News, Views, Links and more from the Red Sox Wire.

BOSTON BLOOD SOX CORA, GONZALEZ, MANNY, MUELLER, WINTER LEAGUES The Red Sox extended infielder Alex Cora's contract for two more seasons. The deal is worth $4 million total. Cora will most likely remain a bench player backing up a guy like Dustin Pedroia. Cora is far from an offensive threat, but he can play short-stop, third base, and second base effectively. He's a solid utility middle infielder.

Speaking of effective short-stops, Alex Gonzalez has just signed a three year deal with the Reds worth somewhere around $15 million. READ MORE!


EL GUAPO’s GHOSE 2007 IS ONE OF THE EIGHT OR ONE OF THE TWO? "We're trying to build a self-sustaining baseball operation that can get into the playoffs on an annual basis. That was the goal when we took over at the end of '02. We want in eight out of 10 years. And to win a couple World Series during that time."

2006 was one of the two. John Henry called it a “transition year.” If the Sox played October baseball, they would have gotten lucky. What is not known is if the Sox brass see 2007 as another “transition year.” The eventual (it will get completed) multi-year signing of D-Mat will not be an indicator for 2007. The subsequent transactions will tell us the Sox expectations for 2007. And it all begins with Manny. READ MORE!


OVER THE MONSTER Roster Locks and Hopefuls Here are our holes, so to say:

C - Jason Varitek; 1B - ??? (Kevin Youkilis); 2B - Dustin Pedroia; SS - ??? (Pedroia, Julio Lugo, Alex Cora); 3B - ??? (Mike Lowell); LF - ??? (Manny Ramirez); CF - ??? (Coco Crisp); RF - ??? (Wily Mo Pena, Trot Nixon, JD Drew); DH - David Ortiz

SP - Curt Schilling; SP - Josh Beckett; SP - Jonathan Papelbon;SP - Tim Wakefield; SP - ??? (Daisuke Matsuzaka)

RP - Mike Timlin; RP - ???; CP - ??? READ MORE!

JOY OF SOX AL MVP? The American League Most Valuable Player will be announced on Tuesday.

Derek Jeter easily topped the MVP voting at Baseball Prospectus (from both the staff and public) and he won the Aaron Award as the AL's top offensive player. This gives me a pretty good feeling that he'll also be the favourite of the BBWAA.

Back in mid-September, many scribes proclaimed Jeter as the logical choice, especially after David Ortiz missed eight games with heart palpitations. In mid-September, Bob Ryan of the Globe wrote: "It would be a mockery to anoint anyone else." READ MORE!

*** BOSTON GLOBE ***
Gonzalez to Reds (NICK CAFARDO) Shortstop Alex Gonzalez agreed to a three-year deal worth $14 million-$15 million with the Cincinnati Reds. READ MORE!

*** BOSTON HERALD ***
D-Mat bid unifies Sox (TONY MASSAROTTI) A year ago, of course, the general problem for the Red Sox was that the business operation and the baseball operation could not see eye to eye. That led to the spectacular feud that was the Theo Epstein Affair, a very public mess that had the... READ MORE!