MLB Offseason for 2008

[Aristotle]

A-Rod's ill timed announcement was no surprise, but the timing was lame. Scott Boras is the Barry Bonds of agents.

Girardi seems like a good choice for the Yankees.

Hank Steinbrenner's "A-Rod doesn't want to be a Yankee" rant was juvenile. You guys could have resigned him, kept the existing parts of his deal, and therefore kept Texas paying a heap of the cash. Don't go crying about him "not wanting to be a Yankee." Owners don't have the right to say that, just like players can't cry about a team "not wanting them" now. Those days are long gone.

[Darion]

As I said yesterday on the sports channel, A-Rod's announcement was 1) probably not his own doing and 2) irrelevant, really, because the Sox still won and it was still awesome and who really cares?

I heard something on WEEI this morning that was interesting, which was a discussion on Boras' post-announcement apology and how he might be trying to smooth things over with the Sox front office. I don't totally discount the argument either, as Boras has several players with the Sox right now. That having been said, I would love to see A-Rod sporting a B hat but I don't know if it will happen given that these negotiations won't be taking place in a Sox-tinted vacuum. I believe I also said that if the Sox somehow finagled A-Rod and managed to re-sign Lowell that it would be the apocalypse, fire would rain down from the heavens, the rivers would run red with the blood of New Yorkers, and the Sox would probably win 140 games next year.

Hank Steinbrenner seems like a carbon copy of his father with a bigger mouth and more self-entitlement. I have a bad feeling on behalf of the Yankees fans, and I would be extremely nervous if our new Boss' first act as owner was to tell the best player in baseball (and perhaps in history, time will tell) to go pound sand.

[Leveth]

A-rod at short, Mike Lowell at 3rd? Dear God, that would be... insane... Don't think it'll happen, though. I see the Sox re-signing Mike Lowell(why the hell wouldn't they?!?!), likely taking Wakefield's option (cheap money for a guy that can chew up innings), considering Schilling (guy pitched well once October rolled around.) Trading Coco is an option, and keeping Lugo for another year to see if he can adapt (I'm getting tired of the 'musical shortstop' crap) is likely the best bet, to at least improve his trade value a bit. Other than that, the Sox have options in AAA that are about ready to come up, and have the solid foundation in place for a good run in '08.