I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy: Wakefield Set To Announce Retirement

Call me ridiculous, call me a fool, but when I got back from lunch and heard the news that Tim was calling it a career, I wanted to cry. I didn't.... yet. I'll save that for later (what? I'm a very sentimental person. Sue me!).

Without exaggeration, my head is spinning a little from this news. I was nine when Tim joined the Sox. I have not known a team without Tim Wakefield. I should have known this was coming, but I didn't want to believe it.

I will get together some of my favorite pictures and put together an 'I love Timmy Wonderpitches' post. I just needed to post something right now. I know I'm not the only one who wishes it didn't have to end this way....

To all my fellow Sox bloggers out there, I implore you... take a minute to reflect on Tim and all he's done for the Sox. I honestly believe we are worse off without him than we are with him.

Beckett: Securely In Camp

Spring training is a wonderful time for me, as I'm sure it is for most fans. When the season ends, there's a lot of confusion. For some seasons, the end brings a lot of anger and anonymous sources and rumors and general unpleasantness. I get pretty reactionary, though I try not to. Usually by spring training, I have my feelings on each player sorted pretty thoroughly.

While yes, I agreed that Josh didn't help the team in September and his attitude probably wasn't a positive thing in the clubhouse. For about a week, I was convinced it might be time to part with Beckett. For the rest of the winter, I tried not think about what pieces should be moved to bring the best out of the team. Now, spring training is on the verge of commencement and I can say, I am as happy as I've ever been that Beckett is in camp.

According to a bunch of people whose opinions probably don't matter all that much to me, Beckett looked good throwing 50 pitches out of the pen. That's the kind of news about Beckett that I want to hear.

Of course, Lester was in camp earlier than Josh, so the reporters, if they so choose, could have a field day writing about how Jon is more motivated for the season than his right handed counterpart.

To be clear, I don't believe that for a moment. I'm just sort of waiting for one of the sports writers to get on it. Any minute now.

Four more days till the rest of the pitchers and catchers join the few ultra-motivated individuals who are already there. Guys, I can't wait. The hunger for baseball... it's rising again and I won't be able to quell it. Opening day can't get here soon enough.

Ortiz: Officially Contractually Obligated

The problem with updating my blog before I read any other baseball sites is that I tend to be late to the party on certain topics. For example, my last post said that I couldn't wait to see how Papi's arbitration hearing would go. Well, I then proceeded to surf the internet and found that there will not be a hearing.

The big man has agreed to a one-year, $14.575M contract. It's not two years like I hoped for, and it's not $16M like Papi hoped for, but it's enough to get Papi back in that familiar jersey for the upcoming season.

The Red Sox don't like arbitration. Theo had never gone through arbitration (to my knowledge) with any players during his tenure here. Looks like Keebs is determined to follow a similar pattern. I'm ok with that. At least David is still on the team. I don't know what I would do without him.

Truck Day: My Second Favorite Day In February

I know I missed posting on Truck Day. I was pretty busy, and only home long enough to score a couple of opening day tickets (I could not even begin to express in text how excited I am about this). But just because I didn't post doesn't mean that I forgot about the event.

I love truck day. It means baseball is coming. It would be my favorite day in February if my birthday wasn't in February. Valentine's day comes in probably fourth, after my birthday, truck day, and reporting day. No matter how terribly the season ended, and it was pretty freakin terrible, truck day means we are going to have the chance to start over. No records, no tough losses, no terrible performances, no rain delays... just 162 days of pure sun-shiney bliss. Every game is a day game in my head. And when the truck leaves for Florida, it reminds me that long afternoons of home runs and Fenway Franks are right around the corner. It makes me happy.

This year, there are going to be a lot of changes to get accustomed to. New GM, new manager, lots of familiar faces that will be missing from the crowd. Most notably, Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield. I have to admit, despite my excitement for the new season, my heart breaks that neither has been brought back yet. In my mind, there IS no team without Jason and Tim. They have literally been parts of the Red Sox since I started watching baseball. The fact that they are simply not there doesn't sit right with me. I'm still going to hold out hope. If I'm honest with myself, I know I will be holding out hope all season. It will be, 'ok, well maybe they're still negotiating. Jason and Tim will join the club for spring training,' and then 'still negotiating. There's time to get them on the opening day roster,' and the after that will be 'the trading deadline is a perfect time to bring in some veterans who need jobs. Jason and Tim would be perfect for that!' I won't be able to let go until I know there's no hope left. So many changes... at least we'll still have Papi... I hope. His arbitration meeting is scheduled for today. I'm interested to see how it turns out.

Pitchers and catchers reporting day is on my birthday this year. I'll be out celebrating, and I will have a drink in honor of number 33 and number 49, whether or not they're back.

