Projo Sox Blog

CHICAGO (AP) -- Omar Vizquel will wear the No. 11 of former White Sox shortstop and fellow Venezuelan Luis Aparicio this season.

The White Sox say they have unretired Aparicio's No. 11 for the 2010 season, with his blessing. Aparicio said Vizquel is the one player he'd like to see don his number.

The 42-year-old Vizquel signed with the White Sox this offseason. He is a three-time AL All-Star and is considered one of best fielding shortstops of all time.

Aparicio was named American League Rookie of the Year as a member of the White Sox in 1956 and the 10-time All-Star played 10 seasons with Chicago. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1984, the same year the team retired his uniform number.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Marcus Thames agreed Monday to a minor league contract with the New York Yankees, who also finalized a $1.1 million, one-year deal with Randy Winn to give themselves more left field options.

Thames, who turns 33 next month, began his major league career with the Yankees in 2002 and homered on his first big league pitch that June 10 off Arizona's Randy Johnson. Thames was traded to Texas in June 2003 for Ruben Sierra, then let go by the Rangers after the season.

He spent the last six seasons with Detroit and hit .252 with 13 homers and 36 RBIs last year, down from 25 homers and 56 RBIs the previous season. He would get a $900,000, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster and have the chance to earn an additional $900,0000 in performance bonuses.

The right-handed-hitting Thames could find himself alongside center fielder Curtis Granderson, his former Tigers teammate, and complement the switch-hitting Winn, who hit .292 from the left side last year and .158 from the right. Thames batted .257 against lefties and .248 vs. righties.

Speedy Brett Gardner also is in the mix for outfield playing time.

Winn's $900,000 in performance bonuses are based on plate appearances against left-handed pitchers only. He would get $100,000 each for 50, 75 and 100, and $150,000 apiece for 125, 150, 175 and 200.

Winn's deal, reached Jan. 27 subject to a physical, pretty much eliminated any chance Johnny Damon had of returning to the World Series champions.

Winn hit .262 overall with two homers and 51 RBIs for San Francisco last season. The 35-year-old was an All-Star in 2002, when he batted .298 with 14 homers and 75 RBIs for Tampa Bay.

Curt Schilling wrote on his blog, 38pitches.com, this morning that it should be a no-brainer for the Boston Red Sox to give ace Josh Beckett a contract extension. Schilling writes that the only worry would be Beckett's health but it becomes a no-brainer when it comes to Beckett's dedication. Schilling goes on to write: "There is not a sliver of a chance that you get anything less than his total focus, concentration and effort for every day he's under contract, no matter who that is with."

With spring training less than two weeks away, the Red Sox have announced the 20 non-roster players who will receive spring training invitations in 2010.

The non-roster invitees supplement the group of players who are on the 40-man roster. Most of these players will not break camp with the major league club; they are a combination of minor-league veterans and prospects that the club feels could use the opportunity to train with the major leaguers.

The non-roster invitees are pitchers Randor Bierd, Fernando Cabrera, Kris Johnson, Casey Kelly, Adam Mills, Edwin Moreno, Joe Nelson, Brian Shouse, Jorge Sosa and Kyle Weiland; catchers Luis Exposito and Gustavo Molina; infielders Lars Anderson, Yamaico Navarro, Angel Sanchez and Gil Velazquez; and outfielders Zach Daeges, Ryan Kalish, Che-Hsuan Lin and Darnell McDonald.

Kelly is normally ranked as one of the two best players in the Sox minor league system; Anderson held that rank before a dismal 2009 saw him unseated. Kalish, Lin, Navarro, Weiland, and Exposito are also prospects on the rise. Bierd, Cabrera, McDonald, Molina, Moreno, Nelson, Sanchez, Shouse, Sosa, and Velazquez have all seen the majors before, and are largely seen as depth players. Johnson and Daeges are former prospects in need of bounce-back springs. Mills is a Triple-A pitcher with smarts and talent, but perhaps not as much potential as the top prospects.

Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report Feb. 18. The rest of the squad will follow by Feb. 23.

LAGUNA NIGEL, Calif. (AP) -- The ball Alex Rodriguez hit for his 500th home run has sold at auction for $103,579.

SCP Auctions said Thursday the buyer decided to remain anonymous.

The ball, hit off Kansas City pitcher Kyle Davies, was recovered by a college student at the old Yankee Stadium on Aug. 4, 2007.

SCP also sold the balls Barry Bonds hit for his 755 and 756th home runs.

Kevin Millar, who signed a minor-league contract with the Chicago Cubs on Friday, says he will bring more to the Cubs than just his performance on the field.

"Everybody is looking at stats ... I get it," Millar said Friday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "But my point is when you're making a team and trying to bring in a bunch of different personalities I think everybody's got a certain amount of intangibles that they bring.

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Red Sox minority owner Jeff Vinik has agreed to purchase the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL.

Vinik, 50, lives in Boston and is the founder of Vinik Asset Management. He bought the Lightning from OK Hockey, LLC.

"Buying the Lightning and joining the Tampa Bay community is a dream come true," said Vinik. "I've been an avid hockey fan my whole life and I pledge to our fans that I will work my hardest to build the Lightning into a world class organization both on and off the ice."

Vinik is best known around Red Sox Nation for the foul ball his son, Danny (pictured to the right), caught during the 2007 ALDS.

Vinik and his family were sitting a few rows behind the Red Sox on-deck circle when Manny Ramirez hit a lazy pop up in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Danny Vinik, then 17, reached up and outbattled Angels catcher Jeff Mathis for the ball. The play kept Ramirez's at-bat alive and eventually leading to Boston's tying run.

--JOE McDONALD

The New York Yankees 2009 World Series trophy will be on display at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., on Saturday, Feb. 13 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fans can view and take photographs of the trophy, which will be on display in the Spring Gateway located in The Shops.

WEEI.com's Rob Bradford writes that, according to a post on Twitter from NPB Tracker, Japanese newspaper Sports Hochi is reporting that the Red Sox are one of four teams to offer left-handed pitcher Hisanori Takahashi a minor league contract.

The Fox network's baseball schedule includes two Red Sox games against National League teams in prime time at 7 o'clock on Saturday night -- May 22 at Philadelphia and June 26 at San Francisco.

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