If you’re like me, you’ve been holding on to Michael Morse in your fantasy baseball league, waiting for him to come off the DL. He was shut down on April 11th with a torn lat muscle. Sounds painful.

But, according to manager Davey Johnson, Morse will “for sure” be activated by June 8th for their series against the Boston Red Sox.

“There’s some people thinking it might be accelerated ahead of that,” Johnson added. “We’ll see on Friday how he comes out of that game.”

He’s going to start making his rehab starts this week. Micah’s fantasy team could use him in the lineup. Let’s get going here.

Since signing a mega-deal with the Boston Red Sox last offseason, Carl Crawford has been a waste of space. He did next to nothing last year, and now is hurt so far this season. Crawford underwent wrist surgery in January and then had a setback with elbow soreness.

So yeah, he’s not helping the Red Sox again so far this year. But, according to manager Bobby Valentine, Crawford is set to see action in an extended spring training game in Florida on Tuesday.

“He’d like to play at least by Tuesday,” Valentine said.

Crawford’s biggest problem right now is throwing the baseball, which some experts think is an important aspect of playing the outfield.

“He’s taken a lot of batting practice,” Valentine said. “He might have even been part of the inspiration for our play yesterday. He was taking it during the game in the cage. The sound was so loud that I think it inspired some of our guys to hit the ball hard. He was really making a loud noise in that batting cage.”

The Boston Red Sox are aware of what life is like without Jacoby Ellsbury. In 2010, he was on the DL almost all year, but bounced back to have an MVP-like 2011. Well, it’s good that they are used to living without him, because he won’t be playing baseball any time soon.

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Reid Brignac landed on Ellsbury during the Red Sox home opener while throwing the ball to first. Ellsbury has a subluxed shoulder and will be out probably until the All-Star break.

The Red Sox not only lose their leadoff man, but it’s another dagger to the outfield. As it is, the multi-, multi-, multi-million dollar man Carl Crawford is just not getting in some rehab games.

The Sox will recall Che-Hsuan Lin from AAA Pawtucket and use guys like Cody Ross and Ryan Sweeney to plug the gaps until Ellsbury can get healthy. Even if no one is exactly sure when that will be right now.

The Boston Red Sox traded for Oakland A’s closer Andrew Bailey this offseason to replace the departed Jonathan Papelbon, who signed a big-money deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. However, it looks like they’ll have to wait a little bit before they see their closer in action.

According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, Baily will see a specialist to see if he needs to have surgery on his ailing thumb.

“#RedSox closer Andrew Bailey will be in Cleveland on Tuesday to get a second opinion on his injured right thumb,” Abraham tweets.

Bailey had the thumb checked out in Boston and Abraham heard that the news “was not good.” There is no telling just how long he could be out of action if he indeed needs to go under the knife. So yeah, don’t draft him high in your fantasy baseball draft.

Mark Melancon and Alfredo Aceves would most likely get shots at closing duties while they wait for Bailey to come back.

Jon Heyman of SI reported earlier that the Boston Red Sox have made an offer to free agent right-hander Roy Oswalt. Oswalt must have plenty of options out there, because Heyman says that he hasn’t accepted it yet.

“#Redsox made offer to oswalt but are unsure hed go since hes yet to accept. he rejected det. may prefer cinc, tex, stl,” he tweeted with terrible use of capitalization.

But, maybe they are hoping he doesn’t accept the offer. According to Jim Bowden of ESPN, they have also reached out and made an offer to former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Edwin Jackson. And Bowden says they’d actually prefer Jackson over Oswalt.

“Red Sox have made offers for Edwin Jackson and are presently in discussions with him and prefer him over Roy Oswalt according to source,” Bowden tweets with much better use of punctuation and capitalization than Heyman.

Jackson is a nice pitcher, but he’s not on Oswalt’s level when healthy. Then again the “when healthy” part could be what the Red Sox aren’t thrilled with.

Is it physically impossible for the Oakland A’s to keep any good players? Every time you turn around, they are shipping off proven talent for prospects. And they just did it again.

