mosox

Lopez can fit if there is a situation for an intentional walk against a lefty.

Why doesn't the NY Post write about trading Arod? Manny stays.

Clay Buchholz getting the start today against the Rays. It'll be interesting to hear how he pitches today.

I don't disagree there are more important issues, but Congress has regulated baseball for a long time, granting MLB a unique monopoly. Speaking for myself, I would like to see the end of terrorism, victory for our troops, a cure for cancer, affordable health care, and the chance to watch the Red Sox in my state without having my arm twisted by an industry that enjoys the rewards of having no competition in a capitalistic society.

It's the Senate Commerce Committee. It's what they do.

The bottom of the lineup is still a problem. In the second half last year it was a black hole that swallowed up rallies and I don't see much improvement.

Leave it to a Sox fan in Congress to fight the good fight. The Associated Press Tuesday, March 27, 2007; 8:58 PM WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry urged Major League Baseball on Tuesday to hold off on a deal to put the sport's "Extra Innings" package of out-of-market games exclusively on DirecTV Group Inc. A top baseball official declined to agree, with opening day less than a week away. Kerry, D-Mass., made the push at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on behalf of subscribers to cable TV and EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network who had received the package previously. The dispute concerns which homes will receive baseball's new television network in 2009. DirecTV, a satellite service, has agreed to carry that package as part of its deal. The company would also receive an equity stake in the channel. At Tuesday's hearing, Rob Jacobson, president and CEO of iN Demand, owned by affiliates of the companies that own Time Warner Cable Inc., Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc., offered to carry the package on the same terms that DirecTV is, while putting off the issue of The Baseball Channel until it is launched. "This would ensure that for the next two years at least, all baseball fans would have access to the 'Extra Innings' package," he said. "If we're unable to reach an agreement when the channel launches, we'd give baseball the right to cancel the 'Extra Innings' deal. We think this is a fair compromise." Kerry, often playing the role of mediator, got behind the effort. "What's the matter with that?" he asked Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer. "We believe that DirecTV has the right to begin to help us build the channel," DuPuy answered, adding that the cable industry had nine months to negotiate a deal. Kerry pressed the issue, suggesting that the status quo be kept in place while the sides tried to work out a deal. DuPuy wouldn't agree to that, although he said, "Our door remains open" for a resolution. Baseball gave other incumbent carriers until the end of the month to match the $700 million, seven-year deal it announced with DirecTV on March 8. IN Demand recently made an offer it said matched the deal, but Major League Baseball said it fell short. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has been critical of the National Football League's "Sunday Ticket" deal with DirecTV, which allows viewers to watch teams outside their regional markets, issued a warning to baseball. "When fans react, Congress reacts," he said, adding, "You may be well advised to act before we do." Chase Carey, president and CEO of DirecTV, said that the issue was a business one that was best left to the market. "I don't run down to Washington every time we have a contract issue or a programming issue or a cost issue," he said. DuPuy said that fans who have gotten the out-of-town games on other providers will still have the option of receiving them this year: by switching to DirecTV or subscribing to MLB.TV to watch the games on the Internet. "This is not a matter of fans being unable to view Major League Baseball's out-of-market games," he said. "It is a matter of not being able to watch those games on a particular system." "Extra Innings" had more than a half-million TV subscribers last year. Carl Vogel, president of EchoStar, said exclusive content deals are bad for fans. "They harm existing consumers while limiting choices in the future," he said. Kerry, who has asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate, said in an interview after the hearing that legislation was a possibility but not his preference. "Obviously, we're interested in it, a number of senators suggested the possibility of Congress doing something, but I'd like to see the parties get together in the next four days and hopefully resolve this," he said. "If they can't get together, we are where we are and we'll look at what we're going to do."

So Monday 3/26, Dice K, doesn't talk to the media and ices down his arm. There were control issues, but he still had a decent fastball and did pitch out of trouble. I wonder if the crush of reporters is beginning to get to him, or if he's frustrated by the Sox practice routines which are far different from the Seibu Lions.

I'm glad they finally got a lefty for the pen. I was disappointed last year when they didn't have one. When you play NY 19 times a year, there has to be a few times when a situational lefty needs to come in the game. I don't know why they've passed up on a guy like Scott Schoeneweis. I'm glad they came to their senses on the Papelbon situation. Two guys they should have paid for and kept are Cabrerra and Damon. The replacementts at SS and CF have been a disaster. However, not giving in to Pedro's contract demands and not trading Manny are wise decisions. Overall, I think this offseason went well and Dice K could be a gem. I like this team and I'm not among the disappointed.

I realize I come in late on this, but really, Paps as the closer is the only sane choice. I saw this coming all winter and wrote about it here. It never made sense to me to build a playoff team and then send one of the most effective closers in the league into the starting rotation. The key to all this is Tito. He cannot have Paps pitch two inning saves. I thought this was one of the main reasons Paps got hurt last season. I glad all this nonsense about trading for a closer or using Joel Pineiro is now over. Now the team is set and it's time to win the diviison.

I was thinking about the same thing. I really would have liked to see Pineiro in there just to simulate a closing situation. Overall good grades for the arms. I'm most interested in reading about Lester's progress.

Mike Burns for closer! Did anyone happen to see his 9th against the O's. Even Tito seemed to have a laugh on his face after Burns closed out the game 1-2-3 with a K.

