Could Scott Boras Ruin Jason Varitek’s Chances Of Signing With Boston?

Scott Boras, Major League Asshole

I was just getting ready to go head to bed when I came across this little tidbit about Scott Boras and the Boston Red Sox from Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald.

The Sox, meanwhile, are, at least for now, done with Boras. One well-placed source said the club will never deal with him again unless it can be guaranteed that talks are being conducted honestly. We would take that threat a little more seriously if Boras’ clientele list were to shrink dramatically, but since that is not realistic, we will take it as a sign of just how badly the club felt it got stung by lies from Boras. They are in a “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” mode right now, with the Teixeira talks feeling like the last straw to them.

That makes the case for Jason Varitek even more compelling. Two of the remaining free agent catchers are Boras clients, Ivan Rodriguez and Varitek. To me, there’s only one catcher on that remaining list, Gregg Zaun, who can help the Red Sox on a daily basis and it appears that he’s going to the Baltimore Orioles.

So what are the Red Sox to do. Varitek isn’t going to talk to the Red Sox without Boras. From the above quote, the Red Sox don’t really want to deal with Boras unless they have to. Do the Red Sox make an offer to Varitek and tell him take it or leave it? Something tells me that’s what the Red Sox will do and if he says no, they’ll continue to pursue a trade for a younger catcher.

It’s too bad that all players can’t be like Dustin Pedroia when it comes to agents.

“They work for you,” Pedroia said. “If you get an offer that works for you, you’re signing it, your agent isn’t. I got to a point and I told him, ‘This is what I want. And if we get that, I’m signing it, whether you like it or don’t.’ In the end, you’re the boss. You’re his boss. He works for you. But a lot of players trust their agent maybe a little too much. Every person is different.”

Montgomery Leads UConn Women’s Rout of West Virginia

The No. 1 UConn Huskies women’s basketball team came into tonight’s game with West Virginia leading the country in scoring offense with 88.4 points a game. The Mountaineers came into tonight’s game as the 5th best scoring defense giving up just 52.3 points a game. So something had to give.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, it was their defense as Renee Montgomery returned to her home state to score 28 points and add 5 assists to lead the Huskies to an 85-55 win in front of 3,167 at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, WV.

The win for the Huskies improves their record to 15-0 (2-0 Big East) and will keep them atop the polls when they come out on Monday (AP) and Tuesday (USA Today/Coaches). The Mountaineers fall to 10-5 (0-3). It was also the 23rd consecutive regular season win for UConn.

West Virginia's Liz Repella tries to block at shot by Connecticut's Tiffany Hayes during the first half - AP Photo Maya Moore had her 6th double-double of the season and the 17th of her career with 16 points and 10 rebounds while freshman Tiffany Hayes had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Caroline Doty’s slump from 3-point land (0-4) continued but she did finish with 8 points as did Tina Charles who had 8 points and 9 rebounds.

West Virginia was led by Takisha Granberry who had 17 points. Liz Repella added 15 points and 5 rebounds while Sarah Miles chipped in with 14 points for Mike Carey’s squad.

The Huskies started out the game on fire as they made 7-of-8 shots and took a 23-5 lead. Then their play turned a little sloppy as the Mountaineers were able to cut the lead to 9 at 29-20. The Huskies responded though with a 9-0 run to take permanent control of the game as they took a 47-30 lead into the locker room.

It was more of the same in the second half as the Huskies gradually wore down the Mountaineers, who had just 9 players.

The Huskies return home to Gampel Pavilion, a place they haven’t played at since December 3rd, when they will host the DePaul Blue Demons at 7:30 PM.  The game will be televised locally on CPTV.

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Fernando Perez Shares His Playoff Fenway Experience

ESPN's baseball correspondent Peter Gammons, left, talks with Tampa Bay Rays' Fernando Perez during the roundtable discussion preceding the Hot Stove, Cool Music concert in Boston, Mass., Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009. Hot Stove, Cool Music is a bi-annual charity concert and musical variety show held at the Paradise Rock Club and Fenway Park to raise money for the Jimmy Fund and Theo and Paul Epstein's Foundation To Be Named Later, a branch of the Red Sox Foundation. (AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper)

Fernando Perez was just a rookie this season for Tampa Bay Rays but his speed played a pivotal role for them down the stretch. He was on-hand for today’s Hot Stove, Cool Music Roundtable and talked about his experiences against the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS at Fenway Park.

“Fans [at Fenway] are very, very savvy,” Perez said. “Everybody seems to be indulging in an experience as if they are at church or a party, some sort of mix of the two. That’s really impressive how your fans enjoy it. There was a man after Game 4 of the ALCS who was standing next to the dugout and he noticed we were winning going into Game 5, at which point we could have won it.

“He notices that we were smiling a little bit, having a good time. And he looked over and he said, ‘Soon you will know what it feels like to lose three games in a row.’ I will never forget the moment, because he seemed so serious and so sincere. The next day, of course, was Game 5, which, to me, was the most horrific sporting experience of my whole life. I went from thinking about what I was going to do for the rest of the week before the World Series to thinking that [the Red Sox] were going to do it all again.

“That experience, in that seventh inning, I didn’t play, but I was getting ready to pinch-run. I remember stretching, being sick to my stomach while [Boston] just got hit after hit after hit and it was [contagious] throughout the ballpark. It was very, very sickening.”