The A’s have sent closer Andrew Bailey and OF Ryan Sweeney to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for RHP Raul Alcantara, 3B Miles Head and OF Josh Reddick. The Red Sox get their closer to replace Jonathan Papelbon, and the A’s get whatever these three become. If they turn out to be stars, great, they can trade them.

The Red Sox had previously shown interest in Phillies closer Ryan Madson. As did the Phillies before signing Papelbon. But, now, it seems like Madson has been left out in the cold as neither team went with him.

So, poor Ryan Madson, who now is still a free agent and may have to sign for less with a team that just doesn’t have a sizable payroll.

If this is true, it would be quite a huge deal. The Red Sox made a huge splash last offseason when they acquired Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, and they look like they might make huge waves again this year.

Ken Rosenthal of Foxsports.com, is reporting that the Red Sox are actively (as opposed to passively? “No, we have no interest. Please…don’t call us.”) trying to obtain Gio Gonzalez and Andrew Bailey from the Oakland A’s.

“Sources: #RedSox trying to get G. Gonzalez, Bailey in “monster” deal. #Rangers, #Rays also on Bailey. #Nationals team to beat on Gio. #MLB,” Rosenthal tweets.

One would have to think that for the A’s to be interested, that the Sox would have to include third-base prospect Will Middlebrooks. The Red Sox, meanwhile, will probably try to sell the A’s on the virtues of John Lackey and his awesome contract. Who will blink first?!

Rosenthal, for what it’s worth (and we think it’s worth quite a bit because he spends his entire day speaking with league insiders) still has the Washington Nationals as the favorites to land Gonzalez. And the Rangers and Rays are still in play for Bailey.

So who knows? The Red Sox could land both or neither. ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

Many thought that with the Boston Red Sox so willing to let closer Jonathan Papelbon walk to Philadelphia, they were sold on having his replacement waiting in-house. But, according to a report, the Sox aren’t necessarily sold on Daniel Bard as the guy to step in as the ninth-inning guy.

According to Dan Knobler of CBSSports.com, the Red Sox are very much in the mix for former Phillies closer Ryan Madson and San Diego’s Heath Bell.

“Red Sox will be in on both Madson and Heath Bell, source says. Not committed to Daniel Bard as closer yet,” Knobler tweets.

Bell seems to like where he is and why wouldn’t he? He’s said he’d be willing to take a home-town discount to stay in San Diego and…again…why not? He’d be pitching for a team that very few care about in one of the most beautiful cities in all of America. He’ll still get paid extremely well, and he’ll have no real pressure and great beaches. Win, win, win.

Madson seems more likely for the Sox, but buyer beware. Madson is probably going to get $40+ million over four years, but has only shown for one year that he can actually close. He’s been a brilliant setup man for several years, but in the past, he took huge dumps on the mound when asked to close when Brad Lidge was injured. It’s a lot of money to commit to a player who’s only good year as a closer came in a contract year. Not saying he can’t continue to do it, but…buyer beware.

As for Bard, he probably has better stuff than Madson and Bell, but is young and struggled down the stretch (okay, who didn’t struggle for the Red Sox down the stretch?). Red Sox aren’t ready to turn to a young kid with a team with championship aspirations.

We mentioned earlier today that the Philadelphia Phillies were reportedly moving on from Ryan Madson and focusing their attention on Boson Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Well, that does indeed seem to be the case.

Because Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com is reporting that the Philies have reached an agreement with Papelbon and he’ll become a Phillie pending a physical.

Salisbury didn’t say what the terms of the contract were, but it’s believed that it will be a four-year deal. Probably in the $40 million range that was being tossed around regarding Madson.

Safe to say that Madson is now the ex-Philadelphia Phillies closer.

UPDATE: It’s a four-year deal approaching $50 million

It was widely believed earlier this week that the Philadelphia Phillies were poised to sign a contract with Ryan Madson for four years and about $44 million. However, some reports say a deal was never in place and that Ruben Amaro backed out of the deal.

Now, according to Jayson Stark on Twitter, the Phillies may be turning their attention to Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon as they move away from Madson.

“Sources say #Phillies showing “serious” interest in Papelbon as Madson deal disintegrates. More to come at ESPN.com,” tweets Stark.

