MDXS

20 minute break is brutal.

Wow. How about that?

Huh...perhaps beaming it out psychically was enough. Such a thing could be profitable at Foxwoods. We should investigate further.I think I've absent mostly because of work. It's been pretty crazy. They keep sending me to Kentucky right near Ohio. I'll be there all next week, so I'll be disappearing again. The good thing is that I'm going to catch a million Reds games by the time it's all over. I already caught them against the Mets. It's weird to walk up to the ticket office on game day and get my choice of seats for dirt cheap. Of course, I had to spend hours watching Mike Pelfrey fail to fin

Hey guys....what's up? I'm digging the team. Lotsa depth. Tonsa bullpen.

He has had 5 seasons of 4.40+ ERA, but in 2 of those seasons he managed to still have an ERA better than league average. For those two seasons, he was an All-Star in one and finished 5th in the Cy Young in the other. The other three aren't horrible seasons and they've come at the end of his career in his decline phase. You can find many Hall of Famers with similar results. I'll cherry-pick a fewCatfish Hunter - 7 of 15 seasons with a below league average ERA (note: being better than Catfish is not a good argument for inclusion in the Hall)Don Sutton - 8.5 seasons with a sub-100 ERA+, Cy Young

3.68 ERA vs. a league average of 4.51. 18 years and 3500 innings of a 123 ERA+ is nothing to shake a stick at. In fact, that's precisely Juan Marichal...only Mussina has 23 more wins. Granted, the shape of the career is different, Marichal's a peak guy whereas Mussina's been quite good for a long time, but in terms of total value, they're close. I don't buy the wins thing. 270 wins is more than:Jim PalmerBob FellerCarl HubbellMordecai BrownWhitey Ford...and a bunch of other Hall of Famers. Because I was curious, I looked up Hall of Fame pitchers. There are 62 by my count. 37 of them had less

Mike Mussina strikes me as completely borderline. I have him a notch below Schilling and consider Schilling just barely on the happy side of the dividing line.I think I'd give it to him since he's retiring with something left in the tank and not dragging out the inevitable to pad his stats to reach an arbitrary milestone.

Gywnn, along with Sandberg and Boggs were '83. Very easy to mix '83 and '84 Topps up though - they're very similar. The only other rookies from '84 (base sets) are Strawberry and Van Slyke (and Joe Carter for Donruss), which were a lot more exciting in 1988 than 2008.

I like the trade personally. The important thing to remember is that this move can't be viewed in a vacuum. This is the precursor to whatever comes next. We've got 5 million more to play with and another live bullpen arm to cover for say, Masterson's departure whether that's to go to the rotation or be moved for a catcher. Coco was a good 4th outfielder, but I'd prefer a corner/1B type. Our two biggest injury risks are Drew and Lowell. If we get that corner guy, no one has to play out of position. My biggest hope is that they give new Ramirez old Ramirez's number 24. 1 million jerseys will sud

Indeed....fan voting at mlb.com. Yikes.

I dig the Youkilis love, but my homer mojo is going to Pedroia.Agreed on Aviles though (as well as the rest).

I know what this thread needs....Ahhh....perfect

Heartbreak's a little over the top. We were beat by a good team. Still a successful year. Won a playoff series, almost won a second after an improbable turnaround. It was fun. Let's do it again next year.....really kick up a Rays-Sox rivalry into high gear.

lol

Man, I hope so. If you're going to pull out the game where you were 99.4% to lose, you might as well finish the job....even if it does give the Rays all sorts of focus and determination for next year.

Nah, Boston area.

Man, that's so sick.

Heh....nah, I got what you were going for. I just tried to segue my amusement into my farewell to the season. Of course, my team just made me look like a huge *******.

Very nice. My best Musial is a '59, but perhaps I'll pick a nicer one up at the big November show