New Red Sox owners oust Duquette. Teams that had a better record than Boston during Duquette's tenure: Yankees, Braves, Indians, Astros, Mariners. Teams that made more playoff appearances than Boston: Yankees, Braves, Indians, Astros, Mariners. Teams that won more World Series than Boston: Yankees, Braves, Marlins, Diamondbacks. I'm glad he's gone, just like everyone else is, but it's not as if he ran the franchise into the ground. He made some good moves, he made some bad moves. (ESPN)

Rules for being a true fan by Bill Simmons. "20. If you hail from New York, you can't root for the Yankees and the Mets. You have to choose between them...Any New Yorker who said the words 'It's the Yankees versus the Mets ... I can't lose!' during the 2000 World Series deserves to be tortured with a cattle prod." (ESPN)

What's My Age Again? Ryan Wilkins on the revelations that many major leaguers are older than they once claimed. (baseballjunkie.net)

Perfect song-title headline, Ryan. Here are some lyrics to go with it:

I took my swings
In the batter's box
I met a scout
From the White Sox
We started shaking hands
And he took down my name
And then I told my d.o.b…

And that's about the time he walked away from me
Nobody signs you when you're 23
And at the plate you look like Pokey Reese
What the hell is wrong with me?
My coach says I should fake my age
What's my age again?
What's my age again?

Later on
I signed with Boston
I told the team
That I was 21
I left the USA
And tried to get back in
And got stopped by security...

And that's about the time they started hasslin' me
I had to tell them I was 23
I lost my roster spot to Rey Sanchez
What the hell is OBP?
I wish they didn't know my age
What's my age again?
What's my age again?

Ex-Reds coach critical of Griffey, Larkin. "Ken Griffey Jr.'s habit of arriving late and skipping pregame practice caused divisiveness in the Cincinnati Reds' clubhouse, former coach Ron Oester said." (ESPN)

Joe Dimino: "No Ron. What causes divisiveness in the clubhouse is people like you spewing this crap to reporters. Maybe that's why they dumped your ass." (Clutch Hits)

Peter Schmuck: "The Cardinals club that will open the 2002 exhibition season later this week has a deeper pitching staff and a more balanced lineup than the team that took the eventual world champion Arizona Diamondbacks to the limit in the first round of the playoffs last year. At least on paper." (Baltimore Sun)

Phil Rogers: "McGwire's gone, but the Cardinals might be better than they ever were with him." (ESPN)

A consensus is definitely forming here. Coming soon: Sports Illustrated puts Albert Pujols on the cover of the baseball preview issue and picks the Cardinals to win the World Series, assuring that they will go 84-78 and miss the playoffs.

Dumb injury of the week: Quinn injured doing kung fu move. (Kansas City Star)

Predictable injury of the week: Rondell's Rib Strains Yanks. (NY Daily News)

Joe Pappalardo: "You'd think that once the bad apple had been removed from the South Bronx Little League scene there'd be plenty of other existing baseball organizations lined up to take the place of the Paulino group...However, it looks as if there will be no official Little League organization in the South Bronx this season, and the way it's going there may never be." (Village Voice)

Orosco Is Getting to Be an Old Story. "Few baseball players can make 39-year-old Terry Mulholland feel young, but if the Dodger pitcher feels the effects of advancing age, all he needs to do is look a few locker stalls down at teammate Jesse Orosco, the reliever who will turn 45 on April 21." (LA Times)

Joe Sheehan on the AL West contenders. "Right now, I believe the A's have a slight edge on the Mariners, who have a larger edge on the Rangers. Any of these teams can win the division; they might have the two best pitching staffs and the three best offenses in the league." (Baseball Prospectus)

Jeff Gordon on the Cardinals: "This team, on paper, is awesome. Anything less than a National League Central title and a deep playoff run would be a disappointment in 2002." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Abreu's deal is richest in Phillies' history. Five years, 64 million, with team options. "The contract was announced five days after third baseman Scott Rolen publicly criticized Phillies management for what he called a lack of commitment to winning...'Right now,' Rolen said last weekend, 'I look around the field and I see Pat Burrell and Doug Glanville and Mike Lieberthal and Bobby Abreu. So I see that core of players they talk about. But history says that in two or three years, when I turn around, I won't see Burrell and Glanville and Lieberthal and Abreu.'" I'm hoping that in two or three years, when Rolen turns around, he'll see Garciaparra and Martinez and Ramirez and Nixon. I'm sure I'm overrating him, but after two years of watching Wilton Veras, Shea Hillenbrand, and various washed-up and/or injury-prone guys play 3B for the Red Sox, I can't help it. (ESPN)

