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Jones is certainly appealing, but what will it cost? The Braves are trying to keep payroll low, so they want to stay young and cheap. Furcal will most likely be lost this year because they won't be able to afford him, and they need pitching. Middle infield and SP are the strengths of our farm system right now, and I can easily see them asking for 3 prospects in return for the best CF in the game. Would you be willing to give up Hanley, Lester, and Delcarmen (or some similar combination) for him? I wouldn't.

I would offer Miller arbitration, give him April and part of May to rehab in the minors, and test DiNardo's usefulness as a starter. Bring Miller up if he's pitching well, and move DiNardo into the BP regardless of his performance. Best case scenario, they have an effective Wade Miller, and an attractive trading chip in DiNardo (no sense keeping him with lefty Lester waiting in the wings to take a rotation spot). EDIT: Worst case scenario, Miller isn't able to regain his form, and DiNardo tops out as a long relief guy in the BP. Even if that is the case, they haven't wasted money on any of the starters available in what is IMO a weak FA pitching market.

Papelbon will most likely be a starter next year. They were worried about his inning total this year, which is why they didn't keep him in the rotation even though he pitched well in his 3 spot starts. The FO's philosophy is to use their young talent to fill holes in the lineup/rotation rather than shop for it. With Wells asking to be traded, and the possibility of Arroyo being dealt too, you have to figure at least one rotation spot will open up. Hansen is likely to start out in AAA (depending on offseason development and spring training performance), but even if he starts with the big club, he'll most likely be used as a 7th/8th inning set-up reliever. I wouldn't give him any save opportunities until after the ASG, and only then if he was pitching very well.

Every time you add little remarks like, "though some of you will", or, "I know some of you will jump on me for this", you are in essence acknowleding that your idea will be challenged, but that the challenge is unwarranted. Hence the "victim routine" comment.

If forced to guess, I'd say it is because Schilling originally said he only wanted to be traded to NY in the 2003 offseason, whereas ARod just wanted to go to a contender. Therefore, it took a little more work to get Curt to accept a trade to Boston. Personally, I'm not one who is generally proned to giving a lot of credit to GM's in trades like that. Yes, it takes some talent to get the deal done, but the opportunity essentially fell into their lap. I prefer to grade GMs on their ability to acquire someone who was previously undervalued. Epstein and Cashman have both shown an ability to do this; therefore, both are quality GMs in my book. Trying to compare the two is assinine in my book, as they operate under different contraints/budgets.

Marcus Vick doesn't have the explosive running ability of his older brother, but he does seem to create just as many air tackles.

I have never made a comment on the Schilling deal.

The exact same thing, being confrontational. I don't take issue with people being confrontational. I take issue when someone is, but then acts like an innocent victim when the response comes. You made your bed, so lay down in it.

CTS got banned, huh? Not surprising.

How fun would it be to watch a game between Texas and VT? Vince vs. Marcus in a showdown of the best two run/pass threats in college.

I never made the claim that it makes us free and clear from being considered a big market team, and I don't know where you learned how to read, but nobody here has suggested that we don't have the 2nd highest payroll. If it makes you feel better about the Yankee's opulence to say, "Well, the Red Sox spend the 2nd most", then go ahead and keep deluding yourself, because the Yankees are in a league by themselves when it comes to spending. And do you know what those months amount to? You probably don't, but I'll tell you anyway. Groundwork. Once the deal fell through it's pretty easy to step in a say, "What was the deal, and how do we fit in?". It happens in business everyday. I don't think you could have contradicted yourself any more blatantly. I don't care how you try to justify it, when you throw the Yankee's past success in our faces, you are being confrontational.

