Woese

I'd love to see the Red Sox take a page from the Cardinals or White Sox and hire Varitek - if of course he has any interest in managing. He's a guy who the players would respect a lot and listen too. He was also very well respected around the league so I do feel like his coaching staff would stand by him. That said, he doesn't have any experience of managing at all so he would be somewhat of a gamble.

I live in Minnesota right now and Mauer is the franchise for the Twins. He loves being in Minnesota so chances are, I doubt he would allow a trade (he has a no-trade clause I believe). Additionally, he makes a lot of money. I'm going to sound like a broken record from my previous post in the Josh Hamilton thread but he doesn't fit the new direction the Sox want to take in regard to players who make too much money. Joe Mauer won't be a catcher for much longer and the fact is, the Twins paid him the money he makes because he's amazing at catcher. Put him at first base or the OF he doesn't stack up well to his contemporaries who are paid at a similar level. He'd essentially be a guy whose paid 20 + million are year to hit at best 12 - 13 home runs with an amazing average. For him to make that much, he should be hitting closer to 30 + home runs a year. Also, yet again, he's from Minnesota - and there's a big difference between Minnesota and New England. I know this first hand as I have spent 16 years in Boston and now 6 in Minnesota.

Ben Cherington wants the team to exhibit more discipline in regard to signing FA's to lucrative contracts. Signing Josh Hamilton would be the exact opposite of that - he'll be on the wrong side of 30 very soon, is very injury prone, and most importantly, he has never been under intense scrutiny like he would be in Boston. Carl Crawford was very uncomfortable here but god bless him because he tried so damn hard. Hamilton will do the same and I fear that if he fails, he may relapse. Signing with Boston would be a terrible idea for both the Red Sox and Josh Hamilton.

Thanks brotha (sista?) Good to be back. I was pretty young when I posted here earlier so they weren't the most intelligent posts.

Holas I used to post here under a different handle years ago (from about 05 - 07). All the news about the Gonzo-Beckett-CC trade finally got me back here. My new handle references a famous microbiologist, Carl Woese. I chose it because I have been watching a lot of Breaking Bad and love how Walter White goes by Heisenberg in tribute to a famous chemist but being that I am not a chemistry person and want to be a little bit more original, I chose Woese (pronounced W-oh-ss). Been a Sox fan for a long time. Grew up in Framingham but am now in the Midwest. Hoping to post thoughtful posts that can also be sarcastic and/or/hopefully witty.