Dojji

Remember, we're used to a different camera angle.

Settle it down, Jon!

Alright, now erase him. GIDP time.

Please be good, Lester!

Can't afford to let too many leadoff doubles go by the boards.

Ellsbury challenges Lackey's glove and it's probably 1-0. EDIT: OK, it's definitely 1-0.

TACO!

Kevin Youkilis is probably a more deserving candidate on his own team, IMHO.

I strongly suspect that as Game 1 goes, so goes the season. I'm afraid Mike Lowell will try to play tonight and Scoscia will eliminate him for hte postseason with a bunt down the third base line.

"Lakers in 6."

Without a batting title, and without 20 HR's, Pedroia can't win the MVP I think

Frankly I don't think Ellsbury needs to rebound from anything. This isn't Joey Gathright we're talking about here. About all he really needs to do is make progress. He was adequate this year despite a huge rookie slump and despite bouncing around all over the outfield so I'd expect at least the same performance if not better next year.

I guess it depends on if what you would get back might be worth more than the redundancy at centerfield.

It suits the team's characters though. Yankees try to build the image of a calm, poised professional from a team that's been there before and acts like it, and the public facade that is Jeter is every inch of that image. Jeter's polished until you can see right through him. Meanwhile Pedroia is a rough, tough, brash, defiant sometimes arrogant SOB with the Little Man's Complaint who talks like he's never backed down from a fight in his life and plays like the ultimate Dirt Dawg. Just like Jeter for the Yankees, Pedroia more or less emulates the image this team tries to get across of itself.

Back on topic: Crisp performed well enough after a dismal middle of the season that I think he's got some value on the trade market. You can usually find a team anxious for a veteran CF, and a world-class defender who can hit a ~.750 OPS, get on base OK and flash some speed will be in some kind of demand. If you can get more than decent reliever for him, then pull the trigger and bring in Emil Brown to platoon with JD Drew against lefties, who he destroys.

Drew has still, so far, played more games per season in his Boston years than one Christopher Trotman Nixon did in his. Go look it up if you don't believe me.

Ehh, for most of his career Tek caught Pedro-and-4-rain-dance rotations. Tek has been among the top 5 defensive catchers for most of his career, especially after 'Belli came along and took Wake off his hands.

These aren't places you should throw a lot of money. We already have Papelbon, Masterson, MDC, Oki and Lopez as the core of one heck of a bullpen for next year. Aardsma will probably be back as well, meaning we only really need 1 RHRP and have some in-house options to fill that roster, most notably Hansack who's performed well every time we've called him up and has earned some sort of big league shot. We've still got Snyder rattling around somewhere too, I think, and Beau Vaughn might be a surprise contender for a roster spot as well.. I wouldn't spend money on a big money relief FA because we don't desperately need one and they tend to be very volatile. That leaves catching and bluntly, Varitek leads the pool of available catchers assuming the Jays re-up Barajas (which they'd be fools not to do) so that's not a place you'd want to spend money either. Spending our cash to re-up, extend and give long-term contracts to our young core is probably the best use of our available money right now anyway, unless they can get a decent deal for a Burnett or a Sheets.

The devil he is. THe power hasn't come through consistently in the majors but he's got a nice little OBP this year. Salty is much more fundamentally sound than Wily Mo and he's worth a look. I'm not against acquiring Salty in principle, I like his talent, I just don't think the price is right if there's any chance Masterson, Buchholz or Bowden would be the player going the other way.

One of the biggest no-brainers in sports.

They think they'd get him for Mark Teahen, which we know wouldn't happen. I'd be happy to swap Kot and Kris Johnson reliever for Meche, though. That might be a win-win-win with us getting a solid middle of the rotation innings burner, the Royals getting a big contract off the books for a decent haul of young near-ready talent, and Meche getting to play for a contender. Frankly, Salty hasn't hit anywhere near his ceiling in the majors yet and I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the notion of Kottaras as a starting catcher, since he has hit for quite a bit of power. It might happen, it might not, but there's certainly no reason at all that it can't happen. I've believed for awhile that the Sox would be silly to go out of system for parts they already have in their own minor leagues. I don't think all told that we really need to trade for a young catcher based on what we have available to us right now. Between Kot, Brown, and re-upping Tek, we can fill our holes without losing the high-ceiling pitching a trade would require And besides, if you don't like Kot and Brown, you could always wait for Exposito. I expect that they're doing little more than sounding out the Rangers on a price for Salty to figure out whether they can take an inexpensive gamble on him. My guess is the answer will be no and "Salty" will go to a team that's more desperate for him than we are.