Dojji

True, but if it's the only sample you have to work with, whatcha gonna do? It certainly does suggest that Nick Green is at least capable at SS. By shortstop standards he doesn't put up a terrible at bat either.

Hermida's fairly expendable, he's basically a plugin guy like Baldelli last year.. As far as I'm concerned, he wouldn't be a bad guy to put in the package for Diaz in the first place. Besides, Ellsbury's return may be delayed by several weeks -- rib injuries are tricky, just ask Wakefield the last few years. A Hermida-Diaz platoon would be among the better LF solutions we could come up with until we DO get him back

Well I know of one RHH outfielder who's had a bit of a resurgence this year, and you know his team is going nowhere and has to be dying to get rid of his contract. You could probably get him for a song and he's the current league leader in homers. I'm not sure what the team would think about bringing in Vernon Wells, though. But if he was playing for something, maybe he could be motivated to not suck. Danged expensive gamble but it could pay off bigtime.

We have three lefthanded outfielders when Cameron sits. A guy who plays the OF and can drive the ball against LHP pitching is a good fit.

1: Not true. He will get a #1 or #2 pick and a #1s pick for him. 2: That still leaves him one offseason and two deadlines to try to get something done. Time is NOT an issue from the SD perspective at this time. I fully expect to see Hoyer sit on Gonzo as long as he can and see what his minor league and team look like in a year or so before even making the call on what he'd like to get for the guy. 3: A year and a half can change a lot on a team that's in the middle 15 markets, I think that describes SD. It's entirely possible that if he holds off, he can rebuild the lineup, or at least show enough progress to convince Gonzo to stick around. It is by no means a guarantee that Gonzo will ever be traded, and even if he is there's CERTAINLY no guarantee he'd be traded to us, immediately. I'm not counting on him at all -- be ecstatic if iit happens, but I'm not going to hold it against Theo if Hoyer's price is too high, or if Hoyer decides to do his dangedest to keep one of the best 1B in the National League on his team.

I wonder what the pricetag on Matt Diaz would be.

But I don't think that is the minimum. I think it's well below the minimum. And I honestly don't know if we even have the pieces to get it done -- we're not exactly brimming with MLB-ready high profile bats at the moment. Paul Konerko is a much more realistic trade target if we're looking for a short-term power hitter, or maybe Derrek Lee. I could really go for Derrek Lee. He's in the last year of his deal and the Cubs are going nowhere so we should be at least talking trade. He's much more likely to be available and affordable than Adgon.

I don't think SD does that. Kalish and Tazawa aren't that well known outside our system and Lars' stock has fallen quite a bit. We're talking about replacing their only decent hitter, they'll want a hitter back. Lavarnway is a much better piece to tempt SD with than Kalish.

Don't be too shocked if Lester is the odd man. Something's very wrong with Jonny boy. his velocity and command aren't nearly where they should be.

Still not as great as Game 6 a couple years ago, but a strong runner up.

Really enjoying this playoff series. I think the Bruins really proved something with this game, but you have to give a ton of credit to the Sabers too.

It's not really Lowell's fault. He could offer something to a team that didn't have so many different guys that duplicate his remaining skillset. Not in Boston though.

Yep. UZR/150 actually likes his performance last year as an SS, and he was doing great until he got overexposed. Hits enough to survive as a utility guy too. But really it was only an example. Really it *shoould* be Lowrie, but we know that he'll get a paper cut on the callup notice. Even if he recieves it as a digital signal. So that's a nonstarter.

I have to go back and hit this again. Mino, your entry into this conversation is, and I quote, "Tim Thomas blows." Followed by you calling a participant in the conversation "a f***ing moron" From this we can conclude that you clearly have a different definition of an "intelligent hockey conversation" than I do. One of these things is not like the others...

Frankly, you were the one who brought up the possibility of Thomas starting in this playoff series. I can only guess you were trying to rub it in a bit after the year Rask had. You seem to have spent the year under the delusion that I didn't think Rask would perform well in his first season (I said all along he'd quite probably be fine, I wanted him brought along gently, and Thomas made an effective go-to guy to make sure our season wouldn't be completely destroyed if he wasn't) I don't really think Thomas will start, and I'm not really sure he should. What I've been fighting is the idea that if he did start, he couldn't handle it, or would perform so badly it would cost us games. All indications point to Tim Thomas still being more or less what he has been throughout his career -- his baseline this year is around his 2007-2008 level. That's not as good as Rask, but it is as good as most of the other playoff teams' starting goaltenders, with the sole exception of Miller. This is the only playoff matchup we could have wound up with where Rask would be essential to make sure we weren't at a goaltending disadvantage. And that's because Miller rocks, not because Thomas sucks. Every other opponent, if you put Thomas in and not Rask, we'd still be even or ahead on the goaltending front.

