a700hitter

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.

But even if the Sanders 2 for 10 is accurate, Giles got 3/30, Millwood 5/60, and konerko 5/60. Damon hardly seems to be overpaid at 4/52.

I said in a subsequent post that I could not verify the information, and I elaborated on the various reports that I had seen. Because of the inconsistency of these reports, I would not be too confident that this latest report or 2 years $10 million is accurate. I fully disclosed the discrepancies, and did not engage in any creative editing.

The Sox got blind-sided. This type of numerical analysis after the fact is a rationaliztion. In other words, it's spin. If the Sox had decided that he was not worth a penny more than 4/40, this years market has proven them to be wrong. Also, it makes no sense to give a 32 year old catcher with less offensive impact, and frankly only an average arm, 4/40, and hold the line on Damon claiming that he will break down in the next 4 years. The catchers historically break down quicker. Sox blew it. Spin all you want. I wish it were not true, but the market is the market. It's never smart business to pass on top talent because you don't want to pay market prices.

I haven't been able to verify the 3/30. I have read that, but I have also read 1 year 10 million, and 2 for 10. If the 3/30 is accurate, it is outrageous.

The market was higher than expected this year, but the Red Sox should have been prepared to pay market for Damon. They misjudged the market. Furcal got 13 million and Matsui got 4/52 and even Sanders got 3/30 from KC. The Red Sox dropped the ball. The Yankees paid market or slightly above to steal our CF. That should never have happened. If the Yanks were to get him, they should have had to go overboard for additional years and $. They had to do neither. They were shocked that they could get him for 4/52. Sox FO blew it. It's as simple as that. Everything else is just spin.

The whole situation is just so weird.

msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5224028 Maybe he is still going.

Offensively, if they had Papi, Manny and Miggy, they could get an all field, no hit CF. They should be able to pick up a versatile 4th OF. I think the pitching is plenty strong, especially if Wells stays. Gordon Edes thought that might be a possibility. I think this team is built to win now. In two or three years, Schilling, Wakefield, Manny, Foulke and Lowell will be gone. Tek will be slowing down. They have nice prospects, but in two -three years I doubt that they will have developed 5 or 6 ALL-Star type players. That is just not realistic. Also, I am not advocate moving all of the blue-chippers, just two.

Now that Manny says he wants to stay in Boston, does the FO continue to make a move for Tejada using prospects? I think it would be a great move if the Sox could get Miggy by offering Clement and three prospects-- two blue-chippers and a lower level prospect. Just because Manny wants to stay doesn't mean that Miggy doesn't want to leave. It would be great to get Miggy and keep Manny. What a 3,4,5 batting order that would be-- a modern murderers row.

I had resigned myself to losing Manny for several weeks. Now that Manny wants to stay, I feel like the Sox have made a big acquisition.