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!!!