ORS

Why are we talking about Martin? Oh yeah, that's right, Jacko started the thread. He always finds a way to transgress a discussion, about anything, into how awesome something is in Yankeeland. In other news today, attacks on civilians in Syria continued, and the UN is considering a humanitarian foreign aid package, which clearly means that Brett Gardner will have an MVP caliber season for the Yankees. Film at 11:00.

I expect him to be tall again this year.

Very sure. If your indifference requires effort to maintain it, then it doesn't really exist.

Yeah, this is pretty huge oxymoron. You can't vigorously, or aggressively, force yourself to not care. You either care or you do not. You can militantly avoid a topic in the wish to refrain from discussion, which is what it sounds like you meant. But, you cannot be "militantly indifferent".

T-minus 5 days until the Sox take the field (against BC). T-minus 6 days until they take the field vs another MLB team (Twins). Let's get the party started! My hope: that enough of the question marks end up on the positive side of the ledger to put the Sox comfortably into the playoffs and that they play deep into October. Of course, I'd love for them to win it all, but October baseball can be a funny/fickle beast, so I'd be content with a good showing that lacked a championship. My reason: It's selfish, and it's not just because I root for the team. It's bigger than that. I think a deep run into the playoffs by this squad, combined with last year's disappointment, would be very instructive in showing how worthless preseason expectations are. Ultimately, to me, my love of baseball is about the ride, the journey of the season. Take what you get and find joy in the process. Leave the bellyaching when you are dissatisfied with their acquisitions and chest thumping when you are elated by them at the door. It's entertainment, try and enjoy it. Especially when we are fortunate enough to root for a team that by all reasonable accounting, is putting the effort in to give us a competitive team year after year. Do I expect, that if that were to happen, people would be more reasonable in the offseason? No, but the optimist in me is always hopeful. Don't take this to mean that I think I haven't been a part of the problem. I am as guilty as anyone in engaging in the bickering that has marked this offseason. Just as some got frustrated by the personnel decisions that transpired this offseason, I too got frustrated by the way their frustration was communicated. This is my fault, and I too hope to learn from it. So, I guess the selfish part is in hoping that this season can show how misplaced their frustration was, potentially reducing some of it in the future, which would ultimately lead to me being less frustrated by the commentary. Anyway, I'm off my soapbox now. Go Sox!

It's probably best to let his posts fade away rather than quoting him now. He's been banned permanently.

It was a urine sample. I've been surfing around looking for information about time/temperature degradations on urine samples, and all I have found is that at RT it is negligible over the amount of time it sat in the basement of the collector's house.

Your suggestion sounds a whole lot like the "head in the sand" approach employed prior to 2003. Now that PED use is out of the closet, ignoring it like they did before would be the worst thing MLB could do for publicity. I'm not saying I disagree in principle, but in terms of PR, I think you are 180 degrees out of phase.

Do you put a lot of stock into the "even year" stuff? Sounds very la-la landish to me. I don't discount that he has performed better in odd years than even years, so the correlation does exsit. That doesn't mean I think there's causation. If I did, I would be out looking for leprechauns at the end of the rainbow and the Easter Bunny.

Lawl, indeed. Particulary when it sounds like his appeal was won over a technicality, not the result. He'll be considered guilty in the court of public opinion, along with many others who have not been suspended.

I think everyone with access shares some blame, from the players themselves, who I'm sure inadvertently say too much from time to time, to the grounds crew, trainers, staff, etc, etc. I forget who it was that suggested this sometime last year, but it makes a lot of sense. How much of this stuff that comes out when personnel leaves was kind of generally known to insiders? I can easily envision a scenario where the media sits on this stuff that nobody else has access to, and then when someone is on the way out, the gloves come off. If I have to pick the most significant component to the nasty atmosphere that develops as someone finds themself walking through the exit to Fenway for the last time, I pick the Boston press. There's a long history of journalistic nastiness in the region.

Thanks for bolding, it helps filter the list, but I only count three bolded that are Sox prospects.

Glad I could help.

Isn't it equally underhanded to vouch for someone you don't think is fit for the job? Not saying I agree, but Henry is entitled to his opinion on this, and if this is his opinion, I think phony recommendation is worse.

And.... wait for it..... Bleacher Report for 2012 has the Sox at 10 and Yankees at 15. The link posted earlier was from February of 2011. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1057599-power-ranking-the-best-farm-systems-in-mlb#/articles/1057599-power-ranking-the-best-farm-systems-in-mlb/page/16 It looks like B/R is just regurgitating Sickels list with a tweak or two to make it look original.