The last time I checked, there were around 5 million blogs about the Red Sox. And when you compare what I write about the Sox to what those sites write about the Sox, my blog is better than 15 of those blogs. Hey, sports writing isn’t my forte, and I’m comfortable with that. This isn’t a Red Sox specific blog either. If it was, I’d feel pretty bad that I’d writing articles comparing rookie season pitch velocities of Clay Buchholtz, Aaron Sele or Dana Kicker. Bonus points if you know either of the last two guys. 

With Spring Training a mere 27 days away, I just wanted to chime in on the bizarre off season of my beloved Red Sox. Judging by the speedy rate of blog entries here on ROTW.com, this might be the only post of the season.

2009 Off Season Review

Jason Varitek- How has this guy NOT fired Scott Boras yet? The Antichrist Agent makes Jason turn down TEN MILLION DOLLARS in an arbitration offer, because (supposedly) Jason will be in high demand this off season. Well, it’s 27 days before spring training and nobody has made an offer on a 35 year old catcher who hit .220 last season and looked lost at the plate in the playoffs. 

I’m not going to talk smack too much here. Jason Varitek has been the heart and soul of the team for years. He’s sure to get a shot managing in the Red Sox system down the road. He’s a Red Sox legend. BUT, I don’t want him on the team anymore. The Sox would have eventually needed to move away from him, and nows as good a time as ever. The WORST thing that could happen is the Sox resign him, he gets a standing O when he’s introduced on Opening Day, and then proceeds to whiff with the bases loaded in said game.  161 more games of “I told ya so”.

Lastly, for a guy who was trumped as having Harry Potter-like wizardly skills with pitching staffs, NOBODY wants to give up a draft pick in oder to sign him for those skills. Telling. 

Yankees -  I wasn’t shocked when the Yankees signed Sabathia, Burnett, Teixeria and whoever happened to be walking past Yankee Stadium on any given day. They have Damon and Matsui and their eroding skills, they have no center fielder to speak of, and they still have A Rod. 

After 2004, I really stopped worrying about what the Yankees were doing. They have a shiny new stadium and a payroll that could buy GM. If they lose their first Spring Training game, Joe Girardi will be hung from the facade at Legends Field. No pressure. 

Rent-a-Wreck pitchers - In the wake of the Yankees spending spree, the Sox could have easily waved $70 M at D-Lowe. Instead, they made two signings that are low risk, high reward. In 06 and 07, Penny won 16 games, and started the All Star Game in 06. Smoltz won at least 14 games in 05 to 07. Before then, he was doing nothing but nailing down 40+ saves for the Braves. 

Both players are battling injuries. And while Theo has made these type of low risk, high reward pitching signings before (Wade Miller, Fatolo Colon, David Wells), it hasn’t always worked out well. Theo DID sign Matt Clement, and I will never let him forget that. The difference between the Clement signing to these guys, is that Penny and Smoltz are only on the books for one year. And if the injury bug hits, there’s plenty of guys like Masterson, Buchholtz and Bowden who can start in a pinch. It will be interesting, or a disaster. 

Junichi Tazawa- Nobody seems to know anything about this guy except that he’s from Japan and idolizes Diasuke Matsuzaka. Is this going to be a Daniel Russo/Mr. Miyagi thing? Does this bump Okinawa from the “guy we brought in to keep Daisuke company” pedestal?

New Uniforms - Approve of the road. Disapprove of the road alternate. Already own the alternate cap.

Manny Ramirez- If the guy had simply shut the hell up and played baseball he would probably have another World Series ring and would have $20M in the bank for the 2009 season. But no, Boras did his thing, and convinced Manny that teams would be throwing themselves at him with multi-year offers of $30M per year minimum. Apparently, not everyone loves Manny being Manny. 

Here’s why I hate following baseball: players and their obsessive greed. Is there REALLY a difference between $20M and $30M a year? What could that extra $10M possibly get you that the other $20M couldn’t? Cripes people, just get the medium popcorn at the movies…you’ll never finish the jumbo one. 

Ramon Ramirez - DID YOU SEE THAT PITCH RAMON made? Naw. Doesn’t have the same ring to it. 

Rocco Baldelli - Due to the fickle nature of players and teams, I’ve always resisted buying a jersey with a current players name/number on it. Imagine all the poor souls who tossed or mothballed their Damon, Nomar, Manny, Pedro or Nixon jerseys. My favorite player retired in 1996 to run his own “golf course” and I’ve never gotten rid of my two jerseys with his name/number on them. And I never will. Why should I? 

I’ve followed Rocco Baldelli since he was called up to the majors in 2003. I even saw him play the Sox at Fenway that year (also known as the infamous game where my friend Glen wore long underwear on a 75 degree day in Boston). I ordered a Tampa Bay Rays player shirt. Drafted him really high on the fantasy team. He was compared to JoeDimaggio and was a Rhode Island native. How does a Sox fan NOT like this guy?

His medical issues arrived in 2005 and was forced to miss the entire season. He played off and on over the next few seasons due to “metabolic and/or mitochondrial abnormalities“. At any rate, it was hard to follow someone who never played. 

This off season, Rocco became a free agent. I became giddy when rumors involving him and the Red Sox popped up. How often is it that your favorite player from another team could actually JOIN your favorite team. 

Rocco signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox on January 8th. He chose to wear #5, the number of my last real “favorite” player on the Sox, mister Nomar Garciaparra (as I type this, I’m wearing my Sean Casey shirt…more a tribute to my son than a one shot bench player. Still, $30 well spent I say). 

Now comes the dilemma. When I sell enough of my crap on eBay and can afford to get the new road jersey, do I get Baldelli on it? With a one year deal, he may not be around too long (and with Bay,Ellsbury and Drew in the lineup, there’s no real room to play). I could also go the Sean Casey route and get another one and done shirt. I suppose it depends on WHY we get players names on our jersey. Do we get them to be trendy and h honor the sexy new guy (Ellsbury in 2007) or the stable veteran who may not be around too long (Varitek, Papi, Lowell). 

Rocco is a New England guy playing for his “hometown” team while trying to play through a  possibly treatable medical condition. If you look at Rocco as a “player”, then getting his jersey isn’t worth the money. But if you look at Rocco as a human you can’t help but honor the guy by wearing his jersey. A dilemma for another day.

Where they finish - As of now, the Sox look like a solid 3rd place team. However, Theo has until July 30th to assemble the team he wants. The Rays could be the Colorado Rockies. CC could show up at 300lbs. It’s baseball…you just never know. That’s why we watch 162 games and pray you follow your team through October.