jacksonianmarch

are we really going to get into semantics on this one?

Lester struggled with his command? No way.

so nobody cheated after 2003? I have this bridge in brooklyn for sale, wanna buy?

Threw well. Hard sinker out of the back of that pen will be nice to see. I dont know if he profiles as a true setup man, though. He seems like a good guy to have out there though.

Gom is right. The sox were still the yankees doormats until 2004. 00- WS champs 01- AL champs 02- AL East Champs 03- AL Champs The first 4 yrs of this century were dominated by us. The next 4 have been in your court.

I find it funny that you dont think any of the championship sox took them. Lets look at 2 significant factors here. A. One of the only guys to talk was previously employed with the Yankees. Why do you think he has so much on previous yankees in the report? B. Mitchell is tied in with the sox organization. He easily could have shied away from any lead into sox usage. I think reason A had a lot more to do with sox omissions and B. Regardless, that was Selig's way of "cleansing the sport" and unfortunately, he didnt do it right. Either let bygones be bygones or perform a full scale purge that involves all trainers and all players rather than the two idiots who happened to get caught. If McNamee never got caught selling roids, there wouldnt be any yankees on this list.

Yankees take game 1 9-3. Wang pitched a solid 2 innings. Rasner was shaky. Ohlendorf and Albaladejo looked good. Duncan had 5 ribbies including a monster shot. Betemit went yard. And, Jesus Montero, the kid from the dominican who just turned 18 crushed an oppo homer in his first ever ST AB.

If I were Theo, I wouldnt even consider it. By the time Papi's contract is over, he'll be on his last legs in the game. A man at his size will have his career end sooner than a man in good physical condition. The sox were smart in locking him up to the length and cash that they did and Ortiz will have to deal with that.

Love the dig on ESPN too. He is very right on that end.

Rays win 70 this yr.

exactly the kind of attitude I expected out of you. Live for now, f*** tomorrow. So the fact that our system has the best young pitching talent happened by accident? that was not all anybody. That was a joint effort between Cashman, Oppenheimer, Newman, Contreras, Eiland and a bunch of other people who made it happen. The collosal error was choosing Pavano period. Getting Petey would have been a collosal error as well. 15 mil to see him miss 2 of 4 seasons. We dont know what was actually offered for Santana. Speculation abounds. If it involved Hughes at all, I am glad we passed. In terms of Igawa, no qualms there. But in terms of DMats, he bid 35 mil, which is a mighty fine sum just to talk to someone. He just didnt know what lengths the sox would go to get him. Choosing Igawa over Lilly was a mistake. That is not debatable. A. Wright was brought up too soon B. He isnt even one of our top 15 pitching prospects. C. He was on the 40 man, so he was the easy choice to start D. You'll next see him as a reliever in the Bronx Stop talking out of your ass. I have seen the Trenton team on multiple occasions last summer. Marquez throws low to mid 90s. So going with young stud pitchers who have had success in their limited debuts is worse than going with middle of the road MLB veterans? Sanchez, Brackman and Horne are all injury risks as much as Mariano Rivera is. Its TJ surgery, everyone is having it. 90+% success rate. None of them have had any other significant injury history. I stray from the press clippings and go right to the source. I also subscribe to a few sites to get some more in depth information and have seen a fair amount of these players play. I'll tell you what. The majority of the major press issues are off by a long shot. The ESPN guys like Keith Law are going off scouting reports dated 3-4 yrs back. Most of them have never seen the players they are condemning. Either way. As usual, you will trash every one of them until they hit the bigs and then you'll be their biggest fan when they make it. I understand that not all of them will, but the stock that we have now is something we havent had in a long long time.

We have 6 starting pitchers on the MLB team if you consider Joba will be starting by yrs end. We have a few other guys who will be emergency options like Igawa, Rasner and Karstens. Rasner at least pitched serviceably, Karstens was terrible and Igawa was...well awful. After the 6 aforementioned players and the 3 emergency options, there are 4 options waiting in the wings. Steven White would likely be the first. Followed by Alan Horne, Jeff Marquez and by midseason Humberto Sanchez. All MLB ready, all with powerful arsenals (althought Marquez is more like Wang) unlike the soft tossing emergency guys we have now.

holy s***, I havent seen that in yrs. Great find

but you do have Colon, I'm confused?

