Random Thoughts (November 27, 2009)

Now that the Blue Jays have signed Alex Gonzalez, the Red Sox have to seriously start shopping for a shortstop. The Sox currently have control of Jed Lowrie and Nick Green but neither has proven themselves capable of handling the job for an entire season. Marco Scutaro, coming off a very successful 2009 season with the Blue Jays, could be a good short term option. Scutaro batted .282, sported a .379 OBP, and a .788 OPS. However, at age 34, he is not the answer at shortstop for the future. That answer might already be in the Red Sox minor league system. The Sox signed 19-year-old Cuban shortstop José Iglesias this past summer. Iglesias is considered to be a premier defensive player with the potential to develop into a solid major league hitter. With Iglesias at least a year away, I expect the Sox to sign Scutaro before the New Year... While I'm sure that Hollywood will butcher Michael Lewis' excellent book, I think that I'm going to spend the $11 to check out Michael Oher's life story on the big screen in The Blind Side... The final two weekends of college football are upon us. The important matchups with BCS implications this weekend include Cincinnati-Illinois, Alabama-Auburn, TCU-New Mexico, and Florida-Florida State. This weekend will set up next weekend's championship games. The winner of Florida-Alabama in the SEC will face Texas (if they survive the Big 12 title game), while the winner of the Oregon-Oregon State "Civil War" will take the Pac-10 championship and a spot opposite Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and the Georgia Tech-Clemson ACC title game winner will make reservations for the Orange Bowl. Here are my predictions for the BCS bowl games: BCS Championship Game: Florida-Texas Rose Bowl: Ohio State-Oregon Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech-TCU Fiesta Bowl: Boise State-Oklahoma State Sugar Bowl: Alabama-Cincinnati BC fans should not worry, the Eagles will land in the Emerald Bowl keeping their consecutive bowl game streak intact at eleven... There are many of us in New England who believe the Pariots are in contention to win their fourth Super Bowl title of the decade but to prove that to the rest of the country, they need a win on Monday night in New Orleans against the 10-0 Saints... Next year, Wildcats, next year...