Wong & Owens

I pull my hair out every time Frank Thomas gets an outside breaking pitch, tries to pull it, and pops up to second base.

The reason they blew it last year had NOTHING to do with their lack of a defined closer. And we all know how Foulke handles big games against the Yankees........

You can't use that as evidence that Foulke is worth the money he got. The Red Sox are more likely to go to the Series because their WHOLE TEAM is good. Remember, they were only a few outs away from going last season, and that's when they had no real closer at all.

I completely agree that you play for now, and worry about the future later, but the Sox thought they were making a lateral move, quality-wise, by getting Koch. I've said that KW dropped the ball by not looking deeper into Koch's arm health, but if you could get one closer for 2-3 years plus a minor league starter in exchange for a closer for one season, and a crap catcher(didn't Mark Johnson get sent over in that deal?), wouldn't you pull the trigger?

WOULD "SARCASAM" BE "PROAN" TO HAVING CONVERSATIONS WITH A DOG? CAUSE THAT WOULD EXPLAIN A LOT......

Keith Foulke has 5 saves, and a .60 ERA, and he makes 3.5 million this year. Jose Mesa has 9 saves, a .79 ERA, and makes $800,000. And that is why you don't give closers huge contracts, it's unnecessary.

Yes his era is good and yes he has shown great stuff, but that's as a reliever. **HE'S BEEN A RELIEVER FOR ALL OF 11.2 INNINGS IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER. AM I READING THIS CORRECTLY, YOU WANT TO GIVE UP ON HIM AS A STARTER, A POSITION HE'S PLAYED SUCCESSFULLY AT EVERY STOP HE'S EVER MADE, BASED ON 11.2 INNINGS? Cotts is doing great outa the bull, so why fix something that isn't broken. **MANY, MANY, MANY GOOD-GREAT STARTING PITCHERS STARTED THEIR MLB CAREERS AS RELIEVERS. MAYBE YOU THINK WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT MARK BUEHRLE IN THE BULLPEN TOO? CAUSE THAT'S HOW HE GOT HIS START. The Sox might break him without even realizing they are doing it if he is placed as #5. If you put him out and he gets shelled in his first outing, he will doubt himself for a long time **BASED ON WHAT? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PITCHERS GET SHELLED IN THEIR FIRST WHOLE SEASON, TO SAY NOTHING OF THEIR FIRST START? ANYWAYS, IF YOU HAD ANY CLUE AT ALL, YOU'D KNOW THAT COTTS' FIRST START WAS LAST YEAR. HE LASTED 2 1/3 INNINGS, WALKING 6. YET SOMEHOW, HE'S MANAGED TO GO ON WITH HIS LIFE. Platton Diaz, Rauch, or Adkins till one fits or Cotts is the emergency backup. **SO, TURNING COTTS INTO A STARTER IS BAD, BUT TURNING ADKINS INTO A STARTER IS OK? PLATOON RAUCH AND DIAZ UNTIL ONE FITS? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, TRY ONE, AND IF HE DOES BAD, TRY ANOTHER? HOW DOES THAT NOT RUIN A YOUNG PITCHER'S CONFIDENCE? P.S. The trade deadline hasn't ended yet **REALLY? IT HASN'T? THANKS, EVERYONE HERE THOUGHT IT ENDED MAY 1ST. EVERY MEMBER OF THIS SITE IS NOW SMARTER FOR HAVING READ THAT STATEMENT.

Well, wait, why would playing him at 1B make his road hitting better? I know the splits between Frank playing first and Frank dh-ing, but If Frank is hitting at hoime while dh-ing, I don't see how playing him in the field to improve his batting is a no-brainer. He's faced KC, NY, TB, on the road so far, how does he historically hit in these parks? Yankee Stadium isn't friendly to right handed batters, yes? And nobody like playing in the Juice Box, so maybe the splits are an abberation? MAybe wait until he gets a few more road games under his belt?

I think that very stat is reason why you switch them back. Frank has as many RBI's as Olivo, and that's your #4 hitter who plays everyday. Since Frank's OBP is still so high, and with Uribe hitting the way he is, I'd put Frank back at 3, and move Mags back to cleanup. Can't argue with the results so far though, maybe "if it ain't broke don't fix it" is the way to look at it!

