a700hitter

This can not be good news for the Yankees. It makes no sense that he wanted more time. He could have exercised his option and decided to retire later.

How do you determine the average LF? The -29 number for fielding is just ludicrous.

Manny in decline is still a star hitter. He might not be a 40 HR 150 RBI guy, but he'll still have an OBP around .400 and OPS over .900. If he does that and only hits 25 HRs and plays only 135 games, I am fine with that. That will help get the 4th OF some playing time and keep him happy. If ARod is worht $30 million for 8-10 years, manny is a bargain, yes a bargain, at $20 million for 1 year.

I don't think you have any complaints about his 2006 performance?

You make excellent points. The 2008 FA pitching class could be a rich one if teams don't re-sign their guys.

I hope they do it. Damon will be completely healthy to start the season and should be able to reclaim his status as a lead off catalyst. Let him do it for the White Sox.

After watching Manny and Ortiz since 2003, I am a firm believer that having a lefty and righty superstar MVP caliber player in the same lineup have made good players into above average players and above average players into stars. Look at the last two years from Lowell. Pitchers had no choice but to throw him strikes. He thrive the most when hitting in the 5 hole. I also believe that Youkilis and Pedroia have benefitted from pitchers coming right at them because of Manny and Ortiz hitting behind them. I am not saying that these guys are not good. They are really good, but hitting in a lineup with Manny and Ortiz makes them much better. Cabrera would have the same effect.

Great story. We are the same age. I was also in the third grade during the Impossible Dream season. If your wife is good luck for the Sox, I would urge you to keep her happy. It's nice that you and your son share the Red Sox bond. My son and I do too. We live on Long Island in NY. In 1996, when he was 11 years old, all of my son's friends were going nuts with the Yankees. I told him that he could root for the Yankees and enjoy it with his friends... that he didn't have to root for the Sox because I did. He looked at me in disbelief and said: "I can't root for the Yankees. I hate them." The Red Sox bond became permanent at that instant. Every year we go to Ft. Myers for about a week of ST, take two trips to Boston, one or two to see the Sox in Baltimore, and we go to Philly if they are playing there. Welcome to TalkSox. It's a Red Sox family of sorts.

You make very persuasive arguments about the potential of Ellsbury and Bucholz and I can definitely see that with regard to Ellsbury. I haven't seen enough of Bucholz yet. One thing that doesn't add up in this equation is that you wouldn't be getting back Miguel Cabrera potential. He is achieving the potential. He is at Superstar level already. You have to give up a lot of potential to get an established star.

I'd love to get the last three signatures, but i'm not quite sure how to go about it. I got the ball from Steiner Collectibles. It comes with COA's and a hologram on the ball. If I add those signatures, I was wondering if Steiner would authenticate the new signatures. The ball was a limited edition, and I would n't want to do something that would devalue it. Any ideas.

Example, I think you are getting lost in the details and losing perspective. You spend a lot of time in your post proving that Ellsbury is more like Lofton than Damon and that Lofton is better than Damon. I'll acknowledge that you are right on those points, but my point is that Ellsbury, who I believe will be a star, will not be a superstar of the magnitude of Manny. I think Cabrera is a Manny type player. Manny will be going to the Hall of Fame, and Lofton will not. Let's not forget that part of the reason why Lofton was such a feared weapon was because he had the likes of Manny, Thome and others driving him home. As for the comparison of Bucholz and Sanchez, I wasn't trying to compare the two as prospects. I was just making the point that you can't make too much of Bucholz's handful of starts. Rookie starters rarely make a big impact in a rotation. I can't think of any that have made an ipact recently, and you always run the risk of arm injury before they even learn how to pitch. I'm all for keeping the better prospects and trying to pry away Cabrera with other prospects. If the Marlins are hell bent on Ellsbury and Bucholz for a stud like Cabrera, I'd do it, especially if they don't intend to exercise Manny's options for '09 and '10.

His offense may suffer, but at those prices his bank account will not suffer. His signing with the Yanks would take the Yanks competely out of the running for ARod, and would put the Sox back in the mix. I think John Henry has a man crush on ARod, and will pursue him if the Yanks take Lowell.

I think it might be interesting to trade posts about interesting memorabilia we see or purchase regarding the 2007 Champs. In 2004, I purchased a team signed baseball-- 26 signatures (including coaches and Tito). The only missing players are Bill Muellar, OCab, and Derek Lowe. It cost a pretty penny. I'm wondering if anyone has seen a 2007 team ball available. Also in 2004, I got the DVD set including every game of the ALCS and the World Series. I am assuming that will be available for 2007, but haven't seen it yet.

If those pricks poach Lowell, the Red Sox should poach ARod and Mo also and then make the Yankee legend an 8th inning setup guy for Papelbon.

Put a weight clause in his contract. He has few peers with the bat, and only one is close to his young age --- Pujols, and the Cards have him locked up. Ellsbury is an exciting young player and I expect him to be a star. He will be a Johnny Damon-type star. Cabrera is a Manny-type star. You don't pass on him. Bucholz has pitched a handful of games in the majors. That is not enough to predict stardom. We had another rookie pitcher that threw a no-hitter, but he threw it for the Marlins. Anibal Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez is looking pretty good for the established young star Josh Beckett.. right? Ellsbury i no better than HanRam. Cabrera isn't a young star. He's a young superstar.

Rosenthal is wrong more often than he is right. I still chuckle when I think about one of his in field reports during the World Series when he compared the Red Sox offense to the offenses of the teams that the Rockies had played in the playoffs-- the Cubs and Arizona. When the hell did the Rockies play the Cubs? As for Lowell, if the Sox had the opportunity to extend him earlier in the year, it was a serious miscalculation that they did not. He proved in 2006 that he was worth more than $8 million/year. The Sox also miscaluted by not extending Schilling for one year #13 million in Spring Training. I thought it was a mistake then and I still think it was a mistake. A one year commitment is not a huge risk. I am happy that he is not asking for two years. He's a big game pitcher and the kids would learn a lot from being around him.

That's a very reasonable price for Miguel Cabrera. He's Manny 10 years younger.

Ellsbury is the keeper. I trade Bucholz, Lester and Crisp in a heartbeat for Santana. Santana is one of the top five pitchers in the game and he's in his prime. We could only dream that either Bucholz or Lester become 75% of what Santana alreay is. Crisp is a 4th outfielder. This deal is a no brainer. The Sox would have to make this deal.

Conan asked Papi what advice he gives to the writers at the end of the night. Papi said he tells them to go home and get some ass.

I'd rather keep Schilling

I'm interested in hearing a comparison to the 2004 parade by someone that had been at both. I was at the 2004 parade which was rainy and damp but a total wild scene. I've never experienced anything like it. There was so much emotion all around. It was like a catharsis for all of New England. I also saw license plates from all over the country, just about everything except Alaska and Hawaii.