ksushi

And if I were the sox I would be willing to talk to the Guardians if they included a top tier prospect along with Crisp, if Marte were involved.

You have to worry about any guy getting hurt. Its part of sports. He won't get over worked before he is 25, but you can't predict injury. To me, Felix has that buzz about him that only a hall of famer really carries as they develop. Hes gonna be good any way you look at it.

He is going to be great. Absolutley great. I saw that game too, I was rooting for him. His stuff is so electric and his mechanics are flawless. I have no idea why the pitching coach in seattle quit, felix is about to make his replacements career.

Confrontation is what makes talking about sports fun. If anyone is going to bother to tell someone to calm down, go join a martha stewart forum or something. Aside from when people resort to personal insults for lack of a knowledgable opinion, confrontation on sports forums is fun. Its why there is a forum to begin with, so you can have a place to predict, vent and argue about sports. So, if you want people who are calmed relaxed and completely unenthused, This is your place. Seriously, calm and happy is what that place is all about, give it a click it will make you happy if you want calm.

Can you stop attaching that annoying choke picture?

Japanese hitters often have problems with American pitching. Hideki and Ichiro are abberations, not the rule. For every Hideki Matsui there is a Kaz Matsui who never adjusts.

Not true. I don't think I can produce the article, it was on MLB.com about a month ago, where Minaya said very clearly he will not deal milledge for manny after he acquired Delgado. Manny is considered to be something they would like, but not a need to win the east or win in the playoffs. The mets would like Manny, but so would the other 30 teams in baseball, its just at what price would they like him. Milledge won't be a red sox. I don't like Milledge anyways. Edit - and yeah, i agree with the natural here, it does seem like Marte was just thrown into this deal like we were tipping the devil rays for just engaging in trade talks with us. Thats crap.

I'm also O.K. with Cora. I will second that. I don't think that offense is a priority at short stop, as a matter of fact, I would sacrifice offense if I knew I were getting top notch defense in a second. I've said this a couple times on here now, but offense isn't going to be what wins this division, its going to be pitching and defense. A key position like short provides both. A sure handed defensive shortstop helps out his pitcher more than any other player on the field, except maybe the catcher. Short is key. I am completely ok with Cora for that reason. He saves the runs he doesn't score on offense, with his D. I'm not convinced Gonzalez will be better, although he is good. Tejada will not be better at D, nor will Loretta or Graffanino. I don't mind Cora in the slightest. People are good with Orlando Cabrera. Cora is very similar with a less familiar name. P.S. Thank God that fourway is dead. Or maybe thank Ben and Jed, I don't know, but seriously, did anyone want to trade Clement Marte and Ramirez for Tejada?

Wow, I didn't notice how good Seattle might be. I am really excited to watch Felix Hernandez pitch. He is unreal. His stuff is filthy. Not trying to over hype but I haven't seen stuff like that since 99 pedro. Washburn is a solid addition, and I think Beltre is going to have a season somewhere between 04 and last years production. They could be really good.

Yeah right, if you're going to deal Manny, no team in their right mind includes their best prospect on top of it. Forget it. Won't happen.

How can you vote no? Absolutley.

Els - Sweeney just got locked up in a long term deal i believe, which is why not much has been said about him recently. I don't think he is going anywhere. I personally wouldn't mind dealing manny for Prior though if we had the choice I'd perfer Zambrano, but not all things work out so nicely, but Prior is a guy who I would love to have. He won't be hurt his entire career. I agree it is something that could potentially get done if ever sat down and talked about. I think the only way to replace what manny does with the bat is by getting an ace pitcher in return and i stand by that. You won't replace his runs, so you have to stop the other team from scoring them. one nit pick: I highly doubt Hansen will start in AAA. Delcarmen may, as he needs to learn first pitch strikes, but Hansen is a monster hes got it all. EDIT - One Red Seat, good call with the Gathwright stuff, him and stern have similar stuff. And yeah, Gathwrights biggest selling points are his speed and his potential. His speed is moot considering the sox just don't run, and his potential doesn't matter to us as you said because Ellsbury is on the fast track. I think Gathwright is a valuable guy, but so is Stern, and so is Ellsbury. No reason to fix what ain't broken. Well, CF is broken, but at least don't fix it with parts we already have.

Why does everyone dislike Gathwright? How old is he?

Cano is going to be great though, I'm not sold on Wang, but Cano will be awesome.

thats what happened with what? I think it was the other way around, they both wanted to bat third, not clean up. I don't think it was much of a problem though

this is actually sort of an old rumor that just won't die. lets make an all inclusive thread for manny rumors...

You make a lot of sense. THANK GOD! You and I both, Brother! We deserve our own member group, called The Sense Makers. Yes. Awesome. Ok, Sorry for this whole post, actually, I'm sorry for my whole body of posts. I am crap.

Considering he has never hit more than 34 HR in his career I believe, I'd say you're stoking this fire alittle bit too much. Sorry for the double post, I'll be sure to even be annoyed at myself.

I realize no one is offering what we want, I didn't mean to insinuate that there were Zambrano and Ervin offers, there aren't. At the moment, there aren't even Milledge offers. So, yeah, the Tejada rumor is amidst thin competition here, but why trade manny at all? That seems to win out to me. Also, little tid bit, I hope someone reads this because I loved it. A read an article that did a pythagorean RS/RA win projection of the current Yankees team and the current Sox team with no SS and no CF. Ok, No I don't know what a pythagorean win projection is but I went with it and liked what I read. The Yankees projected to win 93 games, scoring more runs than last season, but also allowing more than last season. The Red Sox with their obvious holes that will at least be filled by people with pulses, projected to win 91 with two line up spots open. Granted, this does not include injury obviously, but that swings both ways. The Yanks could easily lose a Sheff, a Damon or a Johnson or all three for a substancial period of time ( I won't even mention that Rivera is getting up in age, he is exempt because of that whole god status thing). The sox are O.K. and I think that dealing for Tejada does one of two things, A.) if manny is dealt, it lowers the amount of games we can win down to like 80ish, or B.) it ups it to like 95 if we deal prospects like Lester or Bowden or Delcarmen, but it means we part with some of what will be a bright future, Im not willing to do that. /to-large-to-be-considered-a-tidbit-tidbit.

