Admittedly, this probably isn't even worth sharing since Peter Gammons is involved with the reporting...

The team has asked second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who won the AL MVP Award in 2008, if he could play shortstop for the team if needed next season.

The staff has thrown it out to him, realizing that it might be easier to sign or acquire an everyday, defensive second baseman than a shortstop.
There is some hesitation from the Red Sox about signing free agent Marco Scutaro, between the plantar fasciitis that bothered him late in the season and the possibility of giving up a first-round draft pick to sign him if the Blue Jays offer him arbitration Monday. There are voices in the organization that believe that another possibility is second baseman Brandon Phillips, who was a shortstop in the Montreal and Cleveland organizations and hit 20 homers for the Reds last season.

So you have 5 salaries that significantly restrict flexibility. Does anyone else think that the Reds are working from the bottom of that list, instead of the top? Is there some obligation to send middle infielders to Boston?

If it adds 50 points to your batting average, let's buy TWO for Paul Janish!

Joe Posnanski has a take on a Brandon Phillips quote about his approach to hitting. BP's thought is fairly predictable. But there's a must-see BP statistic that Pos brings to the table...

"Ryan Freel had to leave the game with an injury..."

For the non-linking types, he was hit in the head with a pickoff throw as he was diving back to second base. Freel left the game and was going to get an MRI done. I haven't found any updates on Farney's condition.
The web-Nazis won't let me run video from work, but the Boston play-by-play guys were kind of incredulous that he managed to lose his helmet and so that he could get hit in the head, but those of us from Cincy are nodding sagely. Freel takes the "blood-and-guts" thing very seriously!