SawxBlog

Kevin Youkilis Get's Paid: Avoids Arbitration with $3 Million Deal

This pic kinda just makes me want to go "YYYYYOOOOOUUUUUKKKKK!" (AP Photo)

Good news for both Red Sox fans and Kevin Youkilis as the bearded first baseman avoided arbitration and got a very hefty, and deserved, pay raise. Yes, the Sox have used their ability to spend money over the last few seasons, however Youk's a prime example as to why it's so much better to have the talent come from the minor league system.

Youkilis, who basically played a flawless 1B and contributed quite nicely with his bat made a total of $424,500 last season, allotting the Sox to spend in other areas. Now yes, if you or I made that salary we'd be pretty happy, but in the baseball world, that's a bargain basement price. But damn, Youk's paid his dues since 2003 with the Sox. He's made that trip up 95 from Pawtucket quite a few times, and the Gold Gloven pitches per plate appearance machine is getting his just due. And the thing is, that even at $3 million, it still seems like a steal for the talents he brings to the table. I mean his back-up is going to be making $8 million next season...pretty wacky stuff.

Plus the best part about this is that it's like a triple threat. We not only get Youklis the man, we also get that sweaty nasty assed beard, and an intensity that's only rivaled by K.G. Good news indeed Boston.

Curt Schilling May Not Be Able to "Shoulder" the Load in 2008

The Boston Herald has revealed that Curt Schilling may need shoulder surgery that would result in our aged ace to not only miss the entire 2008 season, but it also could quite possibly end his career. The first thing that should be on the tip of every Sox fans mind right now is why are we just hearing about this now?!? Pitchers and catchers are reporting in 6 days and this is the first we here about it? What in the world were Red Sox officials looking for when they examined him during his now infamous weight laden incentive contract? It looks on face that they were too focused on pounds and not focused enough on his shoulder.

I'm hoping that this is all speculation, but hearing that the Red Sox tried to void Schillings' contract does not sit well with me, and gives a little more merit to the story. Schilling's sure to chime in eventually on his blog, however with 8 million plus clams at stake, I'm sure it's in his best interest to be quiet for the time being.

This wouldn't cripple the Red Sox as bad as would have in years past, and Clay Buchholz would be a more then obvious replacement for Saint Curt. Still, Schilling does bring a lot to the table, and his professionalism, preparation, and work ethic would have surely had further positive effects on the rest of the pitching staff. But before I jump to too many conclusions I'm going to let the dust settle a little this one, we're sure to hear more from someone on this in the near.

Red Sox Welcome Sean Casey to Fenway - Bobby Kielty the Red-Headed Wonder Coming Back for Spirng

Sean Casey Looking good in a Sox hat. (AP Photo)

The Boston Red Sox welcomed aboard 1B Sean Casey to the team yesterday as he was all smiles while being introduced to the media. Casey signed a one-year $800,000 contract and will be the primary back-up for Kevin Youkilis. I like the idea of continuing the trend of having a solid veteran presence backing up Youk at first, and think Casey should do a decent job in the same vain as John Olerud & David McCarthy.

Casey's bat doesn't quite have the same pop that it used to, however he did manage to bat .296 in 453 AB's with Detroit last year and is a solid .301 hitter for his career. Casey's ability to get on base is decent with an OBP of .353 in 2007, and if he can be patient behind the powerful lineup that will lie ahead of him he should see that number creep up quite a bit.

It looks like the 13 year vet is coming to Boston for a similar reason most players come to teams like the Sox and Yanks, and that's to win.

"It's all about getting back there and winning a championship. We were so close there in 2006, but to have that feeling that we had, going through the playoffs, that was the first time in my career I was like, 'This is what people feel. This is what the Red Sox and the Yankees, the teams that get to the postseason a lot, and the Braves, this is what they feel. This is what it's all about.'

"It's all about winning."

Also being announced yesterday was that all hustle reserve, Bobby Kielty, will be coming back to the Sox for at least Spring Training. Kielty and the Sox have come to terms on a one-year, nonguaranteed deal for $800,000, with incentives worth an additional $300,000. Kielty's most famous moment in a Red Sox uniform, and possibly his career, was what ended up being his game winning homerun in Game 4 of the 2007 World Series.

Kielty being invited back will add a lot of headway to the more then likely trade of Coco Crisp as the Red Sox outfield is beginning to look awfully crowded (Manny, Jacoby, J.D., Crisp, & Kielty). I'd expect the trading of Crisp to be one of the top storylines coming out of Ft. Meyers along with the eventual Japan trip.

