While the truth may be out there, it's awash with a sea of misinformation deeper than any Mulder and Scully had to wade through.
Buster Olney provides the latest fodder for the Red Sox rumor mill in his links column on ESPN Insider.
After weeks of our baseball lives sustaining on rumor, innuendo, and the occasional piece of real news (the Coco Crisp trade, additions to the bullpen, Junichi Tawaza signing, arbitration), the signing of Dustin Pedroia this week marks a decided turn in the pace of news that will give color to the twenty five men who will don the Red Sox uniform on Opening Day 2009.
Enjoy the last few days of dreaming about what "might" transpire this off-season, the Winter Meetings will force teams to go "all in" with their hands in Las Vegas next week.
What is Dustin Pedroia's Spanish nickname and what does it mean?
The possibility certainly exists that the plan all along is to have Masterson as the No. 5 starter. Given Masterson's impressive debut and his propensity for ground balls, the Sox should look to him as a starter.
Did the Red Sox make those moves to market him as a starter in the trade market? His value would undoubtedly be higher as a starter and this may be a posturing move on behalf of the Red Sox to drive his price up.
Here's a recap of Dustin Pedroia's press conference announcing his new 6 year contract extension with the Sox (video after the jump).
There's been a common trend throughout Major League Baseball for teams to lock up their young talent early giving them more front loaded money in longer term deals, while effectively buying potential free agent years at a discount. This strategy allows a team to lock in young talent at reasonable annual dollar amounts over the long term. In Boston, you might say "they just "Nomar-ed" him into a long term deal".
While most teams have taken this strategy against players they have a "high degree of confidence" will be above average players over the life of the deal (i.e. Evan Longoria or Troy Tulowitzki), the Red Sox have the luxury of extending such an offer to the reigning American League MVP, Dustin Pedroia.
Thanks to a six year, $40.5 million dollar contract extension that will be formally announced at a 3 pm press conference today, Dustin Pedroia will be manning second base at Fenway Park for the foreseeable future. The contract, which has been in negotiation since mid-August, includes both a $1.5 million dollar signing bonus and a club option for the seventh year at $11 million dollars ($500,000 team buyout).
In my interview with Peter Gammons, he mentioned the possibility of Lars Anderson playing the outfield should the Sox sign Mark Teixeira. But did Lars have outfield experience? I asked him. He says: "I played left for two years in high school but they haven't mentioned it...I haven't really concerned myself with much of that talk this offseason."
My article on why the Red Sox should not sign Mark Teixeira certainly got a bit of debate going. Paul over at Yanks Fan Sox Fan wrote a nice article rebutting my claims. Check it out.
Jason Varitek and Paul Byrd were offered arbitration in advance of the midnight deadline. Varitek, a Type A free agent, will fetch two draft picks (first round and supplementary first round, unless the first rounder is in the top 15; then it will be the second round pick of the signing team) if he signs elsewhere. Peter Gammons believes there is a chance Varitek accepts.
Byrd is a Type B, which will be a supplemental round pick. There's no harm in Byrd accepting as it would put Masterson in the bullpen, give us a deep bullpen and depth in the rotation. It won't preclude any team from signing him as there are no draft picks for them to lose.
Peter Gammons stops by Fire Brand to answer a few questions. He cautions not to write off David Ortiz and muses about an Eric Byrnes and Miguel Montero to Boston trade.