So that was quite the week, eh? The Red Sox didn't sign anyone. No one played any baseball games. There was a football game of notable unpleasantness. I got nothing, folks. It's the second week in February, and it's sunny and 50 in Boston. I'm not even sure where I live anymore.

This is a raw time of year for those in the writing-about-baseballing business. No games to report on. No free agents left, except for Roy Oswalt, who's still holed up in his volcano lair. Even so, I think we managed to put together a pretty solid week of Red Sox coverage and analysis here at Over the Monster.

To the recapping!

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[Update 10:45 am] Maybe not, says Buster Olney. And Paoletti's original tweet about the signing no longer exists. As of this moment, Ortiz and the Red Sox do not have a deal in place.

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Mary Paoletti of Comcast SportsNet New England tweets that, during an interview with sister station NECN, Larry Lucchino announced that David Ortiz and the Red Sox have an agreement in place, and will avoid Monday's scheduled arbitration hearing.

There is no word on the terms as of yet, but given the team president and CEO Lucchino dropped the news, it's likely a done deal.

Ortiz had filed for arbitration at $16.5 million after he and the Red Sox were unable to come to a deal in December. That figure marked a significant raise from last year's $12.5 million base salary, and just as far from the Red Sox' $12.65 million filing. Ortiz stood to make the most ever in an arbitration hearing, regardless of which side won, according to Maury Brown of Biz of Baseball:

The highest amount ever awarded in a hearing is $10 million (Howard won his case in 2007, while Francisco Rodriguez with the Brewers in 2007 and Alfonso Soriano with the Nationals in 2005 lost their cases). Win or lose, Ortiz smashes that number due to his long-tenure.

Both sides will avoid that, as Ortiz, like so many others who filed for a high figure prior to arbitration, settled away from the judge. This also means the Red Sox can continue their decade-long streak of avoiding arbitration -- the last arbitration case that went in front of a judge was that of Rolando Arrojo in 2002. You forgot he existed, didn't you?

Early this morning, Peter Gammons reported via Twitter that Rich Harden was taking the 2012 season off to attempt a comeback in 2013. Harden underwent surgery last week to repair a torn shoulder capsule that he has pitched with for years. That's not a minor injury, and surgery is no guarantee of a return -- ask Mark Prior about shoulder capsules some time -- but given the way Harden has bounced back-and-forth from the active roster to the disabled list over the years, it was time to give the procedure a shot.

This also sheds light on just what it was the Red Sox were scared off by, when the almost-but-not-quite trade for Harden fell apart on the eve of last year's July 31 trade deadline. Knowing Harden is injury-prone is one thing -- the Red Sox did trade for Erik Bedard hours later, after all -- but knowing he is injury-prone because he has a torn shoulder capsule is something else entirely.

The risk of Harden not being around to finish out the season was high, and Boston was desperate for starting pitching help, but not that desperate. Considering Harden gave up 1.9 homers per nine innings and posted a 5.57 ERA over his final 10 starts of 2011 -- this despite pitching in one of the pitcher-friendliest stadiums in the game -- being healthy enough to stay off of the DL wasn't exactly a winning situation either.

While the Red Sox never seemed to be in on Harden -- likely due to those medical records they saw last July -- they absolutely will not be getting him now, and neither will anyone else. Harden has always had loads of talent, so here's hoping that this surgery is what he needed to get his career back on track.

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Roy Oswalt is closer to signing with the Red Sox today than he was yesterday. But not because of anything the Red Sox or Oswalt did. This has more to do with what the Rangers, Cardinals, and depending on how you feel about rumors, the Reds did not do. The clock is ticking on Oswalt's off-season, and eventually he might have to stop being so picky about how close to home he is or isn't.

Nick Cafardo has the latest in nothingness on Oswalt:

Regarding Oswalt, a major league source indicates that the 34-year-old righthander's priority is geographic, not financial, meaning the Red Sox are offering what Oswalt would accept, but he prefers a place like St. Louis or Texas over Boston.

Emphasis added for a reason: Boston, financially, is offering Roy Oswalt what his bank account desires. Whether this means Oswalt has settled on $5-6 million as being what he's going to have to take, or the Red Sox have increased their offer to meet Oswalt's minimum demands is unclear. What we do know is that the Red Sox aren't about to move any closer to Oswalt's home in order to sign him, so as of yet, Roy waits. And waits.

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The Red Sox have added an intriguing arm to their farm system tonight, signing 17-year-old lefty Daniel McGrath out of Australia. McGrath has been in the news for months, but made his decision to sign with the Red Sox rather than go to college in the United States.

McGrath is 6-foot-3, and pitched for the Doncaster Dragons in 2011. (The same team that broke the news of him signing with the Red Sox.) There is little in the way of information available about him right now -- Sons of Sam Horn and WEEI.com already hit the major known notes that have been repeated here -- but what we've gathered is that he's tall, left-handed, and his fastball is impressive. And he's not this Danny McGrath.

You can watch highlights of the 17-year-old McGrath punching out nine of New Zealand's hitters in the gold medal game of Oceania's tournament in the video after the jump.

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Let's open with a reminder about just how close to real baseball we are:

Lester is referring to the new spring training complex of the Red Sox, JetBlue Park. While pitchers and catchers aren't required to be there yet, Lester is already working out in Florida. We're so close, everyone.

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The American League East looks a little different now, thanks to the Baltimore Orioles and Colorado Rockiesmaking an early-morning pitching swap. Jeremy Guthrie, an eight-year veteran who has spent all but 37 innings of his career with the O's, is headed to the National League in exchange for Jason Hammel.

Guthrie has averaged 202 innings per year over the last four seasons, posting a K/BB ratio of 2.1 in that stretch despite just 5.3 strikeouts per nine. He's succeeded in part due to above-average control and consistently better-than-average batting average on balls in play. For his career, he has a .273 BABIP, despite playing in a park that benefits hitters.

Guthrie is a flyball pitcher, a fact that's easy to guess when you look at his homer rates. Moving to Coors Field won't benefit him in that regard, and given how Colorado works -- thin, cool air, expansive outfield -- his BABIP and homer rates are both sure to climb. It's a shame he couldn't escape Baltimore for somewhere a bit kinder to his profile.

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Happy last month before Spring Training, boys and girls. We're in the final stretch of the worst time of year, when baseball fields lie empty and covered in snow. Or, this year, not covered in snow, which is unsettling and wrong. In a few weeks, pitchers and catchers will show up at shiny new JetBlue Park. Soon after, position players will start to trickle in. Fans will clamor for autographs and sportswriters will tell us who's really in great shape this year. Then, Aaron Cook will give up a run to Northeastern on a bloop hit, and a million "the Sox should just sign that guy" jokes will bloom. Frankly, I can't wait.

On to the recap!

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