El Guapo's Ghost Rambles on about the Red Sox

SORRY FOR NOT POSTING

But nothing has been blog worth a.k.a. an interesting Red Sox topic that I have a different angle on. I find repetition annoying and not valuable. If you do miss El Guapo’s Ghost, follow me twitter where most of my random rumblings are now being published. Also, read my take on the 2010 Red Sox during a NESN blogger roundtable.

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I’ve been asked to post about a raffle to support Journey Forward. Journey Forward is a non-profit gym that helps people with spinal cord injuries recover. The raffle includes the following prizes:

Winner and a guest will enjoy 2 tickets (1 each) to the Boston Red Sox March 27, 2010 Spring Training game against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Field in Sarasota Florida and 2 tickets (1 each) to the March 28, 2010 game against the Minnesota Twins at Palms Park Field in Fort Myers, Florida.

Winner and a guest will enjoy dinner with Jason Varitek in Florida

Winner will receive $1,500 for travel and other expenses

Winner and guest will each receive an autographed Jason Varitek 8 X 10 Photo

The tickets for the raffle are only $2 each (min 5) and the proceeds benefit a great cause. For more information or to purchase tickets visit Varitek Spring Training Raffle

THE WORSE SUNDAY OF THE SPORTS YEAR GOT ME POSTING ABOUT RED SOX RUN PREVENTION

No disrespect to the NBA and Mark Cuban but the All-Star Game is a performance rather than competition. As for the Winter Olympics, men’s hockey can be watch worthy but that’s about it. My bet is that over 75% of the NFL viewing audience does not watch more than thirty minutes of the Winter Olympics. Just another example of the great investments made by NBC. (BTW, I can’t believe two of NBC’s Thursday sit-coms revolved around Valentine’s Day instead of the Winter Olympics the day before the Opening Ceremonies?) So I’ve got time to post…on the Red Sox winter emphasis on defense.

The Sox needed to improve their glove work as they were 19th in Park Adjusted Defensive Efficiency last year. By all accounts, the Olde Towne Team did just that with the additions of Mike Cameron, Marco Scutaro and Adrian Beltre. But with the Red Sox rotation being projected to be even more of a strikeout staff than last year, the trio may not get a large number of opportunities to flash their leather. If the Sox flyball tendencies continue, then the impact of Scutaro and Beltre will be limited relative to most other staffs. And we may only witness the full range gain in outfield on the road, as left at Fenway is by the smallest in the Majors. Hence, the better Red Sox rotation may have more to do with enhanced run prevention in 2010 than the threesome of defensive upgrades.

CELTICS COULD HAVE THEIR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO

Due to the amount of time lost to key players, it is difficult to be confident in any assessment of the 2009-2010 Boston Celtics as the trading deadline nears. Is the team healthy enough to have a legitimate chance at raising another banner this June? If so, do they need a last piece to push them over the top and what type of player would that be? Danny Ainge and his staff are in a tough situation, but they could have their cake and eat it too.

With reportedly only a hand full of teams in the black, according to The B.S. Report: 1/29 (My guess is that the Celtics are one of the five due to a large TV market and high attendance; plus the Lakers, Knicks, Mavs, Bulls for the same two reasons.), and others trying to shed salary for summer of LeBron and company, many clubs desire The Green’s $31M in expiring contracts. The Celtics can leverage these two advantages if they are willing to take on salary beyond this season.

By trading Ray Allen and his $19.8M salary, the Celtics could acquire a shooting guard signed for multiple years plus another piece to still compete this year. They should not have too much competition as the Lakers and Mavs do not have much coming off their books after this season. As far as the Bulls and Knicks, the duo are not looking to take on 2010-11 money as they want to be big players this summer.

Monta Ellis, who has been rumored, fits the SG profile but no one else on the Warriors roster and ledger works. The same can be said, but to a lesser degree, about Jason Richardson and the Suns. Kirk Hinrich's contract is terrible relative to his production and is not much of an upgrade over a healthy Marquis Daniels.

The best fit would be bringing Caron Butler and Mike Miller to Boston for Ray Allen. It could be tough defensively against quick twos at times, but offensively things could be just fine. And after the 2010-11 season, the Celtics will have the same type of flexibility with $35M in expiring contracts.