guapo34

Come on they have one fan. Dicky V love the devil rays.

I don't think any one of your three trades are realistic. If we could trade Clement and Cash for Jeremy Reed it would be done by now. The only reason it wouldn't be is because the sox think they can get a better player instead. JD Drew for David Wells makes no sense for LA. They need Drews bat in the lineup and Wells doesn't add enough to their team to make it worth it. Rollins isn't going anywhere in a Manny trade if Abreu is involved too.

A few points. I'm pretty sure tradition notions are that pitching and defense wins, contrary to what you argue. You also argue that defense is the true gauge of a players value. This is completely close minded. Obviously its both. Defense is not going to be what wins the east, offense isn't, pitching isn't, its gonna be the team that puts the combination of the three together the best, and I really hate when people argue that one doesn't matter, or is less significant, no matter which one it is. No one said errors are a good judge of defensive ability, so I'm not sure why you felt the need to argue they aren't. Thats obviously true. The press determined Coco Crisp is our top priority based on information from the front office. The fact that both Gammons and Edes have reported it makes it more likely. Sure its possible its not true, but given the reporters I'd say chances are they are right. Also, I haven't seen anyone on this message board say we should give up marte for Crisp. I will say I would be happy if we get him for Mota and someone else, like arroyo/clement/Wells, or a 3 way where one of those guys goes somewhere else. The reports are that the Mariners are asking for Lester or Pappelbon in a trade for Reed. Judging by your stance on prospects I doubt you want to give up one of them, even though you say Reed is your top choice because Crisp would cost Marte.

Right before playing the Red Sox in the world series he broke it by punching something in the dugout. It swelled up and looked awful. It wasn't permanent though.

Sorry to keep straying off topic but my comment on him being average was a rating on 10 games played in center last year. Obviously thats not very significant. Looking at his overall stats, he was pretty bad in 2004 in center, ranking 8 runs below average in 94 games. He's played exactly 94 games other than 2004 and comes in at 5 runs below average. I still don't see Jeremy Reeds defense making enough of a difference to justify the drop in offense. I don't subscribe to BP but when I look for defensive stats i usually go to their player cards and look at the RAA category. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/crispco01.shtml

But Damons Career numbers aren't whats expected going forward from him. fwiw, baseball prospectus rates Crisp as dead average defensively in center field. Although he hasn't spent that many games out there to make a definitive judgement I'd aruge. Jeremy Reed is very good defensively, but his offensive numbers aren't nearly as good.

Both Peter Gammons and Gordon Edes have written that Crisp is our top priority in CF. It would seem more than a few people disagree with you and your assessment of Crisp sucking in CF. He's not a gold glover, but his bat more than makes up for it.

While I won't be the least bit upset if we don't trade Manny, you lose some credibility when you say Milledge really isn't a very good player. Baseball Analyst ranked him 17th in all of baseball, ahead of all of our guys besides marte and lester. That includes Pappelbon and Hansen. He plays a position we have a need for. He put up a .337/.399/.579 line last year. Baseball Analyst wrote, "Lastings has future All-Star written all over him."

Scouting is very important. I just think its far less important when ur picking in the top 3 every single year. Anyone site that reports on the draft always knows who the best players are. Everyone knows whose going top 3-5. I'm not saying scouts aren't important. Just that their jobs are easier when you have top picks.

Just a Manny idea to throw out there. The Mets recently signed their first round draft pick, who they can't trade until June. Mike Pelfrey is a highly regarded starting pitcher coming out of this draft. If Manny is still unhappy coming up on the deadline this year a package of Milledge, Pelfrey, and either Heilman or a 3 way with Cliff Floyd going somewhere and us getting prospects/major league talent from the Team getting Floyd might work. And just to address this before anyone brings it up, I know the Mets have said they won't trade Milledge or Heilman, I just don't believe it. I think we turned them down on a similar deal and they're trying to build up the confidence of their young players. Minaya is known for trading young guys for proven major league talent. By midseason through the trading deadline they will obviously be in position competing for the playoffs, and this is exactly the type of trade that will put them over the top. As to why we'd do a trade like this, I really like Milledge, and if whoever we get to play Center is a short term option hes exactly the kind of player we need. By midseason Pelfrey could be regarded as one of the best young pitchers in the game. If hes not obviously that changes things. As I'm typing this i guess the ideal time to make a move like this would be next offseason, when we'll be able to use any saved money to add to the team too.

