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V loves the sound of his own voice. He always has. This is just an observation over time but it does seem to me that when somebody loves the sound of his own voice to that extent he cannot help but to "embellish" because he just wants to keep hearing the melody of his own voice in his head. V is going to be pretty tough to take around here I suspect. It is almost impossible to avoid adversity here and if you SOP in those instances tends to involve opening mouth and inserting foot, this will get to be a tough town to deal with and a tough team to deal with in a big hurry. The problem with V is that he cannot avoid saying the things that really don't need saying...things that don't result in progress, don't move you forward and if anything are likely to move you backwards. Why can't he avoid them? See above. One of the major reasons he has not been able to get back into baseball for nine years I suspect. Whatever happens it will be interesting. You can bank on that.

Well at this point there is likely little risk in waiting longer to see what might happen with Madson. However I think the Sox want to see him fall to something like $7-$8M per and I suspect somebody somewhere will get him before that. Miami is still lurking and I think all things being equal since they already took a shot at him, apparently they think they will find a way to fit him in as closer.

Hate to say it but I think both Aceves and Bard to the rotation is simply more evidence that the Sox are not intending to go over the cap as you can bulk up on a bunch of BP guys without spending much money. Much harder to do with starters. I guess we can also hope that this would mean the spend more money to land a closer but honestly I don't see that one happening either. Maybe if Madson had somebody else for an agent I would feel better about that one. Madson would have to get real desperate for something to happen there I think.

Well if the news from earlier in the off season can be believed the Mariners would really want a bucket load of prospects for Felix more than anything else, probably even more than Ells. I do think that is accurate as I have seen that reported elsewhere.

I would have chosen Ells over Youk as the more prime candidate if BC was not looking so tentative about things. It takes some amount of courage and security to trade a guy that had the season the Ells had and I just don't think BC feels that secure as yet. If somebody threw everything AND the kitchen sink on the table for Ells then I think BC would go for something like that but even a straight up even steven deal for Ells probably looks risky to BC at this point. If he does not get dollar for dollar value for Youk it will be harder to criticize BC as Youk had got some negatives on his resume...age, brittleness of body and maybe even of mind.

I have believed since part way through the winter meetings that if the Sox are going to get anything done that might fit the description of bold or decisive or even relevant, it will be by the trade route this year. It might be the one way they can stay under the cap and still get some things done. They might also be able to rid themselves of some problems that will not be solved by having V around but will likely only turn into open festering sores. I think either Beckett or Youk are prime candidates to be moved....maybe even Ells if only because of pending FA in his case. They may just be to screwed in pitching to do anything with Beckett. So if I were a betting man of the three I would bet it is Youk that will likely be gone. It is amazing to me that after a year like they just had and with being identified as the ring leader of the SP gang, Beckett could not stay out of trouble past the beginning of December.

At the end of it all I would say that it was Boston's collapse surely more than it was the Rays victory. The 2011 Sox were not a mentally tough team. In fact it was a pretty candy assed bunch if you ask me. If I found the 2004 team and the 2011 team in an alley about to have a street fight I think you could not get the ambulances there fast enough to cart the 2011 team off to the hospital. It was a candy assed team and at the end of the day that is why it fell apart and acted like a candy assed team. We talk about most of this bunch of dogs coming back for 2012 as if we are supposed to be encouraged because so much of what was supposed to be a loaded team is coming back. I for one am not remotely encouraged. We actually need 18 guys to take the field. Nine to play and one each to stand behind them with a blow torch.

Used to be something of an embarrassment to see one of those right field home runs in Yankee Stadium. The ball would bounce from one seat to the next and then roll forlornly down one of the aisles. Eventually some kids would finally get out there to pick up the souvenir.

You are right about that 700. My memory of it is that the Sox opened the 67 season to the usual practically empty Fenway. Not all that unusual. Saw a lotta' green in the stands at Tiger Stadium and Kaminsky of that day. Many of the west coast stadiums were veritable ghost towns where there was at least a decent chance that you could get mugged in one of the tunnels leading to your seat and nobody would know!

In my case I saw more of Mantle and Berra than the other players on that list. Certainly a catcher can do much to control the ebb and flow of a game and Mantle often cast a giant shadow especially when he was young and had his legs under him. Still and all I had never till then and never since then seen a guy control the flow of the game from left field the way Yaz did coming down the stretch of that regular reason and all through the post season. Invariably at some point in an opposition rally a hard hit ball found its way to left field. It got to the point where whether a hit or an attempt at a sacrifice, that shot to left killed the rally. So many times during that stretch Yaz would either make a spectacular catch AND throw out the tagging runner or get to a ball that was a hit so quickly AND throw a strike to any base at any time that at some point you would think opposing managers would be thinking "please God hit it anywhere but left. Bunt it if you have to but don't hit it to left". Then he would come up in the next inning and get an extra base RBI to put the Sox out ahead of the very same game! Never seen anything like it before or since. It changed the way I thought about baseball and what was possible from that day forward.

I suspect most of the comments we see about the Rays are not based on the quality of that team in an absolute sense. I think it is more about how much less money they have spent to get to where they are than teams like the Sox and Yanks. Sometimes money can be a benefit, other times it can be a bit of a burden. Certainly the way the Sox have spent money in the last few years it has been a bit more burden than benefit.

