Burnett Wants 5 Years

A.J. Burnett's agent Darek Braunecker said "there is mutual interest" between his client and the Red Sox.

However, Burnett wants (at least) a five-year deal. Braunecker: "If a team can't do that, they will be behind the 8-ball a little bit." ... I know it's only an opening statement in various negotiations, but come on.

Meanwhile, the Post reports the Yankees are "preparing an $80 million, five-year deal" for Burnett -- on top of the 6/140 offer they have made to CC Sabathia. They will need pitching -- as Mike Mussina has announced his retirement.

***

Los Angeles Times: "The Boston Red Sox are believed to have made an offer for [Mark] Teixeira ..."

Boston signed 27-year-old outfielder Paul McAnulty to a minor league contract for next year. He could compete for a bench spot.

Theo Calls AJ Burnett's Agent

Theo Epstein called Darek Braunecker (A.J. Burnett's agent) yesterday and expressed interest in the free-agent right-hander.

ESPN's Jerry Crasnick says it's a

clear sign that the Red Sox are ready to jump into the fray and compete with Toronto, the New York Yankees and several other clubs ... Newsday reported Tuesday that the Red Sox are now "fully engaged," and a source told ESPN.com that the team considers Burnett a "priority."

"They've got a lot of balls in the air," the source said of the Red Sox, "but they're involved now."

Perhaps.

Burnett, who signed a 5/55 deal with Toronto after the 2005 season, opted out of his deal with 2/24 remaining. He is probably looking for something like 4/60. Some people are ga-ga over his 18 wins last year, but his 4.07 ERA earned him a 105 ERA+ -- Tim Wakefield turned in a 112. Burnett had career highs in starts and innings pitched, but he also had a career-worst WHIP.

There have been rumours of Wakefield considering retirement. Even if that is true, I still don't think the club should throw 15 million per year at a guy with Burnett's numbers -- when he's healthy.

How about we get ourselves a catcher first?

Sox Trade Crisp To KC For Ramon Ramirez

It's official: Crisp traded to Royals.

***

Rotoworld:

Sports Radio 810 WHB in Kansas City reports that the Red Sox have traded Coco Crisp to the Royals in exchange for Ramon Ramirez.

Former Royals outfielder Brian McRae broke the story, but we're still waiting to see the move confirmed by other sources. Ramirez had an excellent rookie year for the Rockies in 2006 before struggling in 2007, but bounced back following a trade to the Royals last season, posting a 2.64 ERA and 70/31 K/BB ratio in 71.2 innings.

FJM Exit Interview

Deadspin interviews the FJM trio.

Michael Schur aka Ken Tremendous:

The thing that always drove our faux-righteous anger on the site was how gosh darn common-sensical this stuff is. You don't have to be a genius to understand why OBP is a better measure of a hitter's worth than BA, or why OPS+ is more valuable than OPS. You just have to care enough to learn why. Which takes about eight seconds.

***

Also, I wanted to write a post about how Kevin Youkilis was probably more valuable (to the Sox, in the AL, in general) than Dustin Pedroia, but I never found the time. Tony Massarotti "goes there" in his Globe column, though he uses far fewer numbers than I would have.

16-Year-Old Girl Signed For New Japanese League; Inspired By Wakefield To Throw Knuckleball

Eri Yoshida is a 16-year-old Japanese girl. She's five feet tall and weighs 114 pounds. And she throws a sidearm knuckleball.

Yoshida was drafted in the seventh round on Monday by the Kobe 9 Cruise team in the independent Japanese League, which opens its first season in April.

Yoshida has been playing baseball since the second grade. She says she began throwing the knuckler after her father showed her a video of Tim Wakefield.

AP:

Yoshida took part in a tryout held earlier this month and passed with flying colors. The right-hander held male batters hitless for one inning in the tryout and her successful outing helped her become one of the 33 players picked in the draft.

Some Fat Billy News, Barely

Mindy McCready is denying a report from Inside Edition claiming she ended her relationship with Roger Clemens because Fat Billy would not marry her. She says Clemens is

one of the most wonderful men I've ever known. ... He treated me like a princess. ... We never had a meeting in secret. We went on vacations together. We went to Palm Springs. We went to Las Vegas, New York City.

