Breaking News, Sox sign SS!

No, it wasn't Alex Gonzalez. The Sox will hold a press conference later this week announcing the signing of their newest shortstop star, Toucan Sam!

I was delighted with the Coco Crisp signing. I am ecstatic that the Sox are forward thinking enough that they have been watching this guy for over a year.

As I told Beth, I was very glad to read this post from her. She said some things to the fanbase that I've been wanting to put into words for some time now. I did tell her, however, that no one will be able to remind her of the post come June because we'll all be so nucking futs over the Sox!

Pop Open the Bubbly, Miggy!!

I'll bet Tejada is happy he rescinded his trade request now that the Orioles have gone out and signed a superstar! First-year manager Sam Perlozzo was quoted as saying "It's certainly a piece that helps us along the way. We're starting to fill some holes." Unless he pulls a Jeromy Burnitz and never reports for his physical (he's found passed out with a bottle of JD in his hand!), Kevin Millar has amazingly found himself a job for 2006!

I guess if you can't play for the Red Sox, Miggy, you can be happy that at least you get to play for the Orioles with the greatest underachieving cheerleader in baseball. Man, you gotta love them shades!

I guess now it's the Red Sox turn to sign the O's ex-first-baseman. I posed this possibility on instant message to my buddy Jason up in Northern Maine, and included the requirement (of course I wouldn't see it) that he wag his finger at me during his response. Here's what he had to say:

Jason: the red sox, and let me make myself perfectly clear, should never sign rafael palmeiro

did i say clear? i meant cream

let me take another shot at this...

i know this is a tough pill to swallow . . .

Not much to write about

I was just now cruising through some of my favorite blogs. Came across this interesting post by Ron San.
Name Dropper
I liked this piece:
"Where do I stand on the Manny trade? Very simply, there must be something approaching fair value. Booting Manny's rear end out of town in an act of unquiet desperation doesn't work for me. Pete Rose was "Charlie Hustle" for his 4256 hits and 3 World Series titles, three batting titles, and NL MVP, not because he ran hard to first. The minors are loaded with 'all-effort' guys who can't play. If you want 25 of them on the Red Sox, then good luck to you, but chemistry and hustle take a backseat to talent."

and this piece:
"Manny isn't a criminal, he isn't a saint, he may not be the greatest guy in the clubhouse, and parts of his game could stand improvement, but the guy can hit. Unlike Jim Rice, sweating out a limited chance of getting to Cooperstown, Manny won't worry about it. Heck, he may not even know when it's happening."

and the last paragraph was great:
"Several years ago, a colleague's son worked for the Red Sox, and he felt there were only two 'difficult' (fill in your favorite adjective for difficult) players on the roster, a certain departed shortstop and a pitching diva. The former was entirely self-absorbed via his routine and the latter just the paragon of narcissism. As Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story."

Adam Haalboom over at the talks about their Troy Glaus signing. As a Red Sox fan, I have gotten more and more worried about the Blue Jays with every signing they made this hot stove season. I mean, I was laughing as hard as anyone about the BJ signing. But this is getting serious! Adam makes a really good argument why letting Orlando Hudson go for Glaus was a good move:
"Toronto is a better team, overall, with a healthy Glaus, and while we will miss the defensive acrobatics of Hudson, it is the balls out of the park that win the most games, not the singles that Hudson occasionally took away from the opposition. Put another way, did Hudson actually save a run from scoring 27 times last year (the difference between Glaus’s homers and Hudson’s, which is obviously a very rudimentary way of comparing their relative offense and defense, especially considering the variable of runners on base and number of outs)? I don’t know, but I doubt it. At the same time would Hill necessarily have missed all of those same potential chances that Hudson had? I don’t know, but I doubt it."

According to Jon Williams over at reports that Alex Rodriguez has decided to represent the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic this spring.
"Apparently a WBC without A-Rod is unacceptable. Most of the speculation claims that Rodriguez will play for the United States. Bud Selig probably wants to make sure the U.S. wins."