Tuesdays-The Real Worst Day of the Week

It's Tuesday, which as many of you know is the day I hate the most. On the bright side we have stuff to link to, so here we go...

• The Maine Black Bears mens b-ball team is on a roll, knocking off the Princeton Tigers 52-50 on Monday night in Orono. They now head into America East play, and one has to wonder if this could be the year they break into the field of 65.
• Jason Bay passed his Mets physical and will be introduced to the media at 11 AM today. Somewhere the Texas Rangers are thinking "we would have flunked him on his physical".
• Oh, and the Boston Red Sox signed Adrian Beltre and his career .325 OBP to a one-year deal with an option. There should be no fall-out from this at all on sports-talk radio, the blogosphere or anywhere else. No truth to the rumor that the Red Sox were trying to trick Mike Lowell into accepting a job in Japan on the premise he would be the star of "Mr. Baseball 2". You can tweet us your thoughts on the Beltre signing @CMSBMatty and @JeffCMSB.
• Bill Belichick will not be having Charley Casserly over for dinner anytime soon.
  

Bay to Mets Drawing Closer

According to Mike Francesa from WFAN 660, the Mets will announce the signing of Jason Bay "Early next week". This is, of course, pending the results of a physical, but it looks like Bay is headed to the prom with the girl he didn't want to go with, simply because he didn't want to stay home. Now maybe Red Sox fans will get over the "Jason Bay is returning" delusion. More info as we get it.

UPDATE: According to our good friend Ian Bethune at Sox and Dawgs, the Red Sox will receive a 2nd round sandwich pick from the Mets, as their first round pick (#7 overall) is protected. They also get a supplemental pick because Bay is a "Type A" free agent. Keep that in mind as trade rumors involving Red Sox prospects get bandied about, as they will be able to replenish the farm in June.

Audio of Francesa's announcement is right here- Bay to Mets

Mike Cameron now a #RedSox Outfielder

According to the Boston Globe, former Milwaukee Brewers Outfielder Mike Cameron signs a 2 year 15.5 million dollar deal with the Red Sox. Bye Bye Jason Bay..we hardly knew ye.

Hit Like a Girl-Winter Meetings Distress

I never give a damn about the winter meetings, but this year they’ve brought on a slew of infuriation.

Boof Bonser?

Bay?

Bye-bye Lowell?

Bridge year?!

None of this is any good Mr. Epstein. I don’t approve. Don’t worry, I’m going to tell you why. Let’s go in order by the list above, shall we?

Boof Bonser
I’m more irritated by this guys name than I am with the fact that he’s not going to bring anything to the team. And he goes by Boof by choice. I can’t even keep writing about this because it’s just making me angry.

Jason Bay
Just sign the man already, will you? Red Sox management and Bay have been doing this dance for far to long now. In theory, Jason Bay is the Red Sox first priority, but you certainly wouldn’t know it. Spend the money! It’s proven that he plays well in Boston. He’s a solid and reliable player. I just have a feeling that if we don’t sign Bay, we’re going to get a couple players for less money with less talent and it’s going to be a miserable situation. They’ll be happy in the front office though, I’m sure. Who doesn’t love a bargain?!

Bye-Bye Mike Lowell
I’m in a state of extreme distress over this one. I love Mike Lowell. He was the Red Sox that made me admit to liking the Red Sox. It’s his fault that I have been shunned by my family, made to change my last name, and been ruthlessly taunted! As of right now, 8:00 on Thursday, December 10, the Lowell deal has not gone through. Some sources say that it’s 75% done, some sources say there only needs to be a physical. I even stumbled upon one that said it was a no-go. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find it since. Like a fool, I closed the window when my supervisor walked over to talk to me about deadlines. I almost jumped out of my chair and screamed, “They put a deadline on this trade?! When is it?! IS HE LEAVING ME?!”

Honestly, if the deal pans out (which it likely will), it’s going to be sad to see Mike Lowell go. He’s the 2007 World Series MVP and an overall class act. But don’t worry about me, I’ve already taken 3 days bereavement leave from work in anticipation of this thing working out. Should he be traded, look for a video of me crying on YouTube similar to the likes of the “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE” meltdown. However, please note that I will not preemptively make this video. I’m clinging to the hope that Lowell will stay in Boston. I will, however, include a photo of how I'm feeling right now...

Bridge Year
Hey Theo Epstein and John Henry? Screw you guys.

