I've been waiting to write this one

Today's Stiff of the Week is well known to Boston Red Sox fans everywhere. He is caustic, boorish, pompous, arrogant, self-centered, self-righteous and above all, contemptuous. Let's have a hearty chorus of boos for Brian Cashman, Yankees GM, who just experienced one of the biggest OOPS moments ever. He let Cliff Lee slip through his hands and now that left-handed Boston lineup doesn't have to worry about 3 or 4 starts from Lee against them.

The truly pitiable part of all this is that Brian Cashman cannot understand why Cliff Lee signed with a bunch of bums such as the Phillies. How could he not yearn for pinstripes? Who wouldn't want to play with A-Fraud, besides most of baseball? Why wouldn't he want a 900 sq. ft apartment in Manhattan for only $35,000/month + utilities? Why wouldn't he want a state tax on his income of about $17.5 mil from the proposed contract? Why wouldn't he want to play in one of the most crowded and ugly parts of any city in the country?

Brian fails to see that Cliff cares about people, places AND last of all, things. He liked Philly. He liked the people there and they liked him. He had his own devoted fans. He doesn't need any more Joe six-packers or corporate honchos hanging all over him. He wants to win and with that rotation, he will win. Brian's team is older and slower and more tedious and plodding than ever. Did i mention slower? Pettitte's arm will soon fall off or collapse from age. CC is just one pizza away from a total explosion where he won't be able to pick up the rosin bag, Posada is Jason Varitek and the sox aren't planning to use him. AJ Burnett - oh, nevermind - I can't write about him - it's just too funny and pathetic. He is clearly the worst #3 starter in baseball and the Yankees only paid him $18mil per year for what seems to them now like forever.
Cashman could not produce a winner with a $235m payroll in 2010. Now what, Bri? Let's face it. you thought that the name " NY YANKEES" would be enough to have Cliff begging to come there. Guess what, Buddy? Wrong again !!!!

You offered him 7 years and $175m and he said "NO". What does that say about how his feelings for the Big Apple, Hank S. and all the other clowns there? It says - you're not as wonderful as you think. Come down off that high horse. You were lucky to get your other mercenaries in the past, although many of them are total busts as well ( see- AJ Burnett ).
I can't wait for 2011. Unless CC is in shape and pitching every other day, you've got a big problem, pal. I know, you have Phil Hughes and Joba the mutt. Good for you!!! Let's go with them, OK?

Yankee fans are soooooo forgiving. some are already calling for your head. Nice place to work there, isn't it Brian? Good luck to you in 2011. I know a nice Subway franchise in queens that will hire you, as long as you don't let the sandwiches slip through your fingers as well.

Wah Wah Wah Anaheim Angels

Tom Hanks said it best when he said " There's no crying in baseball!" . The California Angels of Anaheim need to take a lesson from that. For the past 18 hours, they have been crying that the Boston Red Sox stole Carl Crawford away from them. I don't remember Carl saying that he wanted to go to Boston over Anaheim ( a no brainer, though ) or that he wanted to go anywhere. Carl was on the "open" market, up for the highest bidder. The Angels chose to give him a less lucrative offer and for fewer years, so he's now headed to Boston.

Torii Hunter even came out today and said that he wanted to play with Carl. Well, you should have ponied up some of your own cash there, Torii, and maybe he would have signed with your team. Of course, you could always ask to be traded to Boston and then you and Carl can be best buds on the Red Sox juggernaut for the next 6-7 years.

No one has the right to complain when they get outbid for the services of a player. The Red Sox are clearly going for it now this year and are not concerned about whether or not they make a profit for the 2011 season. Ego does that to people and it drives them to perhaps overpay for a player, so that they can keep interest high.

The Angels problem is the fan base. They show up for a game in the 3rd inning after having a few margaritas and a wheel of brie downtown, then they sit on their hands for most of the game, and leave after the 7th inning stretch, so that they can still make the buffet at Red Lobster.

Anaheim is not a baseball town. They don't deserve Carl Crawford or even Broderick Crawford ( remember him on highway Patrol? ). Joan Crawford lived nearby - so they should be happy with that.

The Angels had plenty of money to spend. After all, now they want Beltre and Soriano, neither of whom will come cheaply. But be careful, LA, you could easily lose them too if someone else throws in a few extra bats and gloves to the deal and you balk at making a move.

You are the stiff of the week - your ownership, your fan base and yes, even the city (ha-ha) of Anaheim. You have worries this year about Oakland and Seattle as well. Best of luck with that -see you on the way to the AL West basement.

Theo Theo Theo - what were you thinking????

Theo Epstein, boy genius, must have failed his college statistics classes. Stats don't lie buddy and you just cost the Red Sox 12.5 million dollars that you will never get production for. Here are the numbers you missed:

David Ortiz

2004-2006 240+ extra base hits
2008-2010 178 extra base hits

2004-2006 OPS around .400 each year
2008-2010 OPS around .325 each year

2004-2006 Consistent average at or above .300
2008-2010 Average plummets to BELOW .200 only comes back to .266

He is making more money than any full time DH on any roster for the 2011 season next year.

He hit .211 vs. left-handed pitchers this year with 2/3 of his strikeouts.

Moving the right field fence in 9 feet next year won't help him with his loss of bat speed through the hitting zone ( 15-17 mph slower than in his prime ), but it will help younger opposing lefties.... nice idea.

In April and May, he had the opportunity to drive in the tying or lead run after the 7th inning in 36 games. He did it exactly twice.

This is a horrible move since D.O. wanted long -term big contract, so besides being horrible, he will be disgruntled and the team does not have $12.5 mil to spend on " talent."

Boston Red Sox Fair Weather Fans

Front Running Red Sox "Fans," you are all the stiffs of the week.

Everywhere I go in Boston I hear the following, "The Red Sox suck this year."

Since when is Boston full of a bunch of front running, show up in the fourth inning, pink hat wearing fans?

Sometimes I think reversing the curse did more harm than good for the Fenway faithful.

Before 2004 and 2007 - Fenway Park was real. The fans were for the most part knowledgeable about baseball or their hometown team at the very least. People brought their kids because their kids wanted to go see their favorite players play.

Now when I head to Fenway it is a crap shoot.

Sure, in the bleachers and less expensive seating areas you have mostly true fans. They show up on time, drink way too much and talk baseball with the other drunkards around them.

However, the closer you get to the Loge seating (and don't even getting me started on the skyboxes) you still find die hard fans, but more commonly you find these fair weather folk that I speak of. Half of them are doing business on their cell phone while their kid is playing on his/her Game Boy. They are at Fenway to be seen; to be the envy of those fans in the obstructed grandstand seats.

They pay ridiculous prices for the tickets, and if the sox are playing a team like the Orioles, they don't bother going at all.

They don't remember what Fenway looked like before the Green Monster seats and they never saw the Marlborough man billboard above the center field bleachers.

They might remember Fisk, Clemens, Mo Vaughn, Nomar, Pedro, Manny and Papi...

But they sure as hell don't remember Jodi Reed, Tom Brunansky, Brian Daubach, Mike Greenwell, Troy O'Leary and Oil Can Boyd.

They never stayed up on a school night and watched the ball go through Buckner's legs.

They think Aaron Boone is some sort of famous hunter or Civil War general.

They became fans in 2004 and not until the Sox evened up the series. They only saw Dave Roberts steal 2nd base on replays and highlight reels.

The problem now is that even some of the true Fenway Faithful are being influenced by these fake fans and becoming front runners themselves.

HERE IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL.

The sox will not make the playoffs this year. Their pitching has been less than outstanding.

But...

(say it with me) THE RED SOX DO NOT SUCK THIS YEAR.

They are either 1st or 2nd in the American League in the following categories: runs, doubles, home runs, RBIs, slugging and total bases. They are 4th in on-base percentage and 5th in hits.

And for such a "dismal" year of pitching, they are still 2nd in the AL in strikeouts.

AS OF TODAY, 9/6, THE RED SOX HAVE 76 WINS. THIS WOULD MAKE THEM...

-1st in AL West (Texas = 75 wins)
-1st in NL West (Tied with San Deigo = 76 wins)
-3 games back in NL East & NL Central

They would be pretty much guaranteed AT LEAST the wild card in the National League.

The 4th place team in the AL East - The Toronto Blue Jays - even has 71 wins!!!

(say it with me again) THE RED SOX DO NOT SUCK THIS YEAR.

Did I forget to mention injuries? Ah, yes. I forgot to mention that such a productive offensive year has been done without the likes of (for short and long periods of time) Pedroia, Youk, VMart, Varitek, Lowrie, Lowell, Ellsbury, Cameron etc.

So lets see... thats an MVP, consistent .300+ hitter, 40+ stolen base guy & 2007 World Series MVP that the Sox had on the DL this year - not to mention two members of their starting rotation...

On the pitching side of things, Beckett and Dice-K haven't been 100% this year. That is obvious.

Things could have been so much worse.

Any true Red Sox fan will look back on this year and say, "Wow a lot of guys really stepped up and played well. I can't believe we came as close as we did to making the playoffs. Hopefully we get healthy next year. And at the very least we now have a ton of options and proven prospects to use in trades or fill gaps in the future."

WILL THE REAL RED SOX FANS PLEASE STAND UP?

From Hero to Zero. Jason Bay w/ the Paper Mets.

It breaks my baseball heart to post this.

I was singing this stiff's praises just last year, but that was before he left the greatest city in the world to join the New York "paper" Mets.

In case you've never heard it before - they are the "paper" Mets because on paper they are MVPs, All Stars & Cy Young winners but on the field a bunch of underperforming stiffs.

Jason Bay was a hero in Boston. In 2008 he came to Boston from the lowly Pirates and in '08 & '09 had 30+ home runs & 100+ RBIs in each year.

He had no problem playing & PERFORMING in the pressure cooker that is Fenway Park, in front of the most passionate fans in the world.

He was the man. He had everyone saying, "Manny, who?"

But then it seems JBay got cocky and sold his soul on EBay. Someone should have told him that left field in New York is a lot further than in Boston - Green Monster or not.

Now JBay is hitting .257 with just 6 home runs and only 44 RBIs. Worse, he is batting .169 in July. Even worse, he went 0 for 6 last night (July 22nd) with 4 strike outs. And to top it all off - he has now been benched.

JBay, you couldn't have made it any easier for me. The stats really don't lie...

You are my stiff of the MONTH!