FRANCONA'S CONTRACT EXTENDED TO 2011

The Red Sox and Terry francona agreed to terms on a contract that would keep him in Red Sox uniform (remember, he now HAS to wear a uniform) until 2011 and perhaps beyond. The deal is worth $4M per season, and the Red Sox have the option to extend it two more years.

Francona, who has led the Sox to two World Series Championships, three playoff berths, and an AL East title, is arguably the best skipper in Red Sox history. The only other manager in team history to have two World Series rings is Billy Carrigan. If anybody who was around in 1915 wants to make an argument for Billy being the best Red Sox manager ever, go right ahead.

Francona's 279 wins as manager is good for 11th all-time in club history. If the Sox win 90 games this year (very likely), he will be 5th on the list.

Free pizza at Papa Gino's for everyone!

Sources:
Boston.com
WikiPedia

PATRIOTS MAKE MOVES BY NOT MAKING THEM

The Patriots didn't do three things last week, and by not doing so, may have implied what will be done shortly.

Randy Moss was not franchised. To me, this means something good will happen. It seems as though Moss and the Patriots will be able to come to a multiple year deal for a decent price. The franchise tag is a great tool, but it only keeps a player for one year. It also tends to irritate that player so much so that they leave.

Speaking of franchise players leaving, Asante Samuel and the Patriots have not been able to come to terms. The Pro Bowl cornerback will go on the open market as a free agent. Some mediocre team will overpay for him, taking too large of a salary cap hit, then their fans will wonder why they are mediocre.

Samuel has become a top cornerback in the past two seasons. However, the money he will make will be too high of a price to retain his services.

The Patriots also didn't pick up Donte Stallworth's option. This was to be expected. The option would have kicked in a large signing bonus worth somewhere around $8M. That kind of hit on the salary cap would have been too much. So Stallworth is a free agent, but the Pats will probably try to get him to sign a new contract.

Source:
Boston.com

RED SOX 2008 PREVIEW: THIRD BASE

Mike Lowell had one of the best seasons for a Red Sox third-baseman since Wade Boggs. He hit .324, which was good for 7th in the AL. He led the team in RBI with 120, which was also 5th in the AL. He hit .353 in the playoffs, and .400 in the World Series. He had 15 post-season RBI and was named World Series MVP.

Lowell was also very consistent last year. He only had one month in which he hit below .300, and only two months with fewer than 20 RBI.

One could very easily make the argument that he was the MVP of the team.

He'll be 34 this year, but there's no reason to think he'll be slowing down. He's found a niche in Boston. He hit .373 in Fenway last year, with 14 of his 21 HRs, and 73 of his 120 RBIs.

Lowell has also become a Yankee Killer. He hit .324 in the Bronx last year, and .382 against the Yankees. He had more RBIs against New York (18) than against any other team.

Although JD Drew was brought in to hit 5th, Lowell will probably start the season in that slot. He hit an appalling .448 as a #5 hitter last year. Lowell is clutch, too. He hit .356 with runners in scoring position.

If JD Drew hits this year, Lowell moves down nicely to 6th, making the top two thirds of the Red Sox order one of the fiercest in baseball.

Since coming to the Sox in 2006, he's hit 41 HRs, 84 doubles, and knocked in 200 runs.

He'll be spelled from time to time by Youkilis, and possibly Cora. With Sean Casey available to cover first, he'll probably get more time off than he has the past few seasons. Last year he played in every game but 6. He's played in 150+ games for four straight seasons. This year that may change, depending on the production Casey provides as a backup.

Mike Lowell is simply a championship calibre player. He's not a mega-star, but he does his job day in, day out. I hate using the term blue collar for athletes (Lowell made $9M last year), but Lowell's as close as it comes.

Sources:
ESPN.com
Baseball-Reference.com

PATRIOTS OFF-SEASON THOUGHTS: RUNNINGBACK

If the Patriots offense had a weakness in 2007, it was the running game. It's hard to say that 1,849 yards is a weakness, but when compared to the passing game (4,865 yards), the fact that the running game wasn't amazing made it a relative weakness.

The Patriots averaged 115.6 yards per game, which was 13th in the NFL. The 4.1 yards per carry average was also good for 13th, and was the NFL average. The Pats scored 17 touchdowns on the ground, which was 6th best in the NFL. But that was only about 1/5 of their total points scored.

The bulk of the carries came from Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris, and Kevin Faulk. Combined, this trio had 1,484 yards on the ground, and 534 receiving yards.

It's difficult to say who was the feature back. Before getting injured, Sammy Morris had amassed 384 rushing yards in six games, rushing past the 100 mark against Cincinnati and Cleveland. Meanwhile, Maroney only had three 100 yard games all year.

But Maroney was also hampered by injuries. He missed a good deal of training camp, and missed weeks 4, 5, and 6.

One pattern with Maroney was a lack of consistency in his game. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry, but only had one game with an average of 4.0 to 4.9. He had four games below 3.5 yards per carry. He went from averaging 11.0 YPC against Miami to 2.4 YPC against the Giants. In the playoffs, he had two of his best games. Then he laid an egg in the Super Bowl, getting swamped behind the line numerous times.

