El Gordo agrees to a minor league deal with the Yankees

Bartolo 'El Gordo' Colon has agreed to a minor league deal with the New York Yankees. In December, Matt posted that the Yankees were interested in him, and now it appears that the Yankees will indeed be building a new cafeteria just for Colon and Sabathia.

Pujols wants 10 years and $300 million

Oh Albert, puhleeze! $300 million?! You have GOT to be shi kidding me!

Pujols and his agent Dan Lozano seem to be following pages torn from A-Rod and Jeter’s salary demands playbook, (co-authored by Scott Bora$$) Maybe he just wants to play in Da Bronx? The Yankees are about the only team who would be able to match that demand. The Cardinals may have the wherewithal to pony up that kind of money now, but a contract that size would have to be back loaded so much that it would probably tip the Brinks truck over bassackwards. Surely they will not follow the same path as the Washington Nationals did with Jayson Werth. A contract that size could cripple the Cardinals 6 or 7 years down the road!

If you stay in St. Louis making that kind of money don’t expect to be on a contending team any more. The Cardinals won’t have any room left on their payroll to pay the other 8 guys on the field with you, never mind fielding a team worthy of contention.

Albert, really, just what do you plan to do with $300 million that you couldn’t do with $100m or $200m?

Josh Beckett got married this past weekend

Josh Beckett married his rocket scientist fiancee (seriously!) Holly Fisher this past weekend. According to their registry, they were to be married on February 1, but it looks like they moved it up 10 days perhaps to avoid paparazzi photog vultures. It was a country affair with country singer Zona Jones singing his hit "Two Hearts, One Love" to the couple at their reception.

UPDATE: The nominees for the New England Sports Blog Awards were announced last night and Fenway West was nominated for "Best Red Sox Blog." Voting takes place from February 2nd to February 14th and fans can vote once each day. Please take a moment and show your support for Fenway West by following the link below and casting your vote. Thank you for helping make this nomination possible and for your continued support.

http://www.trufan.com/nesb_vote

Brian Cashman: The Boston Red Sox are a better team

New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman made an appearance at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York this morning and made several interesting comments to WFAN's Mike Francesca. A Yankee fan asked if Derek Jeter would remain at shortstop for the duration of his 4 year contract, to which Cashman responded that

"[I would] be surprised [if Jeter stays there for the duration], but that doesn't mean it's not possible. I like corner outfielders and corner infielders who have power, so for me, if he's ever gonna move, it's probably gonna be a Robin Yount situation. “But we don't have to deal with it at this point. We'll deal with it when we have to. There is no plan to put Jeter in that mix or to move him to third or any other position. It's not something we have to deal with right now.”

Lost in all the ado over Jeter switching positions was Cashman stating that Joba Chamberlain would not be moving back in to the rotation. Cashman's most interesting comment of the session was his response to Francesca's direct question, which team is better right now, the Red Sox or the Yankees? Cashman responded, "[The] Red Sox, but we have a better bullpen."

I'm sure that Cashman's bullpen remark will send Red Sox beat writers and bloggers everywhere scurrying to analyze both fire crews.

Box score from the past (08.27.67)

In the summer of 1967, the Red Sox were in a torrid pennant race with the Twins, Tigers and White Sox. After finishing next to last in 1966, no one would have ever predicted that the Red Sox would be sitting on top of the American League standings one year later.

In the 1st game of a Sunday doubleheader, Jose Tartabull made 'The Throw' from RF to home plate to nail Ken Berry who was trying to tag up from 3B. This was a critical game in the pennant drive of 1967, and this play is probably the highlight of Tartabull's career. He went on to play in all 7 games of the World Series that year, starting in 3 of them. He is also the father of Danny Tartabull, who was an All-Star and played 14 seasons in the big leagues.

In 2001, that famous throw was immortalized in a fiction novel entitled "Tartabull's Throw" written by Henry Garfield.

I distinctly remember watching that game on a Sunday afternoon at the beach house that summer. There was only 1 weekend left before school resumed. I feel lucky to have witnessed one of the greatest plays in Boston Red Sox history as it happened.

Manny Delcarmen at West Roxbury High School

It's amazing some of the buried treasure you can find on the youtube!

UPDATE: The nominees for the New England Sports Blog Awards were announced last night and Fenway West was nominated for "Best Red Sox Blog." Voting takes place from February 2nd to February 14th and fans can vote once each day. Please take a moment and show your support for Fenway West by following the link below and casting your vote. Thank you for helping make this nomination possible and for your continued support.

http://www.trufan.com/nesb_vote

2 Idiots Reunited- Damon & Manny sign with Rays

Jon Heyman of SportsIllustrated.com is reporting that 2004 World Series Red Sox players Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon have agreed to terms with the Tampa Bay Rays.Damon will earn $5.25 million in 2011 and Manny will earn $2 million.Neither player was offered arbitration so no other team lost compensatory draft picks.