Josh Beckett. Josh Beckett. Josh freaking Beckett!! For three prospects. For three prospects? For only three prospects! The more time I have had to think about this trade the more I like it. Sure I could nitpick about the fact that he hasn't ever ptiched 200 innings in a season. He will. He's fragile they say. Fragile? Blisters on his fingers. A tight shoulder. This guy is 25 years old. Heading into his prime with 97mph velocity and a nasty curve. This is a good deal and I haven't even brought up the reason why I like this trade so much. How many other pitchers have faced the Yankees in a clinching game six of the World Series in Yankee stadium and managed complete games. oh and did I mention it was on three days rest. Don't forget that he only gave up 5 hits.

My wife hates this trade. Hates it with a passion. I'm sure most if not all yankees fans do. Can the Red Sox without a G.M. prevail in what has become an all out off season war. The yankees will have to sign Damon to put as big a dent into the market. By most reports I've read that doesn't look likely to happen. Any way you slice it this is the Red Sox top brass trying to shine in the post theo era. So be it. I like him. If we can sign him to a long extension he can be an ace for years to come.

I'll miss Manny when he's gone. So will David Ortiz who will assuredly see an increase in walks next year. Why pitch to him anymore? without those two in any kind of back to back combo and a pitcher needs to worry about giving up at least two runs in an inning even if they already have two outs. If you take either of them out the other sees less and less to hit.

I'll take about that when it happens lets just keep thinking happy thoughts of a star ace entering his prime coming to town. This is going to be fun to watch.

I always decide to wait too long after a bad loss before I try to write anything down. I'm always afraid of lashing out or just sounding like an angry fan bitter old pessimist. I end waiting and forgetting to write anything at all. Well, I don't have much left in me today but here goes nothing.

Monday night was a hard loss. A very hard loss. I was upset after the loss to the Chargers at home but that was nothing compared to seeing Peyton celebrate in Gillette. The Pats didn't even show up to play. I haven't seen the Patriots roll over like that in years. I remember what it looks like and I shutter to think that we are headed for more days like the Patriots of old. We'll call those days the B.B. Patriots -- Before Belicheck, Before Brady. That's why I liked reading the comments Brady made about the team not playing as hard as they can. He is the team leader and as such has called out his team. Hopefully it provides the spark this team needs.

I am coming to grips with the fact that we may not see a third in a row team here, but I haven't given up all hope. Some of these injuries will heal (damn I wanted to make it through without using the I word.) and maybe they will hit their stride in mid-December. After all we are living in the W.B. era. With Belicheck. With Brady.

Just the idea of this makes me very happy. I would love for it to happen. The challenge is there and who wouldn't love working for Bill Murray? The crowds he would bring to that park would be incredible and living on the fringe of the Boston Metro area know that they are having a strange surge in popularity right now. Theo and Oil-Can together. He could try and assemble a team with other former Red Sox players along with the new young guys and they would make more money every night than any other team in their league for sure. You don't think that Bill Lee would suit up for a month or so and then sign autographs and smoke some pot with the fans after the game? Who wants to see Mike Greenwell just come D.H. For a couple of weeks so fans could go say hi again. Those two just popped into my head but the list would go one for pages and pages. Don't try and tell me you wouldn't pay a hefty price for that. They could be baseball version of The Harlem Globetrotters. We could put together another team to travel with us while we're at it. New York (wink wink) Generals. They could run around in their pinestripes while we get El Guapo to toss a bucket of confetti at the audience. I think I've gone to far.

But anyway this isn't going to happen and we all know it. People from everywhere are going to be offering him money soon. This guy is going to be a multi-million dollar contract somewhere and the Brockton Rox can't afford him. He will be taking other offers in "the middle of next week" (his words) and the Brokton Rox won''t even be blip on his radar. Its too bad.

Maybe I'm wrong but Theo is going to be G.M. of a Major League baseball team, and soon. This guy brought a world series to the Red Sox! The Nats, the Dodgers, have both been named in rumors. Both franchises that could benefit greatly from a young wonderkind ready to shake things up. He sold Boston on the Nomar trade, he can sell anything. He'll have a job soon. It won't be anywhere near Boston.

