Marlon Byrd Is Here To Save The Red Sox

Twitter absolutely blew up this afternoon in Boston with reports that the Red Sox were close to acquiring Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd. It's not big news but it gives us something positive to talk about.

Well after today's nightmare of a loss, Boston made it official as they dealt reliever Michael Bowden and a player to be named later to Chicago for Byrd and cash considerations.

I was shocked how many people weren't into this move; granted Byrd is nothing special but have they seen who's been patrolling the outfield at Fenway? Jason Repko, Nate Spears, Darnell McDonald. All fringe Major Leaguers at best. Byrd was an All-Star only two years ago with the Cubs and he has the ability to play center field.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford won't be back for a while so Byrd should be an adequate stop gap until the stars return. In 10 MLB seasons (Phillies, Nationals, Rangers, Cubs), Byrd has 1040 hits, 516 runs, 81 home runs with 438 RBIs. His career splits are .278 batting average/.337 OBP/.416 SLG.

Keep in mind that Bowden (who was recently designated for assignment) is useless and he was never going to do anything for the Red Sox plus the Cubs forked over most of Byrd's salary. So what's not to like about this move? It's basically no-risk and they could get some decent production out of Byrd, who should be motivated to perform for his new club.

2009 and 2010 were his best seasons. With Texas in 2009, he had 20 home runs and 89 RBIs with a split of .283 batting average/.329 OBP/.479 SLG. He made his only All-Star appearance in 2010 with the Cubs. He set career-highs with 84 runs and 170 hits. His power numbers went down (12 homers, 66 RBIs) but he became more selective at the plate (.293 batting average/.346 OBP).

To make room on the roster for Byrd, Spears was designated for assignment. Let the Marlon Byrd experience begin!

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Jacoby Ellsbury will steal your heart

What better way to heal the fresh wounds provided by yesterday's Celtics loss than a weekend sweep of the Yankees?

The Red Sox (12-6) won their tenth in a row, 4-1 last night at Fenway and in the process won the third and final game of the three game set vs. New York (9-9).

Friday night featured Jason Bay's two-run tying homer off Mariano Rivera then Kevin Youkilis' walk-off shot in the 11th. Saturday was an 16-11 marathon victory. Last night was pretty dull for the most part except for one play in particular.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 runs, hit, 2 stolen bases) deftly stole home plate in the fifth inning as Andy Pettitte (2-1) and Jorge Posada didn't notice/took too long to throw home and tag Ellsbury. That gave Boston a 3-1 lead that was given one last boost on the next pitch as J.D. Drew doubled home David Ortiz.

Brett Gardner gave the Yanks a 1-0 lead in the third with a sacrifice fly. Ortiz tied it with a sac. fly of his own in the third before giving Boston the lead with an RBI double in the three-run fifth.

Justin Masterson improved to 2-0 with one earned run in 5.1 innings. He gave up four hits, one walk and struck out four.

Last night served as a reminder why the Red Sox have become baseball's model franchise while the Yankees continue to falter in the new millennium, no matter how much money they spend.

Boston obviously spends a ton of dough too but they've developed a top-notch farm system. Home-grown talent like Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon, Masterson, Jon Lester, et. al have proven to be great Major League players.

New York gets the big names but they fail to produce at the same level that they used to or they disappear in October (see: A-Rod).

Since the bullpen was so taxed from the weekend, rookie Michael Bowden was called up. All he did was pitch a scoreless seventh and eighth after another rookie, Hunter Jones, got the last two outs in the sixth. Takashi Saito got the save since Papelbon had the night off.

The Yankees will get better whenever A-Rod returns but they still have the worst middle relievers in baseball. It's like they don't realize anything from past mistakes.

Boston hits the road for nine games, starting with three in Cleveland beginning tonight.