Papelbon had 31 saves last year with a 2.94 ERA, which is decent, but he doesn’t seem to be the same shutdown guy that he used to be. Madson, meanwhile, was pretty filthy all year with 32 saves and a 2.37 ERA. However, you could always look at it like he only did it for one year. Previous efforts to have him close games did not go so well.

We’ll see what happens, but right now it’s looking less and less likely that Madson will be in a Phillies uniform next year. Luckily for him, there aren’t many good closers in MLB right now so he should find a home with a nice pay check.

Chicago Cubs fans must be thrilled about having a new team president that was the mastermind of two Boston Red Sox World Series titles. It’s going to be great! Wait ’til you see who you get now!

Well, while Theo Epstein did some great things for the Red Sox, he hasn’t been stellar as of late. This past offseason, he signed a Carl Crawford, a player the owner never wanted, to a seven-year, $142 million contract. That’s a lot of money for .255 and 11 HR’s. And Epstein’s idea of adding pitching help at the trade deadline was oft-injured, five-innings-per-start Erik Bedard.

But, one of his worst moves came in 2009 and now it looks even worse. Not only is John Lackey’s five-year, $82.5 million contract one of the worst in all of sports, he now won’t be even able to earn any of that money for at least a year or so.

Lackey is undergoing Tommy John surgery.

On one hand, you can say that this makes the 33-year old an even bigger bust as a free agent. But on the other, you can say that it will keep his 5.26 ERA and 1.50 WHIP since signing the deal on the bench.

Great ready, Cubs fans! You thought the Alfonso Soriano deal was bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet!

Theo Epstein’s reign of terror as “the guy that finally brought these whiny fans a title or two” has officially ended. Epstein has resigned as the general manager of the Boston Red Sox and will now take over as the guy who will run the Chicago Cubs.

Here is a joint press release from both teams:

CHICAGO – The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs jointly announce this evening that, effective immediately, Theo Epstein has resigned from the Red Sox in order to become the new President of Baseball Operations for the Cubs. The Clubs also have reached an agreement regarding a process by which appropriate compensation will be determined for the Red Sox and that issue will be resolved in the near term.

Both the Red Sox and the Cubs intend to hold press events on Tuesday, October 25 during which the Cubs intend to announce Mr. Epstein, and the Red Sox intend to announce his successor as General Manager.

Out of respect for the World Series, both clubs have agreed to forego further comment until Tuesday, the next scheduled non-game day. Further information on each club’s media availability for Tuesday will be distributed on Monday.

It’s widely believed that Ben Cherington will be named Epstein’s successor in Boston, although we’ll all find out together when they, you know, tell us. Epstein’s contract with the Cubs is expected to be of the five-year, $18.5 million variety.

There was a report recently that accused players for the Boston Red Sox of drinking beer, eating fried chicken and playing video games in the clubhouse during games. Pitcher Jon Lester sort of admitted to that on Monday, saying that he drank “ninth inning rally beer.”

We translate that to mean that yes this stuff was going on, but I’m going to make it sound like it wasn’t too bad. Just our interpretation.

But, now the Red Sox have released a statement with quotes from some of the accused players, the former manager and the president.

JON LESTER: “The accusation that we were drinking in the dugout during games is completely false. Anonymous sources are continuing to provide exaggerated and, in this case, inaccurate information to the media.

JOSH BECKETT: “I cannot let this allegation go without response; enough is enough. I admit that I made mistakes along the way this season, but this has gone too far. To say that we drank in the dugout during the game is not true.”

JOHN LACKEY: “There are things that went on this season that shouldn’t have happened, but this latest rumor is not true, and I felt that it was important to try to stop this from going any further.”

TERRY FRANCONA: “In 32 years of professional baseball, I have never seen someone drinking beer in the dugout.”

PRESIDENT/CEO LARRY LUCCHINO ON BEHALF OF THE BOSTON RED SOX: “Tonight our organization has heard directly from Jon, Josh, John, and former manager Terry Francona. Each has assured us that the allegation that surfaced today about drinking in the dugout during games in 2011 is false, and we accept their statements as honest and factual.

“As we continue our internal examination to fully understand what went wrong in September, 2011, we appreciate these strong and clear statements from our players.

“It is time to look forward and move forward, rather than allow a reckless, unsubstantiated accusation from ‘anonymous sources’ to mislead the public.”

