The Red Sox made a flurry of contract decisions on Monday as they hurtle headlong into the Hot Stove season. Boston picked up its 2010 option on Victor Martinez, and declined options on longtime catcher and captain Jason Varitek and knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield, renegotiating a two-year extension with Wakefield at a low average annual value.
There's little surprise about Martinez or Varitek.
The former, a catcher/first baseman who will make $7 million next year, was acquired at great cost in talent from the Indians at the trading deadline this year, and he excelled in the Boston pressure cooker, hitting .336 with 41 RBI in 56 games. The latter, a New England fixture and the heart and soul of two championship teams, has seen his production dip over the last few seasons.
The Red Sox declined a $5 million team option on Varitek, but he can still return in 2010 if he picks up his $3 million player option, and there are indications that he will.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
On Sunday, Ichiro Suzuki became the second fastest player to ever reach the 2,000 hit milestone as he doubled in the first inning and later scored.
It took Suzuki 1,402 games to reach 2,000 hits. The fastest was Al Simmons who did it in 1,390 games. Suzuki needs five more hits to reach 200 for the season, which would break the record he shares with Willie Keeler at nine consecutive seasons with 200.
As milestone talk goes, Ichiro is playing second fiddle to what's about to happen in New York.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday -- it's running Friday this week.
Earlier this week, Brad Lidge's nightmare 2009 season continued, when he allowed a walk-off homer to Andrew McCutchen. Ed Price covered the outing the following morning. The abysmal performance by the Phillies' closer underlines the only weakness of the defending World Series Champions.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Phillies' weakest link is Brad Lidge.
Repeating as World Series champs is going to be near impossible without an effective closer. And Lidge, perfect last year in converting save opportunities, is a mess.
Asked to hold a one-run lead last night against the Pirates, Lidge gave up a single, a wild pitch, a single and Andrew McCutchen's walk-off homer.
Kansas City Royals pitcher Zach Greinke started the season and could virtually do no wrong. He won his first six starts and by the end of May he was 8-1 through 11 starts with a tiny 1.10 ERA. That's exactly when you should have traded him, at the highest point of his yearly value. I only say this with the benefit of hindsight. It's easy to look back and decide which moves should have been made.
Since the beginning of June, Greinke has made 14 starts and has a record of 3-7. His ERA has ballooned to 2.44. His earned run average is still great, he's top-five in the league, but he's losing half of his starts. How's that happening with such a great ERA?
There's an old saying that one should beware Greeks bearing gifts (it has to do with the Trojan War, not a bad batch of feta), but a good modern interpretation could be beware of baseball owners crying poverty. In both cases, it's about bad intentions.
Indians owner Paul Dolan sent a pretty chilling message to the team's fans during an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday. Don't expect a contending team for a while, because the Tribe lost $16 million this season.
"Every four or five years, if we can have a shot at the World Series and compete for the playoffs like we did in '05, that's as good as it gets," Dolan said.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Jon Garland has a 6-10 record on the season with a 4.26 ERA and I'm about to tell you that he's been the victim of poor run support. Well, that's at least part of the reason for his double digit loss column.
We've heard it before from the Diamondbacks and their pitchers. Dan Haren started the season with three straight losses even though he gave up only four total earned runs in those three games. But Haren is an ace and it was believable when we played the run support card with him. Garland, on the other hand, just doesn't have the track record.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Now that the hands are dealt -- expect for one or two more this month -- we can examine the pennant races to come.
There wasn't much point in assessing the races until after Friday's non-waiver trade deadline, when we know what we're dealing with. Some important pieces will change hands after they clear waivers this month, but they probably won't be difference-makers.
Before we get to the predictions, though, let's talk about one trade that didn't happen.
This had been a crap baseball season, soiled like never before by steroids and leaked names, relegated to second-page news behind the NBA offseason and Tom Watson and whether the Pope realizes that the only time swimming makes news is when a bong or bodysuit is involved. But all of that changed at the trade deadline, which was anything but cash-for-clunkers stuff and finally -- FINALLY! -- tilted our scandal-dulled heads back to the field.
When the dizzy activity ended, the landscape was loaded with contenders and a promise that October not only might be watchable but memorable. Of all teams, the Yankees did the least, reminding us that the Sons of George are less impulsive than their dad -- wouldn't Roy Halladay be in pinstripes today if Boss Steinbrenner was in charge? -- yet also capable of sabotaging themselves with budget-watching and youth-preservation. Because there were the rival Red Sox, quickly moving to soften the David Ortiz juice news (I call him Ortease) by acquiring the booming bat of Victor Martinez. Turns out Ortease was lying again when he claimed to be "blindsided" by news of his positive steroids test in 2003; as the Mitchell Report pointed out, Ortease, Manny Ramirez and 102 other players were notified in September 2004 of their dirty status by the players union.
So you thought that once Matt Holliday went to St. Louis and Cliff Lee wound up with the Phillies deadline day itself would be anticlimactic? Hardly.
Three All-Stars, including a former Rookie of the Year and Cy Young, went elsewhere on July 31, and all that happened while the biggest name on the market all month, Roy Halladay, stayed put.
No, this deadline did not disappoint. There was a flurry of activity right down to 4 PM ET and a legitimate shocker to finish it all off. What better way to wrap up all of the intrigue then with a look at the early winners and losers? Join me -- and a few other members of the MLB FanHouse crew -- as we break it all down after the jump.
The Red Sox made a flurry of contract decisions on Monday as they hurtle headlong into the Hot Stove season. Boston picked up its 2010 option on Victor Martinez, and declined options on longtime catcher and captain Jason Varitek and knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield, renegotiating a two-year extension with Wakefield at a low average annual value.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Kansas City Royals pitcher 
There's an old saying that one should beware Greeks bearing gifts (it has to do with the Trojan War, not a bad batch of feta), but a good modern interpretation could be beware of baseball owners crying poverty. In both cases, it's about bad intentions.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in 
This had been a crap baseball season, soiled like never before by steroids and leaked names, relegated to second-page news behind the NBA offseason and Tom Watson and whether the Pope realizes that the only time swimming makes news is when a bong or bodysuit is involved. But all of that changed at the trade deadline, which was anything but cash-for-clunkers stuff and finally -- FINALLY! -- tilted our scandal-dulled heads back to the field.
