No more Coco Crispies

Yesterday the Boston Red Sox traded center fielder Coco Crisp to the Kansas City Royals for relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez. Coco was traded to the Sox during the 2006 offseason to replace Johnny Damon. He was injured in the beginning of the 2006 season, and never was the same player again. He had lack-luster results in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 he was replaced by rookie Jacoby Ellsbury, however he slumped in his first full season as well. Ellsbury did do well during the playoffs in the ALDS, however was replaced by Crisp in the ALCS do to a slump.

Crisp was excited to see the trade, as he wanted to be an everyday player. "I know my agent had told me there was a possible trade in the works within this week, and all that waiting and anticipating to see if it even happens kind of keeps you on edge," said Crisp. "When I finally got the news that I was going to Kansas City, it was exciting."

Last year, Ramon Ramirez went 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA in 71 games in 2008. He had 70 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings. "In Ramirez, we believe we've acquired a young, controllable reliever that can really help our bullpen," said Boston GM Epstein. "He has a plus fastball, 92-95 mph, and an outstanding power changeup. A lot of people think it's a split, it's actually a changeup 87-88, that's a swing-and-a-miss pitch for him against left-handed and right-handed hitters. And a pretty good slider to go with it.

All in all this was a pretty good trade. The Sox needed a better arm in the bullpen. Crisp never really developed the results that the Red Sox wanted, and they already have a better and more valuable center fielder. This was a much needed trade for the Boston Redsox, and the Royals, who need better bat in the lineup since they were 75-81 last year.

Bye Bye Coco! We will miss you!

Snow and MVP talk

It finally snowed today!! It was only flurries, but it's still something. I haven't seen snow in this state for almost two years, so it's exciting for me. It's not even Thanksgiving yet, so maybe we might expect some more later this year!


In other news, Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox was awarded the MLB AL MVP today. I am really excited. He got 16 of the 28 first place votes. So far he's won the Gold Glove award, the Silver Slugger award, a World Series Ring, the Rookie of the Year award , and now the AL MVP in the last two years. He's only 25 years old, and is already a great ball player.

2008 AL MVP Award Voting
Player, Club	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Points
Dustin Pedroia, BOS	16	6	4	1							317
Justin Morneau, MIN	7	7	6	3	3	1	1				257
Kevin Youkilis, BOS	2	4	4	9	2	4	1	2			201
Joe Mauer, MIN	2	8	1	3	4	3	3	2	1		188
Carlos Quentin, CWS		1	4	8	4	4	4		1	1	160
Francisco Rodriguez, LAA	1	2	6	1	6		3	2		2	143
Josh Hamilton, TEX			2	2	3	7	3	2	4	3	112
Alex Rodriguez, NYY					1	1	4	1	4	7	45
Carlos Pena, TB			1		2		2	3	2	3	44
Grady Sizemore, CLE						2	1	5	6	1	42
Evan Longoria, TB						2	2	5	2	1	38
Cliff Lee, CLE				1	1	1	1		1		24
Miguel Cabrera, DET						1		1	4	1	17
Vladimir Guerrero, LAA							2	2	1		16
Jermaine Dye, CWS					1			2		2	14
Aubrey Huff, BAL						1			2	3	12
Milton Bradley, TEX						1	1				9
Jason Bartlett, TB					1						6
Mike Mussina, NYY								1			3
Raul Ibanez, SEA										1	1
Ian Kinsler, TEX										1	1
Ichiro Suzuki, SEA										1	1
Mark Teixeira, LAA										1

A War In Pakistan?

President-elect Barack Obama is not even in office yet, and is already talking about war. However it’s not the was in Afghanistan or Iraq, it’s in Pakistan. Obama believes it is one of out best intentions to send troops to Pakistan to find Osama Bin-Laden and end terrorism in the Middle East. Obama has even gone as to criticize President Musharraf. "I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again," Obama said. "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

Obama’s current plan on Iraq is to withdraw troops and to launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive compact on the stability of Iraq and the region. If Obama believes this will work with Iraq, he should also launch a diplomatic effort to Pakistan. Pakistan is a very powerful country with nuclear weapons and the last thing the American people want is another war. Fellow democrats are also against going into Pakistan. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn) said "Frankly, I am not sure what Barack is calling for in his speech this morning. But it is dangerous and irresponsible to leave even the impression the United States would needlessly and publicly provoke a nuclear power.” New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, "My international experience tells me that we should address this problem with tough diplomacy with General Musharraf first, leaving the military as a last resort. It is important to reach out to moderate Muslim states and allies to ensure we do not unnecessarily inflame the Muslim world.” Even his vice-president, Joe Biden criticized Obama on this. A statement from Biden's campaign said, "Before writing the law, Biden wrote to President Musharraf and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making clear his intent to do so.” The statement then went on to ridicule Obama for not asking Amb. John Negroponte at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in January anything about Afghanistan or the Taliban.

A war in Pakistan is the last thing we need to do right now. The most important thing Obama needs to worry about is the current economic crisis. Going into Pakistan is going to be just as worse, if not worse, than Iraq and Afghanistan. Going into both Afghanistan was at first necessary, but it has become a burden on the military and the American taxpayers. There has been little progress and we are still looking for Bin-Laden. Iraq was a giant faux pas that we cannot get out of. We went there to find WMD’s, which we never found, and do extract Saddam Hussein. We eventually got rid of Saddam, however we are still there. Many of the citizens and even other countries are angry that we are over there.

Obama is going to make a big mistake if he decides to send troops to Pakistan. American was born on principles like using military as the last resort. We need to be speaking to them, not declaring war. Words are the strongest action.

Obama Wins, Chaos Ensues

History has been made here in the United States. A black man is finally president of the United States and I congratulate him for that. It seems like with all of this Pro-Obama propaganda I have seen it seems like most people wanted him to win. My college campus went insane when he was declared the winner. People went into the streets to scream and party. People marched through the streets and down to city hall while chanting and screaming Obama.

However when this was all said and done, is Barack Obama really the right person to be president? It seemed that most people liked him because he was young, better looking, and a better speaker. No one seemed to look at the real topics discussed in the debates. Most people seemed just believe in "hope" "change" and "yes we can". Barack Obama has only been a state senator for about four years and a state legislator for seven years. Is he qualified for a job this big? John McCain on the other hand has been a senator for 20 years, a congressman for four years, and has served in the military and war a war hero in Vietnam.

It seems like Obama might leave broken promises since the only thing people care about was his race, and that he will make change in Washington. Hey Obama, good luck with that because you still have to go through Congress and the Republicans that are still here.

He has a lot of food on his plate that I really don't think he can handle.