Cheech Tremendous

Damnit! I really wanted him to close in Boston. I know that this is a crazy free agent market and we should expect anything, but multi-year deals for middle relief seems crazy to me. Peter Gammons mentioned that Boston might look into a six-man rotation next year so that they can work their starters a little harder when they do pitch. Might be an interesting way to circumvent the rising cost of mediocre relief pitching.

I can't really see anyone outside of Michigan or Ohio really caring much about the game though outside of a passing interest in seeing who makes it to the championship. I'll probably watch it, but its been beated to death ad nauseum all week (and most of the past 3 or 4 weeks) on ESPN. But then again, I have a hard time getting into any college football games at all because of the stupid BCS system. Maybe I'm biased.

Did you guys know that Michigan and Ohio State are playing this weekend? ESPN really should be talking more about it

I've heard both of those rumors debunked elsewhere, but with as crazy as this offseason is shaping up, you never really know. Read in a Philadelphia paper that Boston signed JD Drew to a four year, $48 million contract, but haven't found confirmation anywhere else. He's going to get a lot more money than that, I would think.

In the least surprising news item of the day, Johan wins his second Cy Young with a unanimous vote. The voters got one right for once, although I still haven't figured out how he lost last year. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2664561 Also, A-Rod is saying that he won't exercise his out-clause that would void the last three years of his deal. I thought this would be a no-brainer for him. Get out of New York and make a little more sratch. Oh well, have fun getting booed for the next three years.

Is football bigger than baseball and basketball? If MLB and NBA had to move teams out of Canada what makes you think that a NFL franchise will work? The NFL is so much larger than NBA and MLB that it's not even funny. They aren't even in the same stratosphere.

It's weird that he still gets labeled as a "Moneyball" guy when he hasn't really employed any of the principles that one might associate with that philosophy. They overpay for name talent, they have no player development system to speak of and they haven't really found any productive bargain guys. Frank Thomas is a bad buy, especially at two years with an option for a third. He's going to be lucky to make it to the All-Star break playing on that surface in Toronto. Does this mean that they won't try to resign Justin Speier and Ted Lilly? I'd try to flip Wells to LAA for E. Santana and Wood (or Aybar). That deal would make sense for both squads.

I think if the Marlins were going to part with Willis, the package would start with Philip Hughes and Humberto Sanchez, and probably include one or two other guys as well (Melky Cabrera probably). For the Red Sox to acquire Josh Beckett last year, they had to give up two top prospects (Ramirez, Sanchez) and two other high upside guys, in addition to taking on Lowell's ridiculous contract. Willis is a better pitcher and one would think he'd require an even larger package.

Not that I have anything against Brad Lidge, in fact I've advocated the Sox going after him, but I really hope they don't give up Wily Mo Pena for him. Lidge had a questionable year in 2006 and he's about to get really expensive. I'm not big on paying for a closer, especially when the cost is a 25-year-old CFer with an .850 OPS.

And really, who isn't? Doubt Cashman would clean out the farm for him though.

The Red Sox have one of, if not the most intelligent front offices/ownership groups in the major leagues. I don't want to blindly say that $50 million is smart, but I guarantee that if they went that high they have done their homework. It's already been reported in mulitple places that this is one piece of a larger expansion project into Asia for the Red Sox. If that's the case, it's startup capital in a foreign investment, not a player. In addition, spending money in a posting is far different than spending on a regular salary. The money does not count towards the luxury tax. The expense also comes out of their bottom line for revenue sharing. It is also not illegal for Seibu to kick back some of the posting to Boston as a sort of "goodwill" to ensure the signing. All told, between this and the fact that signing Dice-K opens up a number of foreign revenue streams, the actual signing could be the steal of the offseason. Zito wants 6/$100 million and he's a #2. Matsuzaka has 4 plus pitches that he throws hard and for strikes. But time will tell, I guess.

