The Active Red Sox

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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Rays Close to Signing Burrell

We have known for a while that Burrell was not going to resign with the Phillies, which is weird, especially as a Mets fan, because when you think about the Phillies over the past several years, Burrell is a name that stands out as a leader on that Phillies team, and now he is moving out of the NL to the AL. This is a good move for the Rays. Burrell doesn't have to play in the field, he can take the DH spot. I am a big fan of Floyd, but he is declining, and this is a good bat to pick up and make that tough lineup even tougher. He also fulfills another function that Floyd brought to the team in Veteran leadership. It is also interesting to have him on the team because he won a World Series ring against the Rays (he probably knows a lot of the downfalls of the Rays as a team).

The only downside of this signing for the Rays is that it still doesn't fullfill the Rays biggest need. Depending on where the place Price and how Percival heals, the Rays will need a closer, and there are a few still left on the market, like Hoffman. If the Rays get a closer to hold down that pen, then the team will be set (they also have internal options for closer, like Balfor, who is as good as anyone when he is on, and he plays with a lot of passion).

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NHL's Winter Classic in Wrigley

Wrigley Field, one of the most iconic images of baseball, was the home today of the NHL Winter Classic, when hockey leaves and goes outside to play the game. This has been done for a few years now and it has been very successful. Last year they filled up Buffalo for the game, which was why I was initially surprised when I heard it was being played in Wrigley, where there are not nearly as many seats as most baseball stadiums and for that matter, most football stadiums where it makes sense to play this game at. Anyway, I though I would be upset watching Hockey being played on the Wrigely infield and shallow outfield, but I actually wasn't. Now, I didn't really watch the game, I watch the introduction and a few minutes of the first period, which is about as much as Hockey as I can usually stand in one sitting (although going to a game is a different experience). But here is a description of what the field looked like:

The players came out of the dugouts and walked basically around the wall to the backstop behind home plate, at that point they walked on two separate paths to their seats next to the rink. The walkways were very close at the start, being separated by the length of home plate, which was left exposed. A bit farther up from the plate, the paths split to lead the different boxes, with the pitching mound in the middle of the paths. The Rink basically started with a line from first base straight to third base and then outward. In the Outfield they had giant logos for each team (Detroit and Chicago) and space for giant flags for America and Canada.

I guess the reason that I was not upset, and actually intrigued, by Hockey being played on Wrigley is because they did not try to hide the fact that it was a baseball field, that there was a baseball mound, that there was a very famous home plate. All of that stuff was still there which meant that it was like a compromise, they recognized that they were visitors of hollowed ground in Baseball. And then of course I realized how ready I am for Spring Training and the regular season to start.

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Welcome to Daily Baseball!

Baseball isn't just a National Pastime anymore, its an International Pastime. My name is Elliot and I am one of the writers for this site. Baseball is an important part of the history and development of not just the United States but now many countries and the sport has a rich past.

I also write for two other sites, 213 Miles From Shea, and Mets Merized Online. It is easy to tell from those websites that the Mets are my favorite team, and the National League is my specialty. I hope that this website becomes a frequent stop for baseball news.

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-Elliot