NY Boston Fan

Well the unfortunate combination of West Virginia losing to Pitt, and then BC getting embarassed by Syracuse, seems to have knocked UConn down a tier in their bowl selection.

WVU and BC, one of whom should have been going to a BCS bowl, are now going to the Gator Bowl and the Continental Bowl respectively. The Continental Bowl was supposed to be UConn's!

To make matters worse, Notre "we're too good for a conference" Dame, who by the way went 0-2 against the Big East this year, is going to the Insight Bowl. The Insight Bowl generally selects a Big East team, unless they are "lucky" enough to get the Fightin' Irish. And at 6-5, the Irish fell into the Insight Bowl's lap this year.

So where will UConn end up? Well, there is no true "Big East" bowl left. And Syracuse has an outside shot at a BCS berth, and they don't have a Bowl yet either. Based on rumor and common sense, it is most likely that the Huskies will end up in either Fort Worth vs. Cincinnatti, in Detroit to play a MAC or Big Ten team, or in Boise against an ACC or WAC team. Not a great reward for the fans who have been waiting for their first bowl game for their state U.

Personally, I wish they'd get invited to the Emerald Bowl, to play Navy. You know what they say, Eerie Namecallers love Emerald Nuts!

Argh, I finish this post and realize that apparantly 20 minutes ago, it was announced that the Huskies will play the MAC champion in the Motor City Bowl. I hear Detroit is lovely this time of year.

Troy Glaus is a free agent, and it appears that the D'Backs have made a serious offer to the gi-normous third baseman.

I'm sure the Sox would be very very happy to see him go to the National League. Not including the playoffs, he is slugging .627 against the Sox over the past three years, with an OBP of .400.

It seems a lot worse than that though, maybe it's just the absolute fear he strikes in me when the Green Monster is only 300+ feet away.

Maybe Theo should call Arizona and let them know how impressed he is with Glaus.

What is a good sign that you may be about to overpay for an aging superstar?
The Mets have gotten involved, and are driving up the price.

Based on recent Mets history, two things could happen here to continue a baseless trend:
-They could get Pedro, at which point his career will go down the tubes.
-He could sign elsewhere, remaining good enough to drive Mets fans crazy that they didn't do what it takes to sign him.

After free agency, this is probably my favorite subject to think about. Actually, it probably ranks ahead of free agency, it's just a harder subject to wrap my brain around.

I'll certainly have more to say on this one when I have all my sources in line, but here is this year's ballot. Any player who meets the minimum requirements (10 years in the MLB I believe), or who was named on a minimum level of ballots the previous year, is placed on the ballot:

The complete ballot (x-first time eligible): x-Jim Abbott, Bert Blyleven, x-Wade Boggs, x-Tom Candiotti, Dave Concepcion, x-Chili Davis, Andre Dawson, Steve Garvey, Rich Gossage, Tommy John, x-Mark Langston, Don Mattingly, x-Jack McDowell, x-Willie McGee, x-Jeff Montgomery, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, x-Otis Nixon, Dave Parker, x-Tony Phillips, Jim Rice, Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, x-Terry Steinbach, x-Darryl Strawberry, Bruce Sutter, Alan Trammell.

An interesting list, but in actuality only Boggs really has a shot among first timers. Sandberg was the closest to miss the cut last year, we'll see if that will be rectified this year. That will be story number one, and then when Boggs is elected, which hat he wears will be the big story.

The Boston Red Sox were selected 2004 Sportsmen of the Year by Sports Illustrated.
Furthermore, on the TV special, it was suggested by a bigwig at SI that really all Sox fans share this honor, so I guess that makes me one of millions selected this year as Sporstman of the Year.

Not just symbolically, but one SI writer thinks that Red Sox Nation actually is the Sportsman of the Year.

For our fathers. Our daddies. Our papis. ...
For us....
Red Sox Nation.
2004 Sportsmen of the Year.

What a great year to be a New England sports fan, as the UConn basketball teamS and Tom Brady were also mentioned as strong candidates.

