Sunday Funday....Going Around the Horn

It’s been a while since I’ve posted much of anything as we’re officially in the winter doldrums. That said, I’ll quickly go around the horn….

• Mike Cameron wants to stay in Boston despite the Sox bringing in Carl Crawford…..no surprise there, JD will likely go down with a hangnail in late April. Plus, Mikey sees the writing on the wall, this team has “special” potential.


• The Sox will not be bringing in the right field fences. Apparently, the Boston Historical Society could care less if Daniel Bard gets drilled in the head in their European style bullpen. (ITM note, the Sox still think this will happen in the upcoming years)


• I’m pumped about Max Ramirez joining the Sox. The team certainly needs the depth at the catcher position, plus, given his history with Boston (re: Mike Lowell trade), I’m glad he finally got here.


• I still can’t believe Beltre got that kind of money. I mean, good for him, but Texas will regretting that deal by 2013. Also, Pedey’s quote on Beltre was great…. “He wants to win. He plays great defense -- he gets to a ton of balls at third base” Nice Pedey, Nice.


• Speaking of balls, Buckner is going to coach the Brockton Rox huh? Good for him. Lock your doors though Billy boy, lock your doors.

A last point, come February, I’ll be heading across the pond to spend 6 months in London for work…..it’s likely to result in some ridiculous posts about their terrible ability to appreciate baseball, and my inability to conform to any of the cultural differences. Stay tuned....5 weeks until pitchers and catchers....

This Story Can't Be Real Life.....

(AP) DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- "Baltimore Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon surrendered to police Monday to face an involuntary manslaughter charge in a fatal shooting New Year's Eve. His lawyer said he was firing celebratory shots in the air.
The Dominican pitcher is suspected of killing 25-year-old Michel Castillo Almonte and wounding his 17-year-old brother in the northeast coastal town of Luperon. The dead man is Simon's cousin, according to the player's lawyer.

Police initially said a murder charge would be filed against Simon, but Public Prosecutor Victor Mueses told The Associated Press on Monday that witness accounts and evidence support an involuntary manslaughter charge instead.


"The version that we have is that there was a dispute between two women and he tried to dissolve it, fired a shot that ended up wounding a young person in the arm and that same bullet lodged in the chest of the deceased," Mueses said by phone.


Simon is to appear at the Puerto Plata courthouse for arraignment later in the day. He could face up to two years in prison if found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Mueses, the public prosecutor in Puerto Plata, said he will request three months of preventive detention for Simon while the case is pending.

Simon's lawyer, Carlos Olivares, told the AP his client fired random shots with a group of local boys. But he believes Simon could not have been the shooter because the player's cousin was shot in the chest.

"We are giving the weapon so that the national police can do the pertinent ballistics tests," Olivares said.Ballistics test should be completed in the next 48 hours, according to Dominican Police Chief Jose Polanco. 

Some Dominicans shoot guns in the air on New Year's Eve especially in the hours leading to midnight, although authorities have repeatedly warned against the practice. Bystanders are killed or wounded every New Year's Eve. Simon was accompanied to the police station by Julio Lugo, the free agent second baseman for the Orioles.  "He is scared because he recognizes that he fired shots, although they went into the air," said Lugo, who advised Simon to surrender after he fled the scene.

The injured teenager was shot in the right arm and remains hospitalized in the Dominican city of Santiago.

 Simon joined Baltimore in 2008 but was quickly sidelined with an injury. The 29-year-old pitcher went 4-2 with a 4.93 ERA last season. He had 17 saves before Orioles manager Buck Showalter decided to make Koji Uehara the closer."



A friend of mine sent this over to me this afternoon saying "Happy New Year".  Honestly, this is the best present ever.  It's the jackpot, a unfathomable story with a Julio Lugo kicker at the end? Priceless.

I think I need to read this a few more times in an attempt to actually understand it.  Either way, the Orioles appear to be in mid-season form.

Little Ozzie Calls Jenks a "Punk", "Coward"

ProRumors:  Ozzie Guillen's son, Oney, is up to it again on Twitter. Oney is calling out right-handed reliever Bobby Jenks after he spoke bad about his father in an MLB.com article by Scott Merkin.

Jenks was disappointed about his departure from the White Sox, but was happy to be moving to the Boston Red Sox. “I'm looking forward to playing for a manager who knows how to run a bullpen,” Jenks said.

Oney responded on Twitter by saying:

“oh and yes i remember clearly u blowing a hugee game in 09 and u laughing ur bearded a** off while everyone busting there tail” (Source: Twitter)


“i thought u were a man not some punk who runs away and talks bullsh**. u coward. say it to there face when u were with them” (Source: Twitter)
“and u say the manager didnt trust u? he kept putting ur fat a** there and u kept blowing it, he never took u away from that role unreal” (Source: Twitter)

 Oney is known for calling White Sox personnel out on his Twitter account. In August, he called out White Sox GM Ken Wiliams for going to a comedy club rather than watch his team play a doubleheader.