See? It never happened. They said so!

Okay, so this might take a little longer than we all thought. It seemed like the Chicago Cubs already had a deal in place for Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, and that deciding on compensation was somewhat of a formality.

But, no. A source tells CSN Chicago that talks have gone sour and become contentious.

“Larry Lucchino is one of the most unreasonable people I have ever dealt with and because of his frayed relationship with Theo Epstein he is looking to make a point at the expense of Theo’s happiness and his desire to go to Chicago,” the source said. “I didn’t believe that ownership group for one second when they said that they wouldn’t stand in Theo’s way if he wanted out of Boston. They are furious that he wants out and they are trying to make a point.”

The truth is, the Red Sox owners never said that they weren’t going to stand in his way. They granted permission to speak to the Cubs because that’s what teams do when a higher position is available. However, they could be a little tweaked that Epstein may have had a conversation before he got permission, which owner John Henry seems to think happened.

“There was an initial conversation before formal permission was granted,” Henry said. “I can’t go into the specifics of what’s going on.”

So, this is a lot more complex than maybe we thought. Epstein is one of the best GM’s in all of baseball and has a year left on his contract. Could the Sox be a little tweaked that he wants to leave? Sure. Are they right to try to get the best compensation that they can for letting him loose? Yep.

We’ll see what happens.

Take this how you want, but I kind of take this as a swipe at soon-to-be-ex General Manager Theo Epstein. This offseason, the Boston Red Sox made some huge splashes in free agency, including signing Carl Crawford. Everyone thought that they had pulled one over on the Yankees, who actually got better production from Brett Gardner at a fraction of the price.

But, what’s done is done. The Sox signed Crawford to a seven-year, $142 million contract and what did they get out of that? He played 130 games and hit .255 with 11 HR’s and 56 RBI’s. That’s not $142 million worth of baseball right there.

And now the owner, John Henry, went on a radio station to declare that he never wanted Crawford (who he’s stuck with for six more years by the way).

“[Crawford was] definitely a baseball signing. In fact, anyone involved in the process, anyone in upper management with the Red Sox will tell you that I personally opposed that,” said Henry. “We had plenty of left-handed hitting. I don’t have to go into why. I’ll just tell you that at the time I opposed the deal, but I don’t meddle to the point of making decisions for our baseball team. … It wasn’t a PR move. Neither was the [Adrian] Gonzalez signing.”

Great. Now Crawford knows that the guy who signs his paycheck doesn’t want him there. What was the purpose in saying this? Taking a shot at Theo? Perhaps, but I think it’s a little odd that you take a shot at the architect of two World Series teams when remembering 2003 and that mindset is not hard to do.

While the Boston Red Sox surely don’t want to lose a guy like Theo Epstein, they have to understand that he doesn’t have anything left to do in Boston. He took a team that hadn’t won a World Series title in 400 years and made them a two-time champion. For guys like Epstein, that challenge is over.

So, now it appears that his next stop is in Chicago with the Cubs. According to WEEI’s John Dennis, Epstein has a five-year deal in place with the team in a deal worth more than $15 million.

Now, they need to work out compensation with the BoSox, who would surely never let a guy like this just walk out the door.

The deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the week. The Cubs have not settled on a title for Epstein, but he’s expected to have more power than he did in Boston. How is that possible? He has final say on team logo? He can now say that beer will be served into the ninth inning? No more parking voucher’s for media? EPSTEIN’S CALL.

The Boston Red Sox did a hell of a job finishing up the season this year. Starting September with a huge lead in the AL Wild Card, the Sox managed to blow it on the final day of the season. Not just that, but they had a 3-2 lead late against the Baltimore Orioles at the same time that the Tampa Bay Rays were down 7=0 to the New York Yankees.

What could go wrong?

We know what happened and now it looks like manager Terry Francona could be in his last days as the team’s skipper. Foxsports.com’s Ken Rosenthal is told by MLB sources that Francona is meeting with the brass this morning and that the likely outcome will be that the two sides will mutually part ways.

According to Rosenthal, Francona wouldn’t be fired. The team just wouldn’t pick up his 2012 and 2013 options, which could actually be a good thing for Francona.