Playing Pepper

Go visit ThankyouTheo.com for some heartwarming stories.

Congradulations to Captain Tek!

Another cheater playing for the Yankees.

I started reading Idiot by Johnny Damon. Mu Mom gave it to me for my birthday last month. I'm glad that I have it for my shelf and for posterity's sake but man is this a badly written book. I don't see myself finishing this one. We'll see.

Let Rumors Begin! Manny to Anaheim in three team deal with Arizona. Sox to get Erstad and Glaus. Not really sure how I feel about this one yet. I.m going to have to let that one sink in a bit. Through all the tade talk every single season this one really feels like the end of the Manny era.

I don't know about you but I I am glad that I have Tuesday off of work this week because it is either going to take a lot of alcohol or antacid to get through this weeks MNF game. Maybe Peyton hasa an off night? Yeah thats the ticket!

Perhaps I was a bit hasty in my remarks about Theo's departure yesterday. I didn't have time to read all the materials I could on the matter and I was still abit in shock by the conflicting reports over the course of the day. My apologies. After reading the paper this afternoon I find myself rooting for Theo. I'm not sure I would be able to walk away from my dream job even if the relationship soured to the point that this one seems to have. It looks like the owners of the Boston Red Sox will once again be the villains of Boston. It looks like it will be a loong cold winter. We were used to this before, its a familiar position.

What a fantastic Halloween surprise we got today! At about 2:oopm today a co-worker and I fired up the old computer to see if there was any news regarding the Theo Epstien debacle. Yes I consider a guy who has been doing his job for less than five years to be paid more than anyone else in his field a debacle. Anyway, the report on ESPN.Com at the time was that Theo had signed for 1.2mil/yr for three years. Things were going to be OK. I don't say that meaning I am a huge fan of Theo's; I say that because it is the most important time of the year for the G.M. position except for maybe late July. Someone needs to be putting together a team for the '06 Red Sox. Free agents, stars demanding trades, opportunities slipping by, these things matter. I went back to find out some details at about 6:00pm and what do I see? Theo has decided to resign from the Red Sox hours before his contract was to expire. This is not good. With his assistant already packing his bags for Arizona hiring from within doesn't seem like an option anymore. Does this mean that instead of working on the team roster the winter will be spent filling spots in the front office? I am not feeling very optimistic about the negotiations of Damon I'll tell you that.

Should we be worried? Will Theo's duties be picked up by Luchino (a prospect that scares me to death)? WIll the Sox be stuck at the winter meetings without a full time G.M.? Will Dan Duquette make a triumphant return to Boston only to fill the staff with past their prime former superstars - I'm looking at you Mr. Sosa. Who the hell knows but let's all try to enjoy the ride.

Before twenty-four hour a day sports news and the internet I can remember not thinking about or reading about the Sox from November until after the SUper Bowl. Not anymore. We can find reports now on when Mr. Henry sneezes funny. Sometimes I'm not so sure its a good thing. I don't need anyone giving me things to worry about but the Red Sox seem to do just that.

Theo is gone. In my eyes his departure reminds me of Clemens. This was about money and power. I am all for a guy getting his due but 1.5million is in the top tier of pay scales for G.M.'s. Hell its more money than my wife and I will make in our entire lives but that is beside the point. I just started my job three months ago, can you imagine the look on my boss's face if I demanded a 300% raise even if I did do my job well?

Ah fuck it. Its November and the Patriots pulled out a stunning come from behind victory after playing like crap for three quarters. Instead of worrying about the Sox I'm going to worrying about Indy for a week. Next Monday night is going to be a rough one. I can worry about the sox later.


