"He is a free agent, he can talk to anybody at any time. What his market value is, we don't know but what we offered we are comfortable with." -- Brian Cashman on future Red Sox shortstop/third baseman Derek Jeter
Meanwhile, While Rome Is Burning Back in Boston John Henry Goes Deep Into the 'Pool in London
"Wanting to have Victor in the lineup next April is a no-brainer. When you have to make a decision and you�re talking $40, $45, $50 million, four years down the road, that�s not quite as easy. I respect that." -- Sox manager Terry Francona
Theo Says the Kids Need Their Time to Shine Next Season While Werner Expects a Big Name Signing and a Trade
Werner Says No Bridge Year for Red Sox in 2011 Liverpool Chairman Says Sox GM Made 'Rare Mistake' In Talking About the Bridge Last Year Heads Up: Report: A's Offer Beltre 5 Years, $64 Million
Theo's Got Some Bus Tire Tracks on Him Now ...
Tom Werner on sports radio WEEI today: "I want to assure everyone that there is no bridge year here this year. [In] 2011, we�re committed to win. I think Theo would have been the first to say that he was excited about the prospects we had coming up through our system. I think he made a very rare mistake saying that. After that, we did sign Adrian Beltre. We did sign John Lackey. I think Theo would be the first to say it wasn�t his finest Winston Churchill moment...
I think that we are going to sign, I won�t promise, we are going to sign a significant free agent. We are going to make a trade to improve ourselves. There are some very strong players on our squad who are young. Kalish is strong. We�ve already gotten some interest from people who think that Felix Doubront is a frontline pitcher, although I�m not saying we�re going to trade him. We were hungry to get Saltalamacchia. I think he�s going to have a good year. Jed Lowrie came on at the end of last year and showed that he can play."
A Bridge By Any Other No-Name Is Still a Bridge ...
Theo Epstein at the GM meetings: �At some point you need to give a chance to young players, let them build value. [Saltalamacchia's] one of those guys. [Jed] Lowrie is potentially another, [Ryan] Kalish is potentially another. We�re not going to have high-profile solutions to all our needs. It�s good to have those alternatives that you can turn to and realize that maybe you�re taking an educated gamble but you�re also potentially building a lot of values in those guys, giving them an opportunity to put themselves into the core we�re developing.�
Liverpool Wants a Piece of Henry's Wallet in January, Too ...
Damien Comolli, a.k.a. The Liverpool Theo: �We have a pretty good idea of what we would like to do and we have identified targets. If there's a possibility of us getting a world-class player, we will have the backing. John [Henry] and Tom [Werner] want to win - and you win with top players. If it can be done in January, great. If it can't because we feel it is the wrong market or players are overpriced, then we will wait. I'm not going to say we won't do anything in January because that is not the idea at the moment. We will do what is right for the long term. What is right for the long term can be something we do in January."
At Least England John Made a Token Trip to Orlando ...
Liverpool principal owner John Henry: �We will be in London and Liverpool with regularity. There is a lot to be done. We speak about the Sox and LFC daily - seven days a week. We are working on teleconferencing as well as spending time in Liverpool. In the digital world of today one can say almost nothing is local. It has never been easier to work from a distance. But like Fenway, Anfield will be hard to stay away from. We've really enjoyed our time in Liverpool thus far."
Reality TV: Tom Runs the Liverpool Football Operation ...
Pizzuti Mania Sweeps Liverpool and the Kop While Fenway's Stuck Singing 'Sweet Caroline' Anfield Gets Busy Paying Tribute to 'Lucky Linda' No Wonder John Henry Hates Us Now ...
'3 weeks into Henry's reign, and its like we've found our Princess Diana equivalent' -- LFC fan
Posted by Locutus on Liverpoollfc.tv: "Linda Pizzuti
Is quite a cutie
She likes to watch us
play our game.
It's not a rumour
she likes our humour
Oh Linda come back and watch us play"
Lovely Linda Anfield Queen,
Nothing can come between us.
When you arrived you took our hearts away.
Standing by a John Henry,
When I caught a glimpse of you,
Filling in a tweet in your little black-berry.
In the flesh you seem so much bolder,
With all your Red Sox crew over your shoulder
Sings a song as nando runs past John Terry."
Meanwhile Back in the Colonies ...
