a700hitter

It's just spin to keep the Kool Aid drinkers thirsty.

The Dodgers are really wheeling and dealing. They have already added HanRam, Brandon League, and they are making efforts to get Victorino and Dempster too. That is a pretty good makeover. We will get someone like Randy Wolf or worse.

All the good deals pass by Cherries. He seems very indecisive.

Wow, this some chronicle of failure. Branch Rickey used to say that it was better to trade a player too early than to late. Players do change, skills deteriorate and they need to adapt. Coaches, managers and other players know when a guy has lost a few clicks off his fastball. Beckett has lost a few, and they ain't coming back. He may transition into a different type of pitcher, but Beckett as a hard thrower is history. Lester seems to be headed down a similar path as his velocity has been clicking down for the last 2 years and it is reflected in his decreasing strikeout numbers. Alarmingly, Lester is showing less of an ability to adjust to his diminishing skills than Beckett. It may be time to move him in the off season. Expecting players to perform up to career norms is part of the folly of sabremetrics. I think that it is more true that players who are performing above career norms will regress to those norms, but not the other way around. As for the chronicling of the signings of injured players, it really does lay bare the incompetence of the FO. As you point out, Lackey's elbow problems were known. He was a TJ surgery in waiting. Carl Crawford's wrist problems had been ongoing for a few years. How do you invest $142 million in a guys and not know this. If you buy an expensive used car, you test drive it, take it to your mechanic to be checked, and you get a copy of the damn Car Fax. They either didn't get the Car Fax on Crawford or they didn't care about the recurring wrist pain. As for AGon, that was truly drunken sailor stupid. They threw a boatload of money at a guy with a bad shoulder that had just been operated. I was thrilled when they got him, but I was really concerned when I read that he had just had shoulder surgery. He is getting power hitter money. 25 HRs, and he will probably not reach that this season, is a dime a dozen for first baseman. They could get 30 or so HRs from LaRoche for about 20% of the cost of Gonzo. Performing at a high .700 OPS (where he is now) or a low .800 OPS is not worth $22 million/yr.

It could be about Ortiz's heel. That's much more concerning.

The idiot punched a door and might have broken his hand. It will be tough to trade him now.

We just won our third in a row, so why are you furious?

There were a lot of guys that I would have preferred: Kuroda, Jackson and Gio. They were all good values, and the first two were available late into the off season.

He was pretty good. In 1972, I think he got overused and blew out his arm. He was never the same again, but it gave Tiant the opportunity to start and he threw 6 shutouts in something like 14 starts. Wow!!

Why do so many people act like he was the only pitcher who changed teams this off season. He was just the last one available, and now we know why. Many others changed teams that would have upgraded our rotation.

The little guy is making things happen.

Randy Johnson was a sour puss prick and so was Steve Carlton and on and on, but you don't kick them off your team for their attitude.

It was a pretty wild year.

My recollection is that the Yankees came to town a couple of days later, and the fans were still protesting the trade. I think that I heard about it on the Yankee radio broadcast.

I remember that fans protested the trading of Hawk Harrelson in 1969.

They went back into the clubhouse where they shared some chicken and beer.

I think when you have hit into 3 DPs in the first 5 innings, I try to stay out of another one with the slowest runner at bat. The criticism of Bobby V isn't this one instance. It's that he sits on his hands game after game. He really doesn't need team signs. He's very much like Terry with the lack of moves or plays.

I don't think the percentages were stacked one way or the other. The speed could have caused some havoc. They may not have let Crawford take the base uncontested. They might have decoyed throwing through but had Jeter run in for the throw and try to get Ells at the plate. The DP percentage with Gonzo were probably higher than with Ross. The HR percentage was probably in Gonzo's favor because of the short RF porch. I don't think the percentages were greatly stacked one way or the other. If Salty or Punto was up behind Gonzo, you keep the runners anchored, but in this situation I run them.

Well, as it turns out, running him couldn't have worked out any worse. I would have run him.

What's behind Red Sox negativity is the Sox pathetic play this year-- nothing else. There have been almost no bright spots and almost no hot streaks where they have strung together wins.

Really? What was our best offer -- the fat bullpen cop, because the White Sox basically gave up a bag of balls?