JOHNNY DAMON SIGNS WITH SCUM

Another question emerged for the Boston Red Sox as Johnny Damon has reportedly signed a 4 year, $52 million deal with the New York Yankees. This leaves the Red Sox without a center fielder, as well as a leadoff hitter that was a big part of the Red Sox offensive machine.

The fact of the matter is, Damon wanted too much money. By the way, I love the bull that spews out of players and agents. Damon has been whining and moaning like a neglected girlfriend. "The Red Sox didn't want me enough. The Yankees proved they wanted me." Also, like some girlfriends but not all, these are codes for "The Yankees spent more money on me."

So the Yankees will have Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi (probably), Robinson Cano Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Gary Sheffield. We have, for certain, Ortiz, Tek, Mark Loretta, Mike Lowell, and Trot Nixon. Anyone else sensing a bit of disparity?

DODGERS BECOME RED SOX RETIREMENT HOME
The LA Dodgers have signed another former Red Sox player. Nomar Garciaparra signed a 1 year deal with the struggling team. He joins former teammates Bill Mueller, and Derek Lowe as well as former Manager and fellow loser, Grady Little. Nomar will play first-base. The Dodgers also nabbed a possible Red Sox replacement for Johnny Damon. They picked up Lofton in a 1 year deal for $3.85 million. Don't you think the Red Sox could have at the very least matched that? I know he's old, but he is still productive.

RUDY! RUDY! RUDY!
The Red Sox picked up Rudy Seanez for 1 year with a contract reportedly worth $2.1 million. You may remember this guy. He pitched for us in 2003. He went 8.2 innings and allowed 6 earned runs. He wasn't very good for us. However, he's been solid over the past 2 seasons. He made 39 outings in 2004 with both the Royals and Marlins. His ERA for 2004 was a combined 3.33. In 2005, he made 57 appearances and had an ERA of 2.69. He could fit in nicely as a set-up man.

FOULKE AS CLOSER IN 2006
It appears that Keith Foulke will once again be in the closer's role with the Red Sox. This is despite his poor 2005 season which was probably due mostly to injury. The Red Sox really don't have much of an option in this department. At least, they don't now. They did at the outset of the offseason when more talent was available on the free agent market.

RED SOX TENDER THREE PITCHERS
Sounds kind of gross, doesn't it? The Red Sox tendered contracts to three arbitration eligible pitchers. Bronson Arroyo, Josh Beckett, and Guillermo Mota. They did not tender contracts to Wade Miller, understandably, and Chad Bradford, not so understandably. Bradford was actually one of our ebst releivers last season with an ERA of 3.86. If the

WHAT'S IN A NAME?
With the inevitable loss of Wade Miller and Kevin Millar, as well as the loss of Bill Mueller, the Red Sox will go from three Millers (close enough to Millers) to none in one offseason. With the acquisition of Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett, the Red Sox now have 4 players with last names that are also towns in Massachusetts. Lowell, and (Tim) Wakefield are up in the northeast, Becket is a town in western Mass. Jon Lester's last name is close enough to Leicester's pronunciation so it counts. Leicester, by the way, is out near Worcester.

GRAFFANINO TO STAY WITH SOX
Tony Graffanino accepted salary arbitration and will be back with the Red Sox in 2006. So we have two second basemen, no first baseman, no short-stop, and no centerfielder. But hey, if arbitration works out we just might have the World Series Baseball. And in the end, isn't that all that matters?

MISSION POSSIBLE
All last week, every one of the morons on ESPN, Fox Sports, et cetera, were claiming that there was no way the Colts would lose a game. Lo and behold, the San Diego Chargers accomplished it. Now, it seems as though the Colts are not as pristine as once beleived. Manning looked as shaken as he looks after throwing his 3rd pick against the Pats in his annual playoff collapse. If the Patriots win their first round playoff game, they will go to Indianapolis and play the Colts. They can win. But there is much more football to play between then and now.