I think I liked the 2004 team better than the 2007 team. I still think I like the 67 team even better regardless of the fact that they did not seal the deal. I loved just about everybody on that 67 team and Yaz was like a man possessed though the later part of the season and into the post season. You literally had the feeling that there was this force of will all the way out there in left field that was actually controlling the flow of the game from way out there. For me rivaled some of what Jackson has done in the post season only in a different way. Mr. October had those incredible plate appearances. Yaz seemed to be willing the team forward, carrying them defensively, offensively and demanding that they elevate their play way beyond their regular capabilities.

I tend to agree here. Unfortunately this may turn out to be the worst outcome for us. I don't view Beckett as they kind of guy that gets mean and takes it out on the opponent when he gets mad. He is more like the kind of guy that gets mad and pouts about it. At least there is a long time between now and the start of the season but I am willing to bet this was only the first of what will turn out to be a number of rough moments between Beckett and Valentine.

I would have agreed completely before the one game play-in. I know they could not afford the time at the end of the season but is funny how implementation makes all the difference. If they made the play-in a 3 games series it likely would have made winning the division even less meaningful than it has been. Since it is a one game play-in it is no longer easy to make the case that the division win does not mean anything.

Surely the one game play in changes everything. However the existence of the one game play-in part proves the point. MLB got tired of teams at the top of the division and/or with assured wild card spots setting up their rotations for the playoffs weeks in advance. Teams will want to avoid that 1 game play-in at all costs. The Red Sox may have done MLB a favor as odd as it may sound. They are living proof that a team with a big lead could still be caught even with what might look like an insurmountable lead.

Well I agree that teams that are likely to succeed in the post season are going to be a bit different when compared to teams that will likely succeed in the regular season. Recent results would suggest that winning the division is not nearly as important as getting into the post season and being able to succeed once you get there.

I think some of the lower level signings have been some of the Sox greatest successes. In the first place you are not mortgaging the farm to bring guys like that in so if they don't work out you have not dug some giant financial hole. Then if a guy works out like Ortiz you have really done yourself proud.

Well I am going to try not to make this sound like an overreaction but it appears that V and Beckett got off to a bad start. However I think I would lay the blame at Beckett's feet for that if I have the story straight. Beckett called V out about the comments V made as an analyst regarding the time Beckett takes between pitches and then Beckett got mad when V made the conversation between the two of them public knowledge. Is that about right? If that is, I really don't have any problem with V commenting publicly unless he assured Beckett that their conversation would remain between the two of them. If not then it just appears to me that Beckett did not want to be exposed for being something of an overreacting cry baby. I surely think calling V out about something he said as a analyst is pretty ridiculous. In addition I found Beckett's comments that he had asked his team mates if they found the length of time he was taking between pitches a distraction less than satisfying. His team mates are not the entire story and the fact the he felt justified in continuing to take so long between pitches simply because his team mates claimed not to be distracted does not make much sense to me. All by way of saying that on top of everything that happened last year, Beckett appears to have already stuck his foot in his mouth and might actually want to get the hell out of here. We have many pitching holes to fill but if this is just the start of a very ugly Beckett season maybe it would be best to see him out the door.

Well the DH is an entire other issue that might be due for a change at some point. The more inter-league play we have, the more the whole idea of one league using the DH and the other not becomes more and more unwieldy. Some have already suggested that baseball should finally decide and either get rid of it or use it for everybody.

I think the bigger issue for baseball outside of the Angels ending up paying huge money to a guy 40+ years old is that this is getting to be the norm. The last few years all of these big contracts spin out to a term lengths that are just to long and for which there is no way the player can produce at the same level or even close to it.

How many assets with the Hornets have if CP3 gets to free agency and then books out of New Orleans? This is the last year of his contract. I suspect Stern will be rethinking his position but will demand something more from LA in order to save face. In the meantime if NY makes the deal they are trying to make CP3 may end up taking the pay cut and going to NY.

Wow Stern nixed the LA deal....interesting. Unfortunately CP3 has tried everything under the sun to stay out of Boston so while LA won't get him now I don't think Boston will either.

Boy the old home teams can't catch a break tonight. The Bruins ring 4 posts tonight and lose the game in the last 2:44 of the 3rd period having never scored the entire game. The C's apparently lose their bid for CP3 leaving them with a Rondo that knows they have been trying to move him. We know what a fragile noodle he has. The Sox continue an off season so far marked by futility. I am beginning to wonder if I should bet the farm on Washington on Sunday and take the points.

Well at least when I talk about starting pitching I am not banking on two guys that have never started before saving my bacon for me. Aceves and Bard both may be forced into SP roles out of necessity this year but that hardly qualifies as anything more than a role of the dice. But I am not going to be hard to please this year...well maybe I am going to be hard to please considering how the team finished the year. However I just want an honest hard nosed dirty uniform game day in and day out and if they give me that, what with everything else going on I can live with that. I just want them to compete this year. I want them to be smart at the plate. I want them to give themselves up when they should and play for each other. Who knows, if they do play "dirt dog" baseball day in and day out they might just surprise all of us. If they show signs of packing it in at any point this year, they are likely to get booed right off the field I think and I might just be forced to join in with the crowd.

I wonder if the Rangers and Angels represent something of a shift in strength away from the AL East. The Red Sox need to fill holes and this does not look like the year when they get it done. The Yanks will be retooling to a degree at some point as they are aging but have a decent bunch of guys in the minors that are not quite ready yet but not that far off either. Wonder if this next couple years will be years when the teams in the west have enough horsepower and find it easier getting to the top of the heap. Maybe its their time to may hay for a while. then again the Angels might feel obliged to keep filling in pieces around Albert for the next six or seven years anyway.