boston red sox Discussions
| | | | Soriano to Cubs; Dodgers turn attention to Pierre after retaining Garciaparra | | Alfonso Soriano is focused on bringing a World Series title to Wrigley Field for the first time. Soriano's $136 million, eight-year contract was announced Monday by the Chicago Cubs after he passed a physical, the fifth-highest contract in baseball history and the first of eight years or more since Scott Rolen's deal with St. Louis in September 2002. "It's a big contract, but that's not my goal," Soriano said. "My goal is to play hard and give you a championship for the city. That's my goal. It's not about the contract." Chicago, which gave third baseman Aramis Ramirez a $75 million, five-year deal, hasn't won the World Series since 1908, when it played at the second West Side Park. In hopes of winning a championship, the Cubs are moving to the top level of baseball spenders, joining the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. General manager Jim Hendry isn't worried that Soriano, who turns 31 in January, will tail off drastically by the end of the deal. "He's lean. He's like a greyhound, this guy. He's some kind of an athlete, and that's a very, very young body for his age," Hendry said. "Who knows if somebody... | |
| | Twins 1B Morneau edges Yankees SS Jeter for AL MVP | | Derek Jeter barely lost the batting title to Joe Mauer. He also was nosed out for American League Most Valuable Player by Justin Morneau, another member of the Minnesota Twins. Morneau edged the superstar shortstop of the New York Yankees by 14 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America announced Tuesday. The 25-year-old Morneau is the youngest player to win the AL MVP since Frank Thomas won with the Chicago White Sox in 1993 and the first Twin to earn the honor since Rod Carew in 1977.
A first baseman, Morneau hit .321 with 34 homers and 130 RBI - second most in the league and in franchise history - as the Twins won the American League Central Division title. "I never thought I'd be sitting here with this award," Morneau said at an afternoon news conference. "I was just lying there with the phone by my side all day hoping it would ring. The phone never left my side." The Twins heated up around the same time as Morneau. They were 25-33 and 11 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit on June 7. From there, the Twins went 71-33 as Morneau hit .362 with 23 homers and 92 RBI. Jeter put together perhaps his best all-around season in... | |
| | Sportsticker Baseball Notebook | | LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - Charley Finley, the former owner of the Oakland Athletics, clearly understood the law of supply and demand as related to major league baseball players. With the emergence of free agency more than 30 years ago, Finley was one of the few executives in baseball to express the thought that the best structure for management would be to allow all players to become free agents every year. In this situation, Finley reasoned, supply would be matched up with demand.
Finley didn't get his way as to how the topic of free agency would be defined and this wasn't surprising in that his fellow owners were seldom, if ever, in step with him. In baseball today, there is a great demand for free agents and very little supply. This has created a situation where players have used clauses in their contracts to become free agents and join the fun in the market place. The Boston Red Sox paid $51.1 million just for the rights to negotiate with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, while the Chicago Cubs have signed Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year contract for $136 million. From the standpoint of the players, the other economic factor that seems to be at... | |
| | Longtime Cleveland broadcaster Casey Coleman dies at 55 | | Casey Coleman, who did play-by-play for the Cleveland Browns and covered the city's other sports teams for nearly 30 years, died Monday. He was 55. Coleman died at his home of pancreatic cancer. Bill Wills, who co-hosted WTAM's "Wills and Coleman in the Morning" show, announced Coleman's death on the air. Coleman's wife, Mary, had called the station to tell his colleagues about his death. Coleman was diagnosed with cancer more than a year ago, and continued to work until the last few months. Coleman's voice was known to a generation of Clevelanders. Coleman also worked at WJW-TV, where he won four local Emmy Awards as the station's sports anchor. He also won several Associated Press broadcasting awards for excellence. Last month, the Browns renamed their indoor practice facility in Berea "The Casey Coleman Field House." Coleman worked as the club's radio network sideline reporter during games the past few years. He followed his father into broadcasting. Ken Coleman was the longtime radio voice of the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Browns, and Casey worked as a water boy during summer training camp for the NFL team. Coleman began his broadcasting career... | |
| | Boston Red Sox -- did you jump on the bandwagon? | | In my opinion, it has always been fashionable to sport Red Sox memorabilia, because I've grown up a die-hard fan. Lately, however, this idea has caught on tenfold. I am constantly seeing Red Sox caps and shirts being worn by such a large number of people, that I have to wonder, how many of you are true fans, and how many have jumped on the bandwagon? | |
| | | Daisuke Matsuzaka Madness | | Possible 2007 Boston Red sox rotation:Daisuke Matsuzaka
Curt Schilling
Josh Beckett
Jonathan Papelbon
Tim WakefieldI'd say that the Boston rotation will look pretty intimidating to a lot of teams next year, especially the Yankees. With the free agents the Red Sox are locking up, it may be time for New York to start fidgeting in their seats. While the Yankees are considering a platoon role at first base inloving Andy Phillips or Josh Phelps, the Red Sox have signed Matsuzaka (which may bring more publicity to a team not named the New York Yankees for the first time in a decade), Julio Lugo, and J.D. Drew. Oh wait, the Yankees also signed Andy Pettitte and his ERA was only slightly above four.Yes, the American League East could be receiving a changing-of-the-guard in 2007, but most people are not considering the Toronto Blue Jays. They have a high-powered offense which was bolstered by the signing of Frank Thomas. They also have three top-line starters that just need to remain healthy...all year. Or else. Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett, and Gustavo Chacin have each had their fair share of injury troubles in the years and if the... | |
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