The Red Sox have been extremely active over the last several days. They have signed or are near signing Baldelli, Kotsay, Smoltz. Its interesting how they have taken this list of players that many teams have cast aside as not good, and are actually making a lot of noise with these signings. Smoltz is the most interesting out of the list for several reasons. He hasn't really declined with age, with the exception of his major surgery last season, and he will be able to handle the pressure in Fenway, because he is made out of ice. By doing this though, he really has sent shockwaves in Atlanta. Chipper is not happy, Cox is disappointed, and he has placed a lot of pressure on the Atlanta front office. He also becomes an interesting piece of the Boston puzzle. Originally, Penny was going to take the last rotation spot, but now Smoltz can take it, or he can go in the pen or or he could prompt the Red Sox to trade one of their young starters to get a bigger name during the season. He gives them a lot of options.
Baldelli and Kotsay are really fourth outfielders and backups for Youkillis. However, these guys are good backups. Neither right now has the stuff they used when they start, but on the bench, they look very nice. They literally can be described as icing on the cake for the Sox. These moves make the AL East very interesting. The Rays are still there, and their young players are growing and getting even better (and they have more talent in the minors that hasn't even surfaced yet). There are the Yankees that bought their new lineup and have made their team world class and now the Red Sox are tweaking and they still have the majority of their 2007 World Championship team. The east is going to be a fun division to watch next year.
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