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Good for you. Now try reading what I wrote since I brought his name up. I'm not talking about getting Rolen, and most people are talking about trading Youkilis. I expect more from a guy who gives us all a backhanded compliment about our intelligence in his first post.

People should be screened for epilepsy before they are allowed to read that board. All the pics in the signatures could induce a seizure.

It's absolutely different. If it was the same, then they'd let him walk and get a draft pick. Instead, they are taking advantage of the fact that they are the only team that can afford to eat a good portion of his salary (something they will likely have to do in order to anyone interesting back) in order to dictate where he does/does not go. And, the dissimilarity isn't just apples to oranges. It's apples to orangutans.

10-12 isn't the BA ranking, it's the musings of the members of the board. That said, expect our ranking to drop because they graduated Papelbon, Lester, Hansen, MDC and traded Anibal, Hanley, Shoppach, and Marte (who all contributed to last year's ranking).

NFL Point Spreads For Week 8 - NFL Game Dates 10/29 - 10/30, 2006 Spread Category : Date & Time Favorite.................. Spread......................... Underdog 10/29 1:00 ET At Tennessee............... -3............................... Houston 10/29 1:00 ET At Philadelphia...............-6.......................... Jacksonville 10/29 1:00 ET At Cincinnati............... -4.5................................ Atlanta 10/29 1:00 ET At NY Giants................-9.5............................Tampa Bay 10/29 1:00 ET At Chicago................ -16.5........................San Francisco 10/29 1:00 ET At Green Bay.............. -3.5................................ Arizona 10/29 1:00 ET At Kansas City............... -6................................. Seattle 10/29 1:00 ET At New Orleans............. -2............................. Baltimore 10/29 4:05 ET At San Diego................ -9............................... St. Louis 10/29 4:15 ET Pittsburgh..................... -9........................... At Oakland 10/29 4:15 ET At Cleveland............... -1.5................................ NY Jets 10/29 4:15 ET At Denver................... -2.5......................... Indianapolis 10/29 8:15 ET At Carolina................... -5................................... Dallas Monday Night Football Point Spread 10/30 8:30 ET New England............... -2.5........................ At Minnesota Straight Category : Date & Time Favorite.................. Spread.......................... Underdog 10/29 1:00 ET At Tennessee................................................... Houston 10/29 1:00 ET At Philadelphia............................................. Jacksonville 10/29 1:00 ET At Cincinnati....................................................... Atlanta 10/29 1:00 ET At NY Giants..................................................Tampa Bay 10/29 1:00 ET At Chicago................................................San Francisco 10/29 1:00 ET At Green Bay..................................................... Arizona 10/29 1:00 ET At Kansas City.................................................... Seattle 10/29 1:00 ET At New Orleans............................................... Baltimore 10/29 4:05 ET At San Diego.................................................... St. Louis 10/29 4:15 ET Pittsburgh..................................................... At Oakland 10/29 4:15 ET At Cleveland....................................................... NY Jets 10/29 4:15 ET At Denver.................................................... Indianapolis 10/29 8:15 ET At Carolina........................................................... Dallas Monday Night Football 10/30 8:30 ET pNew England.............................................. At Minnesota Monday Night Football Total Points Scored : ..................... ____37____

Slow down there, Skippy. Gary has an opinion on this move.... link Score one for Gary. Anyone surprised that this isn't going to be easy?

Won't Spann and Jackson fall under the new rules set forth by the new CBA that moved the 40-man roster deadline for Rule V protection from 3/4 to 4/5? Or does the need to put the on the 40-man account for the extra time added by the new CBA?

Nope. Most of the chatter I've heard on sports talk radio has been about how this type of stuff is so common that there's no competitive advantage because everyone is doing it. Shaving cream, suntan lotion, concoctions, benzoin, pine tar, etc., etc, and so on and so on. In the era of the juiced ball, bat, player, and park, I don't put it past the pitchers to get a little better grip on the ball. No story, IMO.

ARod's true position is SS, so the ChiSox have nothing to consider regarding Crede. Given Uribe's legal troubles in the DR, it's no surprise they are making a push for him. A 3-6 of ARod, Thome, Konerko, and Dye? Scary s*** right there. And, ARod will hit 50+ bombs in that park.

