Hoyer: "Adrian is Staying Put"

Today was a stressful day for the ITM writers....the number of random chats, emails, and links sent between the three of us on day one of the winter meeting can't be quantified....borderline obsessive to say the least.

That said, apparently, Jed Hoyer is out to sink our battleships. As the new Padres GM, news is just coming out that Hoyer has stated: "it makes no sense to deal Gonzalez now."

Gonzalez is due to make $4.75 million in 2010 and has a club option for $5.5 million in 2011....both of which are complete bargains in the grand scheme of things. The Padres ability to hang onto Gonzo on a long term basis is considered slim at best.

Is it possible that Hoyer is already trying to drive up the price for Gonzalez? Surely, Hoyer must have concerns about making his first big deal as a GM with his old buddy in Boston. At the same time, he likely has the best true valuation of Boston's organizational talent and resources...so he may have the best information to make an educated trade.

Certainly, time will tell. There were no lack of rumors being thrown around today...too many to document here on ITM so we'll try to stick with some of the bigger items and address the smaller ones later.

I'm pretty sure my fingers hurt from hitting the refresh button. You can't beat the Winter Meetings.

Breaking - Martinez to Sox

Multiple sources are now reporting that the Sox have landed (or are, at the very least, very close to finalizing the deal on) Victor Martinez from the Indians. No word yet on who's leaving the Sox, but Fox Sports is saying it's a straight Sox-Indians deal, no third team involved. ITM will check back in when we have more details.

It's the Most Wonderful Time Of the Year

Just hours are left on the MLB trade deadline clock, it's Friday, it's summer....today is a tough day to be productive. It's also one of the best days of the year in my book. Personally, I can't get enough of the trade rumors, expected deals, made up stories, and frank talk that goes on today. It's a baseball fan's second coming of Christmas and I love it.

We all know the names by now, Adrian, Halladay, or Victor.....in just a few hours from now we could all be giggling like school girls if we land one of the studs just mentioned....or screaming in anger that we sold off the farm....or convincing ourselves that making no move was the best move and this team is capable of winning it all as is. I love it.

I'm going to throw it out there and predict we end up with Adrian...a 27 year old stud who has caught fire over the past week or two before the deadline (and possibly driving his price tag up). He knows he needs to get out of the NL and San Diego in order to be taken seriously as a ball player, so what better place than Boston? If the Sox lineup hadn't fallen off the face of the earth over the past month and a half, I'd likely predict otherwise.

I'm not saying that would be my choice (Halladay), but that is what my gut is telling me this morning. So hold your breath....refresh your "go to" sporting news Web site every 7 seconds, and hope Theo provides Red Sox Nation with something to be excited about going into the weekend, and down the home stretch.

In Theo we trust. Go Sox.

Dice-K is Pissing Just About Everyone Off

Well, I gave myself the day to digest the Dice-K news in order to avoid rushing out an "I hate Dice-K" post. Turns out, I should have just ran with it. My thoughts on this topic remain the same....stop being an uncoachable talent or you'll never live up to the hype. Seems like Red Sox management agree...

Not only has pissed off Red Sox Nation with his terrible performances this year, Dice-K recently expressed his frustration with Red Sox management and claimed his current shoulder issues are a result of training adjustments forced upon him by Boston. The Red Sox and John Farrell refute that claim saying the only adjustments made to the Japanese pitcher's regiment were just recently implemented as a result of his deteriorating shoulder strength.

Clearly it's a war of words. Based on the media reports over the few years he's been here, and the exceptionally high regard in which Boston's shoulder strengthening/management program is referred to by every other pitcher, my money is on the Sox here. I mean it was just this past off season that Dice-K frustrated the Sox by refusing to stay and train in the US. Instead he trained in Japan and provided minimal updates to Red Sox management who had little visibility to his off season workouts.

It's time for Dice-K to grow up, listen to what the people who pay him millions tell him to do, and realize it's less about culture and more about his personal stubborn nature. Sure, you were a king in Japan,but this isn't Japanese baseball, players here exceed 5 ft 9 inches and 160lbs. I don't question his desire to succeed, I question his coachability, and there tends to be a high correlation between that and overall success.

So as the rumors continue to swirl about Roy Halladay coming to the Sox for Buchholz, Bowden, and others, without child-like outbursts like this from Dice-K, it's hard to consider him an eventual factor on this team. Maybe that's why he's stomping his feet and crying, he's just not getting the attention he's used to.

I still think John Farrell summed it up perfectly on WEEI today, "There has to be accountability and responsibility on the part of the player"

Someone Put This Lineup On Their Back

It looks like the Red Sox sure could use a Jim Rice-like bat in their lineup these days......The day after a partial offensive breakout at Fenway Park, the Sox again looked lifeless at the plate, losing to the O's and yet another rookie pitcher 6-2.

The game of baseball is a marathon not a sprint, we hear Tito say that all the time, but Red Sox Nation can't help but be concerned with the prolonged offensive slump. Personally, I'm looking to someone in the middle of the lineup to put this team on their back and carry them until either Theo is able to bring in more firepower, or this offense decides to wake up.

Jason Bay has been all but dead since June 1 (pretty sure he's batting negative .120 since then). David Ortiz has been anything but dependable all season, Youk has been surprisingly inconsistent, JD is making 14 million dollars while batting .235, and Mike Lowell tosses in a few doubles here and there to keep his head above water, but timely production from the middle of this lineup has fallen off the table.

Jacoby is settling back into the lead off spot nicely, Pedroia can only do so much out of the two hole, and we surely can't expect Tek or Lowrie to pull this team out of it. Sure, baseball is a cyclicle game, everyone goes through slumps, but a team-wide slump like this is tough to swallow.

Boston's 3-6 hitters are dropping the ball and this division is simply too good to suffer through rough spots like this for much longer. Perhaps that's why it appears the Sox are looking outside of the organization for an offensive jump start. There appears to be numerous issues for Theo to work through in order to pull off the deal, but the fact that he continues to call the Padres shows limited confidence in the current lineup.