Derek Zumsteg: "Set aside all the economic and competitive reasons a salary cap is stupid. There's another reason you, as a baseball fan, should be against any kind of cap: it's boring." (Baseball Prospectus)

Buhner gets feel for other side of locker room. "'Overall, my first day as a coach was a bit disappointing,' he said as the Mariners trooped in after nearly three hours of constant work. 'No one puked for me. Bummer.'" (Seattle Times)

Surprise! Hampton Unhappy. Jon Heyman: "When he isn't cashing the biggest paycheck ever for any pitcher, whether it be Pedro Martinez or Randy Johnson or Mariano Rivera, Hampton spends most of his time complaining...Well, guess what? Hampton could have done a lot more winning - and perhaps a little less whining - had he simply stayed in New York." Mike Piazza: "So don't sign for eight years. Sign for two or three. You're paid to do a job. Just shut up and play baseball, it's not that hard. It's an integrity thing." (Newsday)

From the people who brought you On Base and Baseball Junkie Online Weblog, a new site: baseballjunkie.net. Ambitious, well-designed; looks like it'll be excellent. Great job, guys.

Teammate blasts Ramirez for no-show in Red Sox camp. This is another one of those generic spring training stories, but one that seems to happen to the Red Sox more than any other team. Usually it's Pedro, this year it's Manny. Oy. (ESPN)

Pedro reports early. Here's another Red Sox-specific generic spring training story: A star reports to camp in the best shape of his life. Last year it was Nomar, and we all know how his season turned out. Oy. (ESPN)

Padres player Darr killed in auto crash. He was 25. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Fielder's son is a big hit at Tigers' camp. GM Randy Smith: "That's as impressive a session as I've seen for a high schooler in a long time, maybe ever." (Detroit News)

Durham positioned for productive year. Jerry Manuel says he'd like to get Durham into the #3 spot in the lineup, which could mean a big RBI year, which could mean a big payday if the White Sox allow Durham to leave as a free agent at the end of the year. (Chicago Sun-Times)

Rays' goal: sustain. "With today's opening of spring training marking the start of another season, the thought is lodged firmly in the back of [Hal McRae's] mind: Finishing the season with a .500 record." (St. Petersburg Times)

Keith J. Scherer: "You might have read this winter that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are about to get better. Don't believe it." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan: "The salary cap is the Holy Grail of sports ownership. If you can get one in your league, you lock in ungodly profits while eliminating risk...Recognize, though, that the only people who gain anything from a salary cap are those member owners." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for February 9-15. "As a spot starter in the outfield, playing for Trot Nixon or Brian Daubach against tough left-handers or taking the field whenever Manny Ramirez wants to DH, and hopefully passing on some wisdom to Johnny Damon, Jose Offerman, and maybe even Quilvio Veras, Henderson is a great pickup." (Baseball Prospectus)

Bill Simmons on generic Spring Training stories: The New Guy, The Washed-Up Guy, The New Coach with the Magic Wand, The Star Nobody Can Figure Out, The Fourth Outfielder Who Could Start on Many Other Teams, etc. "Even if you're not a Red Sox fan, you can plug in players from your favorite team and have the generic angles work just as well for them (we're using the Sox only because I know more about them than any other team)." (ESPN)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for January 20 - February 8. "The sign of a really bone-dry farm system can be guessed at to a certain extent by looking at who gets hauled in as non-roster invites. The Dodgers' bringing in Roberto Kelly, Fonzie Bichette, and Mark Whiten is about as ugly as you could get, until you remember that the contracts of Tom Goodwin and Marquis Grissom are guaranteed." (Baseball Prospectus)

Matt Szefc: "The Giants for some time now have claimed to be a club that can only exist on a mid-market budget ($60-$70 million payroll range). While the money they will pay Bonds over the next four years or five years is on the high end of player salaries at the present time, the structure of the contract shouldn't prevent the Giants from remaining a competitive team by surrounding Bonds with other top talent." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