Oney?  What kind of name is Oney?...And why is this little dopey kid calling out a grown ass man?  In the words of Pedro..."Ozzie Guillen's son?....who are you!?!"

What's lost in this story is how awesome of a backhanded slap Jenks put on Ozzie?  Talk about putting a manager in his place.  No one can argue that Ozzie is bat shit crazy, and as a result makes some short bus decisions close and late.

Normally, I could care less about Ozzie's son and Bobby's little twitter spat, but now that Jenks wears the right uniform, it's on.  It's like how you're allowed to make fun of your own brother, but god forbid if someone else does....Game on.

Know Where It's Not Snowing? You Guessed It, Ft Myers.

Not going to lie, I love blizzards.  I haven't turned off Pete Bouchard and Dylan Dreyer for hours and hours on channel 7. I know a lot of us make fun of meteorologists like this nutbag in the video above, but I’m totally there with him. I love “the world is ending” stuff, eat it up.

While Boston is getting completely chucked with snow and wind, the 10 day outlook in Ft Myers calls for 78 and sunny this week.

Weather like this makes you question why we live in Boston, but the Red Sox help remind you why it’s so great…..now if we could only get Ft Myer’s weather up here year round…



Merry Christmas from Ozzie Guillen and the "Ozzie Plan"

Checking in on ol' Barstoolsports and this is what I find.....it's too good/odd/Ozzie not to repost. I give Ozzie credit, he's weird, he knows it, and he tries like hell to parlay that into positive excitement for the Whitesox and their fans.

I still don't know if the Whitesox actually won a world series in 2006 or not, but great work with Manny Ramirez this year....and thank again for Bobby Jenks.

Merry Christmas Red Sox Nation, with all of the recent moves by Theo, this goes down as one of the best Christmas seasons ever.

AGon: "Spit in your palm and shake my hand"

Pulled from ESPN.com:  “I made a comment to Theo, ‘Make the trade happen by itself, and I promise you during the season I’ll negotiate,”’ Gonzalez said. “I’m not going to come here and be like, ‘OK, we’ll see you at free agency and see if you outbid the other teams.’ We’ll negotiate during the season. We’re going to be fair. We won’t be looking for record-breaking deals. We just want market value.

 “We gave them our word that we were going to negotiate during the season in good faith. We’re not going to go in there and ask for Albert Pujols’ contract, something along those lines.”



“That was one of their comments, what if he gets this humongous deal and you want to be closer to him?” Gonzalez said. “I said, ‘Trust me. What the market is today might change by then, but we’re going to negotiate based on what the market is today.”’

Can it get any better?  First the full page ad in the SD newspaper, and now this story?  Gonzales and the Sox agreed early on that an extension would not get in the way of finalizing the overall trade.  Instead, they acted like men, spit in the palm of their hands and shook on it.  If AGon proves the surgery to be a non issue early in the season (which is expected) and absolutely rakes at Fenway (which is also expected), he's going to land himself some serious money. 

He doesn't need Albert Pujols to set the bar for him, he can do that all on his own merit, but it's nice to hear that AGon is not an irrational, egotistic maniac.  I'm telling you, this team is made up of winners.  I feel as though 80 percent of my recent posts have been about the class of the talent we've brought to Boston this offseason.....meanwhile the Yankees are trying to resign that DB Johnny Damon.  Good work Cashman.


Pujols’ presence was clearly felt at the table. The Red Sox couldn’t shake the notion that if Pujols signed a mega-deal, the shared parameters of what market value was could change overnight.

Classy Crawford: Take Notes Randy Moss and Manny Ramirez

NESN:  Like any good multimillionaire does, Carl Crawford picked up the tab.

But the new Red Sox outfielder wasn't treating his family or friends to a night on the town to celebrate his seven-year, $142 million contract. Instead, Crawford arranged to buy lunch for the entire Tampa Bay Rays staff on Wednesday afternoon. at Tropicana Field, according to Marc Topkin of tampabay.com.

Roughly 150 employees were treated to the barbecue meal by the nine-year member of the Rays, who fled to Boston this offseason.

Take notes Randy Moss, Manny Ramirez and all you other DB's out there.  This is how real men operate.  Carl Crawford literally can do no wrong in my book right now (that said, wait until he pops out with runners on first and third on April 4th). 

How classic/southern/Floridian is the BBQ aspect?  In retrospect, instead of taking out a full page ad thanking his teams/fans, maybe AGon should have rented out a Mexican restaurant in San Diego and treated the entire staff to some serious empanadas. 

It's snowing again in the Back Bay, spring training can't get here soon enough.