YFSF

Well, That Was Just Mean

What's worse than teasing Sox fans with a playful headline like the "Red Sox sign Japenese pitcher -- not that one" gem published by the AP?

When my e-mail alert only has enough room for the e-mail headline to read: "Red Sox sign Japanese pitche ..."

Thanks for that. Now I need new pants.

The deal for Hideki Okajima looks like a good one, considering the amount of money teams like the Orioles are throwing around (Chad Bradford? You're really going to go there?) -- 2 years, $2.5 million with a third-year option for a 30-year-old lefty reliever with decent stats. It's nice, too, to see a contract figure that doesn't make my eyes bleed.

The big question, of course, is whether Okajima can make the transition to U.S. ball. On that, we'll just have to wait and see. This profile, courtesy of the Globe, sounds promising though. Considering the crapshoot that middle relief tends to be -- and also considering the need to make Matsuzaka's transition as smooth as possible -- it's hard not to like this signing.

Democracy Now!

Concerned citizens of Red Sox Nation are sending around a petition urging the Sox cancel their plans to sign J.D. Drew. This line stuck out:

"With all due respect we feel that Mr. Drew is not worth the rumored amount in the potential deal and we stand together in hopes that someone hears our voices and refrains from making another huge mistake." (Itals mine)

Another huge mistake?! Hmm. These are the guys who brought you the 2004 World Series after something like 95 years (right, Arizona Republic?). Didn't Theo sign Big Papi? What about Schilling? Yeah, management's made a number of huge mistakes!

And Yanks fans get killed for their sense of entitlement. How spoiled and crazy have certain Sox fans become?

Prince Albert: I Was Snubbed Too!

Boo hoo. At least he won last year....

Reading List

Our bedside reading list, though populated with some of the expected sabermetric claptrap, also veers towards the avant-garde.  And since someone on the talented side of my family is "in the business", we occasionally get tipped off to the latest literary gem.  This time, we were pointed to a piece in 'Esquire' by Michael Martone, director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Alabama, entitled "The Death of Derek Jeter".  Despite a title which will surely put the fear of God into our YF readership, we suggest you click through.  The writing is fluid, elegant, and richly comic.   It's well worth the surf.

That's A Lot of Rice-A-Roni

According to the Arizona Republic, YFSF's favorite Red Sock and his wife sold their Pleasant Valley, Ariz., home for a cool $3.4 million.

At first we thought the Republic perhaps knew something we didn't -- but then we realized that maybe the Business section isn't the best place to get your sports info.

Curt Schilling, future Hall of Fame major league baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, and his wife Shonda, sold their 8,290-square-foot Paradise Valley home in the Turquoise Hills area north of Mummy Mountain. ... Schilling helped pitch the Arizona Diamondbacks to their only World Series title and the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series title in more than 90 years.

Manny, Manny Questions

1. If the Sox trade or are thinking of trading Manny for prospects, major league talent, or some combination thereof, are they being stupid?

2. If the Sox don't trade Manny, and put up with his (supposed) antics to get his production, are they going "soft" on a guy who can't be trusted, or creating trouble for the clubhouse?

3. If the answer to (1) is "yes", then can the answer to (2) also be "yes"?

4. If the answer to (1) is "yes", and the answer to (2) is "yes", then how can the Sox do anything right?

Scraps?

This guy piques.  A lefty reliever, with no posting fee?  Sign him up!

A-Okei?

First, some book-keeping: the Yankee bid for Kei Igawa was, as Cliff Corcoran reports on Bronx Banter, a very cute $26 million plus 192 dollars (Igawa's 2006 strikeout total!), just in case some other insanely delusion team—that means you, Red Sox—decided to go with the same basic figure. Smart move? Huge error? Is this a more expensive Jaret Wright/Carl Pavano deal in the making? Have the Yankees, who appeared to be moving in a more conservative, build from within strategy, abandoned their plan? Given the market, is Igawa reasonably priced for a lefty? Is he any good? How does he compare to Matsuzaki? There are many questions. Answers are few, though here's a bit of information that should help us at least make some informed judgments:

Drewn and Quartered?

Gordon Edes reports on the Sox' pursuit of JD Drew with some numbers, and it is looking like something in the neighborhood of 5/70M for our future Nancy-boy.  Can't say I am a huge fan of this deal on the surface; clearly had Theo known the market this off-season he might have spent for Damon last year, or pushed harder for Abreu at the deadline.  And the more specific the deal gets, the more of a no-brainer it is for the Dodgers to offer arbitration, costing the Sox a draft pick.  Though a Drew signing may be a boon to the Sox on the field (if Drew can avoid being hit by pitches in the AL), it has more downside to me than up.  It puts the season on some pins and needles, with SFs hoping every night that Drew doesn't take a glancing slider off his apparently brittle forearm.

On another note, though Theo couldn't have known in advance that the new CBA would have been hammered out with such ease or it's specifics, it is part of his job to anticipate markets.  If there was a reasonable chance (and/or reasonable knowledge that the market was going to blow up like it has -- the game theorists in the Sox FO must have had some idea of the contingencies), then the past moves of Theo et. al can be criticized legitimately, even if some SFs don't want to hear it.

As for Edes' speculations on Manny, well, we only have one thing to say: MAKE IT JAKE.

The Legend of Kei Igawa takes, Um, Flight. Sort of.

Ladies and gentlemen, the newest New York Yankee: