Fried Neckbones

It's the "plus extras" part that makes this acceptable to the Sox. Bearing in mind that this isn't really a trade, if it works out that Manny goes to LA, and Drew + Billingsley + Broxton + Kemp/LaRoche come to Boston, I'll take that, especially if they can then flip Billingsley and Coco + a prospect to ATL for Jones (but only if he signs an extension). Net deal: minus 1 Manny, plus 1 Drew, 1 Jones, 1 potential closer, and 1 nice youngster. Not too shabby. Even if the ATL part doesn't work out, it's still a pretty good deal.

Manny isn't going to the Angels. They have Gary Matthews Jr, for pete's sake ( )! Seriously, I think he is going to end up on an NL West team - hopefully the Dodgers. I could definitly see them going for Manny, giving up some good MLB ready prospects (Kemp is pretty good, and I would like to see him in the OF in Fenway) and/or young players, and going one step further to creating the LA Blue Sox.

It would be great to get rid of Clement, but who is going to take him and what are the Sox going to get back? He is a headcase (even before that line drive he took off his head), and isn't he still injured? And he's in the last year of his contract. Murphy would be a good one to throw into a package, too. Young, upside, and (as said before) seems to be an odd man out with regard to future plans.

Try being a social worker and making $32:thumbdown . Seriously, though, I totally agree about salaries, and about it being a big business. Of course it is. We all know that. But we can all agree that salaries and free agent demands are getting out of control. In the late 80's, the A's became the first team to average $1 million per player. That was less than 20 years ago. Read an interesting article, I think on mlb.com, about how GM's are getting less willing to pay these ridiculous contracts through free agency and are starting to look to the good ol' fashioned MLB for MLB trade again. Personally, I don't think that free agency will wither up and die, but I also think that trades of the sort that we are talking about here (big bats for MLB ready prospects) are going to become more common, especially this year. All that being said, I wouldn't mind seeing either Mariner in Boston. Both are solid players, good clubhouse guys. Both could play 1b and let Youk slide back to 3b. Helton frightens me, humidors aside. Trading for Wells or Jones is a bad idea right now - you'll never hold on to them. Dunn - if you bitch about WMP and his k's and awful d, why would you want an older, whiter version of that? Crede would be a nice addition, I think. I could see him having success in Fenway. I still think Manny is staying, though. Which would leave Lowell, WMP, and young arms as trade bait. I honestly can't see those guys landing Raul, Richie, or Joe. Nice post, jacksonian.

Just a thought, but it is also in Boras' best interest to get a deal done for Matsuzaka for the benefit of his other high-profile FA pitcher this year. If he can get, say, $14 mill for 3-4 years in the next week or so for a guy who has never thrown an MLB pitch, imagine what he will be saying about Zito's contract.

I think it's more a matter of they needed a #5 hitter who could actually provide some semblance of protection for Manny. They had some of the worst 5-hole numbers in baseball last year. The best options for that spot all happen to be corner outfielders, that's all. Although, if they had gone hard after Lee or Soriano I would have been shocked.

Not to mention that your ace (Schill) is getting old and in what is most likely the last year of his last contract, and let's be honest Wake is getting up there too. One more back injury and he might just be finished. Then you go into next off season in need of 3 starting pitchers. That's bad. With two holes in the rotation (of Beckett, Matsuzaka, and Paps) you can afford to go after one big gun and let a prospect get a shot. Whatever, the point is that I agree with a700.

Yup, he won. Back to topic - it seems like they will wind up overpaying for someone, the question is who? IMO, it should be Lugo. At least he won't wind up on the DL (or at least the chances are less than Drew). They are already going to pay a lot for Matsuzaka, and rightfully so. However that leaves the lineup looking like this: Lugo Youk Ortiz Manny WMP Lowell Tek Crisp Pedroia Some holes/question marks there. I think we can count on down years (at least below what they did last year) out of Lowell and Tek. Pedrioa, though I think will come around, is not a power hitting threat. And WMP is ... well, WMP. :dunno: So the question is, who do they trade to bring in another bat?

