GM for a day

I will resist the urge to post to the Pioneer Press for a third day in a row. But I will keep the Minnesota bias going.

If I were MN GM Bill Smith, I think I have a plan for what I would do. I would send out word that final, sealed bids for Johan are due on Sunday evening at 8:00PM. A couple of things, I think, would make this plan work incredibly well.

You already have the attention of NY – just take a peak at the NY headlines. And most of the writers are saying NY should go for it. Of course they also want to trade Andy Philips and Chase Wright for Johan, but that is a different story.

As we saw last winter, the power of the final, sealed bid can lead to unexpected things. When the Dice-K story first hit, baseball types were talking about how the posting fee would blow away the Ichiro bid. They were talking numbers as high as $20, 25MM. Maybe even $30MM. but the Mets did something like $35MM and we know where the Sox ended up. I think this could be the same thing. The interested parties all know what MN wants, so the sealed bids could work. And you can see the FO/GM/Owners sitting around saying “well we know Boston will include 4 guys, one guy with X skills, another with Y…., so we NEED to include our four guys, two of which are regarded more highly than the Boston guys.” And the next thing you know, as an example, Theo has now talked himself into including Ellsbury and Bucholz b/c he is convinced NY will include Melky and Joba (not saying this IS going to happen, just using as an example.)

And really, this does not have to be a *final* sealed bid. They can always go back one more time and try to tweak the offers. We already know Hank’s final word really does not mean much.

Interesting update

Are the Sox the frontrunners?The latest rumor involving the Red Sox and Santana is the juiciest yet. According to a report from Charlie Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (who sources “a little birdie”) on Thursday, the Sox are now the frontrunners to land Santana as part of a trade package that does not include either Jacoby Ellsbury or Clay Buchholz. According to Walters, the Red Sox would receive Santana in exchange for Coco Crisp, Jon Lester, and minor league prospects Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson, both of who rank among Boston’s top young talent. More from Walters: “Before a deal could be made, the Red Sox would have to have time to negotiate a contract extension with Santana, 28, who can become a free agent after next season and could have a market value as high as $150 million over six years."

BLOCKBUSTER TRADE

Via yfsf, some genius in Minnesota has a fantastic idea for a trade. Sox would get Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, and Carlos Silva. All they'd have to give up is John Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Clay Buchholz. Oh yes, and Dustin Pedroia. And Jonathan Papelbon. Sounds fantastic! Who cares if Carlos Silva is a free agent!?! We'll get Santana, and an older, worse closer! For one year each! All we lose is an All-Star closer, ROY 2nd baseman, 2008 ROY-candidate center fielder, and 2/5 of the starting rotation! I don't see a downside, really.

Anyway the commenters are piling on, and it's awesome:

- Maybe they would give us Ortiz and Manny too if we throw in Nick Punto?

- One, Silva not ours to trade. Two, you're dumb.

- This trade was proposed but shot down by Bill Smith when theo insisted on throw-ins manny ramirez, david ortiz, mike lowell and jason varitek (to help offset the salary of santana).

- Nice try, though. Next week, the Yankees will trade Pettitte, Mientkiewicz and Reggie Jackson for Francisco Liriano.

- You are very, very dumb. You must be a real treat to play fantasy baseball with.

A-bonanza

Wow, it sure is easy to come up with "clever" A-Rod puns, since "a" is the indefinite article! "A" + any noun = hilarious headline! Like Joel Sherman's recent piece of awesomeness, "A-mistake". Brilliant. Anyway, this has probably been said countless times, but A-Rod's new $30M "marketing" contract is pretty insane. (This NY Post graphic says it all.) He gets $6M each time he reaches a milestone in career homeruns - passing Willie Mays (660); Babe Ruth (714); Hank Aaron (755), and 2007 Barry Bonds (762); then $6M for breaking the all-time HR record. (The NYT says he needs to tie, not pass, each milestone to collect his money.) Given that Bonds may never play baseball again, that's a lot of money in a short period of time - $6M for #755, then 7 HR later he gets $6M for #762, and another $6M for the one after that. That's $18M in what will probably be a single season, plus the $27.5M of his contract. So in 2014 or so he'll make over $45M. Hell, he could make $12M in one game!

Or, as Sherman suggests, with the mounting pressure he could have 40 or 50 hitless at-bats before reaching each milestone. That would be pretty fun to watch.

