Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Every offseason in Boston you get the "Manny wants to be traded" or the "Red Sox want to offload Manny's contract" rumors. Not so much this year. With Andruw Jones getting $18 million per year - Manny's contract looks downright affordable. The Red Sox will pay Manny $20 million is 2008 and have options for 2009 and 2010... I tried to be positive about the Eric Gagne experience but I think any unbiased examination of his performance in Boston would conclude that he has not only lost a few miles per hour off his fastball - he has also lost his ability to control pitch location as well. I'm glad the Brewers signed Gagne to a one-year $10 million contract because it nets the Red Sox a compensation draft pick but as Ken Rosenthal explains - "Truth is, Doug Melvin didn't like signing Eric Gagne for $10 million, either." The justification that resonates with me is the fact that Gagne is just a one-year deal and he only costs them money. If they went after Huston Street or Joe Nathan - they would have been forced to give up major prospects... Paul Lo Duca to sign one-year deal with Nationals. It's getting tough to follow the catcher shuffle in the NL. Jason Kendall was the starter for the Cubs but now he's taken Johnny Estrada's job in Milwaukee. Estrada took Lo Duca's job with the Mets until the Mets traded for Brian Schnieder of the Nationals and now Lo Duca (formerly of the Mets) has taken Schnieder's old job with the Nationals. Got that?... Red Sox fans are rejoicing over the announcement that the Yankees have signed LaTroy Hawkins to a one-year deal. If I ran a casino - I'd have a prop bet asking which Red Sox player would be the first to hit a late inning HR off Hawkins that brings the Red Sox from behind to help win the game. Hs momma named him LaTroy which (as others have pointed out) means "the Troy" in French but it would have been more accurate if she named him whatever is French for "the late Inning Home Run" instead...