All in a all a good day for the Red Sox, and with what happened this weekend (I'm still on a personal SportsCenter ban...) some good ol' baseball is exactly what I needed. Exactly one week to go today, and it sure couldn't come sooner!

 

Santana and the Mets: Sox / Yanks Lose Out on Johan

So in the end both of the AL East Super Powers lost out to what may legitimately be the only Super Power in the NL, in the New York Mets. The Johan Santana Sweepstakes isn't officially over yet, as both parties still need to agree on salary and years on the contract. But for all intents and purposes what does this now mean for the final three teams that were in the running?

From the Red Sox Perspective: The Red Sox lost the potential to not only have the best rotation of this generation (Beckett, Santana, Schilling, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, Buchholz), but maybe the best rotation in the past few generations, and maybe even beyond that. Plainly speaking, the rich would have gotten a whole lot richer if Santana went to Boston. The bright side to all of this is that Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury are still members of the Red Sox. The Red Sox have already had their rotation and lineup set for awhile now, and this would have been the ultimate cherry on top. The Red Sox are still favored to win the AL East and the Championship, and if anything, they may have helped to price out the Yankees from the chase, which is a huge victory unto itself, and may have always been the intention of their involvement.

From the Yankees Perspective: This obviously hurts them a lot more then the Sox because of questions that lie currently within their rotation. It's still yet to be seen how Andy Pettite is go handle the fallout from his involvement in the Mitchell Report, and no matter how you look at it Wang is not a number one starter. Gaining the services of Santana would have leveled the playing field a whole lot more in the AL East, and would have made the Yankees look much different then they did last year, which was all hitting and iffy pitching. It also hurts in the Steinbrenner sense that the crosstown Mets have a front of the line ticket selling star pitcher to help sell tickets and support their new stadium, and who'll also be on the back pages of the News and Post. Is this what A-Rod's supposed to be doing for the new Yankee Stadium? The plus for this for the Yankees is that they were also able to keep their young talent. However I think the biggest difference between the Yankee youngsters and the Sox youngsters is that, aside from Chamberlin, the young Yanks haven't really proven anything at the Big League level. But keeping young talent is never bad, and it seems like Cashman has done a great job on their farm, still, I'm surprised the Yanks didn't pull harder to make this happen, and think they lose the most out of the three teams.

From the Mets Perspective: The Mets win HUGE with this one. They win the battle of New York first and foremost, and they now have one of the best pitchers on the planet in their rotation. On top of this all the Mets didn't really give up their top, top prospects which makes me surprised the Twins didn't bite on Jacoby, but hell, I'm fine with him staying on the Sox. If Pedro can get and stay healthy, Johan may up his game much like Schilling did with him in 2004. Also Johan's been dominating in the AL, it's going to be plain scary looking at numbers he'll put up against the watered down weaker NL lineups. He's now a no brainer first pick in any fantasy baseball league you join now. For some reason I do get the sneaking suspicion that Santana's going to end up hurt (my friend Chuck's not going to love that), and I do wonder if the money and years will come back to bite the Mets in the ass, but if you can get a player like Johan you have to bite.

Even My Doctor Thinks Clemens Used Steroids

Last week saw Old Man Winter sneak up on me and slap a fairly nasty cold on me which had me miss a few days from work and become banished to my couch and the awful trappings of daytime TV. There's only so many episodes of SportsCenter I can watch in a row, and the programming on ESPN after SportsCenter is not any better then the soaps on the lower channels. Also the Price is Right just seems wrong with Drew Carey, but I'm getting off topic here.

To get away from the doldrums of daytime T.V. (and to get better I guess) I made a visit to my doctor to be checked out and get some antibiotics. My doctor's a huge baseball fan and we always ended up talking about baseball for a bit when I'm in. The obvious hot-button topic of Roger Clemens came up and he had some interesting insights that I thought I'd share.

Doc was as unimpressed with the interviewing tactics of Mike Wallace as the rest of us were, and he thought that Roger opened a few doors during the interview that he decided not to walk through. The following transaction is the part that he had the most problem with:

• CLEMENS:  Lidocaine, and B12.  It's for my joints and and B12 I take still today.
• WALLACE:  And that's all.?
• CLEMENS:  That's it.
• WALLACE:  Never, never a human growth hormone?
• CLEMENS:  Never.
• WALLACE  Never testosterone?
• CLEMENS:  Never.  Never.
• WALLACE:  And never anabolic steroids?
• CLEMENS:  Never.
• WALLACE:  Swear?
• CLEMENS:  Swear.

