Where is Spring? Weather is keeping teams in training…

Well it’s been a week of frigid temps across most of the country. How many games can you remember EVER being called on account of COLD? Just odd. The Sox opener was 80 degrees, followed up by 30’s and 40’s, to a threat of snow in Texas. Someone get Al Gore on the phone. Where’s the warming?

You folks in NY better hope that the weather is the reason NONE of your starters have lasted more than 5 innings, and only one has actually completed 5. Despite some last inning heroics by A-Fraud, you’d be looking at an AL worst 1-4 record vs. Tampa and Baltimore. You can just feel the panic settling in over the Bronx. Does Pettite leaving after 4 and then making an appearance out of the pen alarm you? How about the starters 36 hits allowed in 21 innings or their ERA just under 10?

While the first week isn’t usually a litmus test for the entire year, it still must be tough being a Yanks fan right now. Cashman is not sleeping well these days. Matsui is down and Damon is ailing already. Your beacon of hope is facing Ponson later tonight.

The Sox are showing signs of life however. Papi finally started to hit, Papelbon is awesome once again, and Schill bounced back tossing a gem. Matsuzaka is a budding star and the #5 spot will be in limbo (Tavares/Snyder) awaiting the return of Lester. The rotation is looking very solid, and the pen should be better once Timlin is back later this week. Drew is off to a great start and Pedroia has been a nice surprise.

Will anyone remember week one later this year? No. Some teams have reason to be more optimistic than others, but it’s very early. Numbers don’t mean much right now, but they will soon. Stay tuned – things are looking interesting right now!

Sox land the beast from the East!!!

Welcome to Boston Daisuke!!!

The Sox landed what could be their franchise player. In the process, they also defeated the mighty Scott Boras. That’s almost as satisfying as landing Matsuzaka.

DOWN GOES BORAS! DOWN GOES BORAS!

The Sox front office was masterful in their negotiations. They held their ground and stuck with their original offer. Boras, the baseball anti-christ, played his only hand which was to not negotiate and to threaten to bring his client back to Japan. However, Seibu was in financial trouble and supposedly told Matsuzaka they would not be posting him in 2007, effectively making him wait two more seasons to be a free agent. Add in the pressure of family, friends, and fans back home, it was probably an easy choice for Matsuzaka. Whether he told Boras to make the deal is something we’ll never know, but it’s most likely what transpired.

Will he be the top of rotation guy here like he was in Japan? To take a page from Parcells, let’s not anoint him just yet. However, all the scouting reports are more than glowing, and Craig Shipley (Sox scout) watched him pitch every game last season. The fact that they were willing to pony up $51M speaks volumes.

It is a gamble, especially since he’s never thrown a pitch in the majors. But you have to figure that a significant part of that posting price will be recovered from new revenue sources. All of Japan will be watching (and buying #18 merchandise) when the season starts. His first pitch in the majors will be against Ichiro, and he will face Matsui a number of times each season. When you factor in the posting price with salary, he’s still less than Jason Schmidt / Mike Mussina money at a little over $17M per year. His annual salary (and luxury tax impact) is only $8.7M, which is less than Gil Meche, Ted Lilly, and even Matt Clement. He’s going to be good in the majors, and he’s still worth the money even if he only becomes your #2 guy. If he meets his incentives, its money well spent and averages only $1.3M per season. So, how much of a gamble are they really taking?

The Sox really pulled this one off. Has the front office redeemed itself? That will be determined on the field, but things look promising.