Maroney, Morris, and Faulk will probably be the trio at runningback this year. Although Morris and Faulk are getting old for RBs (30 and 31, respectively), they're much more reliable than Maroney.

Laurence has sparks of greatness, but he needs the support of guys like Morris and Faulk to keep those sparks from going out. He has also yet to rush for 19 games in a year.

The Patriots do have the 7th overall pick in the draft, which means moving up to get Darren McFadden out of Arkansas isn't too tall of a task. If McFadden is available at 7th, look for the Patriots to take him simple because he's too talented to still be around so late.

One slim possibility of a player joining the team as a 4th tailback would be 230 pounder LaMont Jordan, former Jet, and now former Raider. Jordan's never taken off as a featured back, but he's bigger than average and just seems like a guy the Patriots might bring in and all of a sudden turn into a solid role player.

Heat Evans played "fullback" for the Pats in 2007, which is a position that doesn't exist very often in the Patriots scheme. He did well in this role, but with the Patriots offense being what it is, I can see them going without a fullback in 2008. If this happens, look for Heath's roster spot to be taken by a tailback.

The Patriots running game wasn't a weakness in 2007, but it wasn't much of a strength. A solid, consistent, and punishing run game can do wonders for an offense. Just the threat of it is enough to keep pass-rushing defensive linemen on their back feet. It wears down defensive linemen, linebackers, and DBs; especially if it is a balanced attack of power and finesse rushing. It spreads the field out. It can shorten a game. It sets up play-action.

The Patriots will once again be a pass-oriented team in 2008. But an improved running game will only help the passing game score more often, and more regularly. The Pats scored 586 points last year. With an improved running game, the sky is the limit. Maybe even 40 points a game.

Sources:
Pro-Football-Reference.com

PATS OFFER A CONTRACT TO ZACH THOMAS

The Patriots met with Zach Thomas yesterday, and have reportedly offered him a contract. The terms of the deal are undisclosed.

I think this would be a solid signing. But the Pats need to get some younger, more explosive players in the middle of their linebacker corps. Thomas and Vrabel can play inside, but we've seen that for both of them, playing on the outside leads to more big plays.

Source:
Reiss's Pieces on Boston.com

RED SOX 2008 PREVIEW: SECOND BASE

2007 Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia starts his second full season at second base in 2008. Pedroia endured a rough start and wound up with some very solid numbers. He hit .317 (10th in the AL), with an OBP of .380. By the end of the year, he was the Sox leadoff hitter.



He had a dreadful month of April, going 10 for 55 (.182), and slugging a pathetic .236. But after that, he was great. He hit .333 for the rest of the season. Of his 50 RBI for the season, 48 came after April. Of his 48 extra basehits, 45 came after April. He even had a good post-season, hitting .283 in the playoffs with 10 RBI in 14 games. Although he didn't walk much, he didn't strike out much either. In fact, he was the 2nd hardest man in the AL to strikeout, only doing so once every 12.4 ABs.

Pedroia's recovery from a slow start was what impressed me the most. He raised his average over .130 points, and his slugging by more than .100. He took all the pressure that comes with being a rookie and playing Boston; and turned it into a great season.

With Ellsbury and Youkilis probably starting the season at the top of the batting order, Pedroia will probably hit 7th. This should get him some mop-up RBI opportunities from the big bats.

I wouldn't mind seeing him hit 9th, either. Although this would reduce his total at-bats, it would mean he'd be hitting in front of Ellsbury, Youkilis, and Ortiz. This might lead to more overall production. Pedroia is more of a place-setter than a power-based RBI hitter. If he hits in front of guys like Lugo and Varitek at the bottom of the order, his offensive contributions may be wasted.

Once again, Pedroia will be backed up by Alex Cora. Cora only hit .246 last year, but that's not too bad for the backup middle-infielder. There was a stretch early in the year when he was unstoppable. He was 24 for 76 (.316) in April and May, with 13 RBI.

Cora probably won't get much playing time at second base, especially with the short-leash Julio Lugo will be getting at short-stop.

Hopefully, the Red Sox have found a long-term, productive second baseman. That's something they haven't had in a long, long time.

Sources:
ESPN.com
Baseball-Reference.com

ZACH THOMAS RELEASED

The Dolphins released veteran middle linebacker Zach Thomas. The 12 year veteran turns 35 in September. Thomas has not publicly contemplated retiring, and seems to want to hook up to a contending team in an effort to win a Super Bowl ring.

Thomas only played in 5 games last season, missing time due to concussion and migraines. But he still had 52 tackles in those games. He's averaged 10.8 tackles per game over the last three seasons, which may be a product of Miami's suckiness (more offensive plays run by opponent, more running plays up the middle by opponent because they're ahead, mediocre defensive line, etc.).

When I first saw that Thomas was released, I instantly envisioned him in a Patriots uniform. He's experienced, he's a smart player, he's solid, he's consistent, and he'll probably be cheap.

One major concern is his age, of course. If Seau and/or Bruschi retire, we'd be essentially replacing them with another graying linebacker. Thomas is no longer a playmaker. He's not going to get sacks, or interceptions, or tip passes, or make tackles for a loss. He's a lot like Bruschi in that respect.

But I do think he'll wind up with the Patriots.

Sources:
Boston Globe
ESPN.com

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