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He wouldn't be bad but isn't 3rd base his worst position? I think he mainly plays SS and 2nd base.

What's the difference between Bellhorn striking out and Crede popping it up to the infield? An out is an out. At least Bellhorn will draw a lot of walks and hit a few doubles and homers.

That's the key. After watching Crede in this horrible slump lately, I'm not so sure his great defense outweighs his 0 for 4 nights. In fact, I don't think it does anymore. Crede could get away with playing stellar defense and only hitting around .250 but this latest slump just kills the bottom of our order. The key is to have a good defensive backup 3rd baseman that you can replace Bellhorn with late in games. Blum isn't as good as Crede defensively but he has looked pretty damn good there from what I have seen. Start Bellhorn at 3rd base and bat him lower in the lineup where his OBP will help a ton and he won't need to be counted on to drive in many runs since his AVG has never been good. When we have the lead in late innings, replace him with Blum for defense.

Agreed, I'd rather have better young pitching. But I sure as hell wouldn't mind having a Jhonny Peralta on our team.

Good point, I forgot about Rowand. But if last season was a fluke and this is the real Rowand, he isn't as good offensively as those guys either. However, our pitching staff does look to be better in the future than the Indians. Especially when they lose Millwood to free agency. He is going to want huge dollars this offseason. But I still think their offense will be way better than ours now and in the future.

To be more specific, the Indians' key position players are mostly young... Coco Crisp Victor Martinez Jhonny Peralta Grady Sizemore These 4 guys are all good, young players. We have Uribe and Crede as our young position players. Are Uribe and Crede even close to any of these guys offensively?

"Clutch" Timo!!!

You sure about that? C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Jake Westbrook, Grady Sizemore, Coco Crisp, Jhonny Peralta, Travis Hafner, and Victor Martinez are all young. Keep in mind that their young players are actually good. We have young guys like Uribe and Crede.

Dammit, why did MLB.com start doing that?

You forgot to add -- "but instead, he would have probably ended up popping it up to the 1st baseman."

No one was interested in Bellhorn because they either didn't want to pay the $750,000 prorated portion left on his contract or they didn't need a 2nd or 3rd baseman. Since Bellhorn is only under a 1-year deal, only contenders would be interested in him anyways. I'm pretty sure most contenders have quality 2nd and 3rd basemen already. If Crede's finger is broken, we may need a 3rd baseman.

That was a pretty dumb move by Ozzie. He could have just pinch-hit Iguchi or Ozuna and had one of them play 2nd base and moved Blum to 3rd base. Why is it that we all know that Crede can't bunt but Ozzie doesn't?

Well, Bellhorn's AVG wouldn't be great but his OBP would be awesome at the bottom of our lineup.

No one knows yet. Crede himself seems to think it may be bad because he said his hand went completely numb after he got hit. "Latest News Aug. 25, 2005 - 9:23 pm et Joe Crede injured his right middle finger on a bunt attempt in the 10th inning today and will have X-rays tomorrow. Pablo Ozuna will play third base if Crede needs to miss some time."

Oh, he did clear waivers? Well, that sucks. If Crede is injured, I don't see the Red Sox helping us out in a trade.

Well, first Burroughs would have to clear waivers and then Kenny would have to make a trade for him by August 31st. I don't see it happening.

Latest News Aug. 24, 2005 - 11:15 am et Sean Burroughs will likely be called up on September 1. Burroughs, who has batted .299 with eight doubles and a home run in 97 at-bats, has a $1.65 million salary, so they want to get him back in the big leagues. Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

That trade isn't going to happen. Neither player would clear waivers and the Padres are already talking about calling Burroughs up.

MLB4U.com lists all the incentives and bonuses in players' contracts. It's a great site. As far as injuries go, I think he had a sprained thumb.

Ahhh okay, I see where you are going now. Well, the article I read said that any team can claim Bellhorn right now and they would only owe him the prorated $750,000 portion left on his contract. According to MLB4U.com, this is Bellhorn's contract for this year... http://www.mlb4u.com/bos.html So there are no bonuses or incentives that kick in for him. He is just on a basic 1-year deal. He would cost us $750,000 for the rest of the season. If Crede's injury is significant, I think he would be worth it.

Ummm, because the first team that claims Bellhorn gets him. It would have been announced by now if he was claimed.

Agreed, defense at 3rd base is important to this team. But Ozzie has played Ozuna at 3rd base quite a bit and Bellhorn's glove is definately better there than Ozuna's.

So why did you say that we would have to trade for Bellhorn and that the Red Sox would bend us over in a trade?

Rowand is living on the edge too. Both of them get HBP on the wrists and hands a lot.