Sorry I've been gone so long--I was busy sipping champagne out of my official 2007 World Series Champions hat and watching the replay of Game 4 on my iPod Touch all day at work for the past two weeks or so.
Also, I was completely spent after a long, arduous but fruitful season of following and blogging about our favorite team.
But now the hangover has subsided (obviously it wasn't as long or as intense as the one that followed the dream season of 2004), and the reality of having witnessed two Sox championships in my lifetime has sunk in, and combined with the onset of the awards/free agency season, I knew it was time for me to pick up my keyboard and start typing about the Boston baseball club again.
Talk about a short off season.
Anyone possessing a Red Sox Nation membership card and/or an avatar on a fantasy baseball website knows that the end of the post season signifies the start of another wild and crazy period on the baseball calendar: the free agency and awards season.
And true to their spotlight-hogging, critic-flogging, media-centric ways, Sox players are already garnering major attention in both categories.
Schilling signs 1-year deal worth $8 mil plus incentives, will retire as a BoSox
From the early days of spring training to the latter days of the playoffs, no one associated with the Red Sox, media, fan or front office personnel, believed that Curt Schilling would be back with the ballclub after the 2007 season.
Schill was an ageing, injury-riddled vet whose best years were clearly behind him, a player who came into The Fort out of shape and seemingly content to rest on his "I helped break the curse" laurels. To make matters worse, he declared that he would not resign with the club for anything less than the $13 mil he was slated to pocket in 07, and if the deal didn't get down in the spring then talks would have to wait to resume until the fall.
Throw in a mid-season shoulder ailment that forced him to the DL for two months and helped drop his velocity from the mid-90s to the mid-80s on the gun, plus a late-season bombSchill in which he stated he seriously would not mind pitching for the D-Rays in 08, and it looked for sure like the last time he took the mound in 2007 would be the last time he donned a Boston uniform as a player.
Surely a future Hall of Fame pitcher who nearly threw a no-hitter this season and then added three more W's to his closet full of October wins would command a multi-year, mega million dollar deal, despite the fact that he's 41 and coming with serious injury baggage, right?
But then something...strange...happened.
The big blogger agreed to a one-year deal with Boston for a paltry $8 million bucks, a contract laced with enough incentives to bring the total to the figure he half-demanded earlier in the year, $13 million, provided the vet can reach certain innings and weight clauses.
According to Curt himself, via 38Pitches, the contract breaks down as follows:
-Base salary:$8 million
-Innings pitched clauses: $3 million ($375k for pitching 130 innings, plus $375k for every 10-innings pitched up to 200 innings)
-Weight clauses: $2 million ($333,333 for reaching six team-designated weight goals during the six months of the 2008 season)
Other reported contract perks include a million dollar bonus if Schill receives a single Cy Young vote, the standard game tickets, luxury suite use for his family and friends, and a lifetime membership to the Boston sports legend HOF.
I, for one, am glad the man is back on the staff, if for no other reason than to provide the all-to-cliched veteran leadership and stability to a rotation that will be in a state of transition over the next couple of seasons.
Not to mention the fact that his post season heroics gave birth to the best name in the blogosphere.
Welcome back, Curt. Let's make 08 a memorable swan song.
Youk's the only Boston man with a Golden Glove in 2007
MLB's version of the Oscars (ie long, drawn out award program) kicked off yesterday with the the naming of the 2007 Gold Glove award winners, and although its no surprise Boston had a recipient, the name of the winner may have come as somewhat of a shock to the casual fan.
Kevin Youkilis won the Gold Glove for his stellar fielding at first base this season, when he did not make a single error in 1,080 total regular season chances and a span of 135 consecutive games, a feat made all the more incredible for the fact that this was only his second season of playing the position full time.
Nation favorite Yooooouuuuk became the first Sox first baseman to win the award since Boomer Scott in 1971, and only a minor miscue in Game 4 of the ALCS against Cleveland prevented the goateed one from having a flawless season in the field.
So instead of Coco Crisp, whose nightly highlight-reel catches were not enough to get him past the phalanx of Torii Hunter, Ichiro and Grady Sizemore in the outfield, winning his first Glove, we get to see the newest king of the Dirt Dogs take home one of baseball's shiniest trophies.
Here's hoping that he sees his reflection in the thing and decide to eradicate that mini-monkey from his chin.
---------------------------------
In other Sox news, Big Papi got that troublesome right knee scoped, a procedure that had been announced nearly three months ago, and the Boston brass continues to negotiate with free agent Mike Lowell in hopes of signing the World Series MVP to a new deal soon.
Guess he ain't considered a throw-in any more, huh.