I'm not saying that the Sox front office does not spend money, nor that they should NOT spend money on players. I'm saying that they should not spend ridiculous amounts of money on every player at every position. If saving $3.5 million on a 2b means getting Drew, I'm all for that.

Honestly, though, who is going to compete with him for the job? Cora? It would not be smart to bring in a free agent or trade for a 2b just to compete with Pedrioa - not to mention that it would completely shatter his confidence. There really isn't anybody else in their system who would deserve an invite to spring training. He's 23, plays good d, and will adjust to MLB pitching. He may not end up being a super-star, but he will be a solid middle infielder. Also, he'll be cheap, freeing up more $$$ for Lugo, Drew, Matsuzaka, and whoever else in on the FO radar.

Johnny_Mac Hello Robert. Regarding the hitters that he faces in the Japanese league, how do they compare to major league hitters in the US? Is a .300 hitter in Japan the same as a .300 hitter in the majors? Robert_Whiting Japanese hitters are harder to strike out than American hitters. They're very patient. They tend to go to 3-2 a lot. They don't have the power of Americans, generally speaking. There's nobody like Pujols or Howard in Japan. That's an interesting observation. It seemed like, and was commented on quite a bit, that in the clips floating around it looked as though he was getting a lot of help from the Japanese hitters swinging outside the zone. This would appear to go against that. Bodes well for his success here, I would think. A couple of other interesting things from this. He has experience going against a DH in the PCL. Also this nugget, "Robert_Whiting I think so. Marty Brown, an American who manages the Hiroshima Carp, and played with Curt Schilling, says that Matsuzaka reminds him of Schilling in his prime." Overall, :thumbsup:

Not that it's going to happen (I pretty much agree with bosoxnation07), but what about this: deal Manny to Texas for Teixeira and, say, C.J. Young (lefty, good k/9, young). Slide Youk over to third and try to deal Lowell to the Pads for Linebrink and a prospect. Make a strong run at Lugo and Drew, and you've got: Lugo Youk Tex/Drew Ortiz Drew/Tex Tek WMP Crisp Pedroia Not a lineup of mashers, for sure, but not too bad. With the rotation of Schill, Beckett, Matsuzaka, paps, and Wake, and the additions of Young and Linebrink to the pen, they should be a good pitching and defense club. Not that any of that is going to happen, mind you.

Texas has a team option for Young after the '07 season. I would imagine that they will pick that one up.

The only problem I see there is that there are a lot of big free agent bats next year. Andruw Jones, Wells, Kent, Pudge, Abreu, Dye. It's a much deeper class than this year's. I suppose they could trade him and make a run at one of these guys, but I think they will find fewer willing partners.

I think it's a case of do you want $.75 on the $1 for him right now or nothing when he signs somewhere else after '08. Don't get me wrong, he is pretty much irreplacable in the lineup. But his stock is as high as it's going to be right now with 2 years, $17mill per on his contract and the only two really big free agent bats looking all but signed. I don't want to move him, really, but if they are going to now is the time to get something done.

Kottaras has been pretty consistant at every level he has played (with the exception of 30 games at AAA at the end of last year). .850 OPS, a few more K's than BB's, but not too many. He looks solid, at least. This brings up another sticky point. We've mentioned it before, but a backup catcher, while not the most flashy of needs, is a pretty big one. Mirabelli and Lopez killed us last year. I've heard Barajas being tossed around as a name. Any clues as to what he is looking for in terms of $/years/role?

Is Houston going to want WMP if they end up signing Lee? Also, I don't know about trading Kottaras. Yeah, Tek's got two more years on his deal, but he is starting to break down fast. I'd like to see Kottaras as a late-season call up/back up, and then carry that into the '08 season and break him in then as a full-time back up. Nice young catching prospect to go with the nice young pitching staff in '09.