The market for pitching doesn't compare to the market for position players. Damon plays a more important defensive position, so his offense is more valuable. Damon had a 41 VORP last year (41 and 43 the years prior). CLee had a 27. EDIT: Sorry, CLee was 46 VORP runs total (19 from TEX). So, maybe he gets Damon money.

A mere 3 years ago Vladdy and Sheff signed for $14M and $13M respectively. Does Lee's game compare to either of them 3 years ago? I think they were both better in every facet of the game, and they played a more premium position. Given his defensive liability, I don't see Lee getting much more than $12M per, and if he does it's a mistake.

I think Soriano is. He changed my mind this year. He was actually above average defensively in the OF, and with his speed and arm, I think he profiles as a CF. When you can get 40/40 and a .900 OPS from a CF, he's worth that kind of coin. I don't see Carlos Lee costing that much, honestly.

Right now, those guys aren't question marks like Sheffield is. When healthy, I'd rather have his bat than either of theirs, but his ability to recover from a wrist injury is still in doubt. Those are the trickiest injuries for hitters to deal with, and Sheffield's heavy bat action doesn't help things. I think this is nothing more than wishful thinking from you guys. At that salary with that injury, he's got to have next to no trade value right now.

Exactly. Many people were saying the same thing about Posada going into this year, and he had a really good year for a catcher. All too often, people think the most recent year is all that matters for projecting the future when the overall career numbers, with an eye on age, are much more important.

Absolutely. If 'Tek, Crisp, and Beckett perform to their abilities, and the youngsters (MDC, Hansen, and Pedroia) continue to improve at this level, then they are already better without any roster addition. I don't think either of those things are unreasonable expectations. Add to that one of the top-tier pitchers in the market, and their rotation is much better than last year. No more replacement level pitchers in the 4 and 5 spot will make a huge difference.

We'll find out how good it is in the next few weeks when they play some of the better offenses. Thus far they have feasted on 4 offenses ranked 20 or higher in PPG. In the next 4 weeks they get 3 top-8 teams. They are good, but I won't be sold until they do it against more dynamic offenses on a consistent basis.

Given his recent injury, who's going to want Sheffield at $13M? I would imagine there aren't many takers there. So, they'll have to play him to start the year to prove himself recovered. Of course, if he's playing well, why would they want to trade him? I just don't see that scenario happening.

You already made that thread ("What's the game plan?"). This asks a completely different and unanswerable, at this time, question. So you changed the parameter from top starter to top two starters. Newsflash, teams use 5 man rotations in the regular season. My point remains, I think the Sox top-4 looks like the best top-4 in the AL East going into the FA season. Will that notion remain until March? It depends on who gets added to each team's rotation in the next couple of months, which is why this thread is completely jumping the gun.

How do you propose to rationally discuss this without knowing the rosters for next year? How is it remote? The Sox offense was a league leader before the injury bug hit. If they get a bounce back year from Crisp and Tek, they'll score a lot of runs. That's not a big if, either, just look at the predictions for Lowell and Posada going into this year. Halladay and Wang are better than anyone the Sox have returning next year. The only problem with your position is that nobody uses a one man rotation, and Ryan doesn't count as part of the Jays rotation (who, BTW, don't have the best pitching staff in the AL). My point is that the Sox have the best looking rotation in the East before the FA season begins. They have a top-4 of Schilling, Beckett, Wake, and Papelbon (he's starting next year). Which AL East team tops that going into the offseason? I'll realize where they have slipped once I see their roster and the rosters of the competition. Stop living in what happened in the last 5 minutes (ie, the last two months of the season), and you might come to your senses.

It looked like it would have been good from 65.

Here is a question for yet another condescending Yankee fan. Do you really think that they are only limited to winning the WC? Truthfully, I like their rotation going into the hot-stove season better than the rest of the division. What do you think and why?

Getting rid of the compensation picks isn't good, IMO. However, the system does need changing because of the loophole. I think they should award compensation picks based on the Free Agent market net gain for teams. If a team lets a type-A walk and signs a type-A replacement, the net is zero, so they should get zero compensation.