“Oh, uhhh, hi. It’s going to be a bridge year for us. Blah blah transitions blah blah, we’re raising ticket prices.” Oh, ok. That’s cool you guys. I wouldn’t want to spend on quality players either.

Sarcasm aside, what is wrong with this organization? I mean, I know Boston fans have something against organizations spending mass quantities of money (See: New York Yankees), but if we want to compete, we need to spend. And we have the means. Sign a quality player like Holliday. Hell, sign a decent player like Bay. I know the last thing we want to be is the Yankees, but we need to spend some money! We can’t just sit around, make offers that are obviously going to be bested by NY, bitch about how those bastards got who we wanted again, and then spend on a couple less expensive, meh players. It’s like shopping at a store like Forever 21 instead of Nordstrom. At Forever 21, you can get some decent clothes. They look pretty nice, and you can buy two or three items for the price of one at Nordstrom! But then, after a few washes, holes start to appear and you realize that your money would have been better spent on that cashmere sweater instead of those three mystery-fabric tops. Sigh.

I’m mad, I’m distressed, and should I happen to run into Theo Epstein during our “bridge year”, I’m going to kick him in the balls.

So this is what it’s like to be a Sox fan…

Samantha Lewis is the author of "Hit Like a Girl". She is the Creative Director of Northshore Editorial in Salem, MA and can be followed on Twitter. She was a once a Yankees fan, but you would never know it...

Red Sox Offer Arbitration to Bay and Wagner

The Boston Red Sox today announced that the club has offered salary arbitration to free agent outfielder Jason Bay and left-handed pitcher Billy Wagner. The club also announced it will not offer salary arbitration to outfielder Rocco Baldelli, right-handed pitcher Paul Byrd and infielder Chris Woodward.

The announcements were made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Theo Epstein.

As a result of today’s action, the Red Sox would be eligible to receive compensation for Bay and Wagner, both type A free agents. Players offered salary arbitration have until December 7 to accept or decline that offer.

Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, clubs retain the right to negotiate and/or enter into a contract agreement with any of their free agents, regardless of whether arbitration was offered. There are no deadlines for such negotiations and/or agreements.

Bay hit .267 (142-for-531) last season. He finished second in the American League with 119 RBI and tied for third with 36 home runs, both career highs. Wagner combined to go 1-1 with a 1.72 ERA (3 ER/15.2 IP) in 17 games with the Mets and Red Sox. He fanned 26 batters in just 15.2 innings.

Baldelli batted .253 (38-for-150) with seven homers and 23 RBI in 62 games last year. Byrd was 1-3 with a 5.82 ERA (22 ER/34.0 IP) in seven games (six starts). Woodward combined to hit .215 (17-for-79) with five RBI in 33 contests with the Mariners and Red Sox.

--- RED SOX COMMUNICATIONS ---

Jason Bay Wins the Silver Slugger

Outfielder Jason Bay has been selected to the 2009 American League Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Team. The announcement was made tonight by Louisville Slugger.

The Silver Slugger Awards are presented annually to the top offensive players at each position in both the American and National Leagues by vote of managers and coaches.

Bay is receiving the honor for the first time after setting career highs with 36 home runs and 119 RBI in 151 games with the Red Sox in 2009. He hit at a .267 clip (142-for-531) while posting a .384 on-base percentage and slugging .537. Bay, 31, ranked among American League leaders in RBI (2nd), home runs (T-3rd), walks (T-3rd, 94), batting with runners in scoring position (5th, .360), runs (T-6th, 103), slugging percentage (10th) and extra-base hits (T-10th, 68). The AL’s starting left fielder in the All-Star Game, he led all Major League outfielders this season in RBI and was the American League leader at the position in home runs and slugging.

Boston has been represented on the AL Silver Slugger Team in each of the last nine seasons beginning in 2001 and Red Sox players have won 32 Silver Sluggers since the award’s inception in 1980.

2009 AMERICAN LEAGUE LOUISVILLE SLUGGER SILVER SLUGGER TEAM

1B—Mark Teixeira, New York (3rd Award)

2B—Aaron Hill, Toronto (1st Award)

3B—Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay (1st Award)

SS—Derek Jeter, New York (4th Award)

OF—Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle (3rd Award)

OF—Jason Bay, Boston (1st Award)

OF—Torii Hunter, Los Angeles (1st Award)

C—Joe Mauer, Minnesota (3rd Award)

DH—Adam Lind, Toronto (1st Award)


--- COURTESY RED SOX COMMUNICATIONS ---

Manny Who?

