Josh Beckett deal is a big deal for Boston's future

With Josh Beckett's contract expiring after the 2010 season, there are talks looming to sign the Red Sox ace to a long-term deal to keep him with newly signed ace John Lackey and lefty cancer survivor Jon Lester.

According to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe the "talks remain positive." And on a scale from 1-10, Becket and the Sox are between a 7-8.

There has been speculation of Boston only wanting to offer a four-year deal, but because of Lackey's five-year signage, there's no reason why Beckett and his agent will push for the same. However it will require more money.

How important is it to lock him up? Well, no one wants a repeat of what happened with Jason Bay and if the two sides cannot reach an agreement either before or at the very beginning of the season, things won't be looking good.

Not securing Beckett would be another big blow to Sox management. And not knowing with the current state of Daisuke Matsuzaka and uncertainness of Clay Buchholz as a full-time major league starter, the pitching rotation could be a huge question mark for 2011.

Obviously fans are more focused about this season. It's something to keep an eye on though.

Boston Globe sports section and writer honored by Associated Press Sports Editors

The Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) released its writing and section contest winners on March 12 with The Boston Globe taking honors for Top 10 best Daily sports and Sunday Sections in the over 250,000 circulation count.

The Globe also received an honorable mention for Special Sections.

Globe sportswriter Shira Springer also received two individual awards in the Explanatory and Projects categories.

Visit the National Sports Journalism Center for complete results in the 100,000-250,000 circulation, 40,000 - 100,000, under 40,000, and under 20,000.

How will Red Sox fans greet Jason Bay on St. Patrick's Day?

It's coming up and it's only spring training.

Jason Bay will be returning to face the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, March 17 in familiar territory in Fort Myers, but as a member of the New York Mets.

Now it's not a mystery that Bay and the Red Sox organization left on bad terms, however how will the fans receive him?

Will Bay be booed? Or will he be cheered for what he did in his short duration in a Boston uniform?

Maybe some of these comments will help jog the case:

On the Red Sox wanting medical contingencies:

"Listen, I could understand the club wanting all these medical contingencies if I had spent any recent time on the DL,” Bay said, “but I had no history of being a risk for injuries and I wasn't hurt."

Peter Gammons pointed out that when the Sox were prepared to sign Bay to a four-year $60 million deal that an MRI raised concern about his knees.

With that, Bay had to prove to ownership that he'd be healthy for all four years, but refused to oblige.

Boston team physician Dr. Thomas Gill is one of the best in the business so when these red flags popped up they followed his expertise. Of course if Bay's knees do fall out in a couple of seasons Gill and the Red Sox will look like geniuses. 

So again, there might be some mixed feelings about the Jason Bay situation in Boston, but it wasn't like the Manny situation, or even Nomar (but that ended with a happy ending).

Red Sox fans frustrated by NESN Technical Difficulties

WE ARE EXPERIENCING

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

PLEASE STAND BY

This is what Red Sox fans saw when they turned on their televisions to the New England Sports Network to eagerly watch Clay Buchholz take the mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates for a 1:05 exhibition start.

In the NESN Edge bar at the bottom of the screen it said that the problem would be resolved shortly. That was clearly a joke.

Soon score updates were being shown in the bar and what inning it was.

Well that's just delightful.

It wasn't until the bottom of the seventh inning, which was around 3 p.m. Eastern Time that the picture finally came up. I was expecting to see rain, thinking that was the issue, but it was bright sunshine there in Fort Myers.

It seems like every year this happens. NESN has technical difficulties and fans can only watch partial games, which is ridiculously frustrating. You'd think by now they'd solve this ongoing issue.

Down with the blue screen guys, or at least don't promise to broadcast games, but not provide the service.

Nomar Garciaparra retires as a Red Sox

There were rumors speculated earlier before the start of spring training and today they were confirmed.

Nomar Garciaparra signed a one-day contract with the Sox minor league organization so he could retire as a member of the team after 14 seasons in the big leagues, (eight and a half with Boston).

I guess this really shows of signs that we're all getting old, but on a personal note it's showing that I am getting older.

I was 11-years-old when Nomar was a rookie and I clearly remember saying how weird his batting routine was with the whole, "glove thing." Needless to say he'd end up being my favorite player with parafinalia from jerseys to baseballs, posters, cards, figures, beanie bear, bobble head, wallet, and newspaper clippings.

I couldn't even think of the day of when he'd retire from Major League Baseball. Now 13 years later and 24-years-old I just witnessed my all-time favorite baseball player retire. But the sad thing is, is that Nomar could have been an even better player. 

Sure he put up some amazing numbers and has some good hardware, but he didn't win the World Series as a member of the Red Sox and injuries destroyed him later in his career especially after being traded on that dreaded July 31, 2004.

It's really a sad story and one I literally witnessed. A downfall of a great baseball player, but in the end I guess it did have a happy ending.

Nomar said he plans to be an ESPN analyst and be on Baseball Tonight and also announce some games. 

The next question is, is he a Hall of Famer? Time will tell and I'm not really sure how to answer that question right now, but I believe everything Red Sox fan will not forget 3/10/10.

2010 Red Sox Spring Training TV Schedule

Thanks to Ken Fang over at Fang's Bites, here is the Red Sox Spring Training TV Schedule.

All of the games will be televised on NESN.

The seven-game schedule features three weekday afternoon games including tomorrow (March 3) and the rest on every Saturday and Sunday starting next Saturday (March 13).

Wednesday, March 3 - Boston College vs. Red Sox at Fort Myers, FL, 1
Saturday, March 13 - Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Red Sox at Fort Myers, FL, 1
Sunday, March 14- Red Sox vs. Minnesota Twins at Fort Myers, FL, 1
Wednesday, March 17 - New York Mets vs. Red Sox at Fort Myers, FL, 1
Saturday, March 20 - Houston Astros vs. Red Sox at Fort Myers, FL, 1
Sunday, March 28 - Minnesota Twins vs. Red Sox at Fort Myers, FL, 1
Monday, March 29 - Tampa Bay Rays vs. Red Sox at Fort Myers, FL, 1

If you're curious about the rest of the AL East, you can check it out on Fang's Bites.

And thanks to today's weather forecast hovering around or perhaps above the 50 degree mark, it feels more like spring training has arrived in Massachusetts. 

Update 12:53 AM: Ian Bethune over at Sox & Dawgs has an extended schedule including two ESPN games and radio broadcasts.

Tuesday March 30 - at Tamp Bay Rays 1, ESPN

Thursday April 1 - vs. Minnesota Twins 1, ESPN