Now that Vinny Testaverde has signed with the Patriots, I can't see anyone beating them the rest of the year

It is official that the Red Sox have won the rights to Daisuke Matsuzaka. Final bid is being reported as $51.1 million(!), much higher than anyone expected. They have from now until December 15th to ink a deal. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2662193

Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays won the posting for 3B Akinori Iwamura. Obviously in a year where Matsuzaka came out, he got little press, but he's a power hitter with a little bit of speed and defense. Probably will struggle a bit in adjusting to big league pitching, but a nice score for the D-Rays. Seibu is supposed to have their press conferenc at 8ET. Likely just a formality in reporting acceptance of the Red Sox $42 million bid, but you never know.

They should have just cut it completely. I haven't watched Raw for months, but happened on to that segment while flipping through the channels last night. I'd never been so happy that I decided to give up WWE. Embarrassing to the highest degree.

The Red Sox met with Adam Eaton this afternoon to offer him a contract. Yesterday they extended offers to two other pitchers, although Theo did not reveal any names (rumored to be Justin Speier and Eric Gagne... but that doesn't seem like the Sox M.O. to me - they never sign Type A free agents). I'm glad to see that the team isn't pussyfooting around this offseason. They have holes and they are trying to fill them quickly. I think they've learned their lesson after the past two offseasons when they tried to get too cute in addressing the team's needs.

Awesome! Better bring HBK along to run translation! EDIT: here's the reast of the interview, the parts pertaining to wrestling, anyway: Get this man on the booking team, stat.

I hate how ESPN is acting like Bob Knight murdered a class full of children before feasting on their souls. This morning on the radio I kept hearing how "hit" or "struck" a player and should be fired immediately and banned from basketball. Finally I see the incident at lunch... he barely nudged the guy's chin to get him to look at him. The player and his parents said there was nothing wrong at all. Why is ESPN trying to force-feed us this story?!

I have no issue with Brandon Webb winning the Cy Young award, but the distribution of the voting was very odd. None of the pitchers were named on every ballot, which seems odd considering there were really only three justifiable choices. Also, it was weird to see such a gap between Webb, Carpenter and Oswalt as all three men were basically identical in performance this year. What did Trevor Hoffman do to warrant consideration? Was this a lifetime achievement vote? His year was okay, but nothing special. He wasn't even the best reliever in the league (Billy Wagner was much better). And no votes for Bronson Arroyo? Strange.

As a devoted fan to the Red Sox, I must forewarn you that Dave Wallace is nothing to get excited about. For the past few years, every pitcher who joined the Red Sox got noticeably worse (Beckett, Clement, Seanez, Tavarez), guys who struggled never recovered (Timlin, Foulke, Hansen) and those who left thrived (Arroyo, Meredith, Lowe, Bradford). Seems like more than a coincidence to me.

Daily News is wrong then. Red Sox bid $42 million, and I am sure he won't get $100 million. Probably 4/$45 million, or something along those lines.

The Red Sox keep a payroll in the neighborhood of $120-$130 million. Heading into next season they have $95 million committed (or $85 million if insurance covers the remainder of Clement's contract). That leaves a lot of money to go after players, and with huge gaping holes in SP, RP, SS and RF, why wouldn't they try and make a splash in free agency?

You do realize that the Yankees payroll is about $80 million/year higher than the Red Sox don't you? That's about the same difference between the Red Sox and the Royals. The Sox live in a payroll world occupied by the Angels, White Sox, Mets, Phillies and Cubs. The Yankees are on a completely different plateau. The Red Sox have huge advantages over almost every other team in the league, and I won't complain ever about the money they spend. But they can't compete financially with the Yankees. I don't see how going after Matsuzaka signifies a changing of the guard (especially when the Mets bid $38.5 million and Yankees around $35 million... they bid what they had to secure the best available pitcher on the planet).

Looks like the Red Sox really are going for a splash this offseason, as it has been reported that not only have they won the Matsuzaka sweepstakes, they have also offered JD Drew a four-year deal in the neighborhood of $52 million. I really called that one last week, didn't I? Guess this means that Coco or Wily Mo will be moved in a deal now, if Drew signs. According to several sources, given the new luxury tax threshold and the big contracts that came off the books for the Sox, they have somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million to spend on free agents this offseason.