Rumors abound that my beloved Boston Red Sox plan to bid vigorously for the services of free agent Mark Teixeira and Japanese pitching phenom Junichi Tazawa. Although I’d like to see the team take the challenge of developing and sustaining a winning team in a major market with a Moneyball philosophy, I’m actually excited by the possibilities of these two signings. I’d rather see the team stay competitive while reducing its overall payroll, but if we’re going to spend money in the free agent market, then we should spend the …

It’s been a busy year and I haven’t been able to catch as many Red Sox games as I would have liked. Granted, the urgency has been diminished by two championships in the last four years after a near century of long-suffering from close calls and dramatic second-place denouements. The championship in 2004, which broke the slump, was highly cathartic and wonderfully expressed by this surprisingly sympathetic and understanding Nike (NKE) commercial. I cry every time I watch it. Since that 2004 campaign, I’ve watched the franchise grow in sophistication. …

I get up very early in the morning to prepare for the markets’ open. The usual routine involves checking my inbox for important emails from friends or respected professionals, quickly poring over all the news, running through my RSS feeds, tracking my investment ideas through Google (GOOG) Alerts and some proprietary software that automatically populate my database of companies to investigate further. I find that having a discipline or process helps me to keep my mind focused, sharp, and ready to generate new ideas.
Early tomorrow morning, I’m changing my routine …

As a Boston Red Sox fan (a long-suffering, loyal fan I might add), I’ve watched nervously Gary Sheffield‘s at-bats against my favorite team. Ever since moving over from the National League, he’s been a threatening presence at the plate against my boys from Boston, especially when he played for the hated New York Yankees. Only after John Henry, a wealthy hedge fund manager, bought the Red Sox and instilled a philosophy of scientific management based on sabermetrics did the Fenway Faithful enjoy the team’s recent dominance over the …