A few other thoughts:

• How wrong was I when it came to the World Series? Other than knowing that Clemens would disappoint I was pretty much wrong on every other thought. Good thing I'm not a betting man.
• Does anyone know How I can get rid of all the comment spam I have been getting without having to manually go in and delete each one? Let me know at 108stitches {at} gmail {dot} com.
• Where do all these reporters and commentators get off ridiculing Bruschi for his decision saying that he is coming back too early and should think about his family? Were they in the Dr's office with him and his wife or are they just looking for a bit more camera time.
• The Bill Simmons book Now I can Die in Peace... is a fantastic read and I suspect it would be made better if you own the DVD collection of the Red Sox 2004 playoff games. His references to specific plays made all the more better by a less cloudy recollection. Clouded by emotion, by beer, by sheer disbelief. If your a Sox fan you know what I mean.

That's all I got for now but I'd like to thank all the visitors who have hung in there to see the rebirth of 108 Stitches. Drop me a line anytime.

Some thoughts to end the weekend with.

Is it possible that I am somehow rooting for both teams? I keep finding myself cheering, gasping, and shouting no matter who is scoring. I am having fun watching two teams that I am indifferent about play good baseball.



Does anyone else find it weird that Biggio had some sort of surgery so that he never had facial hair again. My wife said she head it on TV but I can't find anything on the internet to confirm. Closest I have is this exchange with Lance Bagwell . . .

But Pettitte is still trying. He had some facial hair showing as he wandered through the clubhouse on Thursday.

Could baby-faced Craig Biggio do it, even if he wanted to?

"No way," Bagwell said.

Other Astros are clean-shaven by choice. Reliever Chad Qualls has some scruff working last week but shaved it off after surrendering a game-tying, three-run home run to Atlanta's Adam LaRoche in Game 4 of the NLDS, leaving only a goatee. Qualls surrendered five runs to the Cardinals on Wednesday night, and on Thursday he was completely clean-shaven.

I am not sure why this bothers me so much but I just don't get it. What is the decision making process for deciding that you never want a beard for as long as you live.


I took all sorts of notes on last nights game until the fourth when my brother who just moved to Chicago called. I spent the next hour on the phone with him talking about Chicago. Could be why I starting cheering for the Sox by last night's eighth.


Patriots had a bye week. I didn't watch any football. Had the Eagles game on in the background but wasn't paying much attention to it.


Its currently the sixth inning of game two but for some reason I see this series going seven. I'm just saying it now. Oh yeah and Roger will suck in all of his starts (if any)

Go Houston????

I took another day to think about my dilemma of who to root for during the Series. I am sticking by my earlier decision to root for Houston rather than Chicago. My brother just moved to Chicago a few months ago but for some reason I just can't see myself cheering for the Sox. It has less to do with them beating my Sox than it does with my aversion to the White Sox. I remember when I was in Junior High school everyone, and I mean everyone, was wearing White Sox hats. It is my understanding that some gangsta rappers wore the hats and the trend took off. This did not sit well with me. I have always been fans of my hometown teams. It just made sense that you root for where you come from. To root for anyone else confused me. Many of these kids weren't fans of the white sox or baseball at all but were fans of someone else who was. I was young but for some reason I just haven't liked the team since. Call me crazy.

Anyway I am rooting for Houston but with limitations and caveats,

• I still am not a fan of Roger Clemens. Let it be known far and wide that I don't like him at all. He was a childhood hero of mine. I wanted to be him and every summer night while playing catch in the street I was and I always struck out the guy at bat with 2outs in the bottom of the ninth bases loaded game seven of the World Series. Every kid who wanted to be a pitcher knows what I mean by this.
• This in no way condones the park that Houston plays in. Who designed that place.? A hill in center? A hill?? I hear that the new Busch stadium is going to have a moat and some sand traps just outside the infield. (says the guy whose team plays in a park with a 37 foot wall a short fly out away to left.)
• Feeling defensive and insecure about my love for all things AL in front of my they-should-get-rid-of-the-D.H. friends I usually avoid cheering for the NL team.
  
• Because of that I really don't know these guys. I didn't start watching them play until last week. No emotional attachments make it really easy for me to jumps ship if they look like crap this weekend.

So looks like I won't be rooting too hard but regardless, with all of the starting pitching that these two teams have this is going to be one hell of a series. I'm looking forward to it.

Go 'stros.

Go Sox!