I am not rIdiculously mistaken. It's easy to have a $40 million payroll, when your three best players are all playing for peanuts thanks to their rookie salaries. Their payroll went up to $50 million last year, because one of the pitchers got signed to an extension, and will go up higher next year, and that's when Mr. Genius may have to try and survive without one of the 3 starters. 99.9% of the A's past success is due to those three guys, and some simple moves he made to rent players for the bullpen. He and his scouts did a fine job stocking the organization with young talent. But, apart from that, he's done nothing to warrant any genius label. Scott HAtteberg is still overrated(by Beane himself), Terrence Long was given a ludicrously large contract, He signed Chris Singleton, who was coming off a stellar OBP of .296, Mark Ellis is worthless, etc, etc. He's made just as many stupid moves as your average GM. And calling any relief specialist a "stud" is just plain silly. You'd take a pitcher who can only pitch to righties, and give you about 25 total innings a year, over a catcher with one of the best arms in baseball,. can hit about 15 HR's, and steal 15 bases? I wish you were Minnesota's GM.

Yah, close, Willie hit a phenomenally terrible .204 with the Sox last season.

You mean, a one-year rental of Keith Foulke. KW screwed up by not checking into the health of Koch's arm, for sure, but if we get the 2001-2002 version of Koch when the trade was made, then we're probably in the playoffs last year, and we have at least one more win so far this season. Closers aren't worth what the Red Sox paid Foulke, and that's why KW traded him away.

Sorry Steff, your memory ain't so good. Willie hit .380 in AAA last year, .283 in 2002, and.305 in 2001. His lowest average(minor league) in a season is .265, in 1999 in Delmarva. http://www.sports-wired.com/players/profiles/p829.asp

How can they be top of the league if they haven't been to a world series once under his watch? They've been good, but that's only due to a serendipitous run of starting pitching. Not only did he hit the jackpot by drafting all 3, they were all injury-free until last season. Outside of drafting those three guys, Beane hasn't done squat.

Even so, I think Willie's got to play, as long as he keeps doing what he's doing. Let the Wille Harris in CF experiment begin?

Jose's career average OPS is only.776 however. On a team lacking power sources, then Jose would be in the lineup no doubt, but, on team lacking singles hitters, we need Willie, assuming his OBP keepins climbing.

REally? It says that? Bradford is ONLY a relief righty-specialist. Lefties have hit like .320 off Bradford in his career. He's a righty Kelly Wunsch at best, and I'd take Olivo over either one right now. Billy Beane is an overrated schmuck.

Loaiza gave up a homerun to Geoff Zaun last week. That stat alone is enough to get him disqualified from Cy Young consideration. Let Scott S's performance stand as exhibit A that, once again, SPRING TRAINING STATS MEAN NOTHING.

I think Willie is DEFINITELY on track to becoming a solid, big-league hitter. I used to be convinced that he was nothing more than a AAAA player, but since he's gotten regular PT, I've seen him A) Work a walk from a 2-strike count at least two times this year, B) take short, quick swings that turn into opposite-field singles, and C) Use the bunt effectively, for hits as well as moving runners over. He's putting it together, it would be a shame to see him get bumped when Jose comes back. IMO, Jose stays on the bench until Willie/Uribe play themselves out of the lineup. That lefty, power-hitting bat would be very useful in late inning pinch-hitting situations.

I honestly don't like silent movies, or most pre-1960's "talkies" One of my favorite movies, however, is a oldie -- North by Northwest.

From ESPN.com: Two of the few hardy souls who shun batting gloves were in the building in Phoenix this week. Mark Grace, who now is a broadcaster for the D-Backs, and the Cubs' Moises Alou. Alou says the secret to hitting without batting gloves is to harden your hands and prevent calluses. One of his methods might win someone the prize money on the TV show, "Fear Factor." He urinates on his hands. That's the honest truth. Alou said he isn't sure where he learned this distasteful folk medicine, but it wasn't from his famous father. And it works for Moises

I can see both sides here, but I'm wondering what effect the garbage weather had. Buehrle's Yankee rain delayed bizarro first inning, cold/rainy almost every night throughout the homestand, etc. It's not an excuse, but I think it can make for some weird games, and we saw plenty of those.

What exactly do the Yankees have to offer in a trade????? I see him in a Dodger uniform, at least if he's moved during the season.

***Politically Incorrect Statement of the Day*** When I read about idiots like this Ligue character, sometimes I think, "Hitler had a good idea, he was just using the wrong criteria."

Did anyone else notice in that article that the Sox rank second in the AL in sac bunts? That's a new one......