rician blast

also good trade bait. don't bet the house on all of these guys remaining with the Yankees.

I've always thought of JD Drew as a slightly better Trot Nixon...injury prone, not much pop anymore, but hardnosed, good defensively and plays the game the right way.

Yes if they fail to reach an agreement with the player, the negotiating rights fee is returned. There was some speculation that if a team could land him for less than $30m they might actually trade him...this would likely be done by a team which had a solid pitching corps already...the Red Sox don't exactly fit that description but ya never know if they might try and move him...to an NL team.

uhhh, yeah. Ever think why he suddenly started having the sort of health issues he has? He was on my suspected performance enhancing drug users list going back to '02-'03. A significant body transformation followed by nagging injuries...kind of Nomaresque, if you ask me. Yup, I think he juiced. And I think HGH could help his "legs to be healthy" again.

Here's my advice to Keith: (1) pick up the $3.5m option (2) go on HGH and see if added strength can get your fastball outta the 80's. (3) learn another pitch (4) pray

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=2654021

In a case like this I'd welcome the controversy because while my statement is one that many would like to ignore, it is totally accurate.

not as bad as the crap that goes on in the NBA. I read today a number of stories regarding illicit or at least unethical activities regarding NBA agents...like agent Dan Fegan was sued for allegedly paying off AAU coaches to steer their top players his way when they reached the spotlight. Fkn dirt bag...now I probably shouldn't say this but I will...he, or guys like him, likely couldn't be hockey agents or baseball agents because their clientele would have the intelligence to see that they are scum...so go after the lesser educated athletes and manipulate them to your own gain...yeah, that's the ticket.

I actually liked Machado...saw him play in the minors and he had some potential but his development is behind schedule I think, based on what I'd read about him a couple of years ago.

The move may make sense. (1) Looks like Fremont is about 20 miles South of Oakland, and 15-20 miles North of San Jose and Santa Clara. Not a far drive although traffic in Cali sometimes dictates that ANY ride is a tough one. Logistically it makes sense. (2) Oakland is a pit. (3) This move would put them midway between Oakland (pop. 400k), San Jose, Cali's 3rd largest city (pop. 900k) and communities such as Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, etc which have 100k+ people. Fremont itself is a city of 210k people. (4) Oakland is a pit. New stadium...NOT located in Oakland...that's good. I wonder if there are TV implications here as well. Oh and given the Fremont and San Jose areas are home to many Asians, I wonder if they'd go that route with players...not Matsazuka type, but decent Asian players.

It's not whining. It's pointing out to those who don't seme to "get it" that there is a big difference between the approximately $17-20m advantage the Sox hold over the White Sox, Mets, Angels and Dodgers (and $25m-$30m over the next 7 teams) versus the Yankees $70-80m advantage over the Sox. Not even close to an accurate comparison and let's face the facts...if the Yankees "only" spent $120m, do you really think the Red Sox and other teams would spend what they do? Simply put, the Yankees spending NECESSITATES the Red Sox spending if they want to compete because they're in the same division. If the Red Sox were in a different division then the Yankees they would not need ot spend the way they do. Let me add that I realize that the Red Sox payroll helps them to be a playoff competitor, there is no doubt about it. But the playing field is heavily slanted in the Yankees direction because of their resources, regardless of what Forbes says and regardless of Yankee fans attempts to classify the Red Sox fans' acknolwedgement of the obvious payroll discrepancies as "whining".

so where does this put Schmidt? and how about Zito?

I think whore-hey will be fine and I think Damon will have another good year. I'm interest in seeing how Matsui does this year...will Mr. Consistency be AS consistent as he has been? For the Sox, I worry about Tek's bat, too many of his ABs at the plate this year were horrendous. As for Pena, I don't think he'll fall off...rather I personally don't have high expectations for him...I'm on the fence with Pedroia, last year is too short a resume to judge him on, but in the limited times I saw him I wasn't overly impressed. I'm hoping the hype on him has been accurate and he'll bust out.

This is all very exciting...can't ya feel the balance of Power in the AL east tip in the Sox direction?

except when it counts (open wide dear)...i thank you.

I've heard Turner is a 'K' machine though.

i thought you were a scout? wouldn't it be common knowledge among baseball folks that that the guy is a mess?

Damon said the same thing. So did Petey. It's all b.s.

the bolded part of your statement is the one part that would not be a surprise.

guys who had equal, if not better, defensive years include AGonz, Young, Cabrera, Perralta and despite Tejada's slightly lower FPct, his range factor is higher and that's no fluke because anyone who gets to see Tejada often will tell you he gets to balls Jeter couldn't. Yeah, the GG is a joke.