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ESPN is reporting that the Boston Red Sox attempts to extend the contract of left fielder Jason Bay have stalled, and the team is backing away from the negotiating table.

Now what?

Last year, when the contract situation of Manny Ramirez became one of the ugliest situations between a team and a star player in recent memory, the team traded him in a blockbuster deal that brought in Bay from Pittsburgh.

Now, with Bay's contract expiring after 2009, the team faces the same situation this coming season.

In the 1990s, there were very few certainties in professional sports. Other than escalating contracts and the possibility of a strike-shortened season, the only thing you knew was going to happen annually was the Atlanta Braves winning their division.

The Braves had maybe the best starting rotation of the last 30 years, headlined by Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. They brought players up through their organization, like Chipper Jones and David Justice, and mixed in quality veterans like Marquis Grissom and Terry Pendleton to create a dominating team for over ten years.

The World Baseball Classic seems to be trudging into the championship rounds with a mixed level of enthusiasm. This week, teams from Puerto Rico, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Japan, Korea, Venezuela, and the Netherlands stagger to the finish line playing before thousands of fans disguised as empty seats.

Stories about the classic are all too abundant as writers speak of the event's unpopularity, while MLB officials try to spin the event as a rousing success in bringing a global sport to the globe.

Manny: "Ah mi Dios. Otro día en escuela", (Oh my God. It is another day at school) said nine year old Manuel-ito Ramirez from his squalid little tenement in the Washington Heights section of the Bronx.

Manny thinks: Oye tiene cuidado mi ventana. Estoy en las sombras del Estadio Yanqui... (Hey look out my window. I'm in the shadows of Yankee Stadium...)

Manny: "No quiero ir a la escuela hoy." (I don't want to go to school today)

Narrator: Excuse me Manuel-ito. This is Bleacher Report. Please habla in English.

Bob Gibson was one of the nastiest, most dominant pitchers of his generation. Pedro Martinez was also one of the nastiest, most dominant pitchers of his generation.

The similarities don't stop there.

They're both right handed pitchers. They both were considered head hunters. They also both wore the number 45.

They also, arguably, both can lay claim to the greatest season by a pitcher ever (post-1900, of course). Bob Gibson in 1968. Pedro Martinez in 2000.

The case for Bob Gibson

Bob Gibson's 1968 season by the numbers:

For as little as Americans don't care about the World Baseball Classic, it's obvious watching the games that this tournament means as much as anything to the rest of the countries participating.

And last night, when the Netherlands defeated the favored Dominican Republic, the Caribbean stood still.

The first round elimination is being touted as a national disgrace in the Dominican today, with an entire nation in mourning because their all-world all-star team didn't win the tournament.

The following is a journalistic response to yesterday's story, "The New York Yankees Won't Win and Here Are 26 Reasons Why."

Oh, I so wish I could turn back time. Maybe Sherman and Mr. Peabody can send me back to yesterday with their Way Back Machine so I can reverse all the damage I did to my super Yankee friends? Or does Bleacher Report have a "do-over" button, so I can right all my wrongs from yesterday's story?

The Chicago Cubs acquired right-handed relief pitcher Luis Vizcaino in exchange for fifth starter Jason Marquis earlier this winter. The trade was sold to fans as the Cubs moving a high-paid veteran for bullpen depth.

Time to call bull.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Vizcaino is in danger of not coming north with the Cubs this Spring, likely making him a free agent. Is anyone really surprised?