If you're wondering who's going to close this season with Ryan and Julio out of the picture, it looks like the favorite is indeed Chris Ray. We've got LaTroy Hawkins now, but LaTroy hates closing so it's probably not a good idea. Rotowire is floating the idea that if Ugueth Urbina beats murder charges in Venezuela, the O's could look his way. Frankly I'd rather take a shot with Ray than bother with Urbina given where we're at.
It's close to official that the Red Sox will both be signing Alex Gonzalez (the former Marlin) to stopgap at shortstop this season and acquiring Coco Crisp from the Indians for Andy Marte and Guillermo Mota.
For the record, no one has signed Sammy Sosa.