More to come as the hardware rolls in.
Up next: Pedroia's R.o.Y., Beckett's Cy.
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Also, I was completely spent after a long, arduous but fruitful season of following and blogging about our favorite team.
But now the hangover has subsided (obviously it wasn't as long or as intense as the one that followed the dream season of 2004), and the reality of having witnessed two Sox championships in my lifetime has sunk in, and combined with the onset of the awards/free agency season, I knew it was time for me to pick up my keyboard and start typing about the Boston baseball club again.
Talk about a short off season.
Anyone possessing a Red Sox Nation membership card and/or an avatar on a fantasy baseball website knows that the end of the post season signifies the start of another wild and crazy period on the baseball calendar: the free agency and awards season.
And true to their spotlight-hogging, critic-flogging, media-centric ways, Sox players are already garnering major attention in both categories.
Schilling signs 1-year deal worth $8 mil plus incentives, will retire as a BoSox
From the early days of spring training to the latter days of the playoffs, no one associated with the Red Sox, media, fan or front office personnel, believed that Curt Schilling would be back with the ballclub after the 2007 season.
Schill was an ageing, injury-riddled vet whose best years were clearly behind him, a player who came into The Fort out of shape and seemingly content to rest on his "I helped break the curse" laurels. To make matters worse, he declared that he would not resign with the club for anything less than the $13 mil he was slated to pocket in 07, and if the deal didn't get down in the spring then talks would have to wait to resume until the fall.
Throw in a mid-season shoulder ailment that forced him to the DL for two months and helped drop his velocity from the mid-90s to the mid-80s on the gun, plus a late-season bombSchill in which he stated he seriously would not mind pitching for the D-Rays in 08, and it looked for sure like the last time he took the mound in 2007 would be the last time he donned a Boston uniform as a player.
Surely a future Hall of Fame pitcher who nearly threw a no-hitter this season and then added three more W's to his closet full of October wins would command a multi-year, mega million dollar deal, despite the fact that he's 41 and coming with serious injury baggage, right?
But then something...strange...happened.
The big blogger agreed to a one-year deal with Boston for a paltry $8 million bucks, a contract laced with enough incentives to bring the total to the figure he half-demanded earlier in the year, $13 million, provided the vet can reach certain innings and weight clauses.
According to Curt himself, via 38Pitches, the contract breaks down as follows:
-Base salary:$8 million
-Innings pitched clauses: $3 million ($375k for pitching 130 innings, plus $375k for every 10-innings pitched up to 200 innings)
-Weight clauses: $2 million ($333,333 for reaching six team-designated weight goals during the six months of the 2008 season)
Other reported contract perks include a million dollar bonus if Schill receives a single Cy Young vote, the standard game tickets, luxury suite use for his family and friends, and a lifetime membership to the Boston sports legend HOF.
I, for one, am glad the man is back on the staff, if for no other reason than to provide the all-to-cliched veteran leadership and stability to a rotation that will be in a state of transition over the next couple of seasons.
Not to mention the fact that his post season heroics gave birth to the best name in the blogosphere.
Welcome back, Curt. Let's make 08 a memorable swan song.
Youk's the only Boston man with a Golden Glove in 2007
MLB's version of the Oscars (ie long, drawn out award program) kicked off yesterday with the the naming of the 2007 Gold Glove award winners, and although its no surprise Boston had a recipient, the name of the winner may have come as somewhat of a shock to the casual fan.
Kevin Youkilis won the Gold Glove for his stellar fielding at first base this season, when he did not make a single error in 1,080 total regular season chances and a span of 135 consecutive games, a feat made all the more incredible for the fact that this was only his second season of playing the position full time.
Nation favorite Yooooouuuuk became the first Sox first baseman to win the award since Boomer Scott in 1971, and only a minor miscue in Game 4 of the ALCS against Cleveland prevented the goateed one from having a flawless season in the field.
So instead of Coco Crisp, whose nightly highlight-reel catches were not enough to get him past the phalanx of Torii Hunter, Ichiro and Grady Sizemore in the outfield, winning his first Glove, we get to see the newest king of the Dirt Dogs take home one of baseball's shiniest trophies.
Here's hoping that he sees his reflection in the thing and decide to eradicate that mini-monkey from his chin.
---------------------------------
In other Sox news, Big Papi got that troublesome right knee scoped, a procedure that had been announced nearly three months ago, and the Boston brass continues to negotiate with free agent Mike Lowell in hopes of signing the World Series MVP to a new deal soon.
Guess he ain't considered a throw-in any more, huh.
More to come as the hardware rolls in.
Up next: Pedroia's R.o.Y., Beckett's Cy.
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