With the redsox season over, and the world series being delayed into oblivion, one point of remaining interest is that basketball is back tonight.  www.celticsblog.com  has joined the SBN and it promises to be a fun place to discuss games. The world champion defending celtics are set to prove once again that this team is for real. If the "big three" remain healthy and congeal with the young base, this team wont only be as good as last years, it could be better. Should be a good distraction while waiting for april. See you there!

Its not over. But it may be time to come to terms with the fact that its unlikely that the sox will get out of this jam. Assuming that the redsox do not go on to the next round, who do you root for? For me I think if the dodgers get out of their hole I probably cheer for them, because of manny, along with other redsox heroes(lowe and nomar). But if it came to a phillies vs rays world series, I'd probably have to support the rays. The rays are trying to prove theyr not "this years colorado", and furthermore it would be embarrassing to see them collapse to the phillies(even if a little satisfying). If theyr going to beat us, i hope they represent the AL and win the damn thing, (unless of course LA  is in it, then i hope TB gets swept )(also if this were the yankees id hope for them to collapse regardless) .

I'm not afraid to dance around it. This trade is BAD for the sox. I nearly snapped when i heard peter gammons say that theres no way they would'v made the playoffs if they kept manny. Excuse me? All the times manny has come out DEMANDING to be traded, and this is the time that manny causes irreversible damage to the team? If we dont make the playoffs itl be because our bullpen sucks, not because we didnt get bay and kept one of the best right handed hitters in the game. If manny was really such a downfall for this team they shouldv just dumped him onto waivers. Instead the sox are sacrificing two prospects, 9 million dollars, and the 2 draft picks they wont get, for one player, jason bay. A guy turning 30 who comes with 1 year, who may or may not have any success in the AL. I just dont buy that manny was going to somehow kill this team, and jason bay is going to be the difference of us making the playoffs. Unless it turns out the sox got another player from this deal, the sox are looking reaaal and desperate and foolish in my eyes right now.

i've seen the future, and i think this years trade deadline commotion is going to be all about....jake peavy :P If the padres playoffs hopes tank, and peavy continues to sport an era of 2 at least 3-4 teams will throw the sink at sandiego to try and get peavy. Hes signed until 2009 and the padres probably wont be able to afford him passed then. And of course we'l be hearing endless rumors of him going to boston or newyork. The future is giving me a headache allready.

Going into last year the buzz was all about dice-k. How would he adjust? How would hitters adjust? was there really a gyro ball? would he win a million cy youngs? was he cut out to start at all? He was easily the largest media focus at the start of the season. This year theres nothing that comes close in terms of media-hype frenzy, but we have no shortage of large question marks. While it'l be interesting to see how dice-k pitches i think hes the very least of our worries right now. In part due to the status of schilling and beckett, we suddenly have a team full of potential x-factors, where theres no sense of certainty about how alot of these guys are going to perform. These factors could lead to huge gains or they could lead to the team falling apart. Which question mark do you think is the most important??

It would seem while reported to not be serious; and crisp may still come back at some point this weekend or even thursday; remy mentioned on last nights game crisp may be headed for a 15 day stay on the dl. Thus far crisp and marte have been far from what their respective teams were hoping for. Right now it seems like atlanta got the best end of the deal with renteria who continues to be a reliable bat. Really we're lucky a guy like youkilis has turned out to produce like he does. In my mind he replaces the offense the redsox planned to get from filling the damon-hole with crisp. Heres hoping crisp finds a way to maintain health and a bat at the same time....

the "unofficial deadline" for manny being traded has passed. Looks like itl be another manny/papi season...and by the allstar break therel probably be more trade rumors and after all is said this year manny will likely hit his 500th career homerun in a redsox uniform. How strange will it be if manny serves his entire contract untraded. Even stranger, if they somehow sign him again.

Schilling and beckett havnt been completely perfect...but....mark redman????? 5.59 era, 30 strike outs, 5-4 royals mediocre starter....mark redman?? There must be a piece to this puzzle were not seeing (friends/connections with ozzie??)...because even nate robertson or verlander shouldv been picked over this guy. Anyone know somthing i dont???

32 year old jason johnson was aquired from the cleveland indians. On one hand this guy is a(mediocre) veteran, and probably dont have to worry about 10 run explosions that recently haunted snyder. On the other hand, i dont think he'l be nearly as fun to follow, and its very unlikely he'l dominate in any sense.