Ok, what's next?

The last 2 days were some top notch off-season hot stove action. I was all caught up in the Scoots rumors and he wasn't even the top guy on my radar for off-season moves. So now I ask, what's next? Doing a quick lineup check they're still short on an OF and they could probably use a backup plan in the starting pitching department seeing as relying on Wake for an entire year might not be the best move. There are still Tiger rumors out there that they want to ditch salary, and that Miguel Cabrera guy would be the guy to move if they wanted to trim the fat. I can only wish.

Another good call by the MLB Network with the '96 AS game last night. Ozzie Smith's last AS game, Cal Ripken in mid streak, Bob Costas calling a guy running onto the field a "moron" and one of my favorite guys growing up, Ellis Burks, tripled. He was on the Marlins then, but he'll always be a Sox guy.

Also, Nick Cage getting Jessica Biel in that movie Next? There's a better chance of Youk not eating red meat for 2 days straight. I've never seen the movie so I don't know if Nick Cage does actually get Jessica Biel but I bet Nick sneaked it in his contract that he gets to at least cop a cheap feel.

Scooooooooots

You can understand my disappointment when I thought The Sox were signing this guy (above) but it turns out they are signing Marco Scutaro, the baseball player, to a two year deal. This move reeks of desperation, just like every other SS free agent Theo has ever brought in. The positive here? My expectations are extremely low. I don't expect much out of Scoots so when he inevitably lets me down, I won't really be that upset. I'm sure I'll come around to the idea of him taking over the most haunted position on the team at some point but 'til then I'll be figuring out other ways the team can make a huge deal and bring my confidence level back above the miserable 2006 level it's currently hoovering at.

*Edit*
Ok. I've had a few minutes to cool down and catch my breath after waking up and finding out the Scoots news. Maybe this isn't the worst thing in the world. They HAD to find a SS and you might as well get one that is accustomed to the AL East and has some versatility in the fielding department. Arguably, Scooter is the best available right now, so instead of being all down I'll look at it that way. They got the best guy they could without giving up anything besides money. Money which grows on the Henry/Luchino money tree they had planted in the Fenway Park offices.

Joy to the World!

Baseball fans can rejoice, at least temporarily, as Chip Caray has been fired by TBS!!!

Nope, no hoax here. Its not some other Chip Caray who was an insurance adjuster from Hartford who got fired for making a sexist joke in the break room. Nope, this is THE Chip Caray. The one who's done his best to make us hate playoff baseball the last few years. And according to my sources (that website above), he got fired for the reason we wanted... for butchering every aspect of the play-by-play broadcast (though if he got fired for making a sexist joke in the TBS break room, that would have been equally satisfying). Lets take a look at Chip's resume:

• comes from a long line of baseball broadcasters, notably hilarious Cubs announcer Harry Caray.
• f*cked things up behind the mike for the: Orlando Magic, Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves.
• joined the Brotherhood of Idiotic National Baseball Announcers (BINBA) in 2004 when he joined TBS. Other notable members of BINBA: Chris Berman, Joe Buck, Steve Phillips, vice-president Joe Morgan and president Tim McCarver.
• a world-class, over-reacting dipsh*t.

So fellow fans, take this as an early Christmas present. And while its unclear whether this will give D.O. more face time on TBS (and what a big face it is), we can only hope this sends Chip into a 12-month bender full of scandalous affairs and bad publicity. ok, thats mean... D.O.'s face isn't that big.

The MLB Network ain't that bad

I'm not going to go checking previous posts, but I think I put up something to this extent before. Right now I'm really jonesing for some actual baseball. All this Hot Stove: The Arbitration Version ain't really feeding my need. Last weekend MLBN showed back to back to back to way back All-Star games and I made it a point to make sure I DVR-ed the '99 game in Fenway. I remember walking around down-town Cambridge when they did the fly-by before the first pitch and a line of car alarms went off because those things were so damn loud and then to top it off I made it to the bar just in time to watch Pedro make the steroid era look like a bunch of puss*es.

Now I'm not sure if this tops Pedro in the AS game, but they just showed The Yankees losing the 2001 World Series to the D-backs. With the entire country rooting on the Yanks (if you recall that 9/11 thing just happened) it was sweet to watch them lose it again this time. Then it's nothing less than god damn eerie to watch Schilling go into Yankee Stadium 3 years before "the sock" and know what you're about to watch. Good work MLB Network. You get a free pass until I watch one of your stupid shows and write a post about how I don't like Harold Reynolds.

Bye-bye Billy

Billy Wags is a Sock no more and he most likely left a couple million dollars here in Boston. Another thing he left, or rather Boston gained, is Atlanta's first round draft pick this June because Slick Willy was a Type A free agent and in the super complicated world of baseball that means the Sox get Atlanta's fire round draft pick. Now go out and sign Miguel Cabrera. Thank you, the Cheese.

Straight outta short left field.

Dustin Pedroia, starting shortstop for The Boston Red Sox? ESPN is reporting Perdoia would be open to it.

"They've put it out there and I've told them I'm all for it. I can do it. I can't wait for Tito [Terry Francona] to call me and ask, 'Can you do it?' I can do it. I really want to do it."

Of course mighty mite is up for it, the guy would never turn down any kind of baseball opportunity. If it was V-Mart's day off and Tek got hurt I bet you'd see Pedroia putting on the shin pads before anyone else. Last year it was his whole thing of how he wanted to play all 162 games (he played 154) and now he's offering to move positions to help the team. Hope that makes Papelbon feel even worse when he starts b*tching about his arbitration offer in a few hours.

Not to mention this opens up a whole new can of worms with free agents and whatnot and it makes it quite possible that Marco Polo Scutaro won't be a Sox next year. Good stuff.

And the "short left field" thing was infact a knock on Pedroia's height. SS would now be "very short left field".

*Edit* - Just saw a quote from Dustin regarding playing short.

"Tell Jeter to enjoy the gold glove and silver slugger awards while he can."

That's our guy and I f*cking love it.

Damn you, Scarface

What's the deal with Drew Brees's scar? Was he in a duel with the 6 fingered man as a child and rather than kill him, the 6 fingered man left him with that scar? Did that 6 fingered man also kill his father so now Brees is on a football mission to be a huge douchebag and eventually seek revenge for the death of his father once he gets around to it? Nope. Turns out he just has a stupid birthmark on his face. The huge DB part is true though. That and The Patriots defense is lacking what you call, stoppage.