Naturally, Clemens continues to deny the affair ever took place:

I repeat once again, it simply did not happen.

Pedroia Left Off One Writer's Ballot

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News left Dustin Pedroia off his ballot for AL MVP.

Grant's explanation:

I had him on my ballot in some scenarios as high as No. 1 late into September. When I looked at the numbers that to me mattered most, OPS and batting average with runners in scoring position, he just didn't stack up with Youkilis at all. He was a laggard behind the others who had great years in the American League. Is it an error of omission that he's left of my ballot entirely? You could say that. ...

I just thought that Sizemore and Pena were at least the equal of Dustin. When it got down to it, the last place on my ballot was Pedroia or Pena, Pedroia or Pena. I don't have a guy from the Rays on my ballot and they won 97 games. I was going to vote to make sure Carlos Pena got recognized. I'm not afraid to say I was wrong. I have no issue with Dustin winning.

Grant admits that Pedroia was his #1 choice for MVP "late into September" -- yet by September 28 -- the end of the regular season -- he was off the ballot!

Here are Grant's two MVP ballots:

September 21    September 28
Youkilis        Youkilis
Morneau         FRodriguez
FRodriguez      Morneau
Pedroia         Hamilton
Hamilton        Quentin
Quentin         ARodriguez
ARodriguez      Lee
Lee             Mauer
Mauer           Sizemore
Sizemore        Pena

So Grant flip-flopped Morneau and Frod, dropped FY, and stuck Pena on at the end.

***

Extra WTF?: Jason Bartlett (.286/.329/.361, 85 OPS+) received a fifth-place vote.

Pedroia Wins AL MVP

FY = MVP!

           1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10  PTS
Pedroia   16  6  4  1                    317
Morneau    7  7  6  3  3  1  1           257
Youkilis   2  4  4  9  2  4  1  2        201
Mauer      2  8  1  3  4  3  3  2  1     188
Quentin       1  8  4  4  4     1  1     160
FRodriguez 1  2  6  1  6     3  2     2  143
Hamilton         2  2  3  7  3  2  4  3  112
ARodriguez             1  1  4  1  4  7   45
Pena             1     2     2  3  2  3   44
Sizemore                  2  1  5  6  1   42

Ian Browne, MLB:

Pedroia joins Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in consecutive years. ...

With 213 hits, Pedroia tied Ichiro Suzuki for the Major League lead. His 54 doubles led the Majors. He led the AL in runs (118) and multihit games (61).

Backed by a .326 average, Pedroia lost the batting title by just four points to Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer. Pedroia finished fourth in total bases (322) and seventh in extra-base hits (73).

An elite tablesetter, Pedroia also chipped in with power (17 homers, 83 RBIs) and speed (20 stolen bases). ...

[H]e became the fifth second baseman in Major League history to have 200 hits, 50 doubles, 100 runs and 15 homers in the same season, joining Charlie Gehringer (1936), Craig Biggio (1998), Jose Vidro (2000) and Alfonso Soriano (2002).

AL MVP Named Today

The AL MVP will be announced at 2 PM. So far, the BBWAA has been doing a fairly decent job:

AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee (24 of 28 1st place votes)
AL Rookie: Evan Longoria (28 of 28)
AL Manager: Joe Maddon (27 of 28)

NL MVP: Albert Pujols (18 of 32)
NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum (23 of 32)
NL Rookie: Geovany Soto (31 of 32)
NL Manager: Lou Piniella (15 of 32)

However:

Someone gave Dale Sveum a third-place vote for NL Manager of the Year -- for guiding the Brewers to a 7-5 record over their last 12 games.

Two voters picked Brad Lidge for NL MVP.

Ryan Howard got 12 first-place votes to Pujols's 18. It should not have been anywhere near that close. As MLB's Matthew Leach writes:

It was by some measures [Pujols's] best season. He hit .357, two points shy of his career high, and set new personal bests with a .462 on-base percentage, a 1.115 OPS and 104 walks. He slugged .653, nearly 30 points better than his career average, cranking 37 homers and 44 doubles. Pujols drove in 116 runs, scored 100 and struck out just 54 times. ... He never hit lower than .302 in any month, never had an OBP lower than .413 and never slugged below .558. He came on especially strong in the second half, batting .366 and slugging .706 after the All-Star break.