We have unproven but highly talented depth behind our rotation. Colon would have blocked that. I am glad we dont have him.

I see it all the time. I havent really seen it in my family, though. My grandparents gave it up when my dad was born, and they havent suffered any ill effects that I can tell. The other side never smoked and they are alive and well into their 80s. But in my line of work, I see it all the damn time. I had a patient who was 39 and had a tracheostomy because his larynx was removed after having laryngeal CA. But lo and behold he comes in every week or so with his trach plugged. Why is that? Because he smoked through the hold in his neck. Addictive as anything. Right now I'm in an ICU and the patients under 60 in that unit have one thing in common, they all were big time smokers. The people that made it to their 80s in that unit all did not smoke. And to be honest with you, the frail old ladies who never smoked are faring better this month than the burly 50 something yr old smokers. Hell, I pronounced one 2 days ago and another rolled in today that was ready to die. Do yourself a favor. Never f***ing smoke. Cancer pain is unbearable, but it isnt just the cancer. Emphysema is damn near inevitable if you smoke for a long period of time as well as increased risk of heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, hell, impotence as well. Nothing like wheeling around an oxygen tank in your 40s and going to the hospital once a month because you cannot breathe.

60 is too young. RIP

Ray, I am hoping that is the case. I dont want him in pinstripes. 5 or 6 yrs ago, you betcha, but not now.

Francona should build a statue to Theo and the ownership for getting on board with development and acquiring him some top notch talent. Tito is not a great manager in terms of game success. He just keeps the big ego players from killing themselves, akin to what Torre did. And sometimes that is all you need when you have leaders like Ortiz and Varitek in that lockerroom. I think the true test of Tito will be when Tek rides off into the sunset. Who will be the captain of the ship then? This is where Torre started to show his weaknesses. A team full of high priced talent, no group of intrinsic leaders (even though Jeter is the captain) like he had in the late 90s (Brosius, Martinez, O'Neill, Cone, Girardi, Bernie and many others were all character guys). When the team lacks leadership and your manager isnt a leader in and of himself, then you run into trouble. We'll see what Tito does in that case. Regardless, he outcoached Torre in 04 (who couldnt) and then outmuscled everyone else.

from the atlanta side of things. Tex is saying all the right things, but if he truly is leaving this all in Boras' hands, then the Braves have no chance. Assume that the Angels, Dodgers (presumably if Loney doesnt develop) and Yankees are in dire need of a 1b and the sox potentially if they can move Youk, and you have 4 teams with massive resources that can bid on the open market. There is absolutely no way Boras passes that up unless the Braves meet his initial ridiculous request. I see Tex getting a 6 or 7 yr deal at upwards of 20 mil a season.

but if, and it is a monster IF, he can regain that mid 90s heat, he could be very useful.

Not to burst your bubble, but he was topping out at 86 mph in winter ball. 15 teams sent scouts to his starts, none signed him. If he isnt touching 95, he's useless. The rest of his arsenal isnt good enough to stand on its own.

Heres the deal on Coco. It makes no sense for the sox to put him on the bench directly. Is Ellsbury the better player right now, on the offensive side, yes but on the D end, no. And when you are talking about such an important defensive position, you could absorb the hit early. Also, showcasing Coco will be an important part of the process as well, AND when you have two bookends that like the DL as much as Manny and Drew do, then you might want to keep Coco around. Here is my prediction on Coco. He starts the yr as the starting CFer. Drew goes down for a month with sandy vaginitis and Ellsbury gets into the lineup. Ellsbury outperforms Coco by the time Drew returns and by then a team will need a solid D CFer. By the deadline, Coco will be gone (my inkling is the A's make the move).

Guys, think about this. If Manny plays well and stays healthy, he stays a Sock. If he has another off yr or an injury prone yr, he will be a FA. So, hence, if he comes to NY it will be after a second consecutive off yr for him. So no, I want nothing to do with Manny. The guy I want is Tex. I dont think we have the replacement in the minors for 1b in the near future (Miranda is more of a DH) while we are loaded with OF prospects who will be ready come 09 (Jackson, Tabata, and to a lesser extent, Gardner) and we dont have an open OF slot unless we move Manny to RF (fat chance). So here is to hoping he has a poor yr and follows the gravy train to NY as a Met.