as 2006 winds down

Lastest from the Globe at noontime Saturday was that the ongoing J.D Drew contract saga will continue into the New Year and that Theo and Boras will try to hammer out something next week. Something isn't right for this to drag out for a month.

Daisuke Matsuzaka certainly looks good in a Sox uniform. He has been busy in Japan making commercials. Boston.com looks at other Sox players who have done commercials.

Things are so quiet this weekend that NESN even did a story on Matsuzaka's commercial.

Bob Ryan does his annual "State of Boston Sports" and says this about the Olde Towne Team -

Be honest. None of us could have remotely imagined that Red Sox interest could get much higher than it was in 2002. Who would have believed the Red Sox would themselves have become Evil Empire II by spending $51.1 million just to talk to a Japanese pitcher, or that people would be paying 100 bucks to sit in a glorified bleacher seat on top of the left-field wall or that they would sell out every game? You can’t take that for granted. It won’t always be like this, but, right now, in 2007, they’ll most likely sell out every game for the third consecutive season.
The team? I don’t know who’s going to close games, but I have a feeling they’ll make the playoffs.

The Globe considers these the Top 10 stories of 2006 in Boston sports

1. Red Sox sign Daisuke Matsuzaka
2. Red Auerbach dies
3. Theo Epstein returns to Red Sox
4. Bruins’ makeover
5. Rookie stars Jon Lester, Phil Kessel diagnosed with cancer
6. David Ortiz’s heroics
7. Red Sox swept away by Yankees at Fenway
8. Patriots bounced out of playoffs by Broncos
9. Ex-Patriots
10. Tom O’Brien departs BC

America's Most Beloved Ballpark still has warts

For 5 years now since the ownership change, the Red Sox have been calling Fenway Park "America's Most Beloved Ballpark". Look I will be the first to applaud John Henry and Company for all the changes made at the park since 2001 but the reality is the park still has major warts that if they plan to stay there for another 10-20 years they need to address. All the changes they have made in the past 5 years was to increase revenue and that they have done in smashing fashion. The Green Monster Seats are the hardest to come by and it is amazing to think the Red Sox are able to sell obstructed view seats in the outfield for over $100 a ticket. The right field seats while a little cheaper come with a food voucher included in the price. The new seats on the roof also are high priced. But what have they really done to improve things for the average fan that pays $85 for an upper box or $45 for a grandstand seat? Truth is they have done nothing...yet.

First of all NOBODY will miss the wooden Grandstand seats that were installed in 1934. They simply have no leg room for the average person and the rows are so long you are up and down countless times a game as fans go to the concession areas. Problem is by replacing the seats and adding a little more leg room the Sox would probably lose close to a 1,000 seats as there would be less rows in the Grandstand. I'm not sure the Red Sox would even consider taking that hit after all the work they have done to increase seating to over 37,000.

The situation is even worse in Grandstand sections 1-8 out in right field. It is amazing how bad seats become between Section 9 and 8. Those seats belong to the grandstand that was built in 1934 after the famous Fenway Park fire that almost destroyed the stadium. The new grandstand was built in 3 months and in the rush to rebuild the park a critical mistake was made as the seats wound up facing the flagpole in center instead of home plate. They are perhaps the worst seats in any major league stadium. It would be a major off-season construction job to redo the right field grandstand but it could be done.

Fenway Park has become a "theme park" that Disney would envy. Even in the middle of winter the Red Sox offer tours every hour 7 days a week and people come happily. No other team in baseball can do this, not even the Yankees or Cubs. We New Englanders do love Fenway Park on that there is no doubt but it is time the Red Sox do something to improve the game experience for the average fan.

