“That’s my favorite and most natural position and the position I enjoy playing the most. I’m looking forward to it.” – Mike Aviles “It’s my natural position, the position I feel the most comfortable at, and it’s the position I love to play.” – Nick Punto Ladies and gentlemen, meet the two new starting shortstops for the Boston Red Sox. Once word came down that Marco Scutaro would be playing in Colorado next season, the next logical line of questioning emanating from Red Sox land was who would start at shortstop for the Red Sox. The perceived Plan B, Jed Lowrie, had been dealt to Houston earlier in the offseason, and prospect Jose Iglesias isn’t considered quite ready for everyday big league duty. That left Aviles and Punto. The 30-year-old Aviles’ name had been surfaced throughout the offseason after it became a distinct possibility that he would be seeing some time in the outfield after the trade of Josh Reddick. He

It started at about 8 p.m. Friday night, when word came down that the Yankees had found what every team in baseball loves to find -- a potential No. 1 starter, not even residing in the world of arbitration. This was in the form of 22-year-old Michael Pineda. Two hours later came the next salvo: New York signed free agent pitcher Hiroki Kuroda. Now it is Wednesday and the Red Sox are still waiting for the glow of the Yankees' shock and awe to dim, doing so while hurdling such obstacles as Carl Crawford's wrist surgery and a round of arbitration-eligible dealings that could further define what the Sox will or won't do down the line. Names such as Vicente Padilla and Jesus Montero have further shaped the landscape, while Bobby Valentine has once again managed to punctuate the manager's view of the American League East landscape. Here are some thoughts on what has transpired over the past 120 or so hours. CRAWFORD STILL SEARCHING FOR HAPPY PLACE Crawford has kept to himself for the most part

PENNSAUKEN, N.J. -- Andrew Bailey has dealt with Jonathan Papelbon's pain. It is, after all, the sort of affliction only closers can truly understand. On July 9, 2011, he was smacked in the face with the reality that comes with being a major league closer when the then-Oakland Athletics' reliever watched Josh Hamilton launch a 95 mph, 2-0 fastball into the right field seats at The Ballpark in Arlington, 425 feet away from home plate. "I was like, 'That was really, really far,'" Bailey remembered while preparing for his The Bailey Bowl, a charity event to support the Strike 3 Foundation. "I was really pissed when it happened, but the next day we were kind of joking about it and trying to throw balls up into the stands where it landed and we couldn't even reach it. "That one hurt because we were losing and it was right before the All-Star break and we were still kind of in it, we had a lot of expectations as a team, we were just kind of falling short in the first half

Adrian Gonzalez has picked his team for this Sunday's showdown between Bill Belichick's boys and the Broncos. "I'm actually rooting for the Patriots because the Broncos need to lose three in a row and the Chargers need to win three in a row to get into the playoffs," said the San Diego native, and Red Sox first baseman. "I'm rooting for [Tim] Tebow to have a great game, but the Chargers need some help." Truth be told, it's rare for Gonzalez to root for the Patriots. But it's not rare for him to cheer for Tebow. "I always keep track of how he's doing," said Gonzalez via phone. "I think everything that's going on, if you just turn on TV or sports radio, he's being talked about, which is great. I followed him in college, also. Personally, I'm the type of person who prefers to watch a Tom Brady-type of game, but Tebow is a guy I'm always going to follow and wish the best for him and pray he continues to do well and stay healthy." For Gonzalez, this isn't