There are spots open around the league (Chicago White Sox just…ummm…traded their manager to Florida) and Francona would then be able to get a long-term deal from someone.

He’s got two World Series rings since 2004, so teams could certainly do a lot worse.

During this past offseason, it was thought that the Boston Red Sox destroyed the New York Yankees in terms of adding huge pieces. The Red Sox landed Adrian Gonzalez and also signed Carl Crawford to a seven-year, $142 million contract. The Yankees missed out, because they wanted Crawford too.

Or did they?

According to GM Brian Cashman, they feigned interest in the speedy outfielder just to drive the price up on their rival Red Sox.

“I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved and drive the price up,” Cashman said. “The outfield wasn’t an area of need, but everybody kept writing Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford. And I was like, ‘I feel like we’ve got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.’”

And no one can argue that Gardner wasn’t better than Crawford this year (how many negatives are in that sentence? Sounds like something Peter King would write. There is a 40% chance King would write something in that manner. But that’s a legit 40%). Crawford hit .259 with 18 steals, while Gardner is at .261 with 46 steals. And Cashman is correct…for a fraction of the price.

Cashman said this past offseason that Theo Epstein kicked his ass over the winter. And maybe he did, but the results just aren’t there.

“What I said was accurate: The Red Sox had a great winter, and I had a bad winter,” Cashman said. “But as it turned out, I had a better winter than anybody would’ve expected, including myself.”

Boston Red Sox fans can’t be in a great mood lately. The Red Sox have fallen 2.5 games behind the New York Yankees while losing four of their last five. Now, it’s time to throw some injury news in the mix.

Josh Beckett messed up his ankle on Monday and they called it at the time an ankle sprain. Well, now it seems that it’s not an ankle sprain, but could be something a lot less serious…or a lot more serious. Depends on which chart is right.

“It felt like it was locked up and then it popped in and out of socket or something, I don’t know,” Beckett said. “I’ve never had anything like this. I could wake up tomorrow and feel like playing basketball. We’ll just see.”

That’s not the kind of “certainty” Red Sox nation wants to hear right now. Not from a guy who has been lights out this year with a 12-5 record to go with a 2.49 ERA.

“It was hurting me pretty bad,” Beckett said. “For me to take that much time trying to gather myself, I mean it was bothering me. Usually I’ll try and hurry up and throw another pitch and see if it goes away.”

It’s probably safe to say that the Red Sox are in seriously postseason trouble without Beckett. He was sent back to Boston to see a specialist, so we’ll probably know more in a bit. Stay tuned on this one.

The Boston Red Sox have sent their pricey centerfielder to the disabled list. Carl Crawford was diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain and the Sox aren’t taking any chances.

The strain isn’t thought to be all that serious, but the $142 million man relies heavily on his legs and it’s better to be safe than sorry. And this is a team that is expected to make a deep run into the playoffs, where they’ll surely need Crawford more than in mid June.

Darnell McDonald might be a good portion of Crawford’s playing time out in center. But, it’s possible that Mike Cameron and Josh Reddick could see some action as well.

We don’t know who Lewis Yocum is, but he’s probably pretty rich. He’s also pretty busy at the moment what with all the Tommy John surgeries he’s performing. We mentioned earlier today that he’ll be performing the surgery on Royals prospect John Lamb on Friday, and now it looks like he’s got the Red Sox’ Daisuke Matsuzaka on the schedule for next week.

“Dice-k will have tommy john surgery. Dr. Lewis yocum will perform, probably next week,” SI’s Jon Heyman tweets.

Photo Caption: What are the odds that he even knows who Tommy John is?

While the team has yet to confirm it, Heyman sounds pretty certain. This will keep Dice-K out until sometime in 2012, which just so happens to be the last year of his contract with the Boston Red Sox. Think they’ll re-sign him? Will they pull a move like Clark Griswold’s boss? “Take whatever you got last year and add 20%?” No?

But anyway, Dice-K is going to be out a bit. Tim Wakefield will probably take his spot in the rotation, but Alfredo Aceves could replace him if he stinks up the joint.

If you haven’t seen it yet, just be warned. Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd got popped in the face with a pitch this weekend against the Boston Red Sox.

