Boston Sports Wrap: Varitek To Tigers, Red Sox File For Free Agency, Lots More

A few quick Boston-area sports notes before the weekend begins. Are you dressing up like Matt Cassel for Halloween? How about a Patriots cheerleader...or any cheerleader? If you have a good pic or see a good one, send it along to me at [e-mail].

Hopefully, your outfit will be better received than the Patriots cheerleaders' outfits this past Sunday were by Boston Herald writer Ron Borges. In the Back of the Pack portion of his weekly Pats report card, Borges tossed out this gem:

"Who came up with those Halloween costumes on the Patriots cheerleaders? Was the game on the NFL Network or the Spice Channel?"

Sigh. More on old crotchety sportswriters in a bit.

-Ken Rosenthal reported that Scott Boras is floating out the notion that Detroit might be the destination for Jason Varitek, displacing another Boras free-agent client Ivan Rodriguez. If that's true, would it make sense that I-Rod would be a one-year fill-in for the Red Sox? I heard that San Francisco Giants catcher Bengie Molina might be a trade target as well.

Let's just stick to Varitek though. I don't remember any other teams even mentioned four years ago when he was a free agent, but could the Tigers be a good spot? Rosenthal makes a good point when he says that the Tigers offense could make up for any further offensive decline by Tek. Boston fans: this could be it. How does that make you feel?

-Several Boston players filed for free agency Thursday including Varitek, catcher David Ross and utility infielder Alex Cora. Sean Casey, Mark Kotsay, Paul Byrd, Curt Schilling and Mike Timlin are the remaining players that still need to file, which they may do through November 13th. Teams can start negotiating money with players the following day. On that day, that team has an exclusive 15-day window to do so and then after that, boom goes the dynamite.

-Interesting thought: how about adding Chad Cordero to the Sox bullpen? The former Washington Nationals bullpen ace was made a free agent after refusing an assignment to the minors. Cordero only appeared in six games this season and had shoulder surgery to his throwing shoulder. Might be worth a roll of the dice, and it can't be any worse than the roller coaster ride of Timlin-Aardsma-Delcarmen, can it?

-A note on Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan, if I could. For the most part, I like Ryan, and his appearances on various ESPN shows and his Globe 10.0 show on NESN aren't too bad either. But there are times when his act gets a bit tired, especially this line from his column on the Celtics' opening night festivities and captain Paul Pierce's speech. Essentially, Pierce thanked a lot of people and added a bit of player content and perspective to the night. Ryan (seen here), however, thought otherwise:

"This was not a night like any other night. For the first time since 1986, Opening Night in Boston featured a ring ceremony. Commissioner David Stern presided, and there was no doubt which player appreciated the moment more than anyone else. Paul Pierce, who was here when the team was an irrelevant part of the Boston sports landscape, fought back tears as he accepted his piece of jewelry. It was a touching moment.

He also addressed the sellout TD Banknorth crowd of 18,624 with a rambling, embarrassing, self-indulgent speech. That was not a touching moment. You kept wondering why he didn't hear the music and see the lights flashing.

But then he went out and scored a game-high 27, so in the end all was forgiven."

At this point, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. But 'rambling'? 'Embarassing'? 'Self-indulgent'? Bob, seriously. There are times when you need to take yourself out of the hard-ass sportswriter role and see things for what they are. The same guy who put it all on the line last season is now self-indulgent? Thanking Red Auerbach was self-indulgent and embarrassing? It wasn't Lou Gehrig's speech or the Phil Esposito retirement ceremony, but it was hardly how you described it. For one night, lighten up, will ya?

Josh Nason started Small White Ball in 2007 and is the main contributor of content for the site. A long-time writer, his work can also be read at sites like RopesRingandCage.com, EmailMarketingGuy.com and others. He also does radio appearances and was on TV once, albeit for a lame public television game show. He can be reached at [e-mail].