rician blast

I think Kilo is spot on.

my point exactly.

Now former players seem to echo much of the media's claims. Maybe they're on the paper's payroll too, or they're blindly supporting Schill or the organization or maybe they're actually confirming what the media said...don't know. I also don't know if Manny would have been happy in the Bronx, or whether the Yankees would have accepted his antics, or if he'd have put up the same numbers, or etc, etc, etc It's all conjecture at this point, there is no way to know how things would have played out if he were there, or in the Queens or with the Angels or anywhere else. What we do know is Manny had an opportunity to do here, in Boston, exactly what he's doing with LA but chose not to for his own reasons. I don't begrudge him...but at the same time I can't fault the FO for the outcome. OK, in retrospect, Schilling should shut the f*** up so we're not talking about this, we're enjoying Bay and the Sox here and still enjoying watching Manny in La when we can...that's a more pleasant scenario.

As a hitter he's in that company. While the Sox have a history of guys leaving on bad terms, and that has always bothered me, in Manny's case I'm not so upset, as he was disgruntled at some point in practically every season he was with the Sox. As such I think he falls into a slightly different caregory of disgruntled employee. An ending like this was inevitable, Manny ensured that. He certainly is hitting the s*** outta the ball now for LA, good pickup for them, good for Manny, and not bad for the Sox since LA Manny is likely way better than Boston Manny woulda been. Now back to Schilling, I have little issue with his comments...I'm generally a proponent of keeping one's mouth shut but he doesn't speak for the team, he doesn't speak for the FO, and the active Sox roster is hopefully wise enough to realize whatever he says now about Manny means absolutely nothing to the team's success. Schill is Schill and he's gonna flap his gums about something no matter what, this time it happened to be about Manny.

Manny played himself outta Boston, IMO. This organization put up with a lot of BS because the man could hit...then he essentially threatened to derail the 2008 campaign. Manny played poker with house money, indifferent to the impact on his teammates, the fans and the organization. The FO did little to screw up this hand...Manny took care of that. Now don't get me wrong, I loved watching this guy hit, he was amazing and like you, probably represents the best RH hitter I've seen. Of course there are those who'd say he has equals in Aaron, Foxx, Mays, and DiMaggio.

s***, I had to step away a few times and it auto-selected for me. Henrik Lundquist in the third round? f***, no. I needed a scorer there. My team is going to be just like the Bruins...hard time finding the back of the net. I think I am doomed. Edit: and I think my 'D' sucks too...I have that kid Whitney from Pitt...he's out till December now.

For similar money, I agree, I'd rather have Abreu. However, there is a tendency to portray this as if the Sox were deciding between Abreu and Drew and that really isn't the case. Abreu was traded to the Yanks during the 2006 season. Drew opted out of LA in the offseason.

Put another way, The Yankees were ok with having a $200m+ payroll so for them to eat salary was not as big of a concern as it might have been for the Red Sox.

I thought they did a pretty nice job with it. I liked seeing Paul O'Neill and Bernie come back and get really nice ovations...they're two of the real good guys/hard nosed players that I respected back despite their pinstripes. What was up with introducing dead players and having someone come out in an old uniform pretending to be that player? That I found a bit odd.

"Fragile at times" = fragile, period. I will agree with your point regarding expectations. I had stated before that Drew is what he is, a 130 game per year guy who'll give you nice...not great...but nice numbers and play some defense and be professional on the field and off. I think I even said I'm ok with 130-140 games, and a line of .275, 20, 85. I fear this latest setback could make him much less than that and at $14m per year, that aint good.

Bosox, I have to admit I'm kinda thinking along those lines myself...it wouldn't hurt me in the least to see Manny's antics end up costing him money.

So the draft is Monday night?

Manny was being an *******. Schilling wanted it to be known that Manny had been an *******. Mission accomplished.

An accident. Why?

I can't check the site from work (blocked by our IT dept.) but I attempted to sign up a few days ago...Kilo, or anyone, do you see a team called "Melrose Mullets"?

EEI loves having him on because he'll talk and squalk and shake things up. So they go down a line of questioning that they know will create some discussion. IMO, Schilling's done nothing wrong, said nothing out of line...he's giving his account of the dysfunctionality caused by Manny...in a sense, sounds like he cares a helluva lot more about the Sox than people acknowledge, as he'll call someone out who did not have the team's best interests at heart.

It's nothing against Canada per se. If he was from Manhattan and was a Ranger fan I'd happily suggest he go get ass-raped in a 42nd Street gay brothel with an unsanded Sherwood goalie stick.