Napoli Signs With Red Sox

UPDATED: Red Sox-Dodgers Mega Deal is now Official

(UPDATE) According to reports the deal is done (Nick Punto also tweeted this photo of the Sox players heading to LA). Beckett, Gonzalez, Crawford and Punto to LA for Pitcher Rubby De La Rosa, James Loney and prospects Allen Webster (RHP), Ivan De Jesus (INF) and Jerry Sands (OF) are headed to Boston.

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There's a lot in the deal, so here's ESPN for the details if you have not heard them already.

Jon Heyman is reporting that the deal has been agreed upon by the teams and is awaiting approval from the league.

Crazy deal, but one that will help both clubs. The Red Sox get a bailout on all their bad contracts giving them a ton of flexibility moving forward, plus whatever they take back in the deal. On the other hand, the Dodgers probably put themselves at the top of the WS Contenders list. Good for Donnie.

Hideki Matsui DFA By Tampa

From The AP:

Hideki Matsui was been cut by the Tampa Bay Rays.

The 38-year-old Japanese star was designated for assignment on Wednesday to clear a roster spot for infielder Ryan Roberts. The Rays have 10 days to trade Matsui, release him or place him on waivers.

He is hitting .147 with two homers and seven RBIs in 95 at-bats.

I feel bad for Hideki. A player as good as he was never should go out like this, but sometimes you just hang around way too long.

Selig Says Rays Attendance is "Inexcusable"

Here's the quote from Selig on the Rays attendance woes (hat-tip to Was Watching):

"What I've said to you in the past, I'll say to you again, and I've said this to Stu quite a bit. I've been through a lot of these things over the last 20 years, actually the last 40 years, and I understand that, but, look, they've run a great operation, they're a very competitive organization, they have very competitive teams. As I study the attendance every day, looking where they are, to see that they're No. 29, I think it is, in attendance is not, is, it's inexcusable. Nobody can defend that.

"This is a very competitive baseball team. I know they've had a lot of injuries, so on and so forth, and they've missing (Evan) Longoria and all that is true. But the average major-league attendance is between 31,000 and 32,000 and if my memory is serving me well this morning, it's about 19,000 something, Tampa's attendance. Now if they were a club in last place every year the last five years you'd say, well, look, after all, you are what you are and you've got to do better.

"It's disappointing. And I know that people down there, some people, will be offended. Not the fans, not the people who go every day and I know they have great intensity, the people there. As all of you know, I watch a lot of games every day, sometimes all 15 of them, and I pay great attention not only to what's happening on the field, but to the attendance.

"So to use my father's old line, nothing is ever good or bad except by comparison. I'll rest my case. It's disappointing. And I'm concerned."

Well, at least all those Yankees fans in Florida can go see the Yanks a few times a year until MLB decides enough is enough and moves the franchise.

The New York Giants Are Super Bowl Champs!

What an incredible run by the GMen capped off once again by beating Tom Brady and the Patriots. At 7-7, following that ugly loss to the Redskins, who would have thought they could do something like this. UnbELIevable.

Prince Fielder Signs 9-Year Deal With Detroit

There's no doubt that Fielder is going to be a huge addition to their lineup, but it'll be interesting to see what kind of shape Fielder is in towards the end of the contract. For now, however, with the combination of Miguel Cabrera and now Prince Fielder the Tigers are looking pretty damn dangerous.

The New York Giants Are Headed to the Super Bowl!

So, how was your Sunday?

Yea, mine was pretty damn good.

Pujols & Wilson Sign With The Angels

Great, now we have to face Pujols multiple times each season.

ESPN: Jose Reyes Headed To Miami

From ESPN:

The Miami Marlins and shortstop Jose Reyes agreed to terms on a six-year, $106 million deal Sunday, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

The guarantee for the first six years totals $102 million, sources told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. The deal includes an option for a seventh year, with a guaranteed $4 million.

Sources told ESPNDeportes' Enrique Rojas that the option would be worth $22 million.

According to the article, the Marlins, who also just signed Heath Bell, will now turn their attention to free agent 1B Albert Pujols.

Papelbon Signs With Philly

Earlier in the week it was reported on MLB Trade Rumors that the Phillies talks with their now former closer, Ryan Madson, fell through and that they were interested in the former Red Sock.

For the Sox, who obviously didn't feel like Papelbon was worth the money will now either hand the job over to Daniel Bard or look to sign one of the available closers. That list includes many quality arms, including Heath Bell, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Capps, Francisco Cordero, Frank Francisco, Ryan Madson, Joe Nathan, Jon Rauch, and Francisco Rodriguez.

Did you happen to catch Ron Washington's Pregame Speech?

If not, here it is. This was recorded by a member of the Rangers clubhouse staff prior to game 7 of the world series, and kiddies, there's a lot of cursing so cover your ears.

Ron Washington's Game 7 Clubhouse Speech from JoeSportsFan.com on Vimeo.

