This and That

Sunday morning and I finally have a moment to post!  (Nice to be missed, level!)

Three former Red Sox in the news this week.  Two of the stories make me feel pretty indifferent (Foulke to Cleveland and Mientkiewicz to New York) but I’m sad about Mark Loretta signing with Houston.

From an article about Loretta: "We basically said, ‘Do you have any interest at any level at any dollar amount?’ And basically the answer was no."

I suppose that, realistically, I understand this.  If there was a weak link in the Santana Infield last season, it was Mark. 

Okay, so I write that last sentence and then look up Loretta’s numbers for 2006.  I’m just not getting this.  He wasn’t going to ask for a lot of money and he certainly is, currently, a better player than Dustin Pedroia.  So, no, I DON’T understand this.  Unless Pedroia suddenly becomes Kevin Youkilis in the off-season, I’m not getting Theo’s thinking here.  Loretta helped more than he hurt and I’ll really miss him being on the team.  I hope he kicks butt in Houston!

Of course, the Red Sox have bigger issues.  Regardless of what is being reported, I just don’t see Joel Piniero being the closer.  Again, unless something miraculous happens during the off-season and Spring Training.  I still don’t mind having signed him…but I don’t trust that he can be the type of closer we need.  At this rate, we might have to hope that last season was an abomination and Timlin still has some good stuff left.

I hope that Keith Foulke finds whatever the hell it is he’s looking for in Cleveland since, even with a World Series ring, he obviously didn’t find it here.  And Doug Mientkiewicz?  Well, good luck to him.  Just another team he’ll be on where he’ll find a reason to **** about something.

In NON Red Sox-related news, I’m happy about the Yankees trading Randy Johnson.  On a totally selfish basis, mind you.  I always liked Johnson.  When he pitched for Seattle, I would seek out the games on cable just to watch him.  When he was with Arizona, I liked him more than Curt Schilling!  SO his donning pinstripes was a blow.  No way could I root for him in New York.  But that’s all over now!

I still don’t get it.  RJ was the LEAST of the problems the Yankees had last year, and it isn’t as if they’re trying to dump salary.  So why the trade?  In all fairness, I’ve not had a lot of time this week to read all that’s being written about this, so maybe I’m missing something.  But to me it makes no sense to get rid of him.

Off to the Hot Stove, Cool Music concert tonight with Kelly!  These are always fun…and I’ve only missed, I think, two of them since they’ve begun, so it’s something I look forward to! 

Hopefully, I’ll get lots of good pictures that I can share here!

Have a great day, folks!