According to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, the Boston Red Sox could be making another run at their free agent outfielder Jason Bay.

According to a team source, the Red Sox have had internal discussions about extending their organizational budget to potentially allow for another offer for free agent outfielder Jason Bay. The discussed proposal to Bay would be in the vicinity four-year, $60 million originally offered the outfielder by the Red Sox.

With Mike Cameron on board already for the 2010 season, the Red Sox already have three starting outfielders in J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury and Cameron. Could this mean that Theo Epstein may be considering another trade for a bat such as Adrian Gonzalez from the San Diego Padres involving Ellsbury?

Stay tuned folks, the yuletide log  on the hot stove just got stoked and it’s starting to heat up again.

Baseball America has released it’s Top 10 Prospects for the Boston Red Sox and we find outfielder Ryan Westmoreland and RHP Casey Kelly at the top of the list.

Here’s the entire list of top 10 prospects and also a look at the players with the best tools in the organization. To read more about them head over to Baseball America.

TOP TEN PROSPECTS

1. Ryan Westmoreland, of
2. Casey Kelly, rhp
3. Josh Reddick, of
4. Lars Anderson, 1b
5. Ryan Kalish, of
6. Junichi Tazawa, rhp
7. Reymond Fuentes, of
8. Anthony Rizzo, 1b
9. Jose Iglesias, ss
10. Derrik Gibson, ss/2b

BEST TOOLS

• Best Hitter for Average – Ryan Westmoreland
• Best Power Hitter – Lars Anderson
• Best Strike-Zone Discipline – Che-Hsuan Lin
• Fastest Baserunner – Wilfred Pichardo
• Best Athlete – Ryan Westmoreland
• Best Fastball – Casey Kelly
• Best Curveball – Casey Kelly
• Best Slider – Alex Wilson
• Best Changeup – Casey Kelly
• Best Control – Casey Kelly
• Best Defensive Catcher – Tim Federowicz
• Best Defensive Infielder – Jose Iglesias
• Best Infield Arm – Will Middlebrooks
• Best Defensive Outfielder – Che-Hsuan Lin
• Best Outfield Arm – Josh Reddick

Expect a light day around here as I will be away from the computer all day.

It’s game day for the No. 1 UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal come to the XL Center for a nationally televised matchup. Tip is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

Continue reading →

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they are at XL Center in Hartford, CT hosting the Maine Black Bears at 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally on My-TV9. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

Continue reading →

Well it finally looks like we have the reasoning behind ThumbGate 2009 and the reason why Boston Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell wasn’t traded to the Texas Rangers. Since the trade to the Texas Rangers was called off on Saturday due to a thumb injury Lowell suffered towards the end of the season, many were wondering and speculating as to whether or not the Red Sox knew about his injured thumb. Lowell put an end to the speculation on Monday night when he spoke via telephone to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.

“I’ve had very open and honest communication with the training and medical staff,” Lowell added. “The day this thing happened it was X-rayed and I told them about the pain, which was Oct. 2. That’s why I didn’t play the other two games (in the regular season). We taped it up in a way that we thought would help me in the postseason. They thought it might be a strain or a bone bruise. I don’t want to lay blame on anybody because in ‘07 my other thumb got hurt and they thought it was a strain as well and it ended up being that way and everything settled down nice and easy.

How many times do we hear doctors tell us with some rest that an injury will get better? That’s exactly what the Red Sox and Lowell did. As Lowell points out in the interview, he’d had a similar injury in the past and rest healed it. So what’s not to think it wouldn’t work again. What I don’t get is the fact that if the Red Sox knew about the injury during the MRI on the first day of the winter meetings why was still brought up in the trade talks. Did they really think they were going to slip one by the Texas Rangers? Continue reading →

As fans of the Boston Red Sox, should we be blaming Jason Bay’s agent and not Bay himself as to why he won’t be back in Beantown?

If you want to believe Bill Madden of the New York Daily News then yes, Joe Urbon is to blame.

As for Bay, he, too, can thank his agent, in this case Joe Urbon, for pricing him out of Boston, a righty hitting-friendly ballpark/and virtual guarantee of the playoffs every year to, very likely, a pitcher’s paradise in Citi Field and a Mets team that, even with him, looks to be no better than a third-place club in the NL East. At least the Mets seem to realize that Urbon, after losing the Red Sox, has no more market for Bay, especially after the Seattle Mariners, who were bidders early on, acquired Milton Bradley on Friday to fill their last remaining need of an outfield bat.

I’m told that even after the Red Sox signed Mike Cameron to play left field, Urbon went back to them to see if they would re-visit negotiations with Bay, which broke off after the agent rejected their four-year offer of just over $60 million. Kind of like that scene in “The Godfather” in which the soon-to-be garrotted Abe Vigoda/Tessio pleads for mercy to Robert Duvall/Tom Hagen, who replies: “Can’t do it, Sally.”

If you want to believe Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe then Bay himself is to blame.

Be advised: The players are adults who make their own decisions. While it’s easy (and even fun) to demonize agents, the agent works for the player. His job is to present the player with the opportunities that are available and let the player make a decision

And while Jason Bay may well have enjoyed his time in Boston, he seems intent on getting more than the $60 million the Sox offered. That’s his call and good luck to him.

Jason Bay knew exactly what risks he was taking. Whether it works out well for him or not remains to be seen.

Folks, Pete Abe is right.

Bay’s agent is just doing his job. If Bay really wanted to be back in Boston, he would already be here. He could have accepted the Red Sox latest offer or tried to come to an understanding during negotiations during the season. But he made his choice.

Bay is entitled to see how much money he can get on the open market.

In my opinion, he deserves it.

UConn Huskies senior forward Stanley Robinson was named to the Big East Men’s Basketball Honor Roll on Monday.

Robinson had 23 of his 26 points in the second half to help the Huskies to a 60-51 come-from-behind win over the Central Florida Golden Knights on Sunday afternoon at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. He was 9-of-13 from the floor and also pulled down 5 rebounds.

The No. 11 Huskies are back in action on Tuesday night when the Maine Black Bears come to the XL Center at 7 p.m. The game will be televised locally on My-TV9 and SNY by the Big East Television Network.

Plenty of  tickets remain for the game and you can use the promotional word “HUSKIES” to participate in a Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer.

For the second straight week, UConn Huskies junior All-American Maya Moore has been honored by the Big East. And for the second straight time, she’s been named to the Big East Honor Roll.

Moore had 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in just 21 minutes of action in UConn’s 90-35 win over Iona on Sunday night at Gampel Pavilion.

No. 1 UConn returns to action on Wednesday night when the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal come to the XL Center in Hartford, CT at 5:30 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.

Limited tickets remain for the game and you can use the promotional word “HUSKIES” to participate in a Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer.