Red Sox Nation Recognizes Rhode Island, [SEE UPDATE] Rights of Senior Citizens

While the New York Yankees have treated this year's free agent pool as their own personal game of Hungry Hungry Hippos--renewing with vigor their franchise mandate to morph into a league of cartoon villains--the Boston Red Sox have adopted a much less flashier approach, making acquisitions of the shruggable, "huh, that's interesting" variety.

This trend shows no sign of abating now that the Red Sox are close to signing Rhode Island native Rocco Baldelli, who has spent his career to date with the Tampa Bay (Artists Formerly Known as Devil) Rays.

As a Red Sox fan who grew up near Rhode Island, I like the Baldelli pickup. As a Red Sox fan who likes Red Sox players that aren't constantly injured, I'm feeling uncertain. As a Red Sox fan who has found an excuse to incorporate the New England-based convenience-store chain Cumberland Farms (Baldelli hails from the town of Cumberland) in a blog post, I'm over the moon.

UPDATE: The Red Sox will also be signing old-timer John Smoltz. Wasn't there already a movie about this?