Fun with quotes

First of all - yeah I figured how to post.

A fun quote from dodger owner Frank McCourt - "It wasn't so much that we didn't win it all - which is our goal and what we want to do every year," McCourt said, "but what left a sour taste in our mouths was that we didn't fulfill the potential we had. At one time, I think we had the best record in baseball."

April 21, 22 and 22 - at 13-5 and 13-6. I guess you have to start somewhere.

...played by Johan San-ta-na

Buster Olney reports Santana is looking to set a new record in pitching contracts - something like $150M/yr for 6 years or so. (He's already rejected an offer of $16.6M/year for 5 years.) If that's right, you have to assume he's not going to be traded - he can use his no-trade clause as a massive bargaining chip. So he can ratchet up the price; meanwhile the Twins stand to get compensation picks if he leaves after 2008, so the trade itself would have to be a damn good offer. So the Sox would have to give up a bunch of young players (something like Lester, Buchholz, Crisp, and a minor leaguer or two), and sign away well over $100M (plus insurance, and possibly luxury tax) over 6 years. Thanks but no thanks. Maybe the Mets or Dodgers will go for it; but I don't see him in Boston or the Bronx next year.

Breaking news

Cleveland Indians sign Kobayashi.

Hot Stove, non-East Coast Bias edition

Weird that it looks like neither the Sox or the Yanks are going to change hugely this year - with Schilling, Lowell, A-Rod, Posada, and Rivera re-signing (or nearly re-signing) with their previous clubs, the cores of each team from 2007 are in place for 2008, with the young guys not going anywhere (yet). Can't remember the last time that happened; and it probably won't happen again any time soon. But, lots of important stuff going on elsewhere; for example...

• Kenny Rogers fired Scott Boras, and wants to return to the Tigers. Publicity stunt, or was he really sick of Boras urging him to look elsewhere?
• The agent representing Francisco Cordero, Luis Vizcaino, and Billy Wagner is named Bean Stringfellow. Seriously.
  
• I love headlines like this. Particularly when it's about giving up Jon Garland to get Orlando Cabrera.
  

Hot Stove

I can't believe that we haven't started an official HOT STOVE thread, yet.

What are the issues facing the Sox this off-season?

Third base: Do you resign Lowell, or look to the alternatives? I'd say 3 years on Lowell is enough. He was basically my favorite Sox player this year, but I have to say that his numbers this year are as good as they'll get. I am not sure he would repeat those numbers in any of the 3 years I'd give him.

News flash: ESPN reports that Lowell and the Sox are finalizing a 3-year/37.5MM. So, this question is moot.

Infield then looks the same as last:
Youk at 1B
Pedroia at 2B
Lugo at SS
Lowell at 3B

I expect an up year from Lugo and Lowell to dip slightly. Youk will deliver the same numbers (he's not going to deviate much offensively in the next few years). Pedroia will be the same.

Outfield:
Your starting OF looks like this:
Manny in LF
Ellsbury in CF
Drew in RF

Coco might be dealt, but you need a 4th outfielder. Manny missed time this year. It will be Ellsbury's first full year, and Drew (as some know) isn't "Mr. Durability". However, I do think that Drew has a much better year upcoming.

Ortiz at DH

Your lineup

Ellsbury
Youk
Ortiz
Manny
Drew
Lowell
Varitek
Pedroia
Lugo

Strangely enough, this off-season looks like building a bench. Wow. That's not much to worry about...

Pitching:
Starting rotation this far:
Beckett
Daisuke
Schilling
Wakefield
Lester/Buchholz

Bullpen
Papelbon
Okajima
Delcarmen
Tavarez

That's it so far...

Another setup guy would be great. I could see Buchholz getting the fifth starter role with Lester coming out of the pen. The Sox want to resign Timlin. Lopez will probably be back.

So, should the Sox trade for Santana? What if the Twins wanted Buchholz and Lester? That's a tough call. Beckett, Santana, and Daisuke for the next few years nearly guarantees a WS win or two. Santana is only 28. So, if you could sign him long-term, I would have to say go for it. Plus, the Sox still have two young guns in the minors in Masterson and Bowden...and the Twins want Coco. So you might even be able to give the Twins a proven major leaguer in Coco, then Buchholz OR Lester, and another prospect.

Two notes

1) Team USA beat Cuba to win the gold in the World Cup. First time in 33 years - congrats guys. Tampa Bay prospects Evan Longoria and Justin Ruggiano provided much of the offense; Delwyn Young and Jayson Nix (brother of Laynce Nix...what's with that family putting extra "y"s in their names?) also contributed.

2) A-Rod has announced his contract talks are in the "bottom of the fifth inning". Which tells us nothing. Is he talking about a meaningless game in April, or in the playoffs?

Another awesome article

This has to rank up there as one of the worst articles I've ever seen on the Globe website (non-CHB division). Technically the writer, Jason Tuohey, is a producer for boston.com, and so is not affiliated with the Globe sports section, which is good I guess. But oh my god - just the insane amount of fanboy-ism in the article makes me want to throw my computer out the window. I know it's considered cool to write "contrarian" articles...but usually you need to have a decent argument first. Look: Ortiz is not the MVP of the AL. He is not even the MVP of the World Champion Boston Red Sox. Hell, he is probably not even runner-up for MVP of the World Champion Boston Red Sox. God this pisses me off.

Anyway, for a good example of how stats can be used selectively to argue any point you'd like to make, check out this (or any other) article showing how awesome David Eckstein is.

Program Notes

I added a new link section on the right, "Boston Land of Champions". I am actually surprised by the lack of fan blogs out there for the other teams in the Boston area. Anyway, I found a couple good ones which I've added as links.

I am also tempted to go through our existing links and kill any link that hasn't had a recent post (say in the last 6 months). What do people think?

Also there is a new template feature through blogspot, not sure if we are interested in radical change. Let me know.

Friday Fun

So the term "Pay-Rod" has been around for a while; it looks like the headlines will be "Stay-Rod" pretty soon; and of course there's "Pray-Rod". Looking for others...let me know if I've missed any...

Scary thought...in some alternate universe, these are all Boston Herald covers and he's in a Red Sox uniform. Thanks, MLBPA!

(Also, the more this deal looks like it's going to happen, the more I hope he'll announce at the last second that he's signing that 10 year, $350M deal with the Angels. Can you imagine? Yanks fans will have to do another U-turn on the guy; plus the Steinbrenners' heads will explode.)

*Poof*

And, just like that, A-Rod's no longer making the biggest baseball headlines. I guess that means Jake Peavy winning the Cy Young is the third biggest story of the day.

PLEEEEASE?!?!?

So what's going on with A-Rod? He announces he's talking directly to the Steinbrenners about returning to the Yankees, and apparently Boras isn't at all involved (the Yankees refuse to speak to A-Rod with Boras as part of the negotiations). There are two very different possibilities here: (1) he really wants back, knowing the best way to salvage his reputation is to take a pay cut (of at least the $21.3M the Rangers were going to pay him). (2) Boras is involved, but not directly - the Angels told him $30M max, less than he would've gotten with his old contract, so they concocted this whole scheme making it seem like there is a bidding war. I honestly don't know - either one seems plausible (though both are sort of ridiculous). I guess I hope it's the first one, because (a) I don't want him on the Red Sox; (2) I honestly like to think he's a good person, with a lot of this BS based on an honest mistake rather than malice/classlessness; (iii) it's sort of awesome to think he made a $20M mistake; and (D) this would seriously damage Boras's reputation, among both the players and the owners.

Also, if he does sign a contract without Boras involved, Boras still gets his 10% cut, right? I feel that must be in the agent's contract that the cut is guaranteed no matter who does the negotiation; otherwise players would be able to let the agents do 99% of the work, then fire them at the last second and not have to pay anything.

Update: NY Daily News says they're close to a 10-year, $270M contract. NY Post says they're still pursuing Mike Lowell, for first base. Ulp.

Update update: Channel 7 reports that 4 teams (Braves, Cards, Angels, Yanks) offered him four-year contracts, $15-16M/year. I'm sorry, but that's just too much. If he follows the money...oh well. (Hopefully he won't end up on the Yankees.) I suppose since they cite just a "source", it could easily be his agent, trying to get Boston to offer something bigger.

Update update update: Yep, looks like Channel 7 was wrong. Cards are denying making any offer, and other sources (1-2 days old) say the Angels and Yankees aren't interested in a fourth year.

