Random Musings on 7.17.08

-Red Sox fans rejoice, David "Big Papi" Ortiz is finally back on the road to recovery and is doing some rehab starts in Pawtucket for the Paw Sox. Hopefully this will finally put to an end all the nonsense about signing Barry Bonds. I would not have been very happy with the Sox if they had decided to bring in an aging, scandal ridden player like Bonds, so I'm glad that Papi will soon be back in the lineup. Not only does he bring his bat back, but his big personality and charisma as well, which was sorely missed when he was out. Welcome back Big Papi!

-In other baseball news, the Yankees have reached a tentative agreement with Richie Sexson, according to ESPN. The Yankees really love those aging power hitters don't they? I'll give them credit, Giambi is doing pretty well this year, but the last thing the Yankees need is a 33 year old first baseman who is batting under .200. The Yankees biggest problem is that they have no young talent, except a few decent pitchers. When is the last time they brought a position player up from the minors who has had a huge impact? Certainly not within the past couple years. Maybe they have the talent, but they better hope it matures soon or their team is going to keel over and die. Players like Jeter and Posada aren't getting any younger and it's starting to show. At least they didn't trade any young prospects for Sexson, but that is a small victory in a relatively stupid signing.

-In a smart free agent signing the New Orleans Hornets picked up Celtics bench player James Posey with a 25 million four-year deal. This makes the Hornets, in my opinion, one of the best two teams in the West easily. They might be the best actually. They have a young core of guys, and Chris Paul is just going to get better. Add the experience and defensive intensity of Posey to the mix and they have a great shot at beating the aging Spurs and Lakers, who really aren't as good as people think.

This leaves the Celtics in an interesting spot. Clearly they didn't want to give Posey that long of a contract for that amount of money, and I don't blame them. Posey is getting a little older and a four-year deal is a long one. There isn't a ton of options for them in free agency, at least not in the role Posey played in the championship run. One could speculate they might try to lure Ron Artest away from the Kings, but I don't think they will go that way. I think move one for the Celts should be to resign Eddie House quickly, and then try to get rookie J.R. Giddens up to speed as quickly as possible and maybe have him ready by next year's hopeful championship run.

-In other sport news, I am quickly becoming aware of how big soccer is in the world. After watching the Euro Cup and cheering Spain on to the championship, I bought a David Villa jersey, and I've already gotten a slew of comments about the shirt itself and soccer. These range from compliments to how nice it is to a man yelling, "No Espana, Italia!" at me in the mall. Just today in Starbucks I got in a conversation with a man about La Liga(The Spanish Club Soccer League) just because I had the jersey on. Clearly soccer has the most international appeal of any sport, and I look forward to getting to know more about it.