You should try it at some point. Might be an interesting first for you. An unsubstantiated assertion. What are you basing this on? With Thomas in net the series runs very differently, but it's entirely possible that Thomas gets us to 2-1 or even 3-0. When Timmy's on he can shut out a good team, we've all seen that before. So can Rask of course, and Rask has a better shot at it, so if you're trying to win he clearly gets the most and most critical starts. All granted. But using that to presume that Thomas would cost us both of the other two games? It's utterly illogical to just assume it'll happen that way, especially with far worse goaltenders than Thomas (think Brian Boucher here) capable of hot streaks in the playoffs. Look, I understand why you like Tuukka. I like Tuukka. Nothing is ever guaranteed in sports, but Rask is a great young goaltender who has every chance to be effective for many years to come. It's the logical leap from that to "Thomas sucks and doesn't deserve to be on Tuukka's team" that is completely insane, and that's what I'm railing against. Bring an accurate and rational view of what Thomas is and the skill level he has and this conversation might start going a bit smoother -- even if you then conclude, as Kilo has done, that Rask still makes Thomas expendable and that we should trade him and replace him with a cheaper backup goaltender so that we can load up on wing -- all reasonable conclusions based on an accurate view of the team situation and far easier to sit there and read than just saying Thomas sucks when he clearly does not.

Chance Wagner or Brown will be up with the team soon? V-mart would make a fine DH/1B. If you don't want to cut Ortiz then it's time to cut Lowell. Too much defensive suck on the bench, we need some youth and mobility there. All of our bench guys are mediocre defenders at the positions we expect them to back up at (Tek at catcher, Lowell at 3B/1B, Hermida at OF, Hall at SS). It's a huge "hidden" weakness of the team. if I had my druthers I'd clean most of the current bench out, consider doing the same to Big Papi, and go with defensive guys, with the exception of Hall, since he at least brings tremendous flexibility. CUT: Mike Lowell CUT: Jason Varitek CUT: David Ortiz SIGN: defense-first backup SS CALL UP: catcher Dusty Brown TRADE: catcher Chris Snyder V-Mart DH/1B/part time C Defense-first SS guy (Nick Green type) Dusty Brown, backup C (may play a fair bit if the defense is as advertized and his OBP holds around .340 or so) Bill Hall, IF/OF You're losing a ton of offensive potential, but stabilizing the bench is very important and getting some defense off the bench is just as important. With Lowell Tek and Ortiz gone, a third catcher can be justifed and V-Mart takes over primary backup 1B duties. Make a deal for Chris Snyder of the Diamondbacks if you need a catcher who'll hit in order to be happy with life. He should be available since Montero looks like he's going to be their guy going forward and the Diamondbacks have no shortage of holes to fill so they should be open to trade. I'd mention my personal mancrush Mike Napoli instead as a possible trade target if I thought the Angels would make us a fair price, but right now that's unlikely as Jeff Mathis is hurt. If you need a roster spot for Snyder, and/or haven't given up on Ortiz, forego the backup SS and limp along with Hall, although that's far from optimal.

Dusty Brown would look good in a Red Sox uniform right now. He definitely has more arm than either of the guys we have right now. It's a pity he hasn't really gotten much of a chance because he could be a really decent backup. He was a direct casualty of the decision to keep Tek around 2 years too long. Right now he may have thrown more pitches for the Sox than he's caught. Jorge Jimenez, Tug Hulett, and Daniel Nava could all become important at some point this season depending on this or that injury.

Tim Thomas doesn't blow unless Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, and Thomas Vokoun also "blow." See this is what I'm talking about. Some people here and over at HF boards seem to be pathologically incapable of giving Timmy the credit he's due. For some reason any praise of Thomas is percieved, incorrectly needless to say, as a backhanded dis of Rask, or even as if someone who demonstrates faith in Thomas, or caution in jumping on the Rask bandwagon, is some kind of heretic. I guess it's the haters finally using Rask as something they can rally round as an excuse for the bile they spew. Doesn't reflect well on the fanbase regardless. And I don't want Thomas starting over Rask. I want Thomas to get a few playoff starts, and Rask to get most of them.

You fail logic. Specifically, you make a comparison fallacy trying to turn a relative statement into an absolute "Rask is better" not = "Thomas is bad." I've demonstrated already that his performance THIS YEAR puts him in some pretty cushy company. If you want to ingore that because of the sexy youngster, I suppose I can't blame you, but you're taking it one notch further and trying to call me an idiot for pointing out inconvenient facts. That I do object to. Right now? Both, depending on factors we don't know yet (mainly, how he plays in future years). Your fail logic again BTW -- the fallacy of the false dichotomy this time. The book on Tuukka isn't even close to written yet. He should be starting over Thomas because his play this year has been superior to Thomas'. What that means for the future is the subject of what at best could be termed educated guesses. Came danged close. Look it up. .926 SV% would have trailed only Miller and Tuukka this year, and 2.05 GAA would have been second only to Tuukka, so if it had been Raycroft debuting this year he would have come within about .004 SV%of exactly the same feat. A statistically insignificant number. And he did it over 55 starts, 16 more than Rask and the most significant difference in their numbers. Ask a bunch of neutral fans which year was more impressive, they'll split, but I bet that if you don't attach names to the numbers the majority probably comes down in Raycroft's favor.

In case you haven't noticed, I play devil's advocate around here a lot. I do feel some loyalty t o Thomas though, and I resent how much his contribution is forgotten or ignored, or downplayed on the basis of his contract. To hear most fans Tuukka got us here all by himself. Probably because people really desperately want Tuukka to be the real thing, and therefore are quick to assume he is -- and since Tuukka is the real thing, Thomas is simply an expensive, extraneous piece -- anathema to a cap world. Since we've only really seen half a year of Tuukka I'm not really sold on the argument. I seem to recall a guy named Raycroft who was very nearly as good once upon a time.