(Hat-tip to Joe Sports Fan)

Discounted Tickets For Rutgers-Army at The Stadium

College football returns to The Bronx next weekend as Army takes on Rutgers. TiqIQ has a special time sensitive deal for fans: $35 for a $50 face value ticket. Given the prices for tickets (as shown below), this discount is big, but it's only available today and tomorrow. If you'd like to get in on this deal, click here on on the image below.

 

Congrats To The Cards

 
That was a hell of a series. Congrats to the Cards and their fans on their 11th WS title. Amazing to think they were 10.5 games out on August 25th. Wow.

And the baseball season is officially over. On to the hot stove...

The Real Reason For Boston's Collapse?

From Boston.com:

With their team in peril and their manager losing his authority, three Red Sox pitchers last month were uniquely positioned to prevent the greatest September collapse in major league history. All the Sox needed was Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey to apply the skills and commitment that previously made them World Series champions.

Instead, Boston’s three elite starters went soft, their pitching as anemic as their work ethic. The indifference of Beckett, Lester, and Lackey in a time of crisis can be seen in what team sources say became their habit of drinking beer, eating fast-food fried chicken, and playing video games in the clubhouse during games while their teammates tried to salvage a once-promising season.

...

Drinking beer in the Sox clubhouse is permissible. So is ordering take-out chicken and biscuits. Playing video games on one of the clubhouse’s flat-screen televisions is OK, too. But for the Sox pitching trio to do all three during games, rather than show solidarity with their teammates in the dugout, violated an unwritten rule that players support each other, especially in times of crisis.

Sources said Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, who were joined at times by Buchholz, began the practice late in 2010. The pitchers not only continued the routine this year, sources said, but they joined a number of teammates in cutting back on their exercise regimens despite appeals from the team’s strength and conditioning coach Dave Page.

“It’ s hard for a guy making $80,000 to tell a $15 million pitcher he needs to get off his butt and do some work,’’ one source said.

For Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, the consequences were apparent as their body fat appeared to increase and pitching skills eroded. When the team needed them in September, they posted a combined 2-7 record with a 6.45 earned run average, the Sox losing 11 of their 15 starts.

There's a lot more in the article, so check it out. It talks more about the pitchers and their bad habits, as well as Terry Fancona's failure to control the clubhouse.

If all this stuff is true, than cutting ties with Francona was the only real option they had. For him to allow this kind of crap in the clubhouse on a team that was blowing the biggest September lead ever, would be unacceptable.

Oh well, not our issue.

Over on ESPN New York, Joe Petruccio put together this cartoon on the story.

Nyjer Morgan Drops F-Bomb (twice) On TBS

Joe West & His Crew Contnue To Piss Everyone Off

From Tom Verducci:

Does baseball have an umpire problem? Is the tension worsening between umpires and players and managers, as Detroit manager Jim Leyland would have us believe? Uh, no.

Welcome to summer, when the weather and tempers heat up. We did see 16 ejections in the first five days of July, so people assumed the state of umpiring was worsening. Ah, the power of the small sample.

But look at the first half of the season. While it's true that ejections through June were up for a second straight year, they were 18 percent below ejections through June from 2008. Things in recent years are much better than they used to be with the men in blue. Take a look at the table at right, which shows year-by-year ejections through June over the past eight seasons:

The "problem" is that a disproportionate amount of attention to umpiring recently has come from the crew of Joe West, which includes the equally controversial Angel Hernandez. Guess what crew caused Leyland to bemoan the rising tension? Yep, it was Cowboy Joe's crew. Guess which crew has ejected the most players, coaches and managers this year? Yep, Cowboy Joe's crew. And guess which crew caused Texas manager Ron Washington to be as blunt as you'll ever hear a big league manager in discussing an umpire? ("Angel is just bad. That's all there is to it.") Yep, Cowboy Joe's crew.

Most of the umpires do an amazing job every night. West and Hernandez have been in a spate of high-profile incidents recently. Fairly or not, they have developed reputations for being combative. (Hernandez's "boxing out" of Leyland, for instance, while Leyland was arguing with West, was unnecessary.) Baseball is always better when you don't notice the umpires.

Yankees fans are very familiar with the disaster known as Joe West, so I don't think this article will come as a surprise to you. But shouldn't Major League Baseball do something about these knuckleheads? To paraphrase a line from a young Michael Jackson, one bad apple shouldn't spoil the whole bunch, and if it is, how about throwing that apple away? MLB would be doing everyone--the players, the fans, and the rest of the umpires--a huge service if they would just fire West and the rest of his horrible horrible umpiring crew.

A Look At Closer Celebrations

Jeff Sullivan over at SBNation penned this article breaking down all the closer celebrations across baseball by category. Mo fall in the indifferent category. Check it out.

Phillies Fans React to the Death of a Monster

It's THE story of the day so even though this is not a political blog, I felt like passing this one along. The only live sporting event going on in the US last night when the news broke was the Mets-Phillies game in Philly. Here's the reaction:

Manny Retires

Major League Baseball is reporting that Manny Ramirez has retired. All reports indicate that Manny may have failed another drug test, meaning a 100-game suspension for a second infraction. Rather than deal with that Manny apparently decided to walk away.