No news is...well, who knows?

The A-Rod-for-Manny-Ramirez trade rumours just refuse to go away. Jayson Stark says that the deal is back on the cards once again - he says that there are many factors involved, including Miguel Tejada's deal with the Orioles (which meant that the Red Sox basically don't want to extend Nomar Garciaparra's contract and pay him more than what Tejada is getting).

Outside of the Nomar / Manny business, the Red Sox continued to strengthen their squad over the weekend, acquiring closer Keith Foulke from the A's. I'm not a baseball analyst of any kind - I'm just a enthusiastic spectator - but it seems to me that after years of playing in the shadow of the Yankees, the Red Sox seem to have finally decided that the time has come to step up and try to play on the same ballfield, at least in terms of the offseason deals being done. I know that they've already been accused of becoming a kind of Yankee clone in terms of the money they're spending, but as a neutral observer, I feel that they've not quite reached the 'if it moves, sign it' policy so beloved by the Yankees (for 'Yankees' read 'George Steinbrenner'). Time will tell if I'm right or wrong...