(Matthew J. Lee / Globe Staff)
Sox Brass Hard at Work to Catch Yankees: Lucchino Makes Offer to Jerry Stiller
... to throw out the first pitch at a game. But if all goes well, maybe Stiller is the answer in middle relief and the Sox can finish their BridgeY2 upgrades in one big move, bringing much needed star power to Fenway.
Liverpool Echo lede: "He leapt out of his seat, punching the air in delight, completely immersing himself in his first experience of an Anfield European night.
What threatened at one stage to be a rather anti-climatic home debut for John W Henry turned out to be something rather more memorable and, as he left the famous old ground, Liverpool�s new owner will have realised he had witnessed something very special."
Meanwhile Yankees Top Brass Is Getting Busy With Baseball Down in Tampa ...
Yankees Ready to Begin Pursuit of Lee Steinbrenner, Cashman, Levine, Trost, Afterman spent Monday and Tuesday Huddling at the Yankees Complex To Prioritize Winter Plans
"What I can tell you is we're looking at the free-agent market every year, and there are always areas of improvement. The free-agent market is certainly a big thing we look at. We're going to have plenty to spend and we're going to enter into it.
"We know we're expected to field a championship-caliber team and we're going to do what it takes to do that, so if we have to get creative in a trade, or if we have to go out for a big free agent, we're going to do it. We do have some money coming off." -- Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner to 1050 ESPN
Meanwhile, Back Over in England, Sox Owner John Henry's Busy Rebuilding the Liverpool Football Club...
"We have recently read stories about our intentions for the forthcoming January transfer window and have a sense of humour about this type of inevitable speculation.
"As everyone knows we are new to English football, but not to sport, and we are studying all options. Opportunities and value will drive spending in January and in the future.
"Our clear focus from day one of our ownership has been - and will be - to improve the club and focus on what it will take to put Liverpool FC consistently in a position to challenge for trophies.
"We intend to build this club the right way.
"Stories about our top players leaving are destructive and unwarranted but we realise that this kind of speculation is also common.
"We intend to build on the strength of the current squad, not undermine it. And I can reassure our supporters that we have no intention of allowing the team to be weakened going forward." -- Red Sox owner John Henry, Oct. 29, Telegraph.co.uk
Meanwhile, Look Forward to Another Bridge Year in Boston Sounds Like Sox Young Talent Won't Be Ready Until 2012
Question: Last year became known, unfortunately, as the Year of the Bridge . . .
John Henry: "Not because of us. When you are a general manager, you say a lot of things and somebody can pick up on one and make it a major issue. [Epstein] said that because we felt that by 2012 we�d have some young talent that�s going to be ready. I don�t know why that was perceived as a negative. For me it was a positive." -- John Henry, Tom Werner Q&A on the plane with the Globe's Stan Grossfeld
Option Call: Sox Agree to Pay Ortiz $12.5 Million to DH in 2011
Will the 'O' in Ortiz Stand for 'Overpaid? Epstein: Ortiz 'Cool' with One-Year Extension Sox GM Has No Problem Paying for Past Performance Maybe Manny Can Be the Righthanded DH Needed to Platoon with Papi? This Just In: Vlad Guerrero Would Love to Get a Sweetheart Deal Like This Oh, Someone Tell Papi the April Games Count, Too
"I'm not comfortable coming back just for one year because it's going to be the same roller-coaster that I had this year." -- David Ortiz, Oct. 29, to Rob Bradford
The Giants Win the Series! The Giants Win the Series!
And It All Happened Because of Red Sox Castoff Edgar Renteria This Just In: The Red Sox Are Actually No Longer Paying Rent-a-Wreck's Contract Brian Wilson: A Zany Closer with a Real Personality, Not a Manufactured One Giants Remind Us That We Once Had a Fun Bunch of Guys to Get Behind ... Before the Red Sox Marketing Machine Took Over the Team and the Nation And By the Way, Lincecum Obviously Deserved the MVP
"Maybe I am more in focus. I know it's a different game, because if you make a mistake, you're going to pay. That's why my focus is different, my level is different, I just want to be the guy to do something. ... I can't explain that. I was ready to play." -- Edgar MVP Renteria... why can't we keep shortstops like that?
The "Curt�s Pitch
for ALS" program is a joint effort by Curt and Shonda Schilling and The
ALS Association Mass Chapter to strike out Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig�s Disease.