I watched the Pats Super Bowl XXXVIII DVD last night for the first time, though I've owned it for 8 months. It was great being reminded of how enjoyable some of those regular season wins were (the goalline stand against Edgerrin James, and the snow game against the Dolphins were particularly memorable), how impressive Ty Law was against Manning in the AFC Championship game, and how weird the first half of the Super Bowl was.

But there was a really cool moment from the post-game footage of the AFC Championship game that demonstrated to me how happy these guys are to play for this organization right now.

After embracing, Rodney Harrison and Coach Belichick had this exchange:

BB: I'm glad we got YOU. I'm so glad we got you!
RH: Thank you for believing in me.
BB: You bet. (starts to walk away)
RH (on verge of tears): I'm glad you did.
BB (goes back to give him a quick hug): You know it....We got one more, now.
RH: Yes, sir.

Kind of strange to see tough guy Rodney Harrison nearly in tears, Belichick being emotional with him for a moment, and then Harrison snapping back to immediate seriousness and respect when reminded. It was more like a father-son type relationship that anything else.

Not for the Sox though. Damian Miller is off the market.

That leaves only Brian Schneider among the names that have been mentioned as 'Tek Insurance.

Apparantly A-Rod met with Pedro last Thursday night to talk about his becoming a Yankee. There is no word in the NY Post about whether Pedro inquired as to why A-Rod's lips have mysteriously turned blue since becoming a Yankee.

I think it is relatively clear that Pedro will be willing to accept top dollar, from whomever would like to pay it. I continue to believe that Theo and the boys will do the right thing, even if that means making the painful decision of letting Petey go to their chief rival.

If he did go, I don't think there would be the animosity that occurred with Clemens, but who knows, Pedro has been known to say some pretty inflammatory things.

You always hear about teams that always seem to make the right moves, do right for their fans, treat their players well, and not rest on their laurels. The Red Sox (gasp), seem to becoming one of those teams.

Improved drainage will allow the infield to be flatter by removing a crown that helped water drain toward foul territory. Rain delays and postponements should decrease, and center fielder Johnny Damon should not have to splash through puddles to track down fly balls.

It's just business, baby.

I know this is 95% sports blog, and politics can turn off an audience, but this offends me so much as a scientist I had to point it out. See if I was really going to make it political, I would have highlighted the passages that had to do with gay marriage.

Conservatives' efforts over the years to edit textbooks are legendary [in Texas]. In a nod to those who believe God created the Earth 6,000 years ago, a sentence saying the ice age took place "millions of years ago" was changed to "in the distant past." descriptions of environmentalism have been attacked as antithetical to free-enterprise ideals; a passage describing the cruelty of slavery was derided as overkill."

Looks like Gabe Kapler is going to Japan, where he'll get a lot of yen and a lot more playing time.

When it's official, it looks like he'll be the 3rd member of the 2004 World Champions to leave, joining Ellis Burks (retired) and Curt Leskanic (bought out for $100 g's).

Thanks Gabe, they can't take being a part of this team away from you, no matter what your role was.

Well, thanks to a 29-0 rout of Buffalo this weekend, I have won a bet with my father, that said if the Huskies won 6 games or more this year, he would treat me to a game next year. Conversely, if they had only won 4 games or less, I would treat him. Assuming we can get tickets, it was really a win-win situation, mostly with pride in our predicting skills on the line.

But more importantly, this win makes UConn bowl eligible for the second straight year. Last year, their independent status hurt them, and at 9-3 they were home for the holidays. But with the backing of a currently weak Big East, this might be the year...especially if they can win at Rutgers on Thanksgiving Day.

The top 4 teams in the conference are matched up against each other to finish out conference play, so if the Huskies can win, and BC and West Virginia can win as expected, UConn will be in a 3-way tie for 3rd place in the conference, with Syracuse and Pittsburgh (whom they beat). I'll leave it to the Hartford Courant, should that occur, to inform us of the tiebreakers.

According to hardballtimes.com:

According to NY Newsday, the Yankees have offered free agent P Pedro Martinez a 3 year contract, for approximately $38 million. According to the Boston Globe, the Redsox countered that by increasing their offer.

