a700hitter

I think they have realized that the twins were not up to the job after they let Damon slip away.

A leadoff hitter should be able to go first to third, and Youk is a bit of a turtle. It would take a minimum of two hit to score him. The comparisons to Boggs are completely unwarranted. While Boggs was also slow, he hit a boat load of doubles every year, and his OBP was out of sight. Youk will be lucky if his OBP is as high as Boggs' BA.

Sheffield would not go unless he gets a new contract.

I don't think anyone said anything about booing Millar. I am sure that he'll get a nice hand when he returns. We just don't want him playing 1B or batting 6th in 2006. Would you have liked to see Leyritz starting at 1B in any of the years since 1996? BTW I thought the underage sex thing would have made Polonia popular with Yankee fans.

It wouldn't hurt Well's knee-health if he ate a salad once in a while. He is a helluva pitcher when he can get on top of his curve.

I like the idea of getting Craig Wilson to be a 4th outfielder and the right handed complement to Nixon. Neither Wilson nor Youk would seem to be needed by the A's. They are set at 1B and in the OF. Plus, the Sox would create another hole at 1B if they trade Youk.

I think the Coco Crisp trade is unlikely and it would be costly in terms of prospects. If the Sox have to give up any blue-chippers, i.e., Lester, to get Crisp, it would have been better to keep Damon. IMO Crisp does not have that high of a ceiling. He'll be lucky to be as good as Damon. I'm also not sold on Reed. I have heard that he is very strong defensively. His stick has been nothing to brag about and speed (base-stealing) is not part of his game. With Roberts, he has defensive skills. His offense is no worse than Reed's and he is a weapon on the bases. I'd prefer to get Roberts for a year or two until the kids on the farm are ready. That being said, SD has to drop the demand to take Williams. That would make no sense.

At least this indicates that age 36 he is not in decline. We could live with the OBP. He would score a lot of runs with that OBP in the Red Sox lineup.

It would be ridiculous to take on a big contract like Williams that would return next to nothing to the Red Sox. If this is what it takes to get Roberts, they would have been better off spending the monwy by signing Damon

As long as he doesn't hit a booing fan.

I think there is a good chance of Wells staying put in Boston. With the incentives in his contract, he will have a better chance of making $ with Boston (with its revamped bullpen) than with any west coast team. Wells is all about the Money. He's not about to retire and walk away from a potential $8 million.

The twin GM's at last night's BB Writers Dinner gave the impression that the CF and SS holes would be filled eventually, but not imminently. I am not expecting any major transactions before spring training.

There has been a lot of hype over this guy. How many people of have seen him play? Yet, we have strong opinions that we don't want him included in various trades. I think it is a legitimate to ask what these strong opinions are based upon. I can hardly wait to see this guy in ST, although it will be very difficult for the kid to live up to the hype.

Dave Roberts is a stand up guy, and Payton is a bit of a prima donna ass.

This speculation has been going on for days. When does this reliable source say that this trade will go down? I am betting against it.

Manny said he doesn't want to go to the NL. He'd probably veto a trade to Phiily.

But cf will probably be a second weak stick. It's alot harder to hide two weak hitters than one.

I agree. If Schiling and Foulke don't rebound they are going nowhere. As a fan, I am coming at this from a fundamentally different perspective than management who have a business to run. What they have done may be sound from a business perspective and that is not for me to question. As a fan, I will probably be disappointed if I have to watch Stern/Durbin in CF instead of Damon.

Only time will tell. I apologize for my poor phrasing. I didn't mean that Marte would be moved to CF. By "moved" I meant that he would be traded to fill the CF hole. That would certainly be contrary to the future-looking strategy of the FO. If they had kept Damon, there would have been no reason to even consider trading Marte. Moving mid-level prospects would hurt the FO's ability to fill holes or fine-tune at the trading deadline purely because they will have less trading chips. If this is how it turns out for 2006, the FO will be providing the fans with an inferior product and asking us to have faith that things will be better in 2007 or 2008. If that happens, it would be very unfortunate, because with the improved pitching, the 2006 Sox only needed a good fielding SS and some minor ajustments to make a serious run at another Championship. Those opportunities don't come around very often.

The point is that at the time they let Damon walk they didn't seem to have a succession plan. If they did, what is taking so long?

But what is their succession plan for CF? If it is Adam Stern, then not signing Damon was a mistake. Also, if the argument is that the Sox will redeploy the $ saved on Damon, I haven't seen them make an investment in another player. What are they doing with the $19 million that they saved on Renteria? As far a Damon's 4/52 being ridiculous, at times you have to pay more than FMV to put together a Championship team. Manny's contract is far more ridiculous, but Manny helped win a Championship. And despite Manny's contract, ownership has managed to make a nice profit. As a fan, I'd rather have Damon playing CF and leading off at the cost of 2-3 million less for the owners rather than watch Adam Stern in CF. Keeping Damon would not have sacrificed the future, because it would not have cost any prospects. If and when the the blue-chippers were ready to take over CF in 2 or 3 years, Damon could have been traded for prospects, or moved to LF or DH. People who agree with the FO are missing a key point. Letting Damon go might actually damage not only 2006 but the future. In order to plug the CF hole, the Red Sox might trade one or more prospects. Whether they are blue-chip prospects, they will have less trading chips for future moves. There has been talk of moving Marte to fill the CF hole. Wouldn't that contradict the future-looking strategy of the FO. Letting Damon go made little sense, but letting the Yankees get him makes a poor decision worse.

Now Columbus games will take 4 hours.

I'm not moping. I am just realistically assessing this roster. I will root and hope with just as much enthusiasm as I have every other year. I'm just saying that in my estimation, this roster is not shaping up very well. Hopefully, the holes will be filled with capable players. That would certainly improve the outlook for this team.

It is one of the aspects of the current Red Sox teams about which there is a question mark. Maybe Youk breaks out and becomes a very effective full-time player, but there is not enough of a track record to confidently predict that he will. The problem with this Red Sox team is that it has so many questions and holes. Beyond the obvious holes in CF and SS, there is the uncertainty at 1B, uncertainty whether Lowell and Foulke can make comebacks, and the lack of an established lefty out of the bullpen. When a team has so many questions and holes, it doesn't bode well. The more holes and questions the greater the chance that some of them do not have a positive resolution.

Maybe that's the way he trains, like in the karate kid. Wax on wax off.