Daily Archives: November 26, 2003

How about this for an eye-grabber:

It sounds like voodoo economics, but it’s possible that the only way the Red Sox can afford both ace Curt Schilling and closer Keith Foulke and still stay under the luxury-tax threshold of $120.5 million for 2004 is by making another deal — one that nets them Alex Rodriguez and the biggest contract in sports.

Gordon Edes sure knows how to get the reader’s attention. I will continue to play the paranoid patsy until Rodriguez is not a Red Sox. Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Curt Schilling will talk turkey today. Schilling is in the driver’s seat here. At this point, the Sox will look bad if they can’t reel him in. Look for Schilling to ask for the anything he wants, and look for “Theo and the Trio” to give it to him. Boston hopes to satiate Red Sox Nation will dreamy headlines for the holiday tomorrow.

First we’ll use Spahn, then we’ll use Sain.
Then an off day, followed by rain.
Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain,
And followed, we hope, by two days of rain.

—Gerry Hern, sports editor of The Boston Post, 1948.

There are several fitting appreciations of Warren Spahn today: Tom Boswell, Ira Berkow, and Rob Neyer all pay their respects.

The mainstream media has been nothing less than shrill in their coverage of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, especially baseball. Lisa Olson adds her two-cents today with a piece on Barry Bonds’ personal trainer and Jere Longman has a cautionary tale about steroids and a Texas teenager in the New York Times. For a more measured and clear-headed take, check out Rob Neyer’s latest, as well as a lengthy, and exceedingly well-researched piece by Dayn Perry (thanks to Mike Emeigh at Baseball Primer’s Clutch Hits for the link). Perry’s article is almost a year old, but it still holds up and should be required reading for anyone interested in the steroid issue.