both sides, but it crushes Buster Olney's "report" from earlier that the Tigers were going to make a blow away offer to A-Rod to be their new SS.

Six months ago I would have said that the Red Sox would do everything in their power to sign Alex Rodriguez, but today I'd say that the chances are less than 50%. And it's not necessarily because I think Lowell is a better option. In fact, I'm not sold on him returning next year. However, I do think that this postseason affirms that they don't need a superstar at third to continue this run. A trade for Eric Chavez or Adrian Beltre makes a great deal more sense. That being said, the Sox will likely be in on a Santana or Miggy Cabrera sweepstakes if those two become available. That just seems like something that would fit their philosophy better than breaking the bank on a player that the fans, clubhouse and local media might not be ready to accept.

Johnny from Burger King disagrees Exactly. I have no problem with Foulke as a person or as a player. That 2004 team won because of him and he left everything on the field in doing so. However, the Burger King line coupled with his miserable 05 and 06 forever ruined his legacy in Boston. He was almost persona non grata by the time he left last season.

It was a complete A-Rod move. Every time he tries to save face with the media, he does something to completely fuck it up. First off, he skips the presentation of the Hank Aaron award because he doesn't want to detract from his rivals potentially winning the World Series. Somehow he thinks this will look good instead of making him appear as a self-absorbed jackass. Second, he makes his big announcement during the game to steal every headline at a major moment. He has no sense of timing or understanding how the public will react to his moves.

Not that I think it will last for any degree of time, but the Yankees just appear to be a franchise in disarray at the moment. The transition to Hank and Hal has not been a smooth one thus far.

This seems like an odd sort of thing to say. I don't know if I'm too close to the team to realize that this is the popular sentiment or if Czech is just going on one of his weird rants. As a fan, it was fun to watch 2004, but that team on the whole was bordering on unlikable. You had assclowns like Kevin Millar, Derek Lowe and Johnny Damon mucking up the team and hired mercs with no emotional attachment like Keith Foulke and Orlando Cabrera. The fact that the whole thing was dismantled in a year or so weakened any sort of attachment. This year's team was full of homegrown talent. Everyone loved the Rockies because they had fresh faces that came up in their system, but the Sox threw out Paps, Lester, Buchholz, Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis and MDC. They were the best team in baseball from about mid-April on, steamrolled the Angles, had a dramatic ALCS comeback and then just beat the holy shit out of the NL's best. I thought it was fun to watch even if it was backdropped by a poor playoff tournament overall.

He signed Matsuzaka to a six-year deal last offseason, but I guess you could argue that was a special case because of the posting fee. I've never heard that he won't go longer than five years. The team, however, has reservations about signing guys into their mid to late 30s and Theo has said flat out that he hates signing free agents. A-Rod might be the exception. Manny's deal is up at the end of the year, but the team holds two option years at $20 million each. Manny will be there as long as they see fit to have him. Ortiz is locked up long-term and he's never seemed like the type to bitch about money.

It's a good question. On one hand, I absolutely want A-Rod on the Red Sox because he's the best player in baseball and will continue to be for the next few years. The team can certainly afford him with $30 million off the books this season and a new World Series title to increase revenue once again. Futhermore, the team has a need at 3B and for right-handed power. However, A-Rod is a total heat magnet and I'm not sure I want that sort of distraction. Adding a player of that caliber (and baggage) to a World Series champion will only raise expectations to an unfair degree. Anything less than another title will be perceived as a failure pinned to A-Rod. In the end, I'd expect Theo to make a generous offer... say $30 million a year over 8 years, but stop short of any sort of bidding war. As for Papi and Manny, both are under contract already. They won't be able to ask for anything.

I don't want to be come on here and gloat about another Sox WS victory, but I do want to congratulate the team. This was an amazing team to watch this year and it's quite rewarding to see the rise of the FO plan and the "$100 milion development machine." Congrats!

Interesting choice. He has a MOTY award to his name, but his stint with Florida was mired with pitcher abuse and clashes with management. Given that the Yankees front office and ownership is a mess right now and the success of next year's team rides with Joba, Hughes and Kennedy, things could get messy real fast.

This year's Patriots aren't even fun to watch. I know a lot of people prefer to have the league dominated by powerhouse teams, but this is shaping up to be one of the least interesting seasons in a while.

Matt Clement seems to have found enough string and gum to hold his arm together for now. You could bring him in as well.