2 years ago the Sunday Globe Magazine printed an article titled Isn't It Time We Said Goodbye To Fenway Park? I'm not saying that we need a new stadium but it is time to fix up the lower seating bowl.

how big is baseball in Japan? now they have Boston Dirt Dogs translated

This didn't take long. I wonder how Boston Dirt Dogs will play in Toyoko

BOSTON, Dec. 28, 2006 -- Boston.com today announced that it has entered into a content-sharing agreement with Go-RedSox.com, an established Japanese-language baseball site. Under the agreement, excerpts of Major League Baseball coverage from The Boston Globe, Boston.com and the Boston Dirt Dogs fan site will be translated and posted on Go-RedSox.com for Japanese-language readers worldwide. The new relationship begins immediately, with links between both sites.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/japanese_blog/

The San Francisco Giants are insane

This contract boggles the mind.

Longtime A's ace Barry Zito is packing his curveball and moving across the Bay Bridge. The coveted free agent signed with the Giants for a whopping $126 mil over 7 years, the largest contract ever for a pitcher.

odds and ends 12/28/06 - Moose hunting with Papelbon

NESN brings up coverage of a recent moosehunt by Jonathan Papelbon ( let's face it things are really slow in RSN )
Papelbon moose hunt: Part 1
Papelbon moose hunt: Part 2

The Yankees signed THEIR pitcher from Japan

The big story in baseball this morning is speculation of what will happen now in the ongoing steroid investigation in San Francisco. The San Francisco Chronicle writes this morning "100 big-leaguers steroid-positive in 2003 season - Court rules federal prosecutors can use tests for investigation"

We have local reaction from Nick Carfardo and Steve Buckley

The ticking time bomb is of course who is on that list of 100 and you know this list will be leaked to the media quickly.

Hmmm looks like the Red Sox hired O'Brien not WRKO

Reading this article in the Patriot Ledger it would appear the Red Sox made the change not WEEI/WRKO

‘‘I heard it on the radio that they were making a change,’’ O’Brien said. ‘‘I had become friendly with (Red Sox chief operating officer) Mike Dee, so I turned to my wife and said, ‘I at least have to call him and see what’s going on. I’d be crazy not to.’‘‘Within four or five days I was sitting with the owners at Fenway Park, talking about the possibility of joining them.’’

odds and ends - 12/27/06 Drew talks drag on

Isn't getting pretty obvious that this is not a minor snag? I really am beginning to wonder if the Red Sox were not tipped off by somebody (The Dodgers?) about a medical issue and then signed him anyway knowing he would flunk the physical but in the meantime make Boras happy as they started to talk about Daisuke Matsuzaka's contract. The only winner in this so far is Dodgers GM Ned Colletti who is off the hook for $33 Million.

Nick Carfardo writes on Wednesday - Both sides on the J.D. Drew matter would like to get the contract done this week. But right now it's still in the "easier said than done" stage.

Dan Shaugnessey talks about who he voted for the Hall of Fame.

really is hard to comment when nothing is going on

RIP President Gerald Ford

I mourn President Ford today.

He was a good and honorable man who was put into a horrible situation when President Nixon was forced to resign.When Ford gave Nixon the pardon I like many Americans at the time was outraged but as the years have passed I now believe it was something he had to do for the good of the country. A trial of Richard Nixon would have torn this country apart.

In 2001 the John F Kennedy Library honored President Ford with a "Profiles in Courage" award.

Ford wrote in his autobiography that Nixon's pardon “wasn't motivated primarily by sympathy for his plight or by concern over the state of his health. It was the state of the country’s health at home and around the world that worried me.”

It was the right thing to do.

They hated him in New York City but he may have saved the city from itself

When President Gerald Ford threatened to veto a federal bailout of New York City in October 1975, the now-famous Daily News front-page headline screamed:
"Ford to City: Drop Dead."

odds and ends 12/26/2006

it is the day after Christmas and not much going on in Red Sox land

Globe has a nice feature on David Ortiz who has set up a cardiac unit for children in Dominican Republic

Nothing of note in the Herald or ProJo.

redsox.com has a season recap for 2006

But down in New York the papers are buzzing about a possible deal concerning Randy Johnson

Daily News
Yanks taking Randy offers Randy Johnson's rocky stay in New York may be ending after two seasons. The Yankees are talking to several clubs about possibly trading Johnson and are inclined to make a deal, according to baseball officials. And it seems the first seeds for a trade were planted by Johnson himself. FULL STORY