According to the Bergen Record, the Yankees have offered Martinez 4 years, $50 million. According to NY Newsday, there's no truth to the $50 million rumor.

According to the Boston Herald, the Mets are expected to join the Martinez sweepstakes.

Compared to the reported offer of 2 years, $27.5 million, that suggests that the Yankees think Pedro is worth $10.5m three years from now. Seems a little steep. But because it is Pedro, I'd stop at 3 years, $39 million, and move on if someone is willing to overpay beyond that.

My fiancee and I are in agreement here about Pedro and the Yankees. She says "we don't want him," and I say "we don't want you to have him!"

Was saddened and surprised, but perhaps I shouldn't have been, to see Russell Jones a.k.a. Ol' Dirty Bastard a.k.a. Osiris a.k.a. Big Baby Jesus a.k.a. Dirt McGirt, pass away earlier this week.

He certainly wasn't a role model, and he lived a wild life, but his first album remains one of my favorites, and as crazy as he was, he probably was some sort of genius.

My last memory of him, (sort of) will be during a Chappelle Show skit when RZA from Wu-Tang made the announcement, that from here on out, Ol' Dirty Bastard will be known as "Ol' Dirty Chinese Restaurant."

I never did get to see him live, as the only Wu-Tang show I have been to happened to coincide with O.D.B.'s last stint in prison.

His first verse, on Wu-Tang's first album:

Yo...!I come with that ol' loco
Style from my vocal
Couldn't peep it with a pair of bi-focals
I'm no joker! Play me as a joker
Be on you like a house on fire! Smoke ya!
Crews be actin like they gangs, anyway
Be like, "Warriors! Come out and playiyay!"
Burn me, I get into s**t, I let it out like diarrhea
Got burnt once, but that was only gonorrhea
Dirty, I keep s**t stinks in my drawers
So I can get fzza-funky for yah
Murder, taste the flame of the Wu-Tang
RAHH!Here comes the Tiger verse Crane!
Ow, be like wild with my style
Punk! You playing me, chump, you get DUMPED
WU! Is comin THROUGH! At a theatre near YOU!
And get funk like a SHOE!
What?!

Numerous studies have shown that in their early 30s, catchers begin to decline. This makes perfect sense as it is a grueling position. I have also seen a threshold of 1300 games ascribed, but you really need to include minor league games if you're going to play with numbers like that. It's not as if minor league games are less demanding on the body.

Varitek is an interesting situation, because he actually seems to be improving with age. His OPS (on-base plus slugging) the past 4 full seasons:

2000: .730
2002: .724
2003: .863
2004: .872

A week into the season next year, he will turn 33. He's right around the same age as Pudge Rodriguez, and about 3 years younger than Piazza.

So it would make sense that a. Varitek should command a salary in proportion to Pudge's, as per their accomplishments and expectations going forward, and that b. we might be able to see how age might impact both catchers by looking at Piazza over the past few seasons.

First, Pudge. His OPS the past four years has been, .888, .895, .843, and .893. Additionally he is generally considered to be a better defensive catcher, but his dealings with pitchers and his attitude has been questioned at times. Incidentally, these are the starting catchers for the last two world series teams. But to be fair to Varitek, let's say that he is worth the same as Pudge. His hitting and fielding is a little worse, but he is a team leader and a strong defender.

Based on this, Varitek could expect something in the range of 4 years, $40 million.

But should he get that?

Let's look at Piazza's OPS by age, over the past several seasons:

31: 1.012
32: .957
33: .903
34: .860
35: .806

If Varitek also experienced a 5% decline each year, he'd be at a .745 OPS in the third year of his contract. That puts him in Shane Spencer territory. If by his recent trend, he can actually put off this decline by a year or two, he still isn't giving you $10 million per year numbers.

But he's asking (apparantly) for better than Ivan Rodriguez numbers. Here are his reported demands:
-5 years. He would be 37 when his contract ended
-55 million, or more than Ivan Rodriguez is paid
-A no trade clause, which would cause some other players on the Sox to have a no-trade clause kick-in.

I really hope the Red Sox can find a way to keep Jason Varitek, but if his reported demands are real, I don't think there is any way that they can hold on to him. The Sox best hope is to keep communication open (eliminating the mistakes of the previous regime), let him know that there are just some things they can't do, and making it clear that with his and Boras's demands, they have to speak to other free agents.

Then, hopefully the market will let Varitek know that a 32 year old catcher can't get a 5 year, $50+ million deal with a no-trade clause, and he'll come back to the fans who love him for 4 years, $38 million.

Looking forward to looking more into the Pedro stuff, the MVP stuff, and the Boston catcher situation, but a bit backed up at work after nearly a week off.

In the past week, I ate as a meal, or at least tried, conch chowder, cracked conch, conch fritters, conch pizza, and a conch salad (chose to have a regular burger instead of a conch burger). They were all really good, but I'm pretty happy to be back to eating my regular grinders for lunch.

I was able to follow sports a bit, and even got to watch some of the Pats game on ESPN Deportes. Mostly that involved taking a peak in from my balcony, where I was eating my conch salad and drinking Corona, whenever the announcers got loud.

The funniest thing about ESPN Deportes SportsCenter is they show the "not top 10" just like regular SportsCenter, but every play is just an own goal from European soccer. That's like if they showed nothing but fumbles for the not top 10 during football season.

No, I haven't given up on blogging after just a few weeks, I'm just off on vacation for the next several days!

NY financial institutions have had their security level dropped down to yellow.

It looks like someone said, "don't do it in the week after the election, it will look political." So they waited a week and one day.

Anyway, they are saying that it is safter not because the threat has gone away, but because the buildings are better prepared to deal with it themselves at this point. So for anyone who might stop by to this site who works in the Citigroup building, I'm glad either way.

He's a thief

Quick quiz: Which guy would you rather have?

Player A has 33 starts, at 6.5 innings per start. He walks 3.3 batters per 9 innings, while striking out 9.2. Opponents bat .217 against him, and he has a 2.98 ERA.
Player B has 35 starts, at 7 innings per start. He walks 1.6 batters per 9 innings, while striking out 10.6. Opponents bat .197 against him, and he has a 2.60 ERA.

Made up your mind?

OK, what if I said player A won 18 games, while player B won 16.
OK, but now what if I said player A lost 4 games, while player B lost 14.

The voters chose based on those last 2 lines, and not on all the other factors. The fact is, Randy Johnson did all he could to help his team win, and it is not his fault if the rest of the team did not hold up their end of the bargain.

Here are the scores for the last 12 games in which Johnson was pegged with a loss:

4-1
1-0
6-2
3-2
8-3
3-1
4-1
4-0
2-0
2-1
4-1
4-2

Now, Randy Johnson is an awful hitter. But I still don't blame him that in 13 of his last 14 losses, his team could not even score 3 runs for him. Hell, in 8 of those his team couldn't even score 2 runs!

Randy Johnson was 13-2 in games when his team scored 3 runs or more this year. "Analysts" who think like Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver say that people focus on stats too much, and often the writers who vote on awards like these think differently than people who are into the writings of Bill James and his disciples. But in this case, the writers were obsessed with a stat when they voted for the Cy Young. Unfortunately, it was a stat over which pitchers can have minimal amount of control in many cases: losses.

ESPN has given its midseason report cards, and not surprisingly, the Jets and Pats have both received A's.

What is interesting is that even though the Pats just had their first loss 2 weeks ago, the Jets had only their second loss this past week, and they played a tight game in their first meeting, is that these teams may be headed in different directions.

The Patriots in their win last week showed an ability to overcome an amazing rash of injuries to their secondary, and over the rest of the season will hopefully get some key players back. Their schedule gets much easier from here.

Meanwhile, the Jets have just lost their field general, and face a brutal end of the season schedule.

The Pats will have to get healthy to make a run at another title, but they just have to avoid getting much unhealthier to hold on to the AFC East. Meanwhile, Jets fans are saying that if Pennington misses more than 2 games, the Jets may be out of luck for the playoffs.

