Super Bowl = yuck.
Link time!
And then there was one. With Edwin Jackson now off the market (though possibly still under consideration), the lone above average starting pitcher left on the market is Roy Oswalt. Oswalt is in kind of a tough predicament though. You see, the teams he wants to pitch for (St. Louis and Texas) have no room for him, so he may have to start branching out to teams he isn't particularly enamored with. That could mean the Red Sox. There is a spot (some might say two) open for him in Boston and the money could be sorted out, but that hasn't happened yet. So, I feel pretty safe in saying Oswalt isn't coming to Boston because, if he was, he would already be here. Roy Oswalt is as likely to suit up for the Newark Bears this season as the Boston Red Sox.
But all is not lost, my little furry friends. This article here by Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports says to acquire Oswalt the Reds would have to move a starting pitcher and salary, and the likely candidate to go is former hot shot prospect Homer Bailey. Bailey isn't perfect, he's had injury and attitude problems in the recent past (which is why the Reds would be willing to part with him) but he's certainly better than John Lannan et al. Cheaper too. Bailey's stats last year were far from horrible. Last season was the fifth season in a row that he dropped his BB/9 and the first in five seasons where his K/9 went down (dropped from 8.3 to 7.2). He's also raised his K/BB every season in the bigs. If the Reds do acquire Oswalt, the Red Sox should, and likely will, check in on Bailey. In fact, I'll say it, I'd rather have Bailey than Oswalt. You should now feel free to kill me for that in the comments.
And then there was one, take two. The Red Sox settled with reliever-turned-starter-turned-who-knows Alfredo Aceves before anyone could set foot in the arbitration room. The Sox and Aceves agreed on a $1.2 million salary for the 2012 season, just under double what Aceves made with Boston last year after being non-tendered by the Yankees. It looks like Aceves has only three years of service time on his record, so provided he doesn't get hurt again, he should fill the Julian Tavarez role of slightly off-kilter reliever who can spot start when needed for a few more seasons.
Newly acquired reliever Mark Melancon went diving with great white sharks recently. Whether that means he is fearless and thus closer material or insane is up for debate. And now it occurs to me, why can't we have both?
Scott Atchison, who was designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for Cody Ross and could thus be picked up by any major league team (pause for breath), was not taken. He'll likely pitch in Pawtucket this year, though if you make it down to Fort Myers you may see him throw an inning or two wearing a Red Sox jersey.
Yesterday was Babe Ruth's birthday. Ruth was born in 1895, so were he still alive today, he would be 117. According to Wikipedia there are four people currently alive who are 117 or older. There's probably a joke to be made here involving Ruth's lifestyle, but I'll refrain.
The blog Et tu, Mr. Destructo is trying to put to rest any attempt to rationalize the Rays continued employment of reliever Josh Lueke.
There has been a bit of a kerfuffle over Yankees GM Brian Cashman recently. You can read about it at Deadspin. A warning though: it's not particularly relevant to baseball, it's boring, and if you're at all like me, you'll probably want your five minutes back after reading it.
Finally, this is just weird.