Returning Johnson would be best present of all
Filip Bondy: Were there really several teams out there willing to excise Randy Johnson from the Bronx, to make his scowl and his ever-slowing fastball disappear? The very thought of such philanthropic organizations, of an amicable divorce here in New York from the Big Unit, was enough to bring smiles to children of all ages. FULL STORY

odds and ends 12/23/2006

we have another candidate for the bullpen

Gamble taken on Hernandez
By Tony Massarotti/ Red Sox NotebookHaving long ago purchased their big-ticket items for the holidays, the Red Sox yesterday picked up an extra stocking stuffer. The team signed right-hander Runelvys Hernandez to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training....

The Red Sox must pay a $497,549 luxury tax to the commissioner’s office by Jan. 31. The New York Yankees were the only other team to go over baseball’s tax threshold in 2006. They must pay a $26 million tax. According to final figures released yesterday, the Yanks finished with a $207.5 million payroll for their 40-man roster last season. The Sox were a distant second at $137.5 million. . . .

The Herald reports

The Yawkey Foundation has a new President and John Harrington kept it in the old Red Sox family

The foundations, enriched with hundreds of millions from the sale of the Yawkey Trust’s stake in the Boston Red Sox [team stats], named former Sox executive James Healey as its next president.

James Healey takes over Jan. 1 from former Sox chief executive John Harrington, who ran the foundations full-time after selling the team in 2002. The foundations’ assets have grown signicantly since then, up from the $400 million range then.

We will be away for the holidays and the blog will resume on Tuesday.
Happy Holidays to all!!!

odds and ends Friday 12/22/06

Oh joy!!! BREAKFAST AT FENWAY this Patriots Day as the morning game will now be at 10 AM. This should go over big with Anaheim fans who will get the game at 7 AM local time.

Globe is reporting that Theo is looking for "protection" on the J.D Drew contract The Herald says nothing will probably happen until after Christmas.

Manchester Union Leader has a story on a Channel 9 reporter who may get a ticket to Boston because of Daisuke Matsuzaka

Herald Web site offers Japanese pages

you can't make this stuff up

Oh goodie now we have Scott Boras in bed with MLB marketing


SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- GGL, Major LeagueBaseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), Boras Marketing and New York Yankee star centerfielder Johnny Damon today announced the formation of the Professional Baseball Video Game League (PBGL), in which some of pro baseball's best players will battle online against each other and their fans. GGL, Boras Marketing and MLBAM have entered into a joint venture tounite the culture of video games with the national pastime.

"GGL is bringing together two of my biggest passions -- baseball andvideo games -- in a way that neither baseball fans nor video gamers haveseen before," said Commissioner Damon. "Both baseball and video games playa huge role in today's culture in the US and around the world, and the PBGLis doing a great job of bringing these two communities together."

Boston Baseball Writers dinner on January 11, 2007

just curious has anyone ever gone to this event? Is it worth it?

The 2007 Annual Awards Dinner hosted by the Boston Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America will be held January 11, 2007, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in South Boston.

Tickets remain available for the 68th Annual Awards Dinner, scheduled for Jan. 11 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Lowell and Hall of Fame journalist Peter Gammons are among the guests who have confirmed their attendance.

To purchase tickets, send check for $125 per ticket, made out to Boston Baseball Writers Association,and self addressed envelope to PO Box 7346, Nashua NH, 03060.

click for more info

odds and ends 12/21/06

A very quiet day for Red Sox news in the papers.

Jeff Horrigan in the Herald updates us on the J.D Drew contract.

Jon Couture in the New Bedford Standard-Times looks at the roster shuffle

Bill Doyle in the Worcester Telegram-Gazette talks with new Red Sox radio announcer Dave O'Brien.