Over in the AL, Jon Lester received no Cy Young votes, while Daisuke Matsuzaka collected two second-place votes and four third-place votes. Odd.

This MLB article gives the AL MVP favourites as Francisco Rodriguez and Josh Hamilton. WTF? Frod was not even the best reliever on his own team -- forget the league. (In the Cy Young voting, many writers transferred their love of the W to the Sv and gave Frod seven second-place votes and 11 third-place votes.)

Red Sox-Mets Will Open New Queens Park

The Mets will host the Red Sox for two exhibition games -- the first games in their new park (Citi Field) -- on Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4, according to WFAN.

Boston will then have a day off before opening the 2009 regular season at Fenway Park on Monday, April 6 against the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays.

The Yankees will play their first games in their new park against the Cubs on April 3-4. The Yankees open the season on April 6 in Baltimore and play their first regular season home game on April 16 against Cleveland.

Clean Up

After way too many months of slow computer performance, I am currently scrubbing my hard drive down to absolutely nothing -- wiping away crap and deleted file data "with U.S. Military-strength tools"!

Then I have to re-install everything. So nothing until later on Friday, from work, at the earliest.

Will Red Sox Remove Names From Road Jerseys?

This could be the best off-season development of all.

Dan LaMothe -- the Red Sox Monster -- has linked to a Flickr page that shows a possible new design for Boston's 2009 road uniform. And one of the shirt backs has no last name!

I have been hoping for years that the team would come to its senses and remove the last names from players' shirts. There were few things more silly looking than "Garciaparra" shaped like a cluttered rainbow ranging from armpit to armpit. (And why in f*&#'s name do the Red Sox sell #9 shirts with "Williams" on the back? He never wore anything like that.)

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the Yankees are currently the only team to have no names on either their home or road uniforms. UniWatch's Paul Lukas says the Mets tried the no-name approach in 1999, but that lasted only one season. The Giants were nameless for a long time, but have surrendered. The Dodgers removed names in 2002, but they have since returned. (Strange that all four of these teams are or were New York-based.)

According to Jere, the Red Sox added names to the back of their road jerseys in 1989. ... 1989 -- that is not a tradition! OFF WITH THE NAMES!

Bill Lee Likes Manny

You're supposed to sit on your ass
And nod at stupid things
Man, that's hard to do.
-- Warren Zevon

A prophet in his own time is not well-received in this town.
-- Bill Lee

Bill Lee is back -- and he's back big! ... Man, forget Eckersley. If NESN had any guts at all, they'd give the Spaceman his own talk show. Or put him in the booth in place of Remy.

(Note: AP misquotes Lee. He did not say: "I think Boston kind of got fed up with Manny." He said: "I think Boston just kind of got fed up with winning.")

The Seattle Mariners, in their search for a new manager, interviewed Boston bench coach Brad Mills on Monday. The Mariners are expected to interview third base coach DeMarlo Hale later this week. The team wanted to also talk to pitching coach John Farrell, but he declined the offer of an interview.

Evan Longoria was the unanimous choice for AL Rookie of the Year. Jacoby Ellsbury finished third with seven second-place votes and five third-place votes.

Theo Epstein talks about being a "selective shopper" in this winter's free agency market. ... Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 23, on rumours of being traded to Boston:

That would be a dream come true. I'd love to go there and either work under Jason for a year or two or just go there and catch full-time. ... I love watching Jason. He's like an idol of mine. I watch him and I learn from him and I'd love to be able to spend time with him.

Babe Ruth Is Underrated

I recently did a phone interview with Brent Stevens from Babe Ruth Central. There are nine audio clips here.

Sox Shopping Crisp, Looking at Willis, Baldelli

The Red Sox have done "some background work" on lefty Dontrelle Willis (9.38 ERA in 8 games in 2008; due $22 million in 2009-10). The Tigers might be interested in Julio Lugo.

Sean McAdam reports that up to a half-dozen teams may be interested in Coco Crisp. ... The Red Sox are "more than intrigued" by Rocco Baldelli as the team's fourth outfielder.

