"Man, they're all showing up down at the shop going, 'Hey, I was from Boston,' or, 'My son is living in Boston,' " he said. "My God, I didn't know there were this many people in the world who had an association with Boston. It's crazy."Read more...
Major League Baseball has finished its study on maple bats and now must decide what the next step is. The Players Association must agree to any actions taken so whether or not maple bats will be banned is still up in the air.
Read more...SI's Jon Heyman is reporting that the Red Sox and Tigers are still talking deal to swap Julio Lugo and Dontrelle Willis.
Read more...
Eddie Cicotte & Babe Ruth
The Red Sox have shown interest in Junichi Tazawa for a few months and now have another reason to try to sign him. The Japanese amateur pitched a complete-game shutout in the quarterfinals of Japan's corporate league baseball championships today with major league scouts looking on.
"I'll accept the offer if I'm asked to play," Matsuzaka said. "I'll pick up the pace of my training in December so that I won't have to scramble at the last minute."Read more...
An auction of Ted Williams items will take place this Saturday in West Swanzey, N.H. You can bid on Williams' 1987 Suburban complete with a super cool gold baseball hood ornament or you could own a stuffed antelope that Teddy Ballgame shot during a hunting trip in Africa along with a picture of him over the kill. I'm not sure if you will have to give the items back when they unfreeze Williams and bring him back to life.
Watch Dustin Pedroia's press conference about winning the AL MVP:
After a year of wild speculation over what would happen with Coco, the end was swift and anti-climatic. The negotiations with the Royals were not leaked to the press so there was little pre-trade analysis on the deal.
When Coco arrived in Boston he had big shoes to fill in Damon's absence. Most fans expected him to be an instant success so they could forget about Damon's trip to the Bronx. He brought speed and great defense to the team early on, but then came the broken finger. In his first season in Boston he never really got in a grove and had multiple trips to the DL.
Ellsbury was called up when Coco was struggling at the plate late in '07 and quickly won over the fans. Crisp was a professional when he was benched and supported his teammate. Last off-season everyone believed he would be traded for a catcher or as part of a deal for Santana but he was still on the team when spring training rolled around. The platoon in the outfield worked for most of the season because of the steady parade of injuries. As the season came to a close Coco started to get hot and his trade value went up.
The Red Sox have a solid player in Jacoby Ellsbury and they needed to get him some more playing time as well unload some salary. It had reached the point where the Red Sox could not justify Coco's salary when he was playing less than half of the games. The timing of today's trade was surprising but the outcome is not. One of Theo's main goals this off-season was to improve the bullpen and with the acquisition of Ramon Ramirez they have done that. Ramirez give Tito another option in the 8th should Oki struggle or give him a bridge to Oki and Papelbon by pitching the 7th.
Coco never developed into the player the Red Sox thought he might become. He has great defensive skills and is a good fastball hitter. His speed gives him the ability to swipe some bases but he didn't get on enough in the lead-off spot. I think Coco will do better with a change of scenery and I think the Red Sox are a better team with Ellsbury in center. In the end I think fans will respect Coco for his contributions to the team and they will appreciate having another good arm in the pen.
Kansas City Radio station WHB-810 is reporting that Coco Crisp has been traded to the Royals for reliever Ramon Ramirez. In 71 games Ramirez had an ERA of 2.64 with K.C. last season.
UPDATE: The deal has been confirmed.
Several sources have the Red Sox in discussions for A. J. Burnett. Newsday, Daily News. The Yankees also have interest in Burnett and are reportedly making a 4 year offer.
The Daily News also reports that the Red Sox are still interested in Lowe.
If the Red Sox land either Burnett or Lowe then they will have some room to trade Buchholz to the Rangers for a catcher.
Tito may have his right hand man and third base coach back for next season since the Mariners' job is going to A's bench coach Don Wakamatsu.
Read more...BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox congratulate Dustin Pedroia on winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award in just his sophomore season in the Major Leagues. It is a well-deserved honor, and we are delighted that his outstanding season has been recognized in this way. The .326 batting average, 213 hits, 118 runs, 54 doubles, 17 home runs, 20 stolen bases do not tell the whole story of how valuable Dustin was to the team in 2008. He also played gritty Gold Glove defense, and served as the igniting spark plug in our clubhouse all year. We would also like to congratulate Kevin Youkilis on his third place finish in the MVP voting. Truly, both Dustin and Kevin played integral roles in our 2008 season. Finally, we take great pride in the fact that both Dustin and Kevin were drafted and developed by the Red Sox. It is a great tribute to our Baseball Operations, Scouting and Player Development staff.
Read more...Kevin Youkilis came in third place for the American League MVP here's how his numbers broke down (from MLB.com)
Youkilis received two first-place votes, four second-place votes, four third-place votes, nine fourth-place votes and two fifth-place votes. He finished with 201 points, compared to 317 for Pedroia and 257 for Morneau.Read more...
Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has won the American League MVP.
Read more...
Big Papi seems to be everywhere this off-season, here is his recent interview from NESN.
The American League MVP will be announced at 2 pm Eastern (11 am Pacific) today. There is a good chance for Pedroia and Youk to go 1st and 2nd in voting, not a bad right side of the infield.
Read more...
No its not Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation cruising into town on
In yesterday's Herald Michael Silverman wrote that the Yankees may get two more former Red Sox stars:
It should require something closer to a two- to four-year deal worth $10-11 million a year to sign Varitek. He is coming off a four-year, $40 million deal.Teams expected to be in on the bidding include the Tigers and Angels. Do not dismiss the chances of the Yankees going after Varitek as doubt remains about whether Posada’s shoulder, surgically repaired last season, will allow him to catch in 2009. . . .
Other whispers: The Yankees trading for Nick Swisher was a hedge in case they cannot sign Mark Teixeira (another Boras client). If they do not get Teixeira, then Swisher can play first and the Yankees will go after - sit down - Ramirez (another Boras client).
I would not be too surprised if Manny ever ended up in the Bronx but I just can't picture Tek playing for the Yankees.
ESPN is reporting that the Red Sox sent a letter to Manny, MLB, and Scott Boras in July saying that Ramirez would be suspended if he did not play in the next game. Manny quickly called team execs and said he would play.
According to multiple sources, Boston management had drafted an official letter of suspension for Ramirez, and delivered it to him at Fenway Park at around 11 p.m. on Friday night, July 25. For the second straight game, Ramirez had refused to play that evening, and the Red Sox lost 1-0 to the rival New York Yankees in front of a boisterous and sold-out home crowd.
The letter informed Ramirez that the suspension was to go into effect the next day, Saturday, July 26. It said Ramirez was being suspended without pay for being unwilling to play. Copies of the letter were also sent to Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras.
Within two hours after Ramirez received the letter of suspension, the Red Sox received two calls, according to sources. The first call was from one of Ramirez's teammates. He told a member of Boston's front office that Ramirez would play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankees. Within minutes, the second call came in from Ramirez himself, who confirmed that he would be available for Saturday's game.
Why is this information just coming out now? Are some members of Red Sox management trying to hurt Manny's free agent value? This could certainly give some teams some pause before throwing crazy money at Ramirez but even with the new information about the suspension threat by the Red Sox, Manny can still hit and teams will need good hitters.
© Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008
Back to TOP
