Dojji

*hurls* You know what they say, whenever you make something that's foolproof, someone invents a better fool.

Point is that when you add OBP into the mix Evans is in the same offensive category as Dawson. And Evans certainly loses nothing in a defensive comparison to Dawson. If Dawson "should" be a HoF so should Evans.

You might sell high but "you never know" is a poor excuse to think you are selling high.

Wow, colts losing Dungy is like us losing BB, even if you have some form of continuity, if you're a Colts fan you're going to spend the offseason wondering if the original coach's unique genius/command presence/game-winning X factor is gone. The offseason in which we lose Belichick is going to be a very tumultuous one for a lot of New England fans. Not a pleasing prospect to be reminded that that's coming.

Fine -- give 'em Expo. The quintessential definition of a comparable prospect..

Wow, that was one heck of a scoop man, that might be valuable some day.

If Dawson should get in, Evans absolutely deserves to be in. He was an objectively better hitter and a vastly superior defender. Dawson career OPS .805 Evans career OPS .840 Dawson career OPS+ 119 Evans career OPS+ 127 Dawson career OBP .323 Evans career OBP .370 Andre Dawson had a 20 year career of being Jose Guillen other than a handful of peak years. He also stuck around way too long looking for longevity. A modern baseball analysis doesn't show him to be anywhere near the hitter his reputation made him out to be. Evans finished well. Even in Evans' Baltimore year where his power utterly failed him he put up a season OPS+ of 119 and an OBP of .393. And if anything, the more we learn about baseball the more we realize just how underappreciated Dwight Evans really is as a hitter. I think in the end he has a chance with the Veterans' Committee if someone in there has been won over to the OBP school or really liked his defensive game.

Evans was ahead of his time offensively. Back then he was just a .270 hitter with a bit of pop but at his peak his OBP was consistently around the .400 mark (career .370 OBP), he was arguably the best defensive RF in history, hit 385 HR's, logged 2446 hits, and had career high OPS + years of 162, 156, and 148 (in 1981, 1987, and 1982 respectively) When you combine his marginal-to-borderline offense to his legendary defense, he sniffs the edges of HoF worthiness. That plus his role in the 1975 and 1986 pennant runs might put him over the edge in some eyes. It's very possible that if he'd played in an era where OBP was en vogue he'd be in. He at least deserves the kind of consideration Andre Dawson got/is getting. He at least should be given an honest look.

Not really news per se, but I'm glad we're seeing confirmation of what I already had every reason to believe they've been doing all offseason.

Now we just gotta get Dewey Evans in on the veterans' committee and that era of Sox history will be properly remembered.

Don't rule the Jays out

No they won't, but Jacksonianmarch is right in one thing --- all these signings of cheap, injury-prone veterans do nothing to "free up" young pitchers for trading purpooses. In fact it's that young depth that makes this whole thing work because if a reliever goes down we can call up Jones and if a starter goes down we can see what Buchholz or Bowden can bring. It makes it palatable to have multiple of these guys on the roster at all.

If he tried to go through channels and inform himself like he said he did, then yes. He was.

Was gonna fix it then you called me on it -- no point now. That's just a Dojji-ism, let it go. Point still stands. Look past the gaffe and respond to the post please.

Except that at this point you're relying on your own interpretation of events as fact. If your premise is true then the Dodgers cut bait because they knew Otsuka was going to suck. Frankly I'm more inclined to blame team finances. Have you noticed that the Dodgers have signed no-one and have been spending their offseason trying to reduce their payroll? I've suspected for the last couple years that the reason the Dodgers have been getting younger and cheaper is only partly related to their surge of young offensive talent. Also, they couldn't promise Otsuka his old role anymore with a combination of yes, his health, and the fact that Jonathan Broxton emerged as a stud closer in his absence and is a lot younger and cheaper. That's not to say that I'm not worried about Otsuka's health, but this is a guy who if he can't make it can go on the DL and retire and not clog up the roster beyond perhaps mid-May. And if he does make it he's a second closer-level arm. The downside here is maybe as many as 5-6 bad outings in the early season where they hurt the least and the upside is tremendous in an already loaded bullpen.

Saito's 2008 numbers are a lot closer to his peak than Pedro's 2008 numbers, but you knew that and are just being an *******.

Definitely agree there but the FO might have Kotsay as Baldelli insurance in case he has one of those aggrivating out-for-a-week-to-10-days kind of injuries where you don't want to put him on the DL but you need someone to stand in for Drew.

About the only part that actually makes me hesitate on Marti is his age. A high-80's fastball is good enough if surrounded with other quality stuff and if he had time to adjust I'm positive he'd be useful, but I'm not sure he has that time.

But if it turns out that we don't need a 5th OF, it wouldn't be that hard to find a player with 1B experience -- starting with Jeff Bailey.

And at a certain point we have to look around and say that we have legitimate injury concerns for all 5 of our starters, especially Wakefield, Beckett and Daisuke who all had disturbing signs of possible injuries next year. (Yes, I said Daisuke. I believe the facts point to the possibility that he played through some serious shoulder issues in 2008) Point is, I'm not sure how much of this young depth we can spare in trade.

Hopefully this is like Kielty last year -- a deal for insurance's sake sake that never really turns into much actual playing time because eventually Baldelli proves that he's healthy.

And yet he still wins.

Since no one has signed Sheets and the Brewers have what could optimistically be called a shot, I could see him going back there. That would help. Certainly though the Brewers have no reason at all to be throwing the towel in at this point.

I'm talking about offensively. The fact that he's still questioned on his defense as a1B just makes it worse. PLEASE tell me this isn't a guaranteed deal and we might have a chance to see an actual power hitter like Bailey backing up 1B. We've basically landed ourselves Ross Gload plus the ability to play right field. Whoopee.