Earlier in the offseason, the sport betting fans in Boston watched as closer Jonathan Papelbon went to the already pitcher-rich Philadelphia Phillies. The fans knew that the new closer was not going to come from the existing staff, so everyone waited to see what the Red Sox would do to fill the void.
To grab a candidate for the closing position while supplementing the bullpen, the Red Sox picked up former Houston Astros closer Mark Melancon. What makes the price per head bookmaking experts curious is the low price that the Red Sox gave up to get Melancon. In return for its closer, the Astros receive Jed Lowrie, who could not stay healthy for most of the 2011 season, and pitching prospect Kyle Welland. It is suspected that the Astros really wanted Welland and that Lowrie was a throw-in to the deal. The Red Sox have not announced if Melancon will be the closer in spring training or not.
The bidding has closed for teams to win the right to talk to Japanese star pitcher Yu Darvish. Among the top contenders to win the rights to negotiation are the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers. These bids are only for the right to negotiate with the pitcher. His Japanese team, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, will decide which MLB team wins negotiating rights. There is no guarantee that Darvish or his Japanese team will accept the offer put forth by the team that wins the rights to negotiate.