Yeah that pretty much sums it up for the Fenway playoff experience that we are used to up here.

Terry Francona Shares A Manny Being Manny Moment

I was going through some of the quotes from today’s Hot Stove, Cool Music roundtable discussion and this one caught my eye from Boston Red Sox skipper Terry Francona. Of course it’s probably because it’s about Manny Ramirez.

Manny being Manny“In ’04, when we were playing St. Louis in the World Series, Manny was hitting and he seemed to be jawing back and forth with the catcher [Yadier Molina],” Francona said. “There hadn’t even been a pitch thrown. You could kind of see, there was a possible altercation starting. Chuck Meriweather was the umpire and he kind of looked at me so I kind of ran out as fast I can, which isn’t very fast.

“But the last thing I wanted was for Manny to get thrown out of the game. I looked at Manny and I looked at the catcher and they’re going back and forth in Spanish. Manny looks at me and says, ‘Papi, they say I’m stealing their signs.’ I look at the umpire and I said, ‘Chuck, Manny doesn’t even know our signs.”‘

Does anyone really think Manny ever knew what the signs were with the Red Sox?

Will Justin Masterson Be A Starter Or Reliever?

Masterson’s Parents Want Him To Start: Alex Speier talked with Justin Masterson about his role with the Boston Red Sox for 2009 and passed along that his parents want him to start so they “won’t have to wait until the eighth inning of every game.” Masterson is just happy he doesn’t have to worry about where he’ll start off next season as he knows he will be with the big club. I’d much rather see him in the bullpen this season and then move back to starting down the road. [WEEI.com]

UConn Men Battle Past The Bearcats 81-72

A.J. Price was determined not to have another game like he did the other night in the win against West Virginia where had just 1 point.

And Price did just that as his 22 points and 5 assists helped lead the No. 5 UConn Huskies to a 81-72 Big East win over the Cincinnati Bearcats in front of 9,029 at Fifth Third Arena.

The win for UConn improves their record to 14-1 (3-1 Big East) while Cincinnati falls to 10-6 (0-3).

Connecticut guard A.J. Price shoots against Cincinnati in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009, in Cincinnati. Price scored 22 points to lead Connecticut to an 81-72. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)Jeff Adrien had his 38th career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds while Jerome Dyson had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Craig Austrie added 11 points and Kemba Walker also had 5 assists to go along with 7 points.

Deonta Vaughn paced the Bearcats with 19 points and 6 assists. Mike Williams had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists while Yancy Gates had 12 points and 9 rebounds.

With UConn leading 19-11, Hasheem Thabeet and Gavin Edwards both picked up their second fouls and spent most of the rest of the half on the bench. The Bearcats were able to take advantage though they cut the lead to three at 19-16 before a Price 3-pointer pushed the lead back to 6.

With 5:12 to go in the half, Gates got the Bearcats to within one at 24-23 and the Bearcats eventually tied the game up at 27. It stayed close the rest of the first half until Price hit two three’s in the final minute of the half including a dagger of one to beat the buzzer to give UConn a 4 point lead at 38-34.

The second half was closely contested with UConn getting out to a lead as big as 9 points before the Bearcats cut it to five. But a 13-4 run capped off by a Price three pointer gave UConn control of the game. Cincinnati tried to get back into by fouling at the end but UConn made all but 2 of their free throws down the stretch. One of those misses was by Dyson who got his own rebound and made a layup to seal the deal for the Huskies.

The Huskies are now off for the next 5 days and will return to action on Thursday night when they head to the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, to take on the St. John’s Red Storm at 7 PM. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

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Matsuzaka To Join Red Sox After WBC

Matsuzaka To Train With Former Club: In an interview with WEEI this morning, Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell said that Daisuke Matsuzaka will not join the team until after Japan is done playing in the WBC. He said that Dice-K will do his preparations with the Seibu Lions. [WEEI.com]

For Those Who Blog We Salute You – 1/10

For Those Who Blog We Salute You

Dougie Speaks [Center Field]

Mayne Street, Part 13 [Fang’s Bites]

More Q & A [38 Pitches]

Four-alarm fire burns six Fenway Park-area restaurants [Red Sox Monster]

Red Asks, Red Sox Answer [Surviving Grady]

New Signings Bring As Many Questions As Answers [Fenway West]

Sox fans: What’s a catcher worth to you? [The Bottom Line]

Brian Roberts & The Art of the Deal… [Oriole Post]

Yes, We Will Be Appearing In The Season Premiere Of ‘Friday Night Lights’ [Rays Index]

Kings veterans prank Jason Thompson [Sactown Royalty]

Are Thom Brennaman and Tim Tebow Secretly Dating? [Larry Brown Sports]

Holy $hmoly [The ‘Ropolitans]

The Official UmpBump Baseball Media Drinking Game [UmpBump]

An Interview with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell [Big Lead]

Fitzy’s Top 10 Reasons Why The Red Sox Filene’s Basement-Style Free Agent Style Spending Is Awesome [Townie News]

Get Your Oklahoma 2009 National Champions Commemorative Football! [Awful Announcing]

Uncoached Move of the Week: Richard Simmons Goes Up the Skirt of Lisa Rinna on the Today Show [Uncoached]

And our video goodness of the week comes from Fitzy of the Townie News who presents us with GFY Films Presents: Dealing With Disappointment. As always, Fitzy’s videos are NSFW.

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