You're right. Looks like we just got the s*** end of the stick betting against a team that clearly is looking for another Chan Ho Park type situation, at least at the back end of this one. Jesus. I'd give him 4-48 even 4-50 give or take if I felt right about it and thought I needed it to protect the kids, but I think that extra year really changes things. 5 years? btw, what is your source for that I can't find it anywhere. and what is everyones fascination with Soriano? Don't you think we have enough second basemen? Everyone seems to be getting distracted with shiny objects right now. Forget Tejada and Soriano, someone PM me when we get Reed or Yhency Brazoban, and let me know when the White Sox decide to deal Jose Contreras on the cheap, I'd be delighted.

Ellsbury has my vote for opening day center if the price doesn't come down on Reed, c'mon Gil Meche and Reed for Lester? *cleans vomit off the floor* Ok, I really want someone to give me a good detailed response to this because I have a burning question no one has been able to answer. You have an oppurtunity to show a very stubborn man the light and bring him to the land of milk and honey. I will change my stance on this if someone can tell me why I should because everyone seems to blindly love this Miguel Tejada, if that even is his real name. Alright, lets take a couple indisputable facts to start with, Shortstop is the most demanding position on the field, Fenway has one of the toughest (if not the toughest) infields to play on and at a position like short it really shows thus making it top order to get a high end defensive shortstop and hitting takes a back seat. One more indisputable fact, Manny is a much better hitter than Tejada. Ok, that out of the way comes my question, WHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE TEJADA? Mannys thing is RBI, so is Tejadas but to a lesser degree. Why down grade homeruns, average hitting, and throw ortiz protection out the window for nothing more than a big name? This deal sucks. Clement is a good pitcher, no not in the post season, but we could get value in return for him ( Reed if Seattle stops hitting the booze, or Crisp). You will all want to hang Tejada by July if he is a sox. He won't cut it at short, hes good with the glove butl good doesn't get it done in fenway. Only top notch gets it done, like cabrera, and even he had a spike in errors after coming to fenway. He won't provide ortiz any protection and he won't hit 30 homers. He'll bat .290 in the three spot and be a tad above average otherwise. He will not be worth what we are giving up. If you're interested in posting a rebuttal to this, look up his post season stats for a good laugh too. You're not exactly trading for the next Mr.October. IMO the only way to replace mannys offensive output is to acquire some pitching in the deal I.E. Ervin Santana or Mark Prior/Carlos Zambrano. I don't see that happening though.

hey don't look at me, I'm a pirates fan, you guys knew that right? ... moving on The yanks farm system is terrible, when eric duncan is your best prospect and he just hit .235 in trenton this year with an OBP of something like .330ish i think, its not happy times. They need to unload guys for prospects because no matter how dismal 06 looks to be at the moment for the red sox, 07 and 08 are different stories. Pedroia looks to be ready, and willl get everyday duties at second base, center and short will get figured out this year, and things will shore up, 07 will be vicious in all likelihood with schilling stepping out just in time for lester to step in ( if we can manage some how to keep him). The sox will inject some youth in the next couple years and I keep hearing about these pitchers coming up with serious upside like Bowden and Hottovy, its unbelievable. The same can't be said for the yankees who will have down years as they get older and older. They need a good half out of Pavano just to up his trade value, and they need to deal Sheff or Giambi while they are hitting and try and bring back prospects, even if it means paying for them, they're willing to overpay for old guys, why not pay for their ticket out if it brings back young talent?

Hey champ, there is a PM system, don't clutter up threads with garbage. I'm sure he would love to hang out with you on new years, and best of luck on your interview, perhaps john henry could steer you in the direction of the nearest super market. But anyways, I don't think the sox have any chance at Sizemore, the Guardians are a young team, built around their young hitters, something the sox are trying to achieve. It wouldn't make sense to deal for him simply because he would cost a papelbon and a delcarmen or so. Reed won't be as expensive as advertised, I think that is who we will land provided the sox can some how bolster the bullpen with a Yhency Brazoban (through trade, David Wells would bring him back) or a Julian Taveras. We could give up Arroyo to get Reed but we're going to have to do some negotiating. PS The idea of trot in center makes me want to puke. I want to see him healthy before I put him into one of the most rigorous positions on the field.

The Mets don't have what it takes to get Manny. They would like him, but only if we paid for him and also recieved little for him. I read an article not so long ago where Minaya said specifically he won't deal Milledge or Reyes to get Manny, so IMO forget it. If we can't get young talent, then i don't care.

What extent? We don't need to build up our farm system we need to protect it. Do you know what protection means? Lester won't contribute here ever if we have to deal him to fill holes, Papelbon won't do anything if hes playing for another team, and don't count on Marte being a red sox either. This is what I mean by protection. We get millwood, then we have legit starters we can deal without impacting our rotation. We could have dealt Clement and Wells and still been competitive in 06, so unless they plan on starting lester from the get go this year, they can't do that anymore. I don't think Millwood got 5-60 did he? It was my understanding he got 4 -48, and yes I would pay that to protect our farm system.