It was so bad that you could see the horror and concern on the face of Red Sox 3B Kevin Youkilis. Byrd got popped pretty good and is still recovering at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (if you are going to get a nasty injury while playing sports, Boston is a good place to do it. Insane medical care up there).

So, it’s no surprise that the Cubs have placed Byrd on the DL with no timetable for recovery. His left eye is swollen shut from the pitch from Alfredo Aceves and he needed stitches to close some of the gashes on his face.

It looks like Reed Johnson will get the bulk of Byrd’s work while he recovers from a nasty, nasty injury.

The Boston Red Sox have place Daisuke Matsuzaka on the disabled list with a swollen and bloated ERA. There was hope that the swelling on the 5.30 ERA would go down after more starts, but it just wasn’t happening.

“We had our trainers take a look at his ERA and we didn’t initially think he’d need time on the disabled list,” manager Terry Francona said. “But the more we saw it, and the more he tried to pitch through it, we realized that it just wasn’t going to go down. And then you see the inflamed WHIP of 1.47 and we decided that rest was the only way to fix it.”

As of right now, Dice-K shouldn’t need surgery on the WHIP, but team officials are still undecided about the ERA. Many around the organization are convinced that the swelling would go down drastically if he were to spend a significant amount of time in Triple-A Pawtucket, although reports say that they have not had serious internal discussions about that just yet.

Look for Alfredo Aceves to take Dice-K’s spot in the rotation until they can reduce the swelling.

Tampa Bay Rays DH/OF Manny Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring after he was informed that he tested positive yet again for performance-enhancing drugs. Sources tell ESPN that he tested positive for PED’s in spring training and has decided to retire instead of sitting out a 100-game suspension.

“Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program,” a league statement said. “Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed.”

Manny of course tested positive about a year or so ago and had to sit out 50 games. A second positive test (like this one) would be a 100-game suspension. And if didn’t retire and tested positive a third time? Lifetime ban. Gee, wonder why he’s retiring. You think maybe banishment from baseball would hurt his Hall of Fame chances? He might be screwed already.

“The Tampa Bay Rays were informed today by the Commissioner’s Office that Manny Ramirez has decided to retire after being informed of an issue under the Drug Program,” the Rays said in a statement. “We are obviously surprised and disappointed by this news. We will have no further comment on this matter, and our fans and organization will carry on.”

It’s not like he was playing well anyway, he was taken out of the starting lineup this week.

I should preface this with the fact that I don’t really hate the New England Patriots. Yes, it’s annoying that their fans can be so mouthy and they act like they are still sports victims when it comes to championships.

The Celtics just won it all a couple years ago. The Red Sox won in 2004 and 2007. The Patriots won it all in 2001, 2003, 2004 and made it to the Super Bowl again in 2007. Please, fans in other cities would smoke a homeless guy’s pole in return for that amount of championships over the course of a decade (or any amount of time for that matter).

So when I read a bunch of Boston fans pissing and moaning about their loss to the New York Jets on Sunday, it irritated me. You think you are supposed to win championships every year? What is this sense of entitlement in Boston where their fans think that it’s always all about them? Knock it off and enjoy the fact that you have one of the best – if not the best – head coach/QB combinations of all time.

Photo Caption: “Oh my gawd! 16! And! Oh! We’ll nevah lose anothah game again! Evahhhh! I love ow-ah team! Thank gawd we ont Jets fans! They ah losah had ons!”

I live in Philadelphia. We have ONE championship since the Sixers won it in 1983, so don’t tell us or anyone else about your misery. It’s like listening to rich people bitch about how expensive an $8 sandwich is. Shut the fuck up! You have plenty of money. You’ll live without that $8. No one wants to hear it.

So here is the answer to the question: Who is going to the Super Bowl this year?

According to Tim Brown (not the former Oakland Raiders WR) of Yahoo! Sports, the Texas Rangers have agreed to a deal with third baseman Adrian Beltre. The deal is reportedly done pending a physical.

The rumors out there have this as a six-year, $96 million contract. That would be ridiculous. Yes, Beltre hit .321 last year with 28 HR’s and 102 RBI’s. Those are great numbers. But he’s 31-years old and hadn’t hit the 100-RBI mark since 2004.