After the Bay for Manny deal there was a wide gulf between those of the Red Sox faithful who thought dealing Manny would damage the Sox hopes for a repeat and those who believed Bay would replace Manny's production sans the headaches. 18 games into his Red Sox career Bay has shown to be more than ample replacement.

Here are Manny's 2008 stats while with the Red Sox.

.299 average, 20 HR, 68 RBI, .398 OBP, .927 OPS in 100 games

Here are Bay's 2008 numbers while with the Red Sox

.347 average, 4 HR, 18 RBI, .398 OPB, .971 OPS in 18 games.


While Manny has posted even bigger numbers since going to LA, those are irrelevant because the situation is different in LA now that the options on his contract have been voided and he is playing for a new deal; motivation that would not have existed in Boston given it was highly unlikely the options would have been voided.

Jason Bay will not have a Manny Ramirez like career, however, he is an All-Star outfielder who, to this point, has replaced Manny's production in the line up and then some, and if Boston falters in their bid to repeat it will not be because of Bay's lack of production

Saturday Morning Quick Hits

Well Jason Bay, welcome to Boston!!! Bay scored both Red Sox runs, got on base 4 times, made 2 nice defensive plays and almost hit a walk off HR in the 12 inning. Trust me Mr. Bay, the days won't all be like this. Bay just missed a HR in the 12 having to settle for a triple. The A's then intentionally walked JD Drew to get to Jed Lowery, who left the bases loaded in the 10th. Lowery hit a chopper to Alan Embree that was too high to get and too slow for Bobby Crosby so Lowery beat the throw and Bay scored the winning run. Both starters, the A's Justin Duchscherer and Tim Wakefield both pitched very solid games. The Sox won 2 - 1. More and more is coming out about Manny Ramirez. Gordon Edes has an absolutely bizarre account of Manny's last Red Sox actions.

The California Angels beat the NY Yankees 1 - 0 in the Bronx. Torri Hunter continued an amazing stretch of offense for him, getting the game winning hit against Mo Rivera in the 9th inning. The win put the Angels 12 1/2 games uop in the AL West and the Yanks 5 games back of Tampa in the AL East.

With the Manny Ramirez show heading west to Los Angeles, The LA Dodgers played NL West leading Arizona Diamondbacks. Chan Ho Park gave up the 1 - 0 lead in the 7th inning with a HR to Tony Clark and a Steven Drew double, and Manny grounded into a 6-4-3 double play in the 9th, to give Arizona a 2 - 1 win. Arizona is now 3 games up on LA in the west.

Pedro Martinez returned to the mound for the Mets Friday night against the Houston Astros. Pedro went 5 good inning allowing 5 hits and 3 solo home runs. The Huston Astros loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th and pinch hitter and former Red Sox 2nd baseman Mark Loretta launched a grand slam off reliever Aaron Heilman, leading the Astros to the 7 - 4 win over the Mets.

The Philadelphia Phillies missed an opportunity to increase their lead over the Mets, losing to the St Louis Cardinals 6 - 3. Cole Hamels got beat up and former Phillie Kyle Lohse took a no hitter into the 5th and finished with 6 strong innings. The Phillies stayed 1 game up on the Mets.

The Milwaukee Brewers' offense came to life against the hapless Atlanta Braves in a 9 - 0 win. The win keeps the Brew Crew 3 games back of the Cubs.

Tampa stays 3 games up on the Sox by beating Detroit 5 - 2.

Jeff Karstens paid immediate dividends for the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitching 6 strong inning leading to a shutout of the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs. They beat the Cubs 3 - 0.

Another newcomer, Ken Griffey Jr., helped keep the Chicago White Sox 1/2 game up on the Minnesota Twins, with 2 hits and 2 RBIs and beating the KC Royals 4 - 2.

The Twins kept pace by beating Cleveland 4 -1.

NFL

Steve Smith went Muhammad Ali on Panthers CB Ken Lucas during practice on Friday. The Panthers are weighing disciplinary actions.

ESPN reports, shocker, Todd Sauerbrun suspended from the NFL a second time.

NBA

Ron Artest attempts to smooth things over with Yao.

The law claims another NBA player, Josh Howard arrested for street racing.

