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The season is taking shape. Anyone have a wish list or projections about moves the Sox might make before the trade deadline?

And that got us where, as a franchise? Time for a change in mindset.

I think ownership has made mostly baseball decisions in situations when individual players are pushing against the tide of the team. In Manny's case, they held out as long as they possibly could. I also think that recent years have shown how much team spirit leads to success. The Sox in particular are attempting to build that spirit, which is why I think they should have no patience at this particular time for a player of Aceves' ilk. That is, if he really is as problematic as the media makes him out to be. Which I think he may be, given his actual actions and words (not media scripted) - walking off the mound without acknowledging Valentine, being purposely opaque in his responses to questions, etc. I think, in this rebuilding year, team spirit trumps baseball decisions and he has to go.

I don't like to analyze a person without ever meeting them, but it seems that Alfredo has the same deep egotism that we see pop up once in a while. What do you guys think? If he is truly a deeply self-focused person, I think that can only detract from team's unity. His behavior may be entertaining, but ultimately harmful.

Could the PTBNL be Aceves?

No one responded to this... Wondering what you guys think.

I like this trade, but if we really wanted to add a closer why not grab the one available via FA (Brian Wilson) and use this bunch of guys to acquire another piece that we can't get from the free agency pool?

There's speculation that Garrett Jones is in the deal. I guess they're getting close to the luxury cap, so would the plan be to ditch CA/1B Napoli and sign 1B/OF Jones? Or add Jones into the mix without ditching Napoli if we can get the right language into his contract, and figure out some other way to get under the threshold? Unless they're planning on having Nap catch a lot, I don't see how there's enough room for both at 1B. What about a Nap vs. Jones comparison?

Hemmingway had one of the best quotes about baseball... It comes from a short story called The Three Day Blow and it's about two guys sitting around a fire drinking whiskey and talking baseball and one of them says there's always more to it than we know. So true. That's what makes it great. I love trying to figure it all out. Does anyone know if we have something the Guardians might want for Masterson and Cabrera? I think they'd make us a more solid club.

Thank you, iOrtiz. You just made my xmas card list... : ) All I'm looking for is everyone's best proposals... I know none of it is ideal. This offseason is fun to follow, anyway. It's pretty dynamic.

iortiz your silence is deafening. Come on man, tell me what you would like to see happen tomorrow.

I like a trade for Masterson / A. Cabrera best for our needs... I think they're realistically attainable and will improve us.

Except from Pal. Roll the dice with high ceiling pitching. I like Garza.

Nobody has a GM game plan for the rest of the offseason? I'm still not hearing specifics...

iOrtiz, I'm asking about now, not yesterday... I know opportunities have come and past. I'm asking what would you do, specifically, for the rest of this offseason? Jung, I hear ya. I do think for the most part it's a done deal and the rest is execution. There'll be no silver bullet. But I think you're short-changing the rest of this offseason's possibilities a little bit, especially the trade market. a700, I like Berkman, even though he wouldn't have a defined role seeing as we've signed Nap and have Ortiz. But I think he wants the Astros or nothing, anyway.