a700hitter

I never expected that one. They ruined my four team teaser. BC was the last leg on that teaser. Dammit!

I could see it working if Manny played 5 times a week.

God you are a nasty prick. Now that's an attack. Saying that Burnett's address is the DL is not an attack. Drop the venom from your posts, take the chip off your patheitic little weanie shoulder, and we can have some adult discourse.

I believe that Manny will be worth having in 2009, but that doesn't mean that I think he'll be better than Miggy. I do hope they will keep him, but if he does decline in 2008, don't you think it is possible that they could decline the team option but sign him to a reduced contract? That could happen. Schilling was a perfect example. Would a diminished Manny be worth keepin around in 2009? yes, at the right price. Where we differ I think is regarding his rate of decline. Only time will tell on that one.

You act as if there is only one way to build a team and that you were in perfect synch with the FO. You thought swapping out Damon at 4/$52 million for Drew at 5/$70 million was such a great move. I don't, but they still won a championship. The fact that they won a championship in 2007, doesn't mean that they didn't make some very bad mistakes along the way. They acknowledged that they made some very bad mistakes in 2006. IMO, at the top of that list was letting the Yankees scoop up Abreu. Of course that was okay, because many of us still believed the poverty line of BS. Abreu has been very very productive and he's been a year to year commitment. We've got 5 yrs of Drew and he bombed in his first year. You act like the FO had a plan at the end of 2005 that they executed perfectly without deviation. They did not, and they made some serious missteps along the way. To their credit they changed course at the end of 2006 and aggressively pursued FA's. You want to refer to this as retooling ...well fine. But don't change history. I was thrilled when they opened their checkbooks. I didn't like when they let a bunch of guys walk, because they were giving out the poverty line as an excuse. If I had known that they would increase the spending beyond my hopes to replace the older guys with higher priced young veterans, I'd have had no problem at the time. Neither of us knew they would engage in a spending spree. I certainly wanted them to spend and I knew they had the resources. Did you? You have to look at the posts in the context of what was known at the time. I don't think the FO knew at that time that they would commit over $200 million to 3 players in the 2006 off season. If you are looking to declare victory or something regarding posts from 2 years ago, well go ahead. It's easy to validate being a ballwasher, when we have won the championship, but it took the FO's admission of mistakes, the adjustments to its plan and a change of course, and the 2006 spending spree to accomplish the feat. No one was completely right and no one was completely wrong, not you, not me and not the FO. With the resources they have at hand they could have achieved the feat several different ways. JayHawk takes the position that we could have done as well with getting AJ Burnett and keeping HanRam. I break his balls because he goes out of his way to be an irritating prick, but maybe that would have worked too. Just because they won the Series doesn't mean they hit on some precise formulaic approach to success from which there is no alternative. If your posts are about declaring victory, go right ahead. If you are asking what I was thinking then and if I still hold the same views or if my views have changed, I am happy to engage in that discussion. I see no point in defending each opinion that I had two years ago as if nothing happened in the interim to change my mind. My thoughts and opinions change over time as circumstances change, just as the opinions of the FO have changed over time. Was a 2006 humiliation followed by an unprecedented off season spending spree part of their plan after 2004? I don't think any of them would tell you that that's how they drew it up at the end of 2004. They adapted and changed the plan as dictated by the circumstances and they prevailed.

Then we should trade the entire starting rotation...right?

I don't know why I didn't list it previously, because i could never forget the thrill it gave everyone in Fenway. Before game 2 of the August 17th Day/Night Double Header (Jimmy Fund Telethon Day), that cancer survivor kid circled the bases with a huge smile on his face. Everyone was cheering him on and praying that he would make it all the way. It gave me chills up and down my spine. It was an unbelievable moment of triumph. God Bless the Red Sox and their generous fans for their affiliation with the Jimmy Fund. P.S. Gagne had to ruin an otherwise perfect day. Bucholz had won his debut in the afternoon game. The little boy triumphed over cancer in his trip around the bases, the telethon broke records, Beckett looked dominant, and Ortiz and Manny spanked KRod to take the lead in the nigh cap. Gagne was dead to me from that point on.

Great post!

That's not accurate. They took a different tact that neither one of us envisioned at the time of that post. They spent a ton of money acquiring Dice k, Drew, Lugo and Okajima. Dice K solidified the rotation. Okajima was the missing part of the bullpen and the other two although disappointing in the regular season were nonetheless still upgrades from 2006. I agreed with those moves. They were different from what I had expected at the time of my April 2006 post, but I would maintain that prior to those acquisitions that they didn't have a good team. They had major, major holes with no one in the organization to fill them.

Do those statistics reflect for runs saved, because hitters will not stretch a single against Manny because of his adeptness in playing the wall. Does it reflect runs prevented because the runners will not go second to home, because Manny plays shallow and has a quick release and accurate arm?

The return address on his postcard is the DL.

Let's try to have a discourse of ideas instead of arguing for arguments sake. I don't know what road you are going down now, but if you are comparing the worth of someone with 116 career ABs to Manny 2007, you'll have to engage in that one yourself.

I was tlaking about the context of the entire season. JD Drew was instrumental in the off-season too. We don't get by the Guardians but for his Grand Slami, but would you argue that he was a good acquisition based on that, unless he improves next year? He didn't play a major role either IMO.

Ellsbury played a role, but he didn't even come onto the scene until we had a huge lead. His primary role was OF depth. Dice K and Okajima? You don't pay $102 milion for a rookie or sign them to million dollar multi-year contracts. I think you know what I meant. These guys were acquisitions, not kids from the farm.

Well, Loretta, Foulke and Trot are gone. Lowell could be gone, and he would have been gone if he didn't have a career year. (BTW Did you or anyone else predict tthat he would ever hit .320?) Schilling has one more year. ... and Lester has still not pitched successfully in a major league rotation for a year. It seems like I still have a pretty good shot at being completely right on this statement.

How some posters actually believe that we should hold onto our top prospects instead of pursuing Johan Santana or Miguel Cabrera is laughable.

I don't think you'd have to worry about that. I don't think you would get him for Ellsbury straight up. You are a stat junkie. How many guys have had numbers like Miggy at his age?

I have purchased memorabilia from Steiner. That's the same documentation that i received. There's a laminated card. The ball has a holgram on it and there is usually a paper COA. I am familiar with his signature. It looks authentic.

I never said that injuries were irrelevant. I said that his injuries the last two years were not chronic injuries. He has recovered from those injuries and should be starting the season healthy. You were citing a stat about down years after a certain age as an indicator of diminished productivity. I pointed out that he has been injured the last two years, resulting in reduced productivity. Since his injuries were not chronic, I don't think the last two years are a valid indicator of his future productivity.

The game itself is what is beautiful, especially when it is played at it's highest level. I don't care if those who play the game like or despise each other. I don't care if they are good guys or not. I like watching the game and I like when the Red Sox win. If ARod will help the team win, I am all for it.

It's a statistical theory. At most it is an indicator. It does not determine with accuracy the number of runs a fielder saves or gives up for his team.