The Tiger Prince: Fielder Bolts To Detroit

Eventually, we knew Prince Fielder would sign somewhere for exorbitant amounts of money and years that his new team would likely regret in the future. Well folks, we've found our sucker! Prince will be suiting up for his daddy's old team in the motor city. The Tigers were able to sign the former NL hitter to a measly 9-year, $214M contract.

It's laughable, these contracts that players are getting lately. While the average American is either losing their job or getting pay cuts, baseball players are signing contracts worth $214M. It does offend me slightly. It doesn't offend me enough to not watch, because as a poor American clinging to her job, I need an escape. Baseball is my escape. I don't calculate paychecks (for the most part) during at-bats. I don't want to think about it. I just want to enjoy it.

Regardless, it seems that the fashionable thing to do this season was to be an NL hitter that jumped ship to the AL. Pujols and Fielder are now suiting up for the Angels and the Tigers respectively. Not saying that the NL doesn't have any major talents left, but the AL has definitely gotten scarier. Time will tell how well these truly talented players adapt to life in my favorite league.

The Tigers sign Fielder, and we sign Cody Ross. Something seems slightly off to me...

Cody Ross or Tim Thomas: Who Has More People Talking?

Clearly, Tim Thomas does. He opted not to meet the president. People are very upset at his decision. I'm not.

I didn't care when Manny did it, and I don't care that Timmy did it. These are sports figures, folks. They're not foreign dignitaries. They're not royalty, or memebers of Congress, or key political figures of any kind. They do not have to attend the White House ceremony if they feel they do not want to be there. I know sports figures are generally held high on a pedestal and expected to act exactly how we want them to, but they are not contractually obligated to appease our expectations in all facets of their lives. If Timmy has strong political objections to the way this country is being run, he has the freedom to express those objections by opting out of the White House visit. Despite how we personally feel about these players, they owe us nothing except to put all of their effort into every game they play... and they don't really even owe us that. They really owe that to the people who pay their paychecks. That's just how it is. If the Bruins have a problem with him not attending, they will fine or punish him, but I still stand by his decision. That's all.

Now, Cody Ross. So we cleared up $6M from Marco Scutaro to turn around and hand half of it to Cody Ross? Don't we have enough utility players already? I thought that money was going towards making a bid for Oswalt? Apparently, we are just in the process of collecting the throwaways of all the other teams. Weird, I feel like we've tried this before and it didn't quite pan out. Cody Ross seems like a very nice guy, from what I've read thus far, but I'll tell you what he is not. He is not a shortstop. He is not Roy Oswalt. Maybe he is an every day right fielder, but we had Josh Reddick and we let him go. Do you know what he is? He's a more expensive Josh Reddick. I love making claims like this with absolutely no data to back it up.

This is how the season is going... trade Lowrie, sign more expensive version of Lowrie.... trade Reddick, sign more expensive version of Reddick. Pile up a bunch of midrange arms and hope that lightning strikes.... or hope that lightning doesn't actually strike because a bunch of lightning stricken pitchers isn't going to do us any good. I'm only being negative because I'm feeling negative, folks. I guess this is my problem... I don't really know WHAT I want the team to do, so I'm going to be unhappy no matter what moves they make. You know, at least until the season starts and it's all sunshine and baseball once again. And hey, there's pretty much zero chance of Keebs bringing back Lugo, so I've always got that. Happy Tuesday everyone.

We Did What?!: Sox Trade Scutaro? WHAT?!

I've been MIA, I know. There's not a whole ton going on with the Sox right now. I've got a lot on my plate. Full time job, wonderful boyfriend who deserves a lot more of my time than I can give to him, demanding family, new puppy, and Patriots in the playoffs (Superbowl! We totally didn't deserve to win that game, but we won! Wooo!), so I figured I would sit back and wait till Spring Training started up. But I'm not happy.

I'm not sure I've been happy with any of Keebler's moves. I know Scut was making $6M, but he was steady, and he was one of the three people who actually bothered to hit in September. Why can't we just stick with a shortstop?! This ridiculousness is exactly the type of thing that prompted this blog. Enough with changing shortstops. You want to PLATOON Mike Aviles and Nick Punto? Just stab me in the eye now. This is dumb. This is dumb, and I don't like it, and I am finding less and less to like about this team. I can't even say the team. It's the management. I cannot figure out what the strategy is.

Forgive me if I'm coming off as whiney. I'm not really feeling well, and I liked Scutaro. I'm really not sure I'm comfortable with what Keebs is doing. I guess we'll have to wait and see if it pans out. I'll miss you, Marco. I wish you nothing but good things, and maybe if the next time we play the Rockies, you hit a ball and it manages to hit Keebs in the stomach somehow, I would not disapprove. Good luck!