TOUGH HOCKEY PLAYER

Brendan Witt of the New York Islanders played last night in Philadelphia after being hit by an SUV in the morning.

Story:

"The truck [a GMC Yukon] was making an illegal left turn and Witt jumped and slid across the hood before hitting the pavement. Witt brushed himself off and reassured the crowd who'd begun to gather around him by whipping out his credentials: "I've got to go play some hockey. I'm a hockey player. I'm OK. No big deal." After almost being scratched for tonight's game against the Flyers, Witt did end up making it to Starbucks and grabbing a latte."

Witt played 17 minutes in the Islanders' 6-2 loss that night. He had 2 blocked shots, and 2 penalty minutes. The GMC Yukon is listed as day-to-day.

ELITE EIGHT

The Celtics pushed their win-streak to 8 last night with a 98-89 victory over the Bucks. Four C's had double figures, with KG leading the way with 25. Pierce and Perkins each had 15, Sheed and Ray Ray each added 13, and Rondo had 11 points to go along with his 13 assists.

Winning games against Milwaukee isn't too exciting, but it's necessary. You absolutely have to win these games against these teams, especially at home. But after the game, Doc Rivers did address the Celtics' relatively poor rebounding prowess:

"We can get away with winning now, but we're not going to win in the long run if we don't start rebounding."

Celtics at the 7-12 Wizards Thursday night.

Source:
ESPN

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

SOX SIGN ATCHISON, YANKEES ABOUT TO SIGN GRANDERSON

The Red Sox off-season, thus far, has been nothing short of uninspiring. Dull, even. The blatantly planted story about the Red Sox' "full-court press" for Roy Halladay was nothing more than a tease, something to satisfy Sox fans' voracious new appetite for big acquisitions.

The Red Sox made a minor addition yesterday, signing journeyman reliever Scott Atchison. He's 33 years old, a righty, and pitched last year for the Hanshin Tigers of Japan's Central League.

He's spent a limited portion of his 10 year professional career in the Majors. Only 53 MLB appearances to be exact, spread out between the Mariners and Giants in '04, '05, and '07. Don't expect much from him.

Meanwhile, the Yankees seem to be on the verge of signing Curtis Granderson. Granderson hit 30 HRs last year, albeit with a .249 average. I don't think he's that great, and wouldn't want him on the Sox, but my point is that while the Red Sox bolster AAA Pawtucket's bullpen depth, the Yankees are actually doing something.



How cheap the Red Sox are being with Jason Bay is inexcusable. Then again, they painted themselves into this financial corner these past few years. We shouldn't give them a free pass for the freedom with which they've spent recently.

$47.8 million of the $122 million the Sox spent last year went to JD Drew, David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. That's 39% of a very large payroll, assigned to a DL addict, a PED addict, an aging corner infielder, and a guy who can't pitch past the 5th inning.

I remember the '07 World Series parade, and how we all chanted "Re-Sign Lowell!" We were just as dumb and sentimental as the Sox front office was. And now all of us are paying the price for paying these guys.



I don't mind losing a bidding war to New York. Or at least I don't criticize the Red Sox for not having as much money as the Yankees. But I do mind self-elimination from even trying to win a bidding war, because JD Drew and Daisuke Matsuzaka have $22.3M coming to them.

I sincerely doubt the Sox will do much this off-season. They'll do something, similar to the Scutaro signing, then hype it a la Dan Duquette when he signed Jose Offerman. But the real big winter for the Sox will be the 2010-2011 off-season, when money will be freed up, and the free agent crop will be much healthier (ahem! get Mauer, move Youk to 3B, V-Mart to 1st, ahem!).

Sources:
Boston Globe
WEEI
The Baseball Cube
ESPN