An AP story from New York quotes Scott Boras saying that J.D Drew is fine

2 video clips fron NESN
Bob Ryan now suggests the Red Sox are stronger than the Yankees
Gordon Edes plays Santa Claus with Sox wishes

Sox invite 8 free agents to Ft Myers as AAA players

nothing earth shattering here

The Red Sox announced today that eight free agents have been signed to 2007 contracts with Triple-A Pawtucket. The players have been also invited to Boston’s spring training camp as non-roster players.The Red Sox provided the following details on the signings via a press release:The eight free agents are righthanded pitcher Travis Hughes, catcher Alberto Castillo, infielders Jeff Bailey, Luis Jimenez, Joe McEwing, Ed Rogers, and Bobby Scales, and outfielder Kerry Robinson.

A Merry Christmas in TOKOROZAWA

From the Associated Press:
TOKOROZAWA, Japan -- The Seibu Lions have received the $51.1 million the Boston Red Sox bid for the right to negotiate with star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.
The Pacific League team received the money in a bank transfer from the Red Sox on Wednesday, according to club officials.

Team president Hidekazu Ota said the money will be put to good use.
"It will be used for a variety of purposes," Ota said. "Strengthening our current team, promoting the development of youth baseball and providing improved services to our fans."
Last week, Matsuzaka agreed with the Red Sox on a six-year, $52 million contract, ending a month of negotiations.

Last year, a Japanese court convicted Lions team owner Yoshiaki Tsutsumi of insider trading and falsifying company records. Seibu's parent company, Seibu Railways, was fined $1.73 million, and Tsutsumi's privately owned company, Kokudo Corp., $1.3 million.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2006/12/seibu_gets_bid.html

odds and ends 12/20/06

Quiet day so far in the local media concerning the Sox.

Gordon Edes in the Globe looks at how Daisuke Matsuzaka must adjust to the challenge of MLB baseball compared to playing in Japan. In the Herald Jeff Horrigan has an update on the J.D. Drew contract. The subway Metro has a story by Joe Haggerty on Wily Mo Peña

Stopped by the park and the 2007 pocket schedules are out with the cover boy being Wally in a Santa hat which will raise eyebrows when I pull it out of my wallet in July

Glancing at the message boards a poster named "Dewey Rice" asks on Royal Rooters what the catch is with the new high price membership for Red Sox Nation that allows people for $199 to purchase "Green Monster Tickets"

odds and ends December 19, 2006

Johnny Damon showed up on WEEI Tueday morning to talk about Sox-Yanks and The Wounded Warrior Project.

Seth Mnookin ponders the J.D Drew situation and also continues looking at Murray Chass and the shaky ethics of the sports section of the New York Times.

Daisuke Matsuzaka is back in Japan and said to reporters

It was tough. I'm not used to having an agent, and leaving everything up to him was something that was new to me. ... I know the expectations will be high. The fans in Boston gave me a great reception and I look forward to being able to please them.

David Laurila from Royal Rooters interviews Jerry Spar the editor of Boston Sports Review magazine .

Birth of yet another blog

Welcome to what I hope will become a regular stop for Red Sox fans. I've been following the team since the 1950's and for the most part it hasn't been dull ( save the Butch Hobson and Ralph Houk years )

Matsuzaka will be the focal point of 2007 of that there is no doubt. Can he pitch well in MLB? He better or it maybe the end of Theo Epstein. If the Red Sox do not make the playoffs in 2007 it could very spell the end of Theo as GM with the Sox. But as Gerry Callahan points out in today's HERALD the team is making a bold statement in signing Matsuzaka.

With all the mystery over J.D. Drew's contract the cynic in me wonders if the Red Sox may have been tipped off about a possible medical issue and then signed Drew to make Boras happy as they went on the bigger mission to sign Matsuzaka and now perhaps can back out of the deal or get a much lower contract. Meanwhile ya think Drew is rethinking walking away from 33 million from the Dodgers?

Finally I am not thrilled about the change in the radio booth. I liked Trupiano and thought he and Joe Castiglione had a good chemistry. But I took a look over at a fan board for the Marlins and Dave O'Brien was given great reviews from his time in Florida.

So happy Off-Season Greetings to all and Go Sox!!!! more later