Another update: apparently by the collective bargaining agreement, no team can refuse to meet with a player's agent. And so this whole "Scott Boras is not involved" thing is basically untrue. Damn this is fun.

Now we can all be like Earl!

MLB announced yesterday that the Red Sox will open their 2008 season in Japan against the Oakland A's. The Sox will play a 4 game away series against the A's, 2 of the games in Tokyo and 2 of the games in Oakland. God, I am yawning already.

It will be a fitting start to the 2008 season as it will remind us of all the late nights at the end of the 2007 season.

In other Sox news, C.C. Sabathia won the AL Cy Young. I am no expert, but this might be one of the tightest races in recent memory. (Given that I have a very short memory, this has a very good chance of being true). C.C. was 19-7, Beckett was 20-7, Lackey was 19-9, and Carmona was 19-8. Lackey led the league in ERA at 3.01, followed by Carmona 3.06. C.C. edged Beckett in the ERA department 3.26 to 3.27 while clocking a league leading 241 innings. (Ok, I am guessing on that last statement and I am too lazy to look it up). Honestly, I feel like Beckett got over looked because the Sox were a better offensive team, so his contribution did not seem as valuable as C.C.'s. The voting should have been much closer, C.C. got 19 of the first place votes with 8 going to Beckett and 1 going to Lackey. Anyway, we know who was the better pitcher in 2007 :-)

Baseball in mid-November

So you wouldn't know it from casually surfing the web, but the Baseball World Cup (which I wrote about before the WBC) is going on right now, in Taiwan. You're supposed to be able to watch it online (games are EST +13 hrs, I think, so they're going on now), but I can't get it to work.

Apparently the MLB doesn't let its players compete, but the U.S. roster includes several important rookies-to-be, including Delwyn Young, Jeff Karstens, Evan Longoria, and Andy LaRoche. They're doing well, having won 5 out of 6 (the loss was an upset by Italy). In the other division, Cuba is 6-0 and Australia is 5-1. The best team, of course, is my Favorite Team, the Netherlands (see here, here, and here). Some of my favorite Dutch players are back, including Nicky Stufbergen, Dirk Van't Klooster, Raylinoe Legito, Michael Duursma, Sharnol Adriana, and Sidney De Jong. But there are also some new great names on the roster, including Dorotheus Drajier, Rogearvin Bernardina, Vince Rooi, Leok Van Mil, Duko Jansen, Kenneth Berkenbosch, Roel Koolen, Berry Van Driel, Martin Meeuwis, and best of all, Tjerk Smeets. (That's two-thirds of the roster. Possbly the best-named baseball team in history.) Notably absent is Robin Van Doornspeek. Also absent is the Netherlands' big success story, Jair Jurrgens, presumably because of all his big-league experience. He's no longer with Detroit; he was traded to Atlanta for Edgar Renteria, along with...wait for it...Gorkys Herndandez. Man, what a trade.

Tomorrow's Boston Herald headlines, today

Mark it down:

Ped-RoY-a

And no one's ever thought of that before. (If Denver has a crappy tabloid: No RoY for Troy)

Congratulations Dustin. And you too, guy in that other league.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 Arquimedez Pozo Award winner

Kosuke Fukudome just filed for free agency. I've mentioned his awesome name before, but I was focused on his last name only; I don't think I appreciated the sheer awesomeness of his first name, and both put together. It's the whole package. Some team's going to get mighty lucky.

Fukudome links:
- www.welovekosuke.com
- video of an angry at-bat
- Arquimedez Pozo Awards

This one goes to 11

So the Globe reported that 11 members of the current free agent class would be named in the Mitchell Report; this led to some fun guessing games (Bonds, Sosa, Guillen, Cameron...), but ultimately the report was wrong and the Globe had to issue a retraction. The real story of course is that "no more than 11 were asked to speak to Mitchell". Okay...but what the hell does "no more than 11" mean? Doesn't that just mean, um, 11? (Of course, if I were leaking information from the Mitchell Report, I would tell the press "no more than 872...but no less than -13", but maybe most people wouldn't.) The other thing: what happens when a player refuses to talk to the Commission? I imagine most refused, but do they get their own chapter on "Uncooperative Witnesses"? I assume they do, meaning all 11 of them - except for those who talked and somehow cleared their names - will be in the report.

