The Fenway Sports Group made quite a purchase yesterday as their purchase of the minor league franchise, the Salem Avalanche in Salem, VA, went through. They still have to get MLB approval on the sale but that appears to be a mere formality. The Avalanche are currently the Astros affiliate in the Carolina League and have one more year on that working agreement. I would have to think with the Red Sox affiliation being up with the Lancaster Jethawks after the 2008 season, that the Red Sox will bring their High-A minor league affiliate back across to the country to Salem.
Josh Beckett picked up an award yesterday from MLB.com as he was named the top starter in MLB by the fans. It was the first of MLB.com’s This Year in Baseball Awards.
Wednesday is another key day in the MLB offseason as the Red Sox must offer contracts to those players with under six years service time who are arbitration-eligible. Kevin Youkilis, Brendan Donnelly and Javier Lopez fall into that category. If they are not offered contracts, they would be eligible for free agency. Don’t worry folks, I highly doubt any of them will be free agents. Obviously, Youkilis isn’t going anywhere and I would have to think the Red Sox and his agent are working on a long-term deal. Donnelly may not be ready to pitch until mid-season as he underwent Tommy John surgery and Lopez has shown he can be a capable left handed option out of the bullpen.
Not much of a surprise here but the Red Sox sold over 234,000 tickets this past weekend. To think that the number doesn’t include season tickets, that’s an awful lot of tickets. So as you can see, the Sox are the hottest ticket during the winter and will make it all the harder for people to get them when the rest of them go on sale, probably through the lottery system and then the virtual waiting room of hell.
Red Sox owners buying Va. minor league team [Boston Herald]
Red Sox Nation drives tickets [redsox.com]
Red Sox Nation, Florida [Extra Bases]
Beckett wins TYIB Starter of Year [redsox.com]