The NY Times asks that question today:

Has there been a permanent shift in the karma between New England and the New York metropolitan area? Some form of astrological phenomena that transferred to the Yankees the aura of doom that defined Red Sox Nation for 86 years? Is it now enveloping the rest of the sports teams on either side of the Hudson?

As someone who lived with a "curse" for 26 years, let me say this in response:

No.

Just ask the Red Sox, who will tell you that a series of bad personnel moves, overpaying for dwindling and non-existent talent, and in many cases poor coaching/managing, does not a curse make. It just makes a team that will have limited opportunities to set themselves up for a run of good luck.

...since Dan Duquette claimed he was in the twilight of his career, that is.

The voters clearly used wins as the most important statistic, as Randy Johnson had better statistics all around, but pitched on a terrible team to go 14-12.

I suppose that bodes well for Curt Schilling and tomorrow's AL announcement.

While this could refer to my own life, it is in reference to a movie that will be released around Christmas-time, but that my fiancee took me to see last night (for free). We also got to sit in on a Q&A with the film's star, Audrey Tautou, of "Amelie" fame.

The movie is getting some Oscar buzz, not in the best foreign film category, but in the best film category. Now, I haven't seen any movies this year that I would say should be nominated for best picture, but to be honest I'd be a bit surprised if this movie is in that category, based on previous years. I wouldn't be surprised if Mme. Tautou is nominated for best actress, as it was a strong performance.

Overall, this is a movie that I would recommend to my mom, but not to my dad. And I would recommend it to a friend as a date movie, because unlike chick flicks like "Alfie," this has explosions, and it isn't trite or predictable. It's original, it's well put together, but at the same time I didn't walk out thinking that I had just seen a great movie, just a really good one.

I'm sure critics will be gushing over this movie, as it is "artsy", it is French with subtitles, it has some big war scenes to go with an unwinding mystery, and it has a talented, rising actress and director involved.

On a ten point scale I'd give it a 7.4.

The NY Cy Young will be announced today, and by all accounts it will come down to two old men, one who used to be a Yankee, and one who wanted to be a Yankee last year. It's like trying to pick sides in a Florida State-Miami game.

Oh well, at this point I could only root for Roger if he was somehow representing the US, so here's hoping that justice is done.

One of my British colleagues asked me why it's called the World Series if it's only teams from the US. My explanation didn't really get that far, but here's some more evidence for next time that subject comes up:

Even David Ortiz was amazed by this home run: a 514-foot shot that hit the lights down the right-field line.
"I knew when I hit it that I got all of it," the Boston Red Sox slugger said after the major league All-Stars beat the Japanese stars 5-3 Saturday night in Game 2 of their series. "I thought for a second that it might land in the Dominican [Republic]."
Manager Bruce Bochy of the Padres said it was the longest home run he had ever seen in all his years in baseball.
Ortiz, who helped power the Red Sox to a World Series title last month, led his touring team to a 7-2 victory in Friday's opener. A day later, he drew gasps from the Tokyo Dome crowd of 52,000 with his solo homer in the bottom of the fourth off starter Shunsuke Watanabe.
"It felt like he hit that ball almost twice the length of the stadium," said Chiba Lotte Marines submariner Watanabe, who gave up six hits and three runs in five innings of work. "You can't make any mistakes against these guys."

According to the Globe and the Herald, Sox have offered somewhere between $12.5-$13.5 million per year to Pedro, for the next two years, with a $13 million option for 2007.

I think if anyone trumps that offer, they are overpaying. We'll see how Pedro responds.

I can't do links from my home computer.

Here in New York, we only get the two NY/NJ games today, with both teams playing some pretty poor squads (Bills and Bears).

At 1pm, we could get the game of the day, Steelers vs. Eagles, but instead we are treated to M*A*S*H* reruns on Fox.

And at 4pm, we could get the defending Super Bowl Champions at the St. Louis Rams, but instead we get such great programming as CBS Marketwatch and Maximum Exposure.

Thanks NFL, brilliant marketing of your product.

...and I don't even really like country music

I can think of at least 3 AL players for whom fans were chanting "M-V-P" during the playoffs. Only one of them probably deserves it, and I can think of one of them who really is a longshot - but then again he's already won a World Series MVP this year.

