Dojji

Unfortunately, I agree with Diony. There's enough question marks in our rotation that we can't operate under the presumption that we have young pitching prospects to burn in trade. We've found out to our cost that you can't have too much pitching and that any depth you can amass will be useful to you over a season. Witness the 2006 season. With 2 more competent, big league starters we could have held on and at least finished second. We have about the right number of pitchers right now with Penny in the fold. We can cope with 2 serious pitching injuries and a minor league disappointment at the same time -- that's about right where you want it in order to give yourself some proper insurance.

No, it really doesn't. Larger sample sizes tend to normalize so you are more sure that any change in statistical results is NOT the result of luck or outliers based on some undetermined variable. I like the idea of Bard. He's one of the less bad options out there. If you have Dusty or George on the team to handle Wakefield you should be fine.

You have it exactly backwards. It's in small sizes where you're more likely to run into large variances based mostly on luck.

Salty's out the window. At least, Bowden for Salty is. It's no longer a seller's market for Texas, since Max Ramirez has options and they don't have anyone else left on their roster to humor thanks to the Laird trade. There is no "Texas glut of catching talent" anymore. Salty and Teagarden splitting time as the catching tandem while Ramirez develops in AAA puts Texas firmly in control of any trade negotiations for Salty which means the discussion will be about Buchholz, probably Buchholz+, possibiy even Buchholz, Bard+, for either of Texas' two big name catchers. Since acquiring Salty had no impact whatsoever either for or against Teixeira, the fact that no trade has been even seriously discussed -- not just with the Sox, but with anyone -- suggests that Texas seems pretty happy not to make any trades at all unless that trade allows them to retool their pitching staff instantly with multiple MLB-ready top prospects. Now I'm not one to beat a tired old drum... ...ahh heck, who am I kidding? I still think that when you combine available takent with price in dollars and/or prospects to put him on your team, making a salary-pickup deal for Johjima really is the best choice (or at least, the least bad choice) for this franchise. In all likelyhood the most we'd have to trade for him is a Chris Carter type and possibly a low-end RP. Based on contact rate and k/bb numbers a bounceback to 2006-'07 numbers seems to be much more likely than a failure to bounce back, or a regression.

So you see my point about ability to replace at 3B. There really isn't a lot out there.

He has one mishap that was brought on by overuse and an otherwise 100% clean bill of health including 2 healthy seasons of more innings than he pitched in his injury year. Surround him with a decent bullpen and don't expose him with stupid roster decisions and it's unlikely to be a problem in the near or intermediate future.

Given the financial resources of the Mets and the fact that Wright is still a New York fan favorite, never is probably ur answer. Garrett Atkins is more likely to be your man.

I don't give a hoot whether he bleeds pinstripes if he fills a hole competently.

I dont think it either helps or hinders Youk's cause. If all Youkilis is is a first baseman he's not as important to the team anyway. I'm proposing paying premium for him mostly on the basis of his ability to play 3B and what in my judgement is a total lack of talented 3B's in the high minors. Lars is a LHT so how he plays at 1B is at best tangential to Youk's value BTW -- for the record, 23M was Jacko's number. Mine would be more around the $18M mark.

Balancing that is the fact that he plays one of the positions in all of baseball that has the least talent available to it right now. Instead of developing 3Bmen at their own position players with any defensive question at all and a good bat in their hand (Teixeira, Pujols) are being moved to first base. What that means in practical terms is that anyone who plays good defensive 3B and is a productive hitter is going to be in demand because rich, contending teams don't have a lot of guys to go out there and sign to get that production. Obviously it depends on Youkilis repeating his 2008 campaign until he hits FA but that's not really so far-fetched. He's a good fundamentally sound hitter and he's built himself up well. This is no determiner of anything but he even looks like a power hitter now where he really didn't as late as 2006.

You're right that that is an impediment, but if the new ballpark was well built and honored Fenway they'd probably get over it.

Rican mostly, talking about financing the hypothetical new stadium Real issue here in replacing Fenway is that "Fenway" is a trademark, and a well-known, lucrative one at that. Thus such things as Roush-Fenway racing. Replacing it with another corporate park might not be in the owners' best interest.

It depends on whether what we saw from Youk this last season offensively is what he is or not. If it is, then I could definitely see a huge contract in Youk's future. Considering the way he clawed his way out of obscurity to take a place as one of the game's elite corner infielders I'd say he's earned it. A second consecutive elite season in 2009 would just about seal the deal.

I actually like this. Unlike pitchers, hitters might benefit from an extra time getting ready to start the season. Get him some reps at 3B as well.

If you think that the Red Sox would have a hard time attracting corporate sponsors I really think you'd be in for a surprise.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Choco_chip_cookie.jpg/800px-Choco_chip_cookie.jpg

And by the time he aged to that point Papi would be long gone and if it really came to that (or if Lars is playing like I think he will by then) Youk could hit from the DH spot for the last years of his contract.

Yeah, but you want history, that rivalry's history, and a lot of superstitious fans would call for Fenway magic for those games anyhow. It's pretty much just an off the cuff idea regardless so there's plenty of room for adjustment. It's a better retirement plan than the Yankees or the Tigers had for their old parks. Cannibalizing the park for sale to the highest bidder or just plain demolishing it aren't really honoring the past, and Fenway has a lot of past. Am I wrong to remember the Celtics playing some games last year in the actual Boston Garden, or was that in the preseason?

I think even then you have to do it. Have you looked at our farm system? 3B is a black hole until you get as far south as Almanzar, and he's extremely raw. I don't see too many competent 3B becoming available through FA or trade either. Atkins or Beltre are about it.