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I'm often asked why my hatred for Nomar Garciaparra runs so deep. Well, this article sums it up pretty succinctly. He's really a loathsome man.

Pre-Blogger I wrote an article about why I hated Nomar so much. Unfortunately, most of those articles went the way of my old hard drive. To sum it up, Nomar is a moody asshole. I remember a quote from a Sox player who was a rookie in 2004 (I always assumed it was Youk): "Getting to know my hero Nomar was the biggest disappointment of my life." I thought that was pretty telling.

Now it's sad for an SI columnist to call him out for the same behavior he displayed in Boston. It proves that it wasn't Boston or the new owners who made him this way. He's just a surly, grumpy, pathetic man.

Stop trying to defend him. It makes you look pathetic, too.

Red Sox Get A Colon-oscopy

See what I did there, mixing up the name Colon and a surgery with the same name? Man, I'm a genius. I'm sure no one's ever done that before.

Anyway, the Sox signed Bartolo Colon to a low-risk, high reward minor league deal. This is a brilliant move.

Seriously, Colon is just three years (and about eighty pounds) removed from a "Cy Young" season. I put that in quotes because he didn't deserve it, but whatever. It was a very good season.

Next we're going to hear about "how great he looks" in spring training, and "how he really dedicated himself to his conditioning" in the offseason. I can't wait for that shit.

Oh, and I can't wait for his 1.62 WHIP and .857 OPSA.

But this really is a move that can pay huge dividends. Just like that Wade Miller deal.

David Ortiz's 7-Year Trend

So I got looking at David Ortiz's Baseball Reference page, and two things jumped out at me.

First, take a look at some of his seven-year trends:

2001: .324 OBP/106 OPS+
2002: .339/120
2003: .369/144
2004: .380/145
2005: .397/158
2006: .413/161
2007: .445/171

Amazingly consistent improvement. 5 consecutive top-five MVP finishes.

Secondly, after consecutive years of Mo Vaughn being his Most Similar Player By Age, Carlos Delgado was his most similar at age 31. That's a frightening trend. Actually, Delgado remained productive through age 34 and is now coming off his worst season as a pro, at age 36. So I guess it's better to have been more similar to Delgado than to continue to follow Mo Vaughn's career trajectory.

New Blog!

Check out a new blog I'm co-writing! It's called KABOBAST - Kick-Ass Blog Of Boston-Area Sports Teams - and is co-written by myself (now under the name Stat Albert), and two of my friends.

It Looks Like Timmy From Seinfeld Was Right

Allow me this brief aside to point out that one of my favorite all-time scenes from Seinfeld turns out to have scientists backing it up. "From now on, when you take a chip - just take one dip and end it!"

In the immortal words of that one-appearance character Timmy, "From now on, when you take a chip - just take one dip and end it!"

Bedard/Santana Trades Are Win-Win For Sox

If you're a regular reader here, you know how I felt about the proposed trade for Santana. I didn't like it. So it was with great relief yesterday when I heard that the Mets had landed him.

But it made me curious: why would the Twins take four non-MLB-ready players, none of whom has big upside, over the packages the Sox and Yankees were offering? By all accounts, these offers included four MLB-ready players each, with at least two huge prospects in each deal. Why would they do that?

Here's my conspiracy theory: the Sox and Yanks didn't really have any deals on the table. Here's how it worked: Epstein calls the Twins GM and says, "Look, I don't really want to give up all these guys, but I want the Yankees to think that I'm willing to. So we'll leak a report that we're willing to give up these 5 guys and you say you're considering it. It's a win-win, because you can go to the Yankees and see if you can get something better."

Then Brian Cashman calls and says, "Listen, I'd like to leak a report that we're willing to give up a better package of players than the Red Sox and we want you to say you're considering. It's a win-win, because you can go to the Red Sox and see if you can get something better."

So for about three months they sparred back and forth, hoping the other team would give up a bigger package of prospects and the $120 million or so it'll take to sign him. In the end, Santana ended up going to the National League, which benefited both teams.

And now it appears that Erik Bedard, one of my favorite pitchers, is going to the Mariners. To me, sending Santana to the NL and Bedard to the AL West is a huge gain for the Sox. These guys are two of the best pitchers in the AL and combine to average three wins per season against the Sox. Getting rid of them and replacing them with average to below average pitchers should increase the Sox win total. In theory.

My Condolences to Bob Ryan

I've never liked Bob Ryan's writing or television personality (although he seems like a nice guy), but I was floored to hear that his son had died overseas. My condolences go out to Mr. Ryan and his family. I have a son who is almost four and I can't imagine losing him.