My fictional MVP ballot, in case anyone cares.

1. Gary Sheffield - carried the team to homefield advantage. Surprisingly, Yankees have almost never won MVP's since Berra and Mantle.
2. Vladimir Guerrero - his late season heroics will probably win him the MVP, but I'm tired of the West Division MVP bias (see Gonzalez, Juan; Rodriguez, Ivan; Tejada, Miguel; Ichiro)
3. Manny Ramirez - Even his defense was stepped up this year
4. Miguel Tejada - I really hate this guy, but he had another amazing year
5. Johan Santana - You could even see it in the playoffs, where would this team have been without him?
6. Hideki Matsui - Reason #2 the Yankees got homefield advantage...or you thought it was their pitching?
7. David Ortiz - Who's your Papi?
8. Alex Rodriguez - By Win Shares, he's actually #2, but watching this guy all year I don't believe it.
9. Travis Hafner - What a hitter this guy turned into, and Cleveland did much better than expected.
10. Johnny Damon - I could have given this to Teixeira or Ichiro, but hey I'm a Sox homer, what can I say?

Cy Young

1. Johan Santana - see above
2. Curt Schilling - remember, they vote before the playoffs
3. Ryan Drese - very good year in a hitter's park, and who else deserves it more - Rivera? Buerhle? They should just cut the voting off at 2 this year.

Opens his NBA career with a double-double (19 and 10).

Unfortunately, many believe that his Bobcats will not win any more games than UConn did last year in postseason tournament play.

He's not really used to losing, but between the Olympic team and Charlotte, he'll have to learn fast.

As I suspected a few posts down, the AL coaches and managers did a much poorer job of selecting the gold gloves this year, at least by Win Shares. Here's how Win Shares see them, 7 of 8 different than what actually happened:

C - Damian Miller (Pudge who got it was ranked 10th, Varitek 7th)
1B - Mark Teixeira (Erstad was 2nd...Millar was 3rd!)
2B - Orlando Hudson (Boone was 17th, that's an awful pick, even Bellhorn was better)
3B - A-Rod (Eric Chavez was 4th, he wins every year at this point)
SS - Christian Guzman (Jeter had a great defensive year, but Guzman deserved it)
OF - Torii Hunter (ranked 3rd)
OF - Johnny Damon (despite his horrible throwing arm, he led the league in fielding win shares)
OF - Mark Kotsay (Ichiro got it on reputation, his 4th in a row despite being ranked 18th. Vernon Wells won and wasn't a bad choice, as he was 4th overall among OF's)

I'm pretty sure this is the second time Damon was top 3 in win shares, but didn't win a gold glove. At least they aren't handing these things out to Bernie Williams anymore. Or worse: Rafael Palmeiro. If only people would get it out of their heads that Pudge Rodriguez is still a dominant catcher.

Willie Randolph is switching boroughs to take over the Mets managerial job, after a few years of trying to land such a position.

I'm not quite sure how good this is for the Mets, although I think Randolph certainly has some strong experience as Joe Torre's bench coach, and I think that he will have the respect of the players.

But this is another key coach to leave in the Bronx, as Torre's closest four men have left in the last two years: Zimmer, Mazzilli, and now Randolph and Stottlemyre. As players come and go, there is little link remaining to the 1996-2001 Yankee dynasty.

I will learn how to make tables with blogger eventually (hopefully), but I was making an error so that the table looked OK, but there were some random lines up top and it was messing up the alignment of the whole page.

Seeing as I have no HTML knowledge, I suppose it isn't that surprising that I couldn't do it.

Anyway, I wanted to compare the NL Gold Gloves announced today with fielding win shares. Win shares aren't perfect for fielding, and they might not even be the best way to compare fielders, but nobody is perfect and I don't feel like introducing tons of different stats that we don't really understand, so I'll stick with those.

Anyway, surprisingly, by win shares, the voters did really well. All of the players were in the top 3 in their position, with the voters nailing Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, and Jim Edmonds, while doing well with others (although Brian Schneider, Jeff Kent, Adrian Beltre, Jack Wilson might disagree).