Regardless, when it comes out, it's going to be ugly. And one thing I don't know is how this affects the month before then. Will free agents (or players approaching free agency in a couple years) will be racing to lock up big lucrative contracts? Will clubs insist the contracts include "Mitchell Report" clauses? Ugh.

Random links, random thougts

Because it beats working.

• This is mighty interesting. I wonder what it'd take (beyond Coco) to get Saltalamacchia? If you're going to get rid of Coco, it's hard to come up with an upgrade in the name department, but this one might actually work. (Plus there's the whole "Jason Varitek will be 36 next year" thing. But that's not nearly important as having awesome names on the roster.)
• The MLBPA is so fucking predictable. (Though I have to say it's pretty awesome that Gene Orza accused Murray Chass of collusion. Who to root for?)
  
• Two weeks ago Will Leitch (of Deadspin fame) wrote this awesome article about Curt Schilling. It sums the guy up pretty perfectly in my opinion.
• I've known about this for years, but have never bothered to take a look: C.J. Nitkowski has a blog, which he's maintained for years (probably before the term "blog" was even coined). It's worth a look - it turns out he's more than just the guy I picked up late in the 2002 fantasy season (along with A.J. Hinch, B.J. Ryan, A.J. Pierzynski, A.J. Burnett, and B.J. Surhoff) because of his awesome name. This last season for him seemed rather rough - he played in Japan, for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (teammates with Adam Hyzdu!), struggled throughout the season, and clearly by the end was ready to go home. His blog is interesting because it's just so candid - something you don't see much by athletes these days.
  
• Anyone else notice that Peter Gammons has been taking potshots at baseball stats lately? "The sabermetrics guys in their garages never understand these things." "Sorry, but the postseason is not random" "But it is that drive and obsession with consistency and winning that makes Jeter a greater player than any statistic can measure." I know he's never been too into statistics, preferring to focus on the human side of the game, but has he always been this snide (even passive-aggressive) towards sabermetrics?
• Obviously Scott Boras continues to surprise (see Barry Zito), but I can't help but think he made a huge mistake with the A-Rod opt-out. Simply talking to the Yankees gives them 7 years/$230M - they could probably talk it up to 8/$265. Maybe the Angels will pay more than that, but maybe not. If they have to settle for 5 years, even if it's $33M/year, I'd view the whole thing as a big fuckup.
• The Tejada rumor is great. As you know, I hate the guy, so I'd love to have him to root against. And the fact that he's on the decline, and may well make a nice big cameo in the Mitchell Report, makes it that much better.
  
• Bob Raismann may be the awesomest-looking sportwriter ever. That's it, I'm growing a moustache.
  

First offer to Lowell

Damn things are moving fast. This is a pretty fun offseason so far.

"Bedazzler"

A bit out of date, but in case you haven't already, watch this.



Then watch this.



While we're on the subject of members of the World Champion Red Sox on late-night talk shows, check out this as well. It has nothing to do with bedazzling, but it's pretty fun anyway.

Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk!

Youk wins the gold glove

Let's put this in perspective:
1. He DID NOT make an error all season (1,080 chances, 990 put outs)
2. He is only the SECOND 1B in Red Sox history to win (George Scott won 3)

I felt like he deserved his own post, especially because he pulled a Wakefield-esque move and sat for games 3 and 4 without complaint. MAN I LOVE THIS TEAM.

Hot stove, hot corner

Murray Chass takes a break from his normal M.O. of ranting incoherently and does a little - gulp - "reporting", asking GM's point-blank if they're interested in going after A-Rod and giving their answers. While he's pretty stupid to say that you need two teams to be interested to drive a player's price (does he know anything about Scott Boras?), the list of "no" teams is pretty interesting, especially because it includes the Mets. The Giants are a big "maybe", which isn't surprising, but you have to assume they'd be in great shape were it not for the Zito contract - $19.3M for the next 6 years! Even the most cynical of us didn't think they'd be regretting that contract after just one season. I figured it'd take at least three.

Meanwhile, of course everyone wants Mike Lowell re-signed. Count me in - I've had a serious man-crush on the guy ever since 2002 when I picked him up for our fantasy league. So here's a question: how much should the Sox spend? I read somewhere he was looking for 4 years, $56 million. That seems a bit...uh, high, considering he'll be 37 by the end. I guess I'd go for 4 years, $48M, or 3 years, $42M.