John Sickels: "If the Twins do survive, the future is bright indeed. The Twins may not win the division this year, but they are poised for long-term success, thanks to a strong farm system that is about to produce the very thing that has been Minnesota's main weakness in recent campaigns: power." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Graham Hays on the Blue Jays: "Finding a minor-league larder stocked with talent, new general manager J.P. Ricciardi appears willing to start from as close to scratch as Toronto fans will allow." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Rob Neyer on the Royals: "We could, in evaluating the Royals' chances in 2002 and beyond, focus on the dumb trades in recent years, the talented young pitchers who never seem to develop, letting Tony Muser continue to manage a major-league baseball team, or any one of a dozen other sad stories. But in the end, it all comes down to this: the men who run the organization, from the manager to the general manager and everybody in between, simply don't understand the value of walks and home runs." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Chris Kahrl: "Upgrading from Jordan to Sheffield can mean as much as a five-game improvement in the standings, which in baseball analysis terms is a huge swing. That said, there's even more reason for optimism about how much the Braves' offense will improve in 2002, even without a real first baseman and even with Vinny Castilla around." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

David Schoenfield: "First things first: the Mariners were obviously terrific in every aspect of the game last season, but unlike you heard throughout the season, Seattle's offense was more terrific than its pitching." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Rany Jazayerli ranks the top 40 prospects in baseball. (Baseball Prospectus)

Chat wrap with Rany Jazayerli. "It might be a year or two before [Austin Kearns] catches up to [Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr.], but by 2004 I think you're going to see the three of them on a Baseball Weekly cover, with a caption that reads something like "'BEST OUTFIELD EVER?'" (ESPN)

Rany Jazayerli: "In some ways, winning a World Championship with Buddy Biancalana as the starting shortstop was the worst thing that happened to the Royals. For every talking head that raves about how championships are won with pitching, the Royals were the embodiment of that ideal in 1985--a team that finished next-to-last in runs scored and still won it all. The problem is that the Royals of 1986, and 1987, and virtually every year since then, are the embodiment of what happens when you really take that mantra seriously." (Baseball Prospectus)

John Sickels: "If you like fastballs, the Marlins are the team for you. The starting rotation has five pitchers with ace stuff." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Seth Wickersham on the Cardinals. Jason Isringhausen: "My grandmother always wanted me to play for the Cardinals, so I thought I'd grant her wish...You grew up watching the Ozzie Smith home run and the way they played the game. There's a lot of tradition here." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Rob Neyer: "While Griffey, Dunn, Aaron Boone and Larkin can't be expected to play much better, they can certainly be expected to play more. And if they do, the Reds could sport one of the better offenses in the league." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Rolen goes on honeymoon, Abreu to hospital. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery by Abreu (emergency appendectomy). (Philadelphia Enquirer)

Ortiz Grows Old Before Angels' Eyes. He'll be 29 next month, not 26. GM Bill Stoneman: "He's going to take a lot of ribbing from his teammates, that's for sure, but in terms of how we look at him, we're a performance business, so how he does between the white lines will answer any questions from players or fans and the way he will be perceived." (LA Times)

Red Sox sign three journeymen veterans. Scary headline! But the veterans are Quilvio Veras, Jeff Abbott and Henry Mercedes, all signed to minor league contracts and invited to spring training. Whew. (ESPN)

Football today, back to baseball tomorrow.

Vinatieri's 48-yard FG caps Patriots' upset. Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! (ESPN)

Gregg Easterbrook recaps the Super Bowl and makes fun of the experts' pregame and preseason predictions. "As for the [game-winning] drive itself, don't discount those first two junky-looking short passes; they made everything else possible. Brady's charisma and poise—you'll hear enough about these for weeks. Fabulous blocking on the last drive, letting Brady stay cool. That you won't hear enough about." (Slate)

Last week, as Easterbrook mentions, the Sporting News asked about 80 celebrities to predict the outcome of the Super Bowl. As a group, they did a lot better than the experts, too many of whom predicted scores like 73-0 Rams (Ron Borges) and 56-9 Rams (Allen Barra). Several celebs, including Jeb Bush, Mike Piazza and Carrot Top, predicted Patriots 27, Rams 24. Not bad. (Piazza: "Adam Vinatieri will win it for the Patriots with a minute left to go.") Rapper Nate Dogg said Patriots 20, Rams 18. UCLA basketball coach Steve Lavin said Patriots 20, Rams 16. But the prize goes to JAG star Catherine Bell: "Patriots, 20-17. I always like to go with the long shot."

Padres take a chance, sign Pete Incaviglia. Can he still hit? Stay tuned. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Padres sign Cruz for infield backup. Can he still hit? Stay tuned. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Cards' Chad Hutchinson signs with Cowboys. He played QB at Stanford, but hasn't played football since 1997. Still, he can't be much worse than Quincy Carter, Anthony Wright, Ryan Leaf, or Clint Stoerner. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)