A Byrd in the Hand

Cleveland's 37 yr old Paul Byrd was aquired by the Red Sox to support the Pitching Rotation. Now Clay Buchholz can go back to Pawtucket and get his head straight, Bartolo Colon can take his time rehabbing, and Curt Schilling can feel less guilty about taking $8 MM to sit on the DL this year. More importantly, the clubhouse is buoyed knowing the Sox brass went out and got someone to help out down the stretch. Let's just hope Byrd can help the Sox staff and doesn't fly South this October like his namesake.

Notes from the Coast:

Bartolo Colon strained his back while taking a batting swing in Inter-League play last week, but like Josh Beckett in Spring Training, Colon's back problem probably has a lot to do with his front. Afterall, he is 5'11 and 245 lbs and the Celtics' Big Baby is 6'9 and only 44 lbs heavier than Colon! Now that Curt Schilling is lost for the year, someone may need to show Bartolo how to do a few sit-ups to insure he stays in the rotation.

• Celts GM Danny Ainge won't taking a vacation anytime soon because this Thursday will be the last NBA Draft in which the Celts have a first round pick for awhile and it may be important to get a decent player, not project, who can learn how to win from the 'Big 3' while they're still around.
• The Red Sox nearly lost only their second 3 game series at home in 6 years when the St. Louis Cardinals took 2 out of 3 in Inter-League play over the weekend. As the injuries and losses pile up, this is a good time for GM Theo Epstein to scope out what the team will need down the stretch before the trade deadline.
• The Boston Bruins could be on the rise. With the help of former players like Cam Neely and Don Sweeney, the B's seem to be defining, uncovering, and stock-piling Bruin-like players in the NHL draft and free agency. My prediction is that they will return again to the Stanley Cup Finals in my Grandmother's lifetime...she is still their biggest fan.
• One last note on the NBA Finals. In commercials, radio stations around LA are congratulating the Western Conference Champion Lakers with end-tag "Wait until Byum gets back!". For the record, even though Andrew Bynum did average 13 pts/10 rebs in 35 games last year, in the two regular season games against the Celtics he only had 12 points & 11 rebounds combined.

Who needs a Bartolo?

For all you nay-sayers who thought that giving Bartolo Colon a 1 year contract was a waste of money, consider this...the Red Sox got off a 19 day/3 country road trip where they finished below .500 and were swept in their series in Toronto. Except for Daisuke Matsusaka, the starting pitching has struggled. John Lester is 1-1, Clay Buchholz is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA, Tim Wakefield doesn't have a win yet, and Josh Beckett has a 9.64 ERA.

Curt Schilling is guaranteed to receive $8 mill this year but not guaranteed to return to the starting line-up before the All-Star break, if at all. Bartolo Colon is only getting $1.25 mill in guaranteed money and before tweaking his oblique muscle last week (an injury that should only sideline him for a short time), the 2005 Cy Young winner had command of 4 pitches and topped out at 96 m.p.h with his fastball in a recent start in Triple A.

Considering most of the other pennant contenders including the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are already searching for pitching help, having Bartolo Colon in your back pocket and possibly the starting line-up is a win-win situation for the Red Sox.

Notes from the Coast:

With Defensive backs Asante Samuel and Eugene Wilson hitting the open market and probably leaving the Patriots soon, there is a rumor that Ty Law may want to come back to Foxboro. In his 13th season, Law is defintely on the down-side of his career but still might perform effectively within the Pats' defensive schemes and could help tutor young players like Brandon Merriweather and Mike Richardson. Also, a return to the Patriots could improve Law's chances of entering the NFL Hall of Fame one day.

• I think Bartolo Colon was a nice pick-up for the Red Sox. The cost is minimal and as Theo always says, it's a long season and you can never have enough pitching. Now with Schilling out for an undetermined amount of time, the Sox will have Colon, Buchholz, Tavarez, and Snyder to help fill in the gap.
• The Sam Cassell watch continues. Should a Clipper buyout occur, it appears the Celtics are the team Sam Cassell would most want to sign with. However, time is crucial because Cassell must be on another roster by March 1 to be eligible for the playoffs. Also, once a buyout is finalized Cassell still would have to sit through a 48-hour period to clear waivers and like sharks in the water, both the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets also appear interested in Cassell's services and have as much as $2-$4 mill more to offer him under their exceptions.
• Interesting to note how the New York Jets are the first team to covet (and at times illegally pursue) Patriots' personell, yet when Jets' Linebacker Jonathan Vilma was granted permission to seek a trade this off-season, the only team he was told not to talk to was the Pats.
• Why is having the best record so important to the Celtics? Because whoever finishes with the second best record in the East has to play LeBron James and the much improved and healthy Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA play-offs.
• Congrats to Terry Francona on his much deserved contract extension. Hard to imagine that his year Francona will become the first Red Sox Manager to skipper the team for 5 consecutive years since Joe Cronin did it 60 years ago. Tito even passes three Managers (Dick Williams, Darrel Johnson, and John McNamara) who all took the Red Sox to the World Series.