By Adry Torres
 

New York - Just days before the Boston Red Sox would end their dreadful season, Ben Cherington went on local Boston radio station WEEI and said the team wouldn’t drag their feet in making decisions during the offseason especially after management took its time with the managerial process and hiring of Bobby Valentine.

“I would like to spend less time on it this offseason, that’s for sure,” Cherington would tell WEEI about the way he and the club would handle any upgrades to the team.

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By Adry Torres

New York - I’ve seen my share of dejected, beaten down managers throughout the years after some losses but none like looked like Bobby Valentine,  appearing with a look of clear defeat as he sat down behind the desk inside the manager’s office after the season-ending loss at Yankee Stadium late Wednesday night.

Prior to the game CBSSports.com had already reported that the Red Sox would be firing him after the conclusion of his first year in Boston, the worst season for the Red Sox since 1965.

The Red Sox decided to part ways after a tumultuous season, following one of the worst collapses in baseball history and the dismissal of Terry Francona.

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By Jose M. Romero / 

The debate was on, the one between President Obama and “Guante” Romney (stolen from George Lopez). But it didn’t matter to me.

I know who I’m voting for. I was much more preoccupied with the heavy heart I had for the end of baseball’s regular season.

Driving home early Wednesday evening, the lights of Chase Field in Phoenix twinkled a short distance away. The season finale was in the eighth inning, and when those lights were turned off, they were to stay off for a long while.

What a final day of the season it had been. Ben Sheets got to pitch for the Atlanta Braves in Pittsburgh, and at game’s end retired from baseball. Chipper Jones heard cheers in PNC Park for the last regular-season game of his career.  Bobby Valentine, the manager of the Boston Red Sox for maybe his last day, lashed out at coaches who he felt undermined him as the Sox muddled their way through a nightmare season.

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By Jose M. Romero / @RomeroJoseM

The strains of the classic “ El Mariachi Loco” had barely faded from the booming speaker system at Dodger Stadium when Adrian Gonzalez officially announced his arrival in Los Angeles with a three-run home run to right field in his first at-bat with his new team.

For Dodgers fans, the moment could hardly have been better. For Dodgers fans of Mexican descent, well, it was perfect.

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By Adry Torres

Lost in what’s been a daily soap opera in Boston with the local and national media calling for Bobby Valentine’s head and players supposedly has been the job that super utilityman Pedro Ciriaco has done while filling in at multiple positions in the infield and even the thought of getting him some reps in the outfield, preferably in front of the Green Monster.

The one-time Arizona prospect, who was signed as a 17-year-old out of the Dominican Republic, was great with the glove and had speed but just couldn’t hit. The D-Backs dealt him to Pittsburgh and even there he couldn’t crack into their lineup despite six trips between Triple-A and the majors last season.

Out of options, he became a free agent during this past offseason.

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By Ken Rosenthal/@Ken_Rosenthal

Courtesy of FOXSports.com

How’s this for a blockbuster?

Left fielder Carl Crawford to the Miami Marlins for either shortstop Jose Reyes or third baseman Hanley Ramirez, with other pieces and significant cash involved.

The Boston Red Sox are contacting teams to gauge their trade interest in Crawford, according to major-league sources.

No trade appears close. Such a deal would be difficult to accomplish, given the size of Crawford’s contract and his lingering elbow problems. But the first lesson of the July 31 non-waiver deadline is that nothing is impossible.

The Red Sox, sources said, reached out to both the Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers, though another source said that no discussions took place with the Dodgers. The Marlins, historically open to any possibility, would at least consider the idea, sources said.

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By Jose M. Romero /@RomeroJoseM

For FOX Deportes

Levanten las manos if you’re sick and tired of steroids and performance-enhancing drug talk in baseball.

That would be me, out here in too-hot Arizona, raising my hand.

So Roger Clemens was acquitted of all charges that he lied to Congress about using PEDs. This clears the way for him to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame, and it clears his name, officially.

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