First off is Clemens claim that he was injected with Lidocaine. From my doctors professional opinion and experience this made absolutely no sense to him. In plain terms, Lidocaine is just a numbing agent similar to what a dentist would use on you. All it does is numb the immediate area around where it's injected (apparently Clemens ass) and does not travel in the blood stream and effect any other areas of significance. Basic conclusion here is there's no reason to inject this in you unless you've been eating too much candy, my doctor thought this was ludacris.

As far as the B12 goes to get "vitamins" my doctor also agreed with me that this was just silly. It's been known for awhile that a lot of people (especially body builders) use B12 to help mask other crap their putting into their bodies.

My doc basically wished Wallace pressed Clemens on why he was being injected with these more or less pointless drugs while having medical opinions and proof to back it up. Hopefully congress will pick up on this missed opportunity, interesting to hear his opinions none-the less.

Also while listening to Bill Simmons podcast yesterday I couldn't believe I haven't mentioned the rest of the 60 minutes episode. They interviewed a dictator, a hit-man, and Roger Clemens, all very stand up guys. Hilarious. Almost make me want to become a regular viewer.

Random Red Sox News & Notes

Curt Schilling looks to tackle the Gaming Industry after 2008. (Best Week Ever Illustration)

The below quote from CNN.com pretty much says it all on Curt Schilling's focus. Let's just hope he's not spending too much time in front of a computer, and remembering that he has a weight incentive program.

"His new focus, post-pitching, will be to oversee the development of a still-unnamed and shrouded-in-mystery massively multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG) that goes by the working title Copernicus."

Best Week's Ever take on this is also funny to say the least.

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Sandra Lewis, a teacher from Mass has three original Red Sox songs for your enjoyment. Not a bad job on her part, and you can't fault her effort. Nice job Sandra!

Click Here to hear the Red Sox songs

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I will just let this do the speaking for itself. It's suffice to say that I was on the friggen ground rolling when I first saw this. Hat's off to my man Tim Clancy, good stuff.

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And for those of you looking for some of the best Roger Clemens fiasco logic out there, look no further then Gene Wojciechowski's article he wrote a few days ago.

Clemens has made his case, but logic asks for more

Jim Rice Falls Short of Hall of Fame Again

This time around had to be particularly difficult for Jim Rice to swallow. The Hall of Fame inductees were announced just a short while ago and for the 14th year in a row Jim Rice is on the outside looking in. Rice recieved 72.2% of the vote falling just 2.8% short from baseball immortality. And if I'm not mistaken, this is the highest amount of votes a player has ever received without actually getting inducted. I tip my cap to Goose Gossage on his induction, however I can't help but feel for Rice right now.

I'm going to make a promise to myself to put a full-court press on for Jim Rice to make the Hall next year.  My voice is small, but I'd do anything to help Rice get that final 2.8% on his final year of eligibility. It'd be like a walk-off HR in the bottom of the 9th.

With all the allegations coming out about the rampant use of steroids a player like Jim Rice should be held in that much higher of esteem. This is a guy who was no doubt clean, and heck, probably would have benefited a massive amount if he took steroids in the twilight of his career. This is a guy who'd break bats with check swings, and he basically fell off the face of the earth towards the end of his career. If he took steroids in his later years (COUGH COUGH, ROGER CLEMENS, COUGH COUGH!!!) homeboy would already have his very own plaque in Upstate New York.

Again, congrats to Gossage, but boo to those who left Rice off of their ballot, you got it wrong.......again.

Is 2008 Finally the Year Jim Rice Gets in Hall of Fame?

Today could finally be the day that Jim Rice gets his rightful place in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Jim has been very close in past years and it's starting to look like he may be a perennial bubble guy as far as his Hall of Fame chances go entering what is his 14th year on the ballot. Just last year Rice obtained 63.5% (down from 64.8%) of the vote to be elected which is not too far away from the 75% needed, but he still would need a decent amount of voters to include him on their ballot this time around that didn't last year.

I've argued on SawxBlog over the past few years as to why I think Jim should be elected, so I'm not going to exhaust a tired arguement (links are below though). I will say this however, Rice was one of the more dominant hitters of his era, who if not for his cold media relations, would have had his bust in New York years ago, period. We'll see what happens today, I for one am knocking on wood and crossing my fingers for Jim, he deserves it, his baseball numbers don't lie.

Click Here to view the SawxBlog Red Sox Hall of Fame Experiance

Jim Rice Links:

• 2005 SawxBlog: Jim Rice Hall of Fame Post
• 2006 SawxBlog: Jim Rice Hall of Fame Post
• 2006 SawxBlog: Jim Rice Snubbed
• Nick Cafardo article on Rice
• Rob Bradford article on Rice
• ESPN's HOF Hopefuls

Roger Clemens Interview on 60 Minutes Re-Cap

It seems like the more Roger talks the bigger his hole becomes. (60 Minutes Screenshot / SawxBlog Illustration)

Watching Mike Wallace interview Roger Clemens on 60 Minutes was almost as painful as it was watching Vince Young try to lead the Titans back against the Chargers yesterday. Simply put, it was painful for me to watch. I find it rather obvious that Clemens did indeed use steroids, and it seems like he's contradicted himself in every step along the process of his denial.

