Boston Red Sox

The Lowell Spinners, Class-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, have announced that the team and the city of Lowell have been awarded the 2011 New York-Penn League All-Star Game and are kicking off preparation with a contest to create a logo for the event.

Spinner Vice President and General Manager Tim Bawmann shared the news and was excited to announce plans for the upcoming logo contest. 

As some of us Sox fans might remember, the Evil Empire outbid the Red Sox all of last winter and, in turn, won itself another World Series. Many people, myself included, figured that the Sox would end up responding this year.

Well, my friends, it appears that is not the case. With issues at the dish last year, names like Jason Bay and Matt Holliday on the market, and plenty of revenue, the Sox seemingly downgraded their lineup this year.

As the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes heat up, one thing has become a bit more clear:  Chapman will not be signing with the Yankees, Mets, or Astros.  Chapman is set to decide on a club very soon, and these three clubs have fallen out of contention for the flame-throwing Cuban lefty.

Three doors have been shut.  Which means three more have opened.  Behind door No. 3 stands Boston GM Theo Epstein.  Behind door No. 2 stands Florida GM Michael Hill, and occupying door No. 1 is Anaheim GM Tony Reagins. 

Let's take a look at door No. 2, shall we? 

This article was first reported at Boston Sox Journalism.

The Boston Red Sox certainly proved one thing this offseason: there is no such thing as a "bridge year" in Beantown.

The Red Sox opened their wallet, made investments, and acquired players either through trade or free agency that could be a huge help to the team in 2010 and for years to come. Today, I will be running down each acquisition and what it means for the Red Sox starting in April.

Today, Red Sox traded first baseman Casey Kotchman to the Seattle Mariners for veteran utilityman Bill Hall and a prospect.

Last season, in limited playing time, Hall hit just .218 with a homer and seven RBI.

So, why is this deal so great from a Sox perspective?

Hall will earn $8.4 million in the final year of a four-year deal he signed with the
Milwaukee Brewers. But as part of the deal, the Mariners will pay approximately $7.65
million of remaining salary, meaning  Hall will cost the Sox about $750,000.

The New England Patriots are set to begin their quest for another Lombardi Trophy this weekend and the Boston Celtics are firmly entrenched in another battle for NBA supremacy, and yet if one’s only outlet for information was sports talk radio in Boston, he or she might come away believing it was the middle of July.

Recently, the Boston Red Sox traded utility first baseman Casey Kotchman to the Seattle Mariners for a minor league player and Bill Hall.

Hall hit .201 last year between the Mariners and the Milwaukee Brewers and is scheduled to make $8.4 million in 2010.

In other words, Bill Hall is a complete waste of money.

I'm definitely no Casey Kotchman fan (the worst trade of 2009 was LaRoche-Kotchman trade, in my opinion), and I was begging for his trade all offseason, but is Bill Hall really all that Theo can get in return?

I am a New York fan, plain and simple. I despise the Red Sox and absolutely hate everything they stand for. So why would I be writing a piece trying to diagnose Red Sox front office miscues?

Because the Red Sox are beginning to look a lot like the Yankees of a few years ago.

ESPN.com's Buster Olney is reporting that the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox are nearing a deal which will send 1B Casey Kotchman to Seattle in exchange for at least one minor league player.

Kotchman, a career .269 hitter, has spent parts of six seasons in the Major Leagues with the Los Angeles Angels, Atlanta Braves, and Boston Red Sox. His best year came with the Los Angeles Angels in 2007, when he hit .296 in 443 at bats, clubbing 11 home runs for 68 RBI.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m the same guy who said heading into last season that I thought the Red Sox had made enough savvy moves to challenge the Yankees for the pennant.

Not quite. My prediction that cost-effective reclamation projects such as John Smoltz and Brad Penny would pay serious dividends landed somewhere between woefully off base and numbingly stupid.

So take what you will from this: I really like the team the Sox are preparing to roll out in 2010.