And now, it’s time for something entirely new. Here is the first edition of the “Sunday Scuttlebutt.”…

The Red Sox are playing very well right now, with six
straight victories heading into Patriot’s Day, but are also facing the very real
possibility that Jed Lowrie will miss the rest of the season with a serious
wrist injury. If that happens, GM Theo Epstein will have to make a trade for a
more seasoned shortstop. Journeyman Nick Green, currently filling in, is not a
long-term answer, nor is the declining Julio Lugo, who remains on the disabled
list. Do not be surprised to hear rumors of the Red Sox dealing for someone
like Oakland’s Bobby Crosby or Pittsburgh’s Jack Wilson…

The Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang will receive at least one more
start before being demoted to the bullpen–or to Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre.
If Wang endures another beating in his next start, which is currently scheduled
for next weekend in Boston,
the Yankees will replace him in the rotation with Phil Hughes and move the
sinkerballing right-hander to the bullpen. There is an outside possibility that
the Yankees could send him back to the minor leagues, but as a vested veteran,
Wang would have to grant his permission to such a move…

Jorge Posada isn’t exactly thrilled with Joe Girardi’s plan
to remove him from the latter stages of games in which the Yankees are nursing thin
leads. On Friday, Girardi pulled Posada before the top of the ninth, replacing
him with defensive specialist Jose Molina. Posada then left the Yankee
clubhouse before reporters arrived, fueling speculation that he was upset by
being yanked from the game. From where I stand, Girardi’s plan is a smart one.
Posada, returning from major shoulder surgery, has thrown out only two of eight
basestealers this year. Even when fully healthy, Posada is vastly inferior to
Molina in terms of arm strength and general catching skills. Right about now,
Molina might just be the major leagues’ best throwing catcher…

The Johan Santana trade is looking better and better for the
Mets. Earlier this week, the Twins designated right-hander Philip Humber, a
major piece in the package the Mets surrendered for the great Santana. The
Twins will now have to trade Humber at a
bargain basement price or hope that he clears waivers and accepts an assignment
to Triple-A Rochester. Humber has been a huge
disappointment in the Twin Cities, unable to crack a young rotation that lost
both Santana and Matt Garza over the past two years…

Notwithstanding Luis Castillo’s game-winning infield single
on Friday and his current flirtation with a .400 batting average, the Mets
still have major worries over the future production they can expect from the
aging middle infielder. The Mets are already considering a contingency plan
that involves a platoon of Alex Cora and Fernando Tatis. Here’s the problem:
Tatis has almost no experience playing second base, having started his career as
a third baseman before learning to play the outfield corners. But Mets GM Omar
Minaya believes in Tatis, largely because of his athleticism and the way that
he has taken to playing the outfield…

Citi Field, the Mets’ new home, has received criticism for
detailing too much baseball history that has no direct connection to the Mets
and for failing to acknowledge the team’s own rich history, which dates back to
1962. The latter criticism is legitimate–the Mets should have a Hall of Fame,
or at least a Wall of Fame somewhere within the large confines of Citi
Field–but the former criticism is bogus, to say the least. Why shouldn’t the Mets honor the legacy of
someone like Jackie Robinson, who not only changed the course of the Brooklyn
Dodgers’ franchise, but laid the groundwork for alterations to all of
baseball’s rosters? The Mets, like all other 29 franchises, have had important
African-American players along with dark skinned Latinos, many of whom would
have seen their major league debuts delayed if Robinson had failed. The Jackie
Robinson Rotunda is a fitting tribute to someone who remains pertinent to the
game today, even 62 years after he first took the field at Ebbets Field…

How much did Harry Kalas mean to the Phillies’ organization
and their nation of fans? On Saturday, Kalas lay in state at Philadelphia’s
Citizens Bank Park,
making him the first baseball man since Babe Ruth to have his casket displayed
at his team’s home ballpark. Thousands of fans poured through Citizens Bank
Park to pay tribute to
the man who had become almost as synonymous to the franchise as Mike Schmidt.
Kalas, who died on Monday at the age of 73, was still regarded as one of the
game’s best play-by-play men and was likely years away from retirement. He will
be missed enormously.