Jason Bay, who will be a free agent at the end of 2009, "would be receptive to discussions of a long-term deal to remain in Boston".

SoSH chat on RHPs Junichi Tazawa and Kenshin Kawakami.

Red Sox Request 2012 ASG

The Providence Journal reports that the Red Sox have asked to host the 2012 All-Star game.

Larry Lucchino said the request was made "in light of the 100-year anniversary [of Fenway Park] and all the changes that have taken place here."

Pedroia Wins BP's MVP Award

Dustin Pedroia was named the AL MVP in Baseball Prospectus' 2008 Internet Baseball Awards. The results come from the voting of more than 1,400 readers of the site.

Joe Mauer received more first place votes than FY (423-408), but Pedroia was named on 17% more ballots than anyone else and edged out Mauer in total points. Mauer, who also finished second in 2006, was left off the ballot by 27% of the voters.

The AL Top 10: Pedroia, Mauer, Grady Sizemore, Alex Rodriguez, Cliff Lee, Kevin Youkilis, Carlos Quentin, Josh Hamilton, Justin Morneau and Roy Halladay.

Jon Lester finished third in the Cy Young voting. Halladay was second and Lee ran away with the award (1164 first-place votes to Halladay's 296 and Lester's 16). Evan Longoria easily won Rookie of the Year and Joe Maddon cruised to the Manager of the Year award. Francona finished third in MoY.

In the NL voting:

For the third time in four years, Albert Pujols was the National League Most Valuable Player in the IBAs. ... Pujols received 84 percent of the first-place votes on the ballot this year and another seven percent placed him second. However, four percent of the voters mysteriously left Pujols off their ballots.

Theo Signs New Contract

Alex Speier, WEEI.com:

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein confirmed he has signed a new deal with the Sox to continue in his current position, although he wouldn't disclose terms or years.

Epstein:

When you sit back and think about being a general manager this is exactly the type of organization you'd want to work for. Great fans, great ownership and a tremendous foundation of our scouting and player development which if we don't screw it up will lead to long term success.

Epstein also said that if Mike Timlin decides to pitch in 2009, it will not be for the Red Sox.

Coming Soon: Canadian Blog Awards

It's that time once again -- the 2008 Canadian Blog Awards!

The nomination period is underway right now and will last until November 22. Then there will be two rounds of voting: the first round (November 23-29) and the final round (November 30-December 7).

Unfortunately for a baseball blog, the voting takes place well after the World Series, so my pool of possible voters will be way down. But I finished 1st in 2006 and 2nd in 2007. I'll be nagging you to vote -- and hoping others nag you too!

Buchholz Rediscovering Changeup In AFL

Clay Buchholz has a 2.60 ERA in four Arizona Fall League starts for the Scottsdale Scorpions.

In 17.1 innings, he has allowed 13 hits and 5 walks (a 1.04 WHIP) and struck out 12, while holding batters to a .201 average. Four of his five earned runs allowed came in one bad start.

One non-Boston scout told Sean McAdam that Buchholz has

gained some of his swagger back. He lost some confidence during the year, but his velocity was back. He was throwing 91-95, and was free and easy. He had a dominant curveball and a plus change. ... Some people were worried about his makeup and arm, but he seemed fine here.

Theo Epstein says:

He's been 93 to 95 with his old changeup back, his 80 changeup, and getting swings and misses. He's able to throw it for a strike. His curveball has improved from the season. ...

He's working with a real sense of purpose and determination to try to figure some things out that had perplexed him for a little bit this season. ... Depending on the work Clay does this fall and what kind of winter he has with building up his strength and his mindset, he could come to camp anywhere from our fifth starter to our seventh starter.

Filing for free agency on Friday: Curt Schilling, Mark Kotsay, and Bartolo Colon. Jason Varitek, Alex Cora, Sean Casey and David Ross have also filed. Mike Timlin and Paul Byrd are expected to file this week.

The Red Sox will keep their spring training facilities in Fort Myers, Florida, deciding not to move operations to Sarasota. In 2012, the Red Sox will move into a new complex in south Lee County, which will include "a new stadium, to be modeled after Fenway Park, which will seat approximately 10,000, with room for another 2,000 on outfield berm and in standing-room areas [and] six practice fields ..."