Dojji

I have to say I think a700 has a point. We have a guy who can fake it at third occasionally to take the pressure off Youkilis here already (Lowell) and when we acquired Bill Hall, one of the things we gained was additional depth at third base. Beltre is not strictly speaking necessary, and he does impact the already serious corner infield logjam. If we hadn't acquired Beltre, solving the catching situation would be hecka easier. Just move V-Mart to first, play Youks at third longterm, promote Wagner and stick him behind (or ahead of as the situation warrants) Tek. If Tek can't hack it at midseason, drop him and either make a trade (Snyder? Napoli? Ramirez?) or call up Brown depending on how Wags is hitting. I'm not sure Scutaro was strictly speaking necessary, and signing any SS past the age of about 33 frankly scares me especially if they haven't exactly been great defensively throughout their careers ("average" about sums up Scutaro's career performance as a defensive SS -- a cut or two above what we had last year, but still... average)

I could see Dunn. It'd be chancy since his contact is so marginal and he'd be going to a tougher league, but it could really pay off too. If Carlos Pena can do it in the AL East no reason Adam Dunn can't.

everyone always underestimates the kid. I always love watching a small man get ahead.

Kinsler's had one year better than Pedroia's baseline. I don't think it matters per se that Pedroia isn't the best guy in his field. Especially since the one guy who's clearly better than him is Utley, and that's the guy out of their 25 that the Phillies keep. Peddy's the guy you keep because between Pedroia, Youk and Lester (the finalists), the one you're least likely to be able to replace replace with an adequate player from among the players the other teams lose is clearly Pedroia.

SWEET!

I hope Bard takes that next step. He's got the power pitcher tools in spades, if he adds smart pitcher tools to that heater he's gonna be some kinda special.

That's about as bad as Oki could possibly have done.

Now that Adrian Beltre's awake, let's hope the game can now continue.

WTF was this one doing topped then/

RUN PREVENTION! GOLD GLOVE DEFENSE AT THIRD BASE! Yeah.,

And the reason I disagree with you is all about replacement. It's a lot easier to get along with "Flawed But Effective" B-grade guy at first base, or even as a SP, than it is to put up with a flawed guy in middle infield. (one of the reasons Scutaro is quickly becoming unpopular). Strong offensive ability at middle infield, matched with competent D, is easy to underestimate and danged hard to find. Most teams have to hold their nose and choose one or the other.

I think you're underestimating the Tampa market. We don't know how it'd respond to a consistent winner. I'll concede it would be hard for them to pay for Adgon though.

He's going to command more than $19M/year. Well, that's certainly possible, but it won't be a ton more. I don't think the Rays have too many other pending contract obligations that would really prevent them from going over those constraints in order to keep a consistent winner going. Winning is great for revenue after all.

If they lose both Crawford's and Pena's contracts, they'd have no trouble paying Adgon. Between the two, that's Teixeira money. If they remain in contention, and especially if they get that new stadium that they've been wanting, Tampa Bay can afford that.

I think they lose both and go looking for another bat. Pena is likeliest to stay, but there's a number of teams that love his skillset and would be willing to pay for a long-ball hitter, including at least two other teams in his own division. Crawford is going to be tempted to play the market because NYY is likely to be in the market for a left fielder and BOS may very well be as well dependng on how the season plays out (read: how Mike Cameron performs, whether JD's healthy, and what we can expect out of Ellsbury when he comes back from his first serious injury). I believe the Mets still also have a LF controversy. That's fertile ground for large contract bids for a guy who comes about as close as anyone in the game to being a 5 tool LF.

Gotta be Pedroia. Youk makes a case, but he's a 30 year old corner infielder. Ultimately you can replace most of his value from free agency. I know I'll get a huge argument if I suggest this, but I feel about the same way about Lester. A second baseman who can put up a .850-.900 OPS consistently is a much rarer bird. To put my argument a bit more distinctly, there are more corner infielders as good as Youkilis or better, and more lefthanded starters as good as Lester or better, than there are second baseman as good or better than Pedroia (Chase Utley's the only guy I can think of that's CLEARLY better, possibly Ben Zobrist if you made him a 2B but he's more a True IF/OF. Cano's too up and down, Uggla's batting average kills his chances, Kendrick, Hill, Weeks and Kinsler have arguments but also some serious flaws compared to the little big man)

The point is even MDC's command is better than that of Juan Cruz. I still give him a shot because we have rather little to lose, but let's not pretend that our standards aren't a little too high because of the bullpens of the last couple years.

I think he could be like Aardsma a couple years ago. We got some good performances out of Aardsma even if the overall numbers aren't good..

Worth a shot.

Going after an injured man... tsk tsk. Even if he is Zdeno Chara that's fairly low.

I could be convinced that the difference is worth a significant prospect, but it would have to be a really good argument.

What does Wilson Ramos have that Luis Exposito doesn't?