Everything seems so calculated on Clemens part, and it appears that his lawyer has his hand up his a$$ and is really the one who is making him talk. Clemens and his camp have handled these allegations horribly from step-one. From the loud silence that permeated from the Clemens camp upon the release of the Mitchell Report, to the forced speech he gave via his website, to the "hard-hitting" interview on 60 Minutes last night. Between these two videos Clemens has directly contradicted himself on numerous instances.

On being injected with Drugs by former trainer Brian McNamee
12/23 Video
CLEMENS: I did not provide Brian McNamee with any drugs to inject into my body.

60 Minutes Interview 1/06/07
WALLACE:  Did your former trainer, Brian McNamee ever inject you with anything?
CLEMENS: Yes he did.
WALLACE:  What?
CLEMENS:  Lidocaine, and B12.  It's for my joints and and B12 I take still today.  A lot of trainers—
WALLACE:  And that's all.?
CLEMENS:  That's it.

So not only did McNamee "provide" Clemens, but he did indeed, as the Mitchell Report states, have them injected by Brian McNamee. Liar. Of course according to Clemens he was only injecting him with vitamins...yeah...right...just like Miguel Tejada....yeah sure Rog, we believe you, whatever you say champ.

Benefit of the Doubt
CLEMENS: I'm angry that that what I've done for the game of baseball and the personal, in my private life, what I've done that I I don't get the benefit of the doubt The stuff that's being said, it's ridiculous. It's hogwash for people to even assume this. 24, 25 years Mike. You'd think I'd get an inch of respect. An inch. How, how can you prove your innocence?

I couldn't roll my eyes back hard enough after he said this. Why Roger? Why do you get the benefit of the doubt? Why would the American public not just look past your contradicting statements just because you played baseball for over two decades? Why would we not trust a report made by the man who brokered peace in Northern Ireland? Why would we not believe you used steroids after countless other ballplayers in the report named by McNamee admitted that what was written in the Mitchell Report was true, even your best friend in baseball, and workout buddy (who also had Brian McNamee as his trainer), Andy Petite. Kinda gives some credibility on the McNamee side of things though huh? But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt Rog 'cause you played baseball for 24, 25 years. What a joke.

And That's Our Country
CLEMENS: And that's our country, isn't it? Guilty before innocent. That's the way our country works now. And then everybody's talking about sue, sue sue. Should I sue? Well, let me exhaust. Let me, let me just spend. How about, let's keep spending. But I'm gonna explore what I can do and then I want to see if it's gonna be worth it, worth all the headache.

Roger didn't even give himself 24 hours to contradict himself here. I'll just paste the headline title that's on ESPN.com right now at this very instant below, which in turn links to an article about Clemens suing McNamee. For some reason all I can hear right now is John Melloncamp singing, "This is our Country!". Also only our country could a man make $20+ for a few months of work. Poor Roger, I feel bad for him...

I honestly could breakdown the 60 Minutes interview even further but it's almost a waste of time. I mean the guy looked Mike Wallace in the face and basically said he didn't care about making the Hall of Fame. Now THAT has to be the lie that people on all sides of the argument can conceded to.

The saddest things about this is that when it's all said and done, the reason people are so upset with Clemens is not because he used steroids, but because he isn't man enough to step up to the plate, or mound if you will, and admit that he made some mistakes in the past. Look at Giambi, Andy, and even Rodney Harrison. These guys all admitted and they as well as the public have basically moved on. It's the people like Clemens and Bonds that make it really easy to dislike them because their integrity and word are meaningless. And yes if didn't already know, Clemens is in that Bonds category if he likes it or not.

This is drama that's going to drag for awhile now, and it'll be interesting to see how Clemens tries to get out of the corner he's painted himself in. This thing's going to be going on for an exhausted amount of time I'm sure (why Clemens is suing), but if and when they're both (Clemens & McNamee) are in front of congress, that'll be some of making the finger wagging of Rafael Palmeiro look like childs play.

• Click Here to Watch the 60 Minutes Interview
• Click Here to Read the Transcript
• Dan Shaughnessy Article

Roger Clemens Video Where He Speaks About His Steroid Use

This is pure genius, I was on the floor the first time I saw this. Very clever.