Don Nelson wins big arbitration case against Mark Cuban.

Paul Pierce still says he is "the best player in the world".

SHOCKER!!! College Football

Georgia got 22 1st place votes to take the pre-season poll. The Top 5 teams are Georgia, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Florida.

A Look At The Ramirez Deal, Minus The Red Sox Nation Glasses

I have been cursed, err, blessed, enough to live in the heart of Red Sox nation for over 25 years. During this time I have watched the Red Sox evolve into a money making media machine, with an army of fans that span the globe and invade visiting teams ballparks and take over (talking to you Baltimore fans). For the last week on local sports talk radio, my radio show, this blog, and other forums, the general opinion, outside of a handful of people, was to move Manny Ramirez for a bag of baseballs and case of G2. In fact, when it seemed like at 3:45 yesterday that Manny was staying, it looked like one of those black cartoon clouds had enveloped all of New England, or that the groundhog had seen his shadow (which looked like dreadlocks) and predicted 8 more weeks of Manny. But the sky parted, the sun shined, the birds chirped and Manny was packing his bags and was almost as far away as they could send him. Then, Red Sox Nation, once again remembering they were in a pennant race, remembered that Manny hit over.300 with runners in scoring position, and Jason Bay hit only .216. The clouds and attitudes got dark again.

Watching New England Sports tonight, although everyone agreed Manny had to go, people wondered if the price tag was too high. Could Brandon Moss be another David Murphy? Could Craig Hansen turn it around? Why did we have to pay Manny's salary? I am going to answer these questions for all of you now, and in order. No, maybe, and because the Red Sox make more money than Warren Buffett and they were desperate to get Manny out of that clubhouse(to do your part,renew your Red Sox nation membership early, or get one for your dog). Brandon Moss is going to be, at best, a 4th outfielder on a National League club, Hansen could be a closer, but needs to figure out the control aspect of the game, and fans should not care when cash is sent away, especially when it will only affect two months of the season. Yes, Bay has a low average with RISP, but with a team in front of him that will give him more chances, the average will go up. He doesn't have to be THE guy, he just has to be A guy. Plus he's Canadian, so the chances of him coming to the plate the Bryan Adams "Summer of 69" are pretty good, right?

Look, it's normal to have buyers remorse. I understand, even though the old car was poisoning your lungs with an exhaust leak, you still have memories of when you drove it to Long Island. In this case 2004, when he came back from not being traded in 2005, 2007, and high-fiving the fan in Baltimore. There will always be good stories of Manny, but there was also the times he sat down against hard throwing pitchers, when he complained about knee injuries that MRI's showed nothing wrong with, when he put forth the weakest at bat in the history of baseball in Yankee Stadium, when he lallygagged down the line, stared at home runs, pimp slapped teammates for showing intensity, and when he assaulted a 60 year old man because of tickets. One of the best representations of Manny was the old Olympia sports commercial, before the 04 Series, when Manny was looking at shoes and day dreaming about being the World Series MVP. he may have been day dreaming, but he was dreaming about a place where he wouldn't be under a microscope, where people show up in the 2nd and leave in the 7th, where you have to be Andruw Jones to get booed. Manny is gone, and this team and this fan base should be better for it both spiritually and emotionally. Now give Jason Bay a standing O when he gets to the plate tonight, be patient with him, and enjoy the fact you have left fielder who will show up to work every day and do what he is supposed to do, play baseball.

Matt Boutwell is a writer for Independent Pub and co-hosts the Sports Vortex on WJZF

Manny is a Marlin? (Tentatively)?

Update-7/31/2008 9:06 am
Trade still not official, however when Marlins beat writers put something up like this I will link to it. I have a hunch this is going to be official this afternoon. It was classified as dead at 1pm est.

7/31/2008 12:08 am
The Palm Beach Post is reporting that a tentative deal is in place to send Manny Ramirez to Florida, Jeremy Hermida to Pittsburgh, and Jason Bay and John Grabow to Boston. The Sox will also cover Manny's contract for the rest of the season, and Pittsburgh will get 4 prospects as well as Hermida. Win-Win deal for everyone, and who would have thought that amongst the Phillies, Mets, and Marlins, the Marlins would get the impact bat? Certainly not I. How did the Manny era end?(if this goes through) With a fly out to center field in the 8th inning on July 30th, 2008. More links in the morning, and an updated podcast from tonight as well.