Too Tense For A Clever Title

The big statement out of the Red Sox camp is: "We're leaving on Wednesday, with or without Matsuzaka." John Henry, Theo, and the rest of the team have made it clear that they're just as big and tough and cold-blooded and logical and cool as Scott Boras is. Congratulations, guys. I'm sure Scott is very very impressed by your display of brinksmanship. Am I the only one that is reminded of that scene in "The Hunt for Red October" where Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) steers his submarine right into the path of the torpedos because he knows they won't be armed yet. Boras is a master of this stuff. Even when other guys try to play the same game, they're still playing by rules that he invented. Theo and John Henry and Larry Lucchino are bright guys. They're not going to do anything totally stupid. But they're not the master. Boras is the master. Sure, he's the devil, too, but he's the master of this stuff. Even though the latest reports are somewhat promising in their proximity (Boras is asking for 6 years/$66 million and the Sox are offering 6 years/$48 million), I'm still thinking this thing is only about 50/50, maybe even a bit less.

There are now also reports out of Houston (some guy's blog, even if he does write for the Houston Chronicle) that the Sox and Roger Clemens have been hot and heavy and are somewhat close to reaching a deal to have the Rocket finish his career in Boston by pitching about four months for the Sox in 2007. Color me unconvinced, but there is some good here, especially if Boras sees that the Sox are prepared to fly right from Southern California to Houston and drop a bag of money in Clemens' lap and solve their pitching problem that way. I'm sure that won't make a major difference to Boras, but if it comes down to the Sox upping their offer to 9 million and Boras dropping his demand to 10 million, the leverage may tilt slightly to the Sox.

And please don't get me started on a rotation that would have Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Papelbon, Wakefield, AND Clemens. I'm a fan. I'm a really big fan. But I'm not believing that one- not even this close to Christmas.