jacksonianmarch

I meant in the setting of dealing away Sherrill. If the right deal comes along, you deal Sherrill away right now, regardless if Ray is ready or not

who cares if Ray is ready. The O's now have a nice core, especially when you consider that Rowell and Wieters are almost ready and they snagged Matusz last yr.

All are also young and have high ceilings. Baltimore is finally doing things the right way. If they were smart, they'd put Huff and Guthrie on the block this trade deadline and get as much as they can.

defensive struggle

yeah, happens all the time. Dumbasses never learn

there are others, I do think I am the most active one.

I have said all along that I think the sox are a good team going into 2009. Injuries and bouncebacks from them will determine 2009. And I wont get into a petty squabble with you about being banned or placing a bet. You arent worth my time.

The SB will play into the Cardinals hands. They arent a cold weather club and being in Tampa should help. That being said, the Cardinals were underestimated all postseason. They hit the falcons, panthers and eagles in the mouth early on. The Falcons and Panthers didnt recover. But I think this game actually showed what the cards are made of. They got out of the gate hot. The Eagles struck back fierce in the 3rd and the Cardinals had the intestinal fortitude to fight back and make a D stop. Good for them. They earned it.

Larry Fitzgerald is becoming an NFL icon right now. He's uncoverable

Where were these Cardinals all yr? They look awesome

If Theo's plan all along was to get Tek back for one yr at cheap money, he played this beautifully.

I never said they'd turn into an Izturis. I think both will be above average offensive players. I just dont think either will be as good as they were in 09 And ORS, cmon now. You are waiting for a statistical metric as to why Pedroia wont develop more power than 17 homers per yr. Thats just an assinine comment. He's small, very small. And expecting him to be a consistent 20 homer force is a farce in and of itself. You dont need to quote stats because you typically dont see too many guys the stature of Pedroia hitting double digit taters. There isnt a baseline for what he did.

so you truly think that Pedroia is gonna hit 20+ homers next yr? Wouldnt that be an improvement seeing as he's a young player and young players typically progress instead of regress? And the "young" Kevin Youkilis suddenly established a new career baseline at 29? Cmon now. Look at his history. He was drafted in 01. His only season where he had 300+ ABs and a .900+OPS was 2003 in AA and after a promotion he was awful. THe most homers he hit in a season was the 16 from 2007. You expect him to continue this new trend even though he has 6.5 seasons showing a consistent low .800s OPS baseline. You're delusional. We arent talking about two guys with room to grow. Duddy is 5'9 and swings from his toes in every AB and the HR balls barely get out. Its not like he's hitting towering shots here or that he's a physical specimen strong enough to hit a ball out of the park while barely making contact. He is not the kind of guy who you expect their power to translate on a yr to yr basis. His BA is very impressive, but name me any player since Tony Gwynn whose been consistently above .330 yr in and yr out. Thats the precedent you are setting if you think Duddy is gonna progress. You're saying that he could be a consistent .330BA 20HR hitter and I dont see it due to sheer size and due to the rarity of a consistent .330 hitter. I'm not breaking new ground here. I think that both players will have trouble replicating their 2008 seasons. And any grounded, level headed sox fan would agree with this statement.

speculation that players eventually regress to the mean and only a select few outperform prior performance and stay there? Yeah, I'm breaking new ground here (this is sarcasm). Manny was a presence. He was feared. He was pitched around. And he forced the other team to pitch to the player he was protecting (Ortiz). Now Youks did a damn good job in that 4 hole, but he isnt Manny. Sorry, Manny is a first ballot HOFer who was probably one of the top 3 right handed hitters of the last 25 yrs or so (Frank Thomas, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez). You dont replace that, especially when he is still producing to a prime level. And you can use all the stats you want to use. His worth to the sox was way more than any WARP you throw this way. He had 6 consecutive yrs where his OPS was .982 or higher in Boston (8 overall if you count CLE). He had one down yr in 07, but was back up to the .927 pace prior to the part of the season that he consistently dominates (the back half). I am sorry, adding Jason Bay or switching youks to the 4 hole doesnt make up for that. you are a sensitive little lass arent you? You use WARP. I think its useful at times, but it highly overestimated Ellsbury's worth to the team. His post May performance was abysmal. He had half the walks from June on that he had in the first two months. His OBP plummeted. THAT is what is useful for him. And he wasnt useful from June on. I'll get to the rest of your bitching later. I have to work for the next 30 hours.

example, quit whining. We've beaten this dead horse a million times. The sox had a ton of overachievers last yr, well above their baseline performance, and they need to prove they can maintain this level of performance before you pencil them in for whatever they did last yr. We had a lot of underperformers last yr and when you consider their baselines, you should expect them to get closer to them rather than stay at the new, lower level of performance. Its regression to the mean.

Some truth? Last yr was totally out of character for him. To expect him to live up to that level through the rest of this contract is not grounded in reality. It could happen, but his career says that 2008 was more a deviation from the norm than the norm. Get my drift?

I was making fun of that JimEd inbred moron.

Not any more. Boggs ruined that when he tried to auction off the TB cap to ownership. Now, the HOF makes the decision. In cases where its VERY close, they'll let the player decide I think. But in looking at Manny's numbers, he won two WS in boston and spent more time there. It makes more sense for him to be in a sox cap even if he left on less than pleasant terms

Well, I think Youkilis took this payday knowing he might not get another chance. And for a guy who had such an abnormal season like Youk did, it makes sense. Look at his career. Throughout his minor league and his first couple MLB yrs, he was a low to mid .800s OPS guy mostly based upon his walks. Then, this past yr, his walks trail a bit but he finds a massive reservoir of power out of the blue. Is it roids? Or is it a fluke season. I think its a fluke to be honest with you. And by Youkilis taking this deal, it shows me that he thinks it was a fluke as well. Otherwise, if he was convinced he could put up 27 homers in a yr again and a .900+ OPS, then he would have taken his chances.

So question for you. When Manny eventually does go to the HOF, do the sox retire his number? If you say no, then the sox will have a player in Cooperstown in a Boston cap without having his number retired. Doesnt that kinda stink?