I think the only way we keep Vermilyea is we offer the team we got him from, sadly i have no idea who it is, something to let us keep him. Its not that uncommon for teams to work out trades to keep rule 5 guys without keeping them on the major league roster all year. It was rumored the Sox tried to do this with Adam Stern last year and the Braves wouldn't listen to any offers. Stern may actually turn into a pretty good player, but hes clearly not there yet. That said I'm not even sure we value him that high.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft06/index Scouts inc ranks him 21 on their list but... http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft06/insider/columns/story?id=2279106 (subscription required) have him going 28th in their first mock draft. Of course first mock drafts aren't very accurate, but if hes around when the pats are picking i think we could really use a young running back with big potential. Larry Johnson was a late first round pick. Mel Kipers finally updated his big board for Juniors who have declared and has White ranked 12th, so maybe Scouts Inc is off, but it will be interesting to see.

If you offer arbitration to a type A free agent and another team signs that player you get their first round pick. Exeptions being if they have a top 15 pick which is protected. Then you would get a 2nd round pick. Also if that team were to sign a higher ranked type a free agent the other team would get the higher pick and you would get the next pick. Losing a type a free agents also gets you a sandwich pick between the first and second round, type B between the 2nd and 3rd.

Yeah, scouts don't really deserve too much credit for getting great players when you're always picking in the top 3 of the draft.

We get their first round pick, number 28 or 29 i believe, along with a sandwich pick between the first and second round. We also get a sandwich pick for mueller and the dodgers 3rd round pick.

The reports would, should be able ot play again. So its possible, but highly unlikely he can't come back from it. The Doctor said it was one of the worst knee injuries hes seen.

I think we're gonna end up with crisp, and its gonna cost us mota and prospects we can get for arroyo or Wells. Just a prediction though and I'd be really happy if thats what happend.

In Gammons new column he says the Red Sox top choice is Coco Crisp. "The Red Sox are still trying to work major deals. Coco Crisp has been their priority in center field" "Hoyer and Cleveland's Chris Antonetti are now over the 70 mark in telephone calls in the last month."

I think its pretty obvious you have to look at both. People have said hes been unmotivated and unhappy in orlando this year. Remember Vince Carter last year? He was terrible with the Raptors, got traded, and started playing the best hes ever played. As for the age factor, Ricky is 26, while Francis is all of 28. Oh my god what a HUGE difference. I think the Celtics have enough Youth. Rickys defense is good when hes motivated. You honestly think he's been "one of the better guys" all year? Did you see the end of the Mavs game? Stackhouse was his guy. Not only did he not deny him the ball, stackhouse got a WIDE OPEN shot from about 15 feet. You're also still ignoring the big difference in rebounding and assists. You wanna disagree fine, but don't act like I'm the moron here.

In a pitchers league in a pitchers park he put up a .506 slugging % in AAA while being young for the league along with a .372 obp while playing good defense.

Wasn't stating facts, get your criticisms right next time. You're also cherry picking stats. Francis has twice the assists, 2 more rebounds, and half a steal more a game. Rickys defense is spotts at best. Francis offensive numbers are down this year, but in his career he's averaged more than 5 ppg better.

Francis could play the 2, and is far, far better than Ricky. Blount makes way too much money and isn't as good as Perk or Jefferson. Just my opinion.

I'm one of the 12 Celtics fans left out there so: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2289923 Steve Francis has been suspended from the Magic indefinately for "conduct detrimental to the team." My idea, Ricky Davis and Marc Blount for Steve Francis. For those of you not too familiar with NBA trades, the money has to be really close, so thats why they might take Blount.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/316_sox_cards?pg=11

As far as proven major league player Crisp is the best player on the list. Ignoring what it would take to get him, he's the best player. Ellsbury could be better, but thats far from certain, or even likely.