You Gotta Move

It looks like the GM-less Red Sox are starting to make moves. I have to say at least that I like the idea of Beckett (memories of the '03 World Series are still fresh in my mind), but like less the idea of Lowell (some vague uneasiness about a player possibly in decline).

To my mind Hanley Ramirez was one of the 'you can look but you'd better not touch' players in the Sox' farm system, but I guess Edgar Renteria's arrival in Boston last year blocked any real chance he had of becoming a regular any time soon. In that light, you could look at it as a Sanchez for Beckett + Lowell deal, which feels better.

Is it mortgaging the future to win right now? I honestly don't know enough about Sanchez to say one way or another. It's one of those deals that can really go either way, but right now there are too many unknown quantities to be able to judge it properly. The trade hasn't yet been confimred, but by the time it is, I'm sure the deal will have been analysed to death. For now, I'll make do with accentuating the positive.

Simple Life

An alternative headline for this article: "Pitcher Without Team Meets Club Without Owner Represented By GM Who Is Interviewing For Other Jobs".

Ah, the joys of the Hot Stove season!

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

So, after weeks of speculation, the jury has rendered its verdict.

From what I've read, A-Rod seemed to have the edge even without considering the seemingly endless "How important is defense?" debate. However, the best take on this comes from Terry Francona, who has the literal and figurative bottom line:

''There's a lot of guys who can't DH. David, as it turned out, is the best in baseball. Good for us."

Crumbs From Your Table

Why am I not surprised by this piece of news?

I hate to be all cynical and read between the lines of everything I read, but is it mere coincidence that any decision regarding the future of the Nats - who are currently owned by the other 29 major league teams - will be made after both the GM meetings and the start of the free-agent negotiation period (tomorrow)?

By the time the Nats know who will be in charge and how much money they have to spend, all the good deals will have been done by those other 29 teams and they'll once again have to cobble together a team from everyone else's castoffs.

Come Back And Stay

This almost defies belief. In the space of one short article, CHB manages to:

• suggest that Theo should reconsider a decision that Shaughnessy himself helped precipitate
• encourage Larry Lucchino to "step up", even though he was happy to be Lucchino's public mouthpiece a little over a week ago
• distance himself from that same role as insider and Lucchino mouthpiece
• have a dig at Curt Schilling's "little late-night, on-line friends"

Journalism at its very best, folks, courtesy of your friendly, local Boston Globe.

Get Up, Stand Up

I'm sure that this article brought a smile to many a face today, with one possible exception. Imagine looking forward to representing your country in the World Baseball Classic, only to discover that Mike Piazza might have a shot at your starting spot, albeit for reasons that don't seem very clear:

"The union told us they determined that Mike could play for the Italian team," said Piazza's agent, Dan Lozano. He was unsure of the specific reason why Piazza, who was born in Norristown, Pa., was eligible.

I'm all for making the World Baseball Classic as appealing an event as possible, but I do feel a little sorry that Marcello now seems to have this unexpected competition, so I've decided to use the powerful media platform that is The Baseball Desert to launch a new unofficial campaign:

All letters of support will be forwarded to the Federazione...

Kiss This Thing Goodbye

So, it was the end of the World Series, I had a two-day business trip and then I figured I would take a couple of days off from everything, including the Internet and – by extension – baseball. And then I log on this morning only to find that I need to check my calendar to make sure it's November 1^st and not April 1st.

This kind of thing seems to happen every time I turn my back for a few days. Last year it was Nomar getting traded to the Cubs, this year it was the whole Mannygate thing and now the Red Sox have failed to come to an agreement with the guy responsible for putting together some of the deals that have made the club a regular contender

Eric Wilbur lays the blame squarely on the shoulders of Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino:

Theo Epstein is gone, and the Red Sox are much worse off for it.

I’m sorry, I meant the Red Sox fans. The Red Sox are probably embroiled too deeply in their latest multi-million dollar development plan to really care about it all that much.

Yes, we are much worse off for this decision – even with a talented GM it's tough to put together the deals that will make a ballclub competitive; without that talented GM, I really don't know what happens now.

This promises to be an interesting time in Red Sox Nation, and not necessarily in a good way.