Wedge

That was my point.

So this has got me thinking. Of all the contending teams in MLB, which are the most likely to rent Maggs? I think the Mets are one team. Maggs for Leiter? The Brewers need outfielding, but they're not really contending. They might toss him in on a Sheets trade, ya never know. It's tough. I don't think we can get much in a trade for Maggs. A contender won't want to give away pitching. A seller won't want to rent a player. I guess we're "stuck" with him for the year.

I was just saying, losing Maggs isn't the end of the world.

It sucks to lose Maggs, but we've got a good core of talent now. The new kids like Olivo & Harris are really stepping up. Hopefully Crede can play. Carlos Lee is really coming into his own. Yeah, it sucks to lose Maggs, but I think we can really use the savings from his salary to get a good pitcher. Between him and Koch, we'll save $20 million, 1/3 of the current payroll! We'll most likely spend some of that on resigning Loaiza, but I think we're going to be OK.

That's good and all, but I'm not sure that helps us pull off a trade. It might help us sign him in the off-season.

Mariano River... everything a closer should be. Schilling is up there, too.

I dunno, Maggs has got a great arm. But I think Abreu may be a better player for "Ozzie Ball." Better defensively, can put pressure on running the bases, etc.

I believe he was trying to get at that if we cannot resign Maggs, Abreu may be a guy we should look at trying to get or perhaps pulling a sign-and-trade sort of deal for Maggs. Both are great RF. However, if either Borchard or Reed can transfer their potential to the MLB level, then we need neither and maybe we can instead try a sign-and-trade for a top pitcher or SS.

Doesn't Neil Cotts get some blame? If only Neil Cotts hadn't put two men on base... Or what about the rundown that let an extra run (or was it 2 extra runs?) score in the 7-spot inning? Terrible defensive awareness. I think that was the real back-breaker. Too many things went wrong defensively for us to have had a chance in the game.

along those lines: Them: Have the Strikeout King Us: Had the Strikeout King Them: A Dusty Wasteland Us: The Land of Oz

Guess I type faster than my internal grammar check I'll edit it

Imagine where we would be if we hadn't made that Ritchie trade. Was there anybody who thought it may have worked out? I remember thinking it had to be a prank or something, it was just such a terrible, one-sided deal. We wouldn't be looking for starter #5 at the least. Maybe Kip would have won us the division last year. At least when we gave up Foulke we got Olivo out of it.

That's also a good thing, too. But even your Aces aren't going to get you to the 8th inning every time out. I think both these solutions help this team out a lot: bring in a veteran set-up man, enabling Zero or Marte to close bring in a veteran closer, giving us two great set-up men. I suppose we could pray for a miracle and hope "he whose name we shall not speak" gets his control back and can contribute as a set-up man, but let's not hold our breath. I really like the idea of bringing in Everyday Eddie since I believe he can close AND set-up. It gives us a lot of late inning flexibility, based on righty-lefty and career average and ERA against, etc.

Thanks, chief. I've been surfing some Sox boards for a little while now. This looks like a real good one that resembles my favorite Bears board... so I'm glad to be here!

That said, using Marte and Zero in their current roles, followed by an accomplished MLB closer, would be a truly beautiful thing.