Another "B" in Cooperstown

According to ESPN, Schilling in Boston for one more year is a done deal.

Nice.

Update: $2 million in "weight incentives". Damn, I wish my job had that.
Update 2: Curt announces he passed his physical.

Confession

So I didn't actually watch Game 4. Seriously - I did not watch the Red Sox win the World Series. I read about it the next morning at 9am in Helsinki, a couple hours after it was over. It bums me out, but it was just impossible - no TV, internet was spotty, plus I was suffering from serious sleep deprivation - I'd watched the previous 8+ games at 2-3am; they ended at between 6 and 7:30, and I had to be at work by 8. So by Game 4 it just didn't happen.

Some people I tell this to just can't believe it. As if it makes me a bad Red Sox fan. Yes, it was a great, close game, and I would've loved to see the on-field celebration. But really: was there any doubt? Did anyone seriously think the Rockies were going to pull it off after Game 3? Hell, even after Game 2, or Game 1? After Game 3 - their best offensive game of the series - they were batting a miserable .222 in the Series (OPS was around .650). Despite bringing out their number 1-3 starters, they gave up ten or more runs, twice. While Game 2 was great, even then they looked completely and totally outmatched. There was simply no way they were going to win four in a row. Now, I've been told that one team actually has come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a 7-game postseason series (the name of the team escapes me at the moment), but there's just no comparison - after 3 games they were batting .289, and showed some signs of life throughout all three of those games.

I'm sure I'm hardly the first to note this, but the World Series has been sort of...uh, lame lately. In the last 4 years the losing team has won exactly one game (and pine tar may have had something to do with that...). Before that, the 2003 Series (Yanks-Marlins) didn't feel nearly as close as it really was, and the 2002 Series (Giants-Angels) was big on drama (7 games!) but not so big on good baseball. You have to go back 6 years, to 2001 (Yankees-Diamondbacks) to find a truly great World Series.

Which is weird since during this time of boring World Series the LCS's have been absolutely epic.

2003: Marlins-Cubs (7 games, Bartman play), Yanks-Sox (7 games, Little/Boone)
2004: Astros-Cards (7 games, Edmonds 12th inning HR, Pujols/Beltran HR-fest), Yanks-Sox (7 games, the Steal, Foulke, etc etc etc)
2005: Astros-Cards (only 6 games, but that blast by Pujols off Lidge...yow.)
2006: Mets-Cards (7 games, the Catch)
2007: Indians-Sox (7 games, most of which were insanely close through 5+ innings)

Not sure if it means anything, but it's pretty weird that I can recount many more events from the last five years of LCS's than I can of the (non-Red Sox) World Series.

Back

Just returned from Finland, to this nice piece of news. Wakefield for the 2008 season - hard to complain. I really love that contract.

In other news, Julio Lugo's wife is named Sulky. Sulky Lugo.

My two favorite moments/stories of the 2007 WS

1. By far, my favorite Red Sox moment of all time. The post game interview with Tim Wakefield and Timlin comes storming in and says, basically, that Wake is the greatest teammate in the world for making the ultimate sacrifice by saying that he could not pitch in the WS and giving up his roster spot. And Timlin said how every guy in that locker room appreciated it b/c it is so hard to admit something like that. Wake was so touched by what Timlin said, he was choking back tears.

Seeing/hearing this got me thinking about how very true it was what Timlin said. Think of Schill starting game 2 of the LCS in 2004 after hurting his leg in ANA and getting lit up, before Dr. Morgan performed the surgery, or even Clemens this year against CLE having to leave after like two innings. I know these guys are competitors. And think they can do it an be a hero, but what Wake did probably took more courage, guts, and brains than any of us could imagine.

I always thought a little too much was made of Wake sacrificing his start(s) in 2004 to rescue the pen. I take all that back and now think Wake may have made the leap to being my all time favorite Red Sox.

2. The story I heard about the Sox post game private party at their hotel in Denver and Maroon 5 were staying at the hotel as well and got invited to the party. They apparently broke out their instruments and started jamming, with the highlight of the evening being the band playing and Papelbon and Beckett (among others) leading the band and team in a sing along of "We are the Champions." How freaking sweet is that?