According to the NY Times the Sox may have the inside track on getting this kid: METS LOOK AT DOMINICAN TEENAGER JoseJose The acclaimed teenager from the Dominican Republic assumed his stance in the batter’s box yesterday at the aged Municipal Stadium in Pompano Beach, Fla., where the Texas Rangers once conducted spring training. Nearby stood Ismael Cruz, the Mets’ director of international scouting. The player, Jos? Jos?, a 16-year-old outfielder, has drawn the interest of a number of baseball’s big-money teams. The Mets were among the first teams to have a private workout with Jos?. On Monday he drove one ball over the wall in right-center field and hit an assortment of line drives. But he also had his share of foul balls and routine grounders. Jos? was meeting some of his fellow prospects for the first time at the Playball Baseball Academy, where Fred Ferreira, a baseball scout, operates his Win International agency. “He’s a very interesting kid,” Cruz said after watching Jos? field, throw, run and hit over an hour and half period. “He’s got a good bat.” Ferreira is making plans to have other teams see Jos?. Seattle and Anaheim are on the list, as are the Yankees. The Red Sox may be ready to sign him now. They are the only team that visited Jos?’s native San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic to see him work out.

I'd be willing to part with a bag of batting practice balls for Benitez.

I won't get a dish. I have underground utilities where I live and I've never had cable go out in bad weather. Why would I change and put up with rain fade which does happen when I go to the bar to watch the NFL.

According to the Associated Press, however, the president of iN Demand, Robert Jacobson, said the agreement would be impossible for his company, calling it a "de facto exclusive deal." This is based on pure greed and nothing good can come of it. First baseball is pricing middle income fans out of the stadiums and now they're squeezing them out of their living rooms. It's possible the next generation will look at baseball the way the public now views hockey.

Apparently the deal is hanging in the balance. What's sad is Selig's quotes and his indifference to the fans. From Multichannel News: By R. Thomas Umstead 2/19/2007 Against the backdrop of pitchers and catchers reporting to baseball spring-training camps last week, Major League Baseball, DirecTV and cable operators continued to toss out mixed signals regarding the fate of the sport’s “MLB Extra Innings” out-of-market package. Executives close to several multiple-system operators said the cable industry late last week made a last-minute pitch to significantly increase the industry’s subscriber commitment to the league’s proposed channel, set to launch in 2009 — the major curveball in negotiations to secure the league’s out-of-market package of live games. But other executives close to the negotiations said MLB could announce an exclusive Extra Innings distribution deal with DirecTV as early as this week. The developments came as baseball commissioner Bud Selig said last week that whatever deal is cut would only adversely affect a “small” number of fans. Executives close to the MSOs said cable has “significantly” increased its subscriber commitment to the launch of baseball’s planned 24-hour dedicated channel, although it’s unclear how big of a base has been promised. Executives close to the negotiations said the commitment is for more households than the 15 million DirecTV subscribers that would put the planned service on the “Total Choice Plus” tier, part of DirecTV’s proposed $700 million, seven-year offer for exclusive rights to Extra Innings, which retails for $179 per season. Initially the cable industry, through video-on-demand and pay-per-view content provider In Demand, said it would only distribute the channel via premium sports tiers, which on average reach less than 20% of all digital subscriber homes. In Demand executives would not comment on the matter. DirecTV’s proposed exclusive Extra Innings deal continues to set off protests from TV columnists, sports bloggers — and some MLB clubs. San Diego Padres CEO Sandy Alderson told local newspaper the North County Times the deal would hurt some fans who want to watch both their local team and out-of-market games. Rightsholder Cox Communications offers Padres games exclusively to cable. “If you have satellite TV, you can’t get the Padres,” Alderson said. “Now, if you have cable, you can’t get the MLB package. And if you want both, it means adding one or the other, and it would cost quite a bit of money.” Selig weighed in last week on ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike In the Morning. While no deal has been reached for Extra Innings, he said, reports of baseball fans being greatly disenfranchised if DirecTV got the exclusive arrangement are exaggerated. “I expect people to understand that we thought all of these issues out, and there’s no doubt in my mind that you’ll be quite surprised at how few people are affected,” he said. “When I look at the number of people that would be affected, it’s so small.”

To just suddenly show up in camp and announce he wants an extension seems almost amateurish from a business perspective. In situations like this, using an agent isn't a bad thing, and maybe he could have got his extensive before he showed up to camp looking a little heavy.

Not that this will make a difference, but for what it's worth, a petition. http://www.petitiononline.com/MLBCABLE/petition.html

It's a sarcastic exaggeration, but it is clear that teams are marketing themselves to corporate spenders and are less concerned about average fans. New ballparks have smaller seating capacity but twice as many luxury boxes. I still have my XM radio so this may be an "old school" season for me and I'll listen to every game on the radio.

I've had digital cable for 4 years and the MLB games for 3 years. I will not get a dish that only fades in heavy rain because MLB is banking that I will switch. This is an obvious money grab at the expense of narrowing the exposure of the games. They are slowly edging out fans from the stadiums and marketing to rich white men in luxury boxes, and now the squeeze is being put on the fan at home. The greed will eventually make this game shrink once the young people of today become the adults of tomorrow and turn their backs on baseball.

Manny in right would be a disaster of epic proportions.

3 mill sounds like a fair price. It's a shame the injuries caught up with him the last two seasons, especially since he was starting to show signs of hitting lefthanded pitching. I still can't believe he missed a grand slam by a few feet in Game 4 in St. Louis. He deserves a big ovation at Fenway.

Hansen cannot be counted on based on his '06 performance. I'm sure the Sox have thought all winter about Paps coming back as the closer and it really is the only logical move. My guess is, he'll be closing games. The only concern is the how he physically handles closing, which seemed to wear him down last season.

There's been little written in the Boston media about Roger Clemens lately, but the Houston writers still believe the Sox will make him an offer. http://blogs.chron.com/lopezblog/archives/2007/01/path_cleared_fo.html