RED SOX : News & Notes December 18,2013.

RED SOX : News & Notes
December 18,2013.





~ Red Sox 'Under' Luxury Tax threshold: The Red Sox have come in under the $ 178 million luxury tax threshold in 2013, by less than half of the 2014 minimum player salary. With their payroll at $ 177,774,334 the Red Sox fell $ 225,666 short of the penalty inducing number.

~ Yankees sign Thornton: Matt Thornton has signed a two-year contract with the New York Yankees. After spending the last five years as one of the premier relievers, Thornton showed signs of age last year in his number of strikeouts and his 'pitch speed'.

~ Red Sox sign Watanabe: Thirty-seven year old Shunsuke Watanabe of Japan, has signed a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox. Watanabe will report to minor league 'spring training' in March and is slated to be a relief pitcher. Wantanabe has a submarine-style delivery than ends with him releasing the ball inches from the mound. He was 87-82 with a 3.65 ERA in 12 seasons in Japan.

~ Chris Carpenter released: The Red Sox have released Chris Carpenter so he could sign with the Yakult Swallow of the Japanese Central League. Carpenter appeared in eight games for the Red Sox last year and allowed six earned runs on 7 hits and 10 walks over 6 innings.

GREG MADDUX

~ Greg Maddux favored: Bill Dean has been predicting the 'Hall of Fame' vote for the past 30 years. His accuracy rate is 80%. So what does he think about this years vote ? Greg Maddux and no one else. Dean's predictions can be found at http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2013/12/15/2014-hall-fame-election-forecast/ .