a700hitter

I'm in.

What about Iglesias?

What about Iglesias?

and tickets will be very easy to get.

It's hard to keep things inhouse if his tantrums manifest themselves on the field like happened yesterday.

If he acts like an ass, it could affect his performance, and it definitely would diminish his trade value.

I think he has the potential to be a cancer on this team. I don't see him accepting his role gracefully, so they should probably trade him before he forces the issue.

Great stuff, Fred. Thanks. I'll call you before I leave for Fort Myers.

They used to list Yaz as 6' at some points in his career. They also used to list his weight as 185. Both were exaggerations. He wasn't quite 6', but he was probably 5'11". I met him in person right after he retired. He was wearing cowboy boots that made him look a little taller, but I still think he was about 5' 11. His playing weight was usually around 175, based on interviews that I have heard and read. Nava is about the same size as Pedroia, who is listed as 5'9", but that is also an exaggeration. Steve Garvey was a small first baseman, but like Yaz, Garvey was big on talent. Nava is not very talented at all.

Fred, you have a great memory for baseball. Great story about Malzone from over 50 years ago. I used to have that kind of memory for baseball stories, but i don't remember the details that I used to. Fred, some old Brooklyn fans had told me tales about a Dodger pitcher who came up with the Dodgers around the same time as Koufax and Drysdale, but who was a better prospect than either of them. His name was Karl Spooner. You know everything about those 50's Dodger teams, so I'd like to read your recollections about Spooner.

It would have screwed up his legacy in Boston. No doubt about that.

Thanks.

I agree that there is still a market for him, but more nutty behavior will hurt his trade value. Do you disagree with that? I like the Duda idea. The Mets are overloaded with lefty hitting first baseman-- Duda, Murphy and Davis.

Aceves should have been moved before spring training. It was obvious that he was bringing things to a head last year. There was no reason to think that he wouldn't do so this year. He wants to start or close, neither is going to happen. In the off season, he had value. If he continues to act up, we'll have to give him away like we gave away Youk last year. The White Sox got the turd back (Zach Stewart) that they traded us for Youk after a few teams got rid of him since last June. Maybe we can get him back for Aceves and Cherries can tell us again how Stewart projects as a #3 or 4 starter.

Yep, me too. 16 more days until my Fort Myers trip.

What happened with Aceves?

Also, the A's are built on solid young pitching.

I understand Gomes wanting to play everyday. Players need that kind of confidence, but the organization needs to realize the limitations of its players if it is going to be successful. Cherries is kidding himself if he thinks that Gomes is anything more than a good platoon player. Pairing him with Sweeney is also foolish. Sweeney would not even be at an MLB camp if Kalish wasn't injured again. No other organization wants a slow outfielder with 1 homer in his last 500 plate appearances. The hardest thing he hit last year was the door with his hand.

It's propaganda to try to generate interest in an inferior team with no exciting players. Valentine was a problem last year, but he was not the reason for Bard sucking. That was Bard's doing. Bobby V could see early on in Spring Training that Bard was not up to the task and he offered him a way out. He asked him flat out if he was up to it and whether he wanted to pursue being a starter. Bard should have taken that as a sign that a veteran talent evaluator like Valentine didn't think he had it, and he didn't have it. It became more clear with each outing. The kid stubbornly insisted that he could do the job, and he s*** all over himself. Cherries was committed to the experiment, and Bobby V had just had his balls cut off over his comments about Youkilis, so he was not in a position to pull the plug on the experiment unilaterally. I still feel believe that he left Bard in that game against Toronto to s*** all over himself so badly that the team had to send him to the minors out of sheer humiliation. If you remember, Bard just thought he needed to straighten out a few things before his next start. The kid was clueless. He couldn't find anything for the next 3 months in the Bullpen in AAA and then back in Boston.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2013/02/17/for-jonny-gomes-red-sox-are-opportunity/FLopHuZLZTwUINcAEHZsnK/story.html This article about Gomes also discusses Sweeney and Nava. When these guys are your OF options, you don't have a very good team. Gomes is a second rate player and the others have trouble making it to second rate.

I think Middlebrooks is more valuable at 3B than 1 st. First baseman are easier to find than good tird baseman. Iglesias, Bogy and Marrero will have to force the issue and get a break to earn a starting spot at Fenway. Unless he gets injured, third base is Middlebrooks' position for the next few years.

The Jenks' contract was a beauty. I was at Yankee stadium for what I believe might have been his last appearance. There were only a handful. I swear that he was so fat and out of shape that he got winded taking his warmups.

I think that there is probably validity to this. IMO the computer age has added to society's intellectual laziness and together with texting it has caused a big decline in social skills.

I am pretty sure that Williams mentioned all of those nicknames in "My Turn At Bat". If you do a word search for the other nicknames with the book title, you might be able to get page cites.

Like Papelbon in 2011.