Baseball

There was a claim earlier that the Boston Red Sox would be opening up the 2010 season in Sydney, Australia.

With the Boston Red Sox signing of former Toronto Blue Jay Marco Scutaro to (hopefully) become the steady shortstop until Jose Iglesias is ready for full-time duty (approximately the 2012 season).

Boston signed Scutaro for two years, with an option for a third, for $12.5 million.

Let’s get one thing straight. This isn’t a done deal. Yet.

We all remember how close the Mariners have come to signing other free agents over the years (Miguel Tejada, Vladimir Guerrero, Omar Vizquel, to name three), only to have the deals fall through at the 11th hour. So let’s not assume this thing is all locked up, at least not until the papers have been signed.

During Spring Training in 2009, Eduardo Nunez and Ramiro Pena started to get a lot of hype after showing decent hitting skills and making flashy defensive plays. A quick glance at either of their numbers would've told you that neither was a particularly strong prospect, and neither could be counted on as thee Yankees' shortstop of the future.

With the recent announcement from Commissioner Allan Huber "Bud" Selig that he will step down in 2012, it has brought to reality that soon, though not soon enough, we will see the end of the "Selig era" of Major League Baseball.  Though there have been some positive things that have come from Mr. Selig, there are three overpowering negatives that override the positives.

This Column Originally Published At GetOutofMyBallpark.com

With only a few days left until the Winter Meetings (my favorite non-baseball season week of the year), nobody really has any idea what is going on with the Red Sox.

Last year we all knew that they were going to go hard after Mark Teixeira and that the Yanks were going to sign CC Sabathia.

It all stemmed from a tweet from Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus :

In the week prior to the annual Winter Meetings, which will commence Monday in Indianapolis, the Hot Stove began to boil. Chone Figgins, Placido Polanco, Marco Scutaro, Billy Wagner, and Takashi Saito signed news deals for 2010. The Rays, Phillies, Brewers, Mets, Orioles, and Mets (again) added new catchers, either in trade or vie free agency. 

The trade market began a slow simmer, as Tampa traded for Cleveland's Kelly Shoppach, and the Chicago Cubs dealt two spare parts (including slugging reserve Jake Fox) to the Oakland A's for reliever Jeff Gray and a pair of prospects.

This week, the arbitration deadline came and went with few surprises. One player that became an unprotected free agent intrigues me as an option for the Chicago Cubs.

The Minnesota Twins have decided to part ways with Joe Mauer's backup, Mike Redmond.

Redmond's name on the availability list made me wonder who would be the better option to back up Geovany Soto in Chicago this summer between Redmond and Koyie Hill. Let's examine how these two backstops compare.