Punch and Judy Garland

I think the remarkable thing about Alomar is that even in the very modern era of middle infielders with huge numbers, his will still hold up. Contrast him with Trammel and Whitaker. Roberto is a first-ballot guy in my opinion, and a HOF'er in the least. I can't see him playing his way out of the hof

The sticky point is that Vaz has that right to demand a trade after the 05 season if he is traded. After reading the Gammons article this week on his personal life, I no longer support bringing him here unless he assures us he won't jump ship.

I am glad to FINALLY hear that I can vote for Kerry and be for morality. I was told those were mutually exclusive . I have always thought that jokes that are offensive to some are not always bad as long as they are meant kind-heartedly and in good fun. I think the litmus test would be if you would say it in front of those who might be offended. People like Chris Rock can make racial and gay jokes because they find the truth in them and don't just resort to mockery or stereotypes. This will be my last contribution to this thread as I am not in it to change minds and I've said my piece.

Thanks for the lecture on intelligence. I would have thought ignorance to be more of your specialty.

People who resort to homosexual or racial/ethnic slurs as insults are revealing a true lack of intelligence as the terms they are using just don't relate to what they are trying to say. Most of the time profanity is used by people who are not bright enough or creative enough to search for proper adjectives. If you want to use Mike North as a model for how to talk or behave then best of luck to you.

That sounds about right. Even though I don't believe we have a team that will win first, we don't really need to make another move besides an infielder. THe roster should be nearly set as to the way they want it.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...... BTW, calling someone gay as an insult makes you sound like a 9 year old

As far as the greed thing goes, in his defense it's not exactly a doable commute from Tokyo to the Cell. He might want a little something, you know, for the effort.

You cna save itif you want. BTW, I am in no way suggesting that the Sox should have targeted Millwood. Even if you think he'll be a 5.00 pitcher, that might be all that team needed to pass us. Their rotation and suspect bullpen were all that held them back last season and they may have done enough to correct that this offseason. I'm not sure if Millwood is actually healthy but if he is, suddenly Sabathia-Lee-Millwood-Westbrook is very formidable in a an AL Central that is fairly weak. Also, please don't compare Jason Grilli to a guy with a no-hitter who won 18 games twice. I'm not even comfortable comparing Grili with Carlos Silva

Would you rather have Milton or Benson for about the same cash? I really don't know. I'd choose neither were it an option but I'd take Milton at gunpoint simply because he's left-handed. As far as Junior Griffey's bad contract goes, yes it is high and unmoveable but Griff signed below market value. It's hard to fault Bowden or the Reds for bringing him in when you take away the supreme benefit of hindsight.

Somebody here did the numbers and GAB played like a fair park last year, which is not what we have heard or would think. Milton is a good pitcher but not a great one. Until we get to see more seasons out of the Phillie Park, it's hard to judge exactly how bad 4.75 is.

I know the clubhouse was greatly displeased with his part in the ESPN sex/sports piece but that was a couple of years ago. They were mostly mad because he hadn't eanred his stripes yet before participating in the piece. That stuff is frowned upon (read Halberstam's books of 41 and 68 for insight into this type of thing).

This isn't a thought many others haven't had, but after overpaying for Zambrano and adding him and Benson while being on the outer fringes of contention, they had a lot of pressure to resign both pitchers. Hence, they managed to overpay Benson as all of the leverage was on Benson's side.

This is not good news for the Sox. I think Millwood (provided health) is goign to have a nice bounceback.

Overpaying is really overpaying when you put your club in harm's way by doing so. And we did not do that with 8 million over 2 years. It may be more than some clubs would have been willign to spend, but we haea a guy who potentially could be worth that and more. If not, it's a short committment at the same yearly rate as Carl Everett.

I'm certainly game for the Duque fan club

Does anyone else get the idea that our 1-5 may not be set yet? I still think you could see a Konerko/garland trade for another starter and another piece. I don't want this trade to happen but KW really doesn't seem to want Judy back next year.

i'm glad we didn't get him, we can use a SS with a man's arm.

The SABR guys may not like this but I don't always think it's just luck when a guy like Mark gets run support. Sometimes it is though (matt clement's bad support). There is something to be said for pitching well enough to win whether it's 12-11 or 3-2. Guys like Estes and Oswalt are two very different pitchers in terms of quality, but both pitched well enough to win a lot in 04. I think the offense is very comfortable with Mark out there. Plus, he works so fast that I think the team doesn't fall into a lull in the field or at the plate.

I haven't read the thread yet (isn't ignorance supposed to be bliss?), but I would like them to move back in theory but I hope they don't. That makes little sense, but my reason is that we already have gotten rid of so many seats and with the addition in left, we really cannot. Plus, I think the whole bullpen in left field idea has been a huge success for the fans.

I'll take an OJ like stab at this one- Hurlybuehrle-19 Freddy-16 Duque-14 Judy-14 Jose-11 It will be interesting to see who gets the 6-7 wins out of the pen. Usually it's the 6th inning guy that gets them. I guess I'll throw in Politte for those W's.

check mlb.com. they are for comeback player and AS games. I feel really good abotu the signing after his glowing physical today.

I hesitate to think why anyone would consider an offseason of losing Lee and Ordonez as a "very good" offseason. I think the roster has had enough turnover that any speculation is just that. There is probably not a team in baseball with more question marks than the Sox. That is a good thing when considering that we have the potential to be exceptional, but bad in that it shouldn't stun you to see us win 75-80 games.

Any college kids around here know that the drive down to 57 yields the Score for hours longer than 1000.

Of course I was being sarcastic. I know you don't have to like or dislike anyone, but I certainly don't dislike Rowand simply to be contrarian. I think it would make good baseball sense if he's not part of our future. I'm not saying anyone who disagrees is wrong, but that is how I feel. I just think that if Rowand is our franchise player then we have lowered our expectations too much and that Sox fans get brainwashed by this "grinder" propaganda. Just my opinion.