5GoldGlovesOF,75

or TC on play-by-play or pregame hype or interviews

Durbin clean-up? AC's doing the best he can for short people... Caleb may have heard of Mel Ott, the first NL batter to reach 500 home runs and the NL career record-holder for 20 years before Willie Mays took the lead in the 1960s. Ott was listed at 5-9, 170 but some descriptions said he was 5-7. The Polo Grounds in New York where the lefty played home games had flag poles 258 feet to right and 279 feet to left (the fence in center was 483 feet from the plate). So it's no surprise that Mel hit 323 of his 511 HRs (63%) at home. But he was still pretty good -- career OPS in 1,367 home games: .979... 1,363 road games: .919.

It's ok, yesterday the president said he has "high hopes for this offense." (hitting the bong again)

I have the same configuring WAR. I can make a W by holding up 3 fingers, and an A with an upside-down peace sign -- but the capital R is impossible.

Twins feed again today. Dan Gladden - ex big leaguer? - announced the starting line-ups: "Batting leadoff, Ramone Anthony."

No, but as soon as the snow melts I am installing chicken wire on my property fence to keep his descendants out and alive; the ladies want to save the bunnies, the farmer wants to save his crops, the dogs just want to save face.

They snuck him under museum security's waist-high electric eye with the green laser beam so he wouldn't set off any alarms. Teams historically give up faster on short infielders. Not to go all Mookie on the board, but some guys prove them wrong. The Sox were able to grab Pedroia with the 65th pick in the draft because he was listed at 5-9 (which the industry accepts as really 5-6 upside down). Joe Morgan listed at 5-7, played for five different teams and rates as one of the greatest second baseman of all-time. Freddie Patek was 5-5 and got traded to the KC Royals, who won three straight division crowns with him at shortstop. Patek was a three-time All-Star who once had a three homer day at Fenway Park. Speaking of 5-5, don't forget Rabbit Maranville, the extremely shortstop who played for five clubs in 23 years of a Hall of Fame career -- 15 in Boston for the Braves (hard for me to forget, at least, since I once got a rug burn on the same diamond, diving for a ball on plastic turf which replaced all the natural grass Rabbit chewed up over the century).

Good to see the new veteran influence (instantly filling Bregman's leadership shoes) rubbing off on his impressionable young countryman. They get to bond even more in the WBC. And Red won't even give Duran an extension pole with a net on the end of it.

An overall interesting post. I've always thought Yankee fans ridiculously bitter viewing every season they don't win it all as a total failure, as if anything else that happens -- first place, postseason series wins, MVPs, Cy Youngs, All-Stars etc. -- is meaningless. Those feats have meaning to a lot of fans, and can be fun times for those rooting for their favorites. I only quoted your line about Fred because I look at it as the opposite -- if by O you mean Optimistic -- because those who are always Pessimistic can't really be disappointed if they're wrong, because that would mean good things actually happened. Pessimists like to set low expectations because then they can possibly be pleasantly surprised. Then again, we could probably do an all-day thread trying to define the difference between those who are pessimistic and we Realists...

I don't think I was there -- but then again, I forgot the whole 1980s... or was that the 90s?

For some reason it always seems harder to predict the future than the past.

"Bregman was not "the big bat" we needed. (Nor was Bichette.)" "Duran might be, though." ME: Bregman and Duran were not the bats we needed to lose, either. The more I mull -- even if this Boston offense is statistically average or above average in the AL, scoring runs against good pitchers is still going to be as painful as ever. We assume our pitching will keep us in most games, so the key to the season will be for Cora to find and employ his best defense as much as possible... even if that sacrifices some offense. Therefore, I'm choosing the under for the 87.5 Ws -- BUT another playoff spot in somebody else's stadium for three Wild Card games. Some weaker all-around teams like KC and Texas may have more wins than the Sox, not because they're better, but only since the mighty AL East contenders all have to play each other 13 times.

Ah, Rock and Roll High School -- which makes me think of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Dunno why... probably the Cars and Phoebe Cates (red bikini's a better image than the latest whiteout).

Sox are probably closely monitoring his recovery and may not deem him ready for games yet (but if they are, they'll never admit it, lest this administration shows some kind of org weakness). In the meantime, IKF is a key guy. Better get used to it -- he may just remind Cora of himself in his playing days: a career utility man who can play all over the infield and give you a positive dWAR. I have no evidence of the AC-IKF connection, but Alex did announce he took him to dinner last week...

Ramoan has a ST batting average! Oppo RBI single!

Game was on NESN but with Minnesota feed. In case anyone missed it, the Twins announcer called one of our batters Ramoan Anthony. I don't expect AL Central guys to know entire rosters of all clubs in the other divisions, but the player who finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year? Ya know, last year's consensus Number One Prospect?!?

For those with faith in this offense, one could argue Bregman replaced Devers (literally did at 3B), and Contreras replaced Bregman. And we can say Campbell, Mayer and Anthony replaced their younger selves with wisdom. Still unaccounted for is the loss of Refsnyder, the greatest Red Sox southpaw masher in the history of this decade. And if Romy doesn't come back as good as ever from injury, we've got issues.

I think I pulled a left pectoralis muscle, maybe the clavicular head, opening up the sliding door that was frozen. But Monasterio went yard and Campbell cracked another good oppo hit... so I won't even mention the names of the 1-2-3 batters who went 5-for-8 -- in Ks.

We all want to be optimistic that the snow will melt and birds will chirp, but Breslow left a gaping hole in the middle of the order. So the Red Sox have to optimize the best possible combinations for what's left of this offense. Durbin hasn't proven anything in Boston, but I appreciate his contact rep -- especially since the Sox project to feature high K-rates with their first five hitters: Anthony-Story-Duran-Contreras-Abreu. Cora loves Anthony leadoff and has already said Contreras will bat clean-up. Does that order strike fear in the hearts of any pitcher with a sweeper? I've said it before, but if Anthony is your best hitter in a swing-and-miss line-up, it may be imperative to bat Roman after your best on-base men -- and to follow him with the next guy foes least want to face...

How about Bregman, Harrison, Hamilton, Drohan and Rafael Devers (whose money signed Suarez) for Suarez, Durbin, Monaseterio, Seigler and a pick.

Gotta get there first. There's no doubt this year's rotation looks deeper, but there's also no guarantee veterans like Gray and Suarez will both be good (though they're better bets going into the season than Giolito and Buehler off their previous year). But just because the rotation looks improved -- and assuming the bullpen is ok -- there are still concerns. We have no choice to move on from Bregman, but stop pretending it's a relief the Sox didn't spend all that money on their one All-Star position player and team leader. Durbin has had one decent big league season and Mayer has had zero. From the sound of it, IKF is going to get a lot of PT...

How to resolve? Just ask The Godfather. Brando of course had the biggest payday in the original. But Clemenza made more dough than a then-unknown Al Pacino. When that became a family controversy, the Corleones just made Clemenza disappear. He was replaced by Frankie Five Angels in Godfather II.

My cousin Vinnie? And the Skanks can ruin it back all they want, but Juan Soto isn't walking through that door.

Like the NBA and NHL? Look at the bright side: none of us would have to watch any games until at least September... and for the really old guys out fishing or just sitting in the sunroom or on the deck, we can listen to music -- but not through ear plugs.

As long as top four in each make the postseason. They might go for it because half the clubs get at least a taste of playoff money.