You haven't even come close to being magnanimous. Anytime someone says anything that isn't laced with absolute fanboyish adoration about the White Sox, you rip into them with your "bitter/loser" taunts, even if they have a point. You called everyone a "whaa whaa" crybaby for saying the umps f***ed up in game 2 of the ALCS when the umps did f*** up. You resort to name calling when He Hate Me mentioned that the Sox were an unknown team when the ratings support that claim. A magnanimous person would be more accepting of opinions contrary to their own, but that just isn't your style. If you don't like it, you ridicule it without even bothering to verify if there is some validity to it. You carry a huge chip on your shoulder and overreact way too often. If you truly are in Law School, I suggest you go to anger management or something, because this inability to hold your tongue when something upsets you won't help in that line of work.

I love how Yankee fans nonchalantly say, "you guys seem to forget that you have the 2nd highest payroll", without any mention of the magnitude of the difference between the two. The Yankees spent $80+M more than the Red Sox. Twenty, yes 20, teams spent less than the difference (including the WS Champ White Sox and runner-up Astros). I really fail to see how this is such a "WOW" job by Cashman, but Theo gets no credit for the job he did in ARod talks. He got ARod to agree to more deferments and a salary cut in exchange for more marketing rights and eligibility to be a FA after 2005. If the union doesn't intercede, the deal was done. IMO, neither of these guys deserves much credit for ARod because Texas was desperate to get rid of his contract and was accepting pennies on the dollar. Enough with the innocent victim routine. Your name (26 to 6) and the Clemens quote in your sig ("It was a blessing" ~ about leaving Boston) are direct insults to Sox fans, so just by being here you are being confrontational.

Not to take anything from ChiSox fans, but I think 2002 dwarfs this series in terms of drama and excitement.

VT looks good this year. It's too bad NCAA football is still under contract to the BCS system, because VT could end up being like Auburn last year. They need to fix that. VT was where I would have went to engineering school if I went to college straight out of high school. Go Hokies!

All 3 coming from teams that didn't exist prior to 1993.

Congrats to the White Sox and their fans. I'm sure you are on cloud nine right now. I was last year.

Nope, she married Lyle Lovett right after she hit the big time.

And ugly as sin, but hey, he's played hide the salami with Julia Roberts, which is more than I can say.

Can Houston's offense be any more pathetic? They have left enough people on base to create the 51st state.

I wouldn't take anything jc05 says very seriously. He's got 13 pitchers on his '06 roster, which leaves only 3 spots for bench players. Oh, that's right, when you play X-Box you don't need to rest players. Silly me.

I'm very curious He-Hate-Me, how does the ARod deal reflect more positively on Cashman than Epstein? The deal was essentially a salary dump. If Boston's ownership is willing to pay his full salary, then the deal is done, but that decision doesn't rest on the GM's shoulders. Ownership OK's that kind of money, nobody else.

I didn't say he was the best, I said he was arguably the best. Which means, when you are talking about leadoff hitters, he's in the conversation. If you are in the conversation, then you are worthy of all-star status, just like Ichiro, Roberts, Podsednik, and Rollins.

In all fairness. JD is arguably the best leadoff hitter in baseball, and he'd have a lot more steals if he's on a team that runs more. That said, the durability and the arm are why he doesn't deserve any longer than 3 years (+options).

2006 Andy Pettitte Barry Zito Jon Garland 2007 Roy Halladay Roy Oswalt Josh Beckett Bartolo Colon Freddy Garcia C.C. Sabathia 2008 Johan Santana Mark Prior In 2007, Mark Buehrle and Chris Carpenter have team options for 2008. In 2008, Jake Peavy and Rich Harden both have team options for 2009. It's safe to assume those options will be picked up. The pitching market is a little light this year and next, but after that it gets interesting. The Halladay/Oswalt/Beckett sweepstakes will be interesting in 2007. It will take mega-bucks to land Santana in 2008. I think the Red Sox will be best served by starting Papelbon next year to let him start his MLB learning curve as a starter. The same thing goes for Lester and Sanchez in 2007. They will be free from Schilling's and Clement's contracts in the 2007 offseason. That gives them a lot of money in the pitching rich 2007 FA market and some abililty to go after Santana in 2008. EDIT: D-Train doesn't hit the market until the end of the 2009 season.