Remember, time flies. 2004 was a very long time ago. The 28 HR’s are also his most since that same year. His batting average? Yes, the highest since 2004. .276 was his previous high-water mark during that time.

Photo Caption: Many fans are afraid of giving Beltre a contract of this size and magnitude.

And look at his numbers before 2004 as well. This is a guy who has essentially had two years since 1999 that would warrant this kind of contract. This will probably go down as a huge mistake.

This is great. Oney Guillen is the son of Ozzie Guillen and apparently got a lot of his personality from his old man. Bobby Jenks spent some six years with the Chicago White Sox, but he recently went to the Boston Red Sox.

Upon doing so, he ripped his Chicago manager and claimed that he couldn’t manage a bullpen.

“I’ll always respect [Guillen] as a person and give him credit that’s due,” Jenks said. “But I want to play for a manager who trusts his relievers, regardless of what’s going on. …With the way Ozzie was talking this winter and the way he treated me, I don’t want to fight with the guy. How many times did he question my ability, and then saying how he would love to have me back, but I would have to come to Spring Training and fight for the closer’s role like anyone else?”

Then Jenks talked about not being around a negative manager and added, ““I’m looking forward to playing for a manager who knows how to run a bullpen.”

Oney, you could imagine, didn’t appreciate it. So, he took to his Twitter account to tweet the following:

hahah memo to bobby jenks get a clue u drink to much and u have had marital problems hugeee ones and the sox stood behind u

Im sorry thats ur answer to everything. How can u disrespect ur ex team like that.

Wow. So, Jenks is a heavy drinker with marital problems. We think Oney went a little overboard attacking him personally, when in reality, Jenks attacked Ozzie as a professional. Regardless, it’s damn funny.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (dumbest name in sports ever. And that’s saying something when you have a team called the Mighty Ducks playing up the street) have pulled their latest offer for free agent Adrian Beltre. A source tells the Los Angeles Times that “the door is still open” on possibly negotiating a deal with Beltre, but that the supposed five-year, $70 million deal has been rescinded.

Beltre is believed to be wanting a six-year contract, but that would make him 38-years old in the last year of that contract.

As it is, we don’t know that we’d be offering that much money to a guy who hit over .300 for the first time since 2004. And believe us, the other years he wasn’t even sniffing that mark. And in 2009, he hit just eight home runs in 111 games. And his 102 RBI’s last year was the first time he’s cracked 100 RBI’s since 2004.

Buyer beware. Beltre should just take that offer and run with it.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I even pass these reports along. Yesterday, ESPN’s Buster Olney said that the Boston Red Sox were the favorites to land free agent catcher Russell Martin.

Today? He’s saying that the New York Yankees are making a strong push.

“Heard this: The Yankees are now taking an aggressive approach in the Russell Martin conversations. It’s Boston vs. NYY, plus others,” Olney tweets.

It’s not that what he’s saying is wrong, it’s just kind of pointless to chase this crap around. Then again, this is why we read and discuss sports I guess.

So anyway, it seems like the Yanks are hell bent on getting Martin so that they can move Jorge Posada to the DH role. Jesus Montero will likely start in Triple-A to get some more experience.

The Blue Jays and another unidentified team have also reached out to Martin, so we’ll see what happens. Tomorrow, we’ll probably hear that the Blue Jays are the most likely landing spot for him.

If there is a free agent on the market right now in MLB, you can probably link him/her to the Boston Red Sox. They acquired Adrian Gonzalez and then paid the hell out of Carl Crawford.

Now, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Sox are considered the favorite team to land former Dodgers catcher Russell Martin.

“Heard this: Boston is viewed as the front-runner for Russell Martin at this point, according to folks with knowledge of the talks,” Olney tweeted.

The Red Sox do need to do something at catcher, unless you are sold on Jarrod Saltalmacchia, which we aren’t. They lost Victor Martinez to the Detroit Tigers in free agency. And should we even mention the name Jason Varitek? Okay, we won’t.

The Yankees have already extended Martin an offer, telling him that they view him as a starter. So, if the Red Sox don’t do something quickly, they might not even have a chance with Martin.