Did I say all? I meant all but one, as Steve Finley got a gold glove on reputation: he was ranked 27th in fielding Win Shares among NL outfielders this year. Corey Patterson was robbed, but over 20 other outfielders could make a good claim that they were more deserving than Steve Finley, including Sammy Sosa!

That being said, the voters did well, with 3 dead-on, and 4 others right there. I'd be shocked if the AL results were as close to what Win Shares tell us.

Rumor has it that Mel Stottlemyre is going to retire. I don't know how this really affects the Yankees, I never really felt that the success of Yankee pitchers had much to do with Mel, but his staff did have some pretty good results. He never was able to fix the mechanics or mentalities of guys like Contreras or Vazquez in the last 2 years.

The Mets did not pick up the option on Richard Hidalgo's contract. With Wright-Reyes-Matsui-Piazza-Phillips in the infield, and the unmovable contract of Cliff Floyd, and Mike Cameron in the outfield, I think the Mets should stick to signing one strong outfielder, solidifying their bench, and focus on pitching-pitching-pitching. Sammy Sosa is not the answer here - at the least they would need to send Floyd and his awful contract if they are going to take the declining Sosa and his awful contract.

The Sox are not picking up Curtis Leskanic's contract. Congrats on the World Series ring, we'll see you around!

Pedro is officially a free agent. The Sox have one week to sign him before anyone else gets a crack. I'm not expecting them to make much progress there, but I hope that they have learned lessons from the past and at least will be in constant contact with him. Particularly with Pedro's fragile ego.

Curt Schilling's surgery has been delayed. No word on whether he asked for the delay himself so that he can properly celebrate victory for his presidential candidate.*

There are probably a high number of happy baseball players today, and not just because filing for free agency suggests large amounts of cash are on the way, but because as Peter Gammons reminds us, the MLBPA is probably the only union around that is 95% Republican.

The mood in NYC is somber. This was one contest that New Yorkers and Bostonians were rooting for the same outcome.

*actually as the headline suggests, there is some irritation in Curt's ankle, due to the cream he used on it to help him get through the playoffs, and docs are waiting for it to go away.

Ellis Burks announces his retirement.

Also filing for free agency Tuesday was outfielder Ellis Burks, who has said he will retire. The 40-year-old veteran of 18 major league seasons began and ended his career with the Red Sox....When he returned at Fenway Park on Sept. 23, he singled as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth and was removed for a pinch-runner to a standing ovation. His only appearance after that was an Oct. 2 start when he became the 200th major leaguer to play in 2,000 games.

Ellis Burks was a very good player for the Red Sox from 1987-1992, but really made his mark after that with some Coors Field-inflated numbers, and a long career, despite many injuries the last few years.

He retires as one of the greatest major leaguers to pass through New Britain. With apologies to John Marzano, he should be ranked third on that list that I just made up, behind Roger Clemens and Jeff Bagwell.

Interestingly, all three of those players left the Red Sox when they had many good years still left in them.

Perhaps he will be bumped down the list ultimately by someone like Torii Hunter or David Ortiz, if you want to count the "Hardware City Rock Cats," but those players have a long way to go to match the career of Ellis.

No, not the election in Ohio, but the Patriots.

From Yahoo:

"New England Patriots cornerback Ty Law will be out four to six weeks with a broken bone in his left foot, his agent told The Boston Globe."

That hurts. Any team with weapons like the Steelers are going to be able to exploit this, and in particular I'm looking at the Rams. Baltimore and KC should not be as much of an issue.

21 games in a row. It was pretty amazing , and it was disappointing to watch the Pats lose (especially on a rare weekend where I could get the game at home), but it had to happen sometime.

Someone asked me would I trade the Pats Super Bowl wins for the World Series. Well it's easy to say that you would now, and really having a guaranteed anything takes away all the fun. But I did say if I needed to give up 10 years of the Pats making the playoffs for a Sox win in the World Series, I would do it, no question.

So really, this week of all weeks, a Pats loss isn't too painful. Particularly with no Ty Law, no Corey Dillon, on the road. I have a feeling the Pats might get another shot at Pittsburgh this year...