Turning Japanese.

The Red Sox have reportedly made an offer of $21 million over three years for the pitching services of Kenshin Kawakami. (Or not as it turns out.) According to his agent, he's a semi-hot commodity with twenty-eight teams having expressed interest in him. He's a little guy with nice strike out numbers but I don't really see the interest in him.

Meanwhile down in the Bronx, Brian Cashman didn't rest on his laurels after convincing C.C.'s wife to allow him to play in New York. Nope. He got right back to work: signing a league-average ex-Marlin (from the crop of chewed-up-and-spit-out pitchers they grew down there in the early 2000s) in the form of AJ Burnett to a five year, $82.5 million contract. Because the last pitcher of that ilk they dumped a bunch of money on worked out so very well for them.

42 K!

According to this article, Hideki Okajima will be running in the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday (he's not listed as an official participant, however.) I'm not sure if it's his first attempt at 26.2 but, as a runner, I'm very excited for him. The more I think about it though, the more I worry about the amount of training he would have put in during the season (an eighteen-week training program would have started back in August) and about the possibility of him getting hurt. Hopefully, he trained well and doesn't go out too fast. Finish strong.

Fun in the Sun.

The party is on down in the Dominican as David Ortiz's golf tournament got underway today. You know when some tiny little minor puzzle presents itself and you become absolutely obsessed with figuring it out? No? Just me? Well, I've been staring at this picture for an inordinately long time trying to figure out whose jersey the person in front of David is wearing. It looks like it has an "o" and an "n" at the beginning of the name. It's probably ridiculously obvious but I can't figure it out.

Unlike that stupid jersey, the instantly recognizable Luis Tiant. Tiant is, once again, up for induction into the Hall of Fame via the Veterans' Committee vote. He's nonchalant about it, though:

"Those are the best players in the world there. That's as big an honor as any player could have. I'm not going to lose a day of sleep. I'm proud of what I do. I did what I never thought I would do in my life. If they pick me, fine; if not, fine. The game gave me a lot, more than I ever expected."

This one made me smile. I was reading an article in the Daily News this morning about Pedro's plans for next season. They wrote that he hopes to play next season but that he's made no effort to find a team yet and that his dad's death was really hard for him. The article also stated that he wasn't going to be playing in the tournament, which clearly seems to be wrong, so who knows.

Ignore the man on the right. Instead, admire the oh so dapper sweater vest that David wore for the tournament. He seems to have taken the idea of the golf outfit very seriously; in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he was wearing plus fours.

Lastly, the ruddy complexion of Sean Casey. Sunburn? Windburn? Clearly the man's ancestors came from climes much further to the north.

Oh, Theo.

I really did think that Theo Epstein was pretty good at his job. I know you're a big Dustin Pedroia fan (so am I) and I know that it ends up being a fabulous steal but a ninety-six year contract? Surely, that's a little excessive. Couldn't you have whittled down the years just a little bit? It's gonna come back and bite you.

I'll Take a 6 Year Contract for 40 Million Dollars, Alex.

Of course the video of the presser wouldn't work. Link.

Dustin Pedroia signed a six year extension worth $40.5 million today.

The boy still can't dress himself and the stupid pubic hair beard has returned but he's adorable. I want to wrap him up and take him home.

Says Theo of Pedroia: "If we had twenty-five guys like this, we'd be in good shape." Awwww.

Says Pedroia of the media: "I think you guys were all stupid for not believing in me." Responds Theo: "For the record, I agree with Dustin." Double awww.

Oh! Pookie is getting married, probably this weekend. Congratulations to him.

A Heads Up.

Come with me back to last May. It was a Monday night--the 19th to be exact. It would become an important night for Jon Lester but that didn't happen until later in the evening. We're still in the first or second inning.

It's not a particular affection for Heidi that causes me remember this (my head is generally filled with useless information) but she began babbling on about how it was her birthday. Dear Don took the thread and ran with it. He wanted to know when Jerry's birthday was but Jerry didn't want to play. Then he casually mentioned that his birthday was December 16. The inning ends. Cut to commercial.

Or not.

Jerry and Don think that they are in a commercial break and start chatting. They criticize some girl's sign, American (?) Airlines, and then Jerry turns on Don. He demands to know why Don revealed the date of his birth. Sheepishly, Don admits that he hopes that viewers will send him birthday cards with cash to commemorate the event.

So. If you wish to fulfill his request (and he is turning forty)...

Don Orsillo

c/o NESN

480 Arsenal St., Building #1

Watertown, MA 02472

California Dreaming.

Coco Crisp (What do you mean he doesn't play for them anymore?) will be the grand marshal of the Desert Hot Springs Holiday Parade in Desert Hot Springs, CA on December 7. His folks live in the area.

and

Mike Dee, Chief Operating Officer of the Red Sox and President of Fenway Sports Group, will be speaking at the CMO Summit on December 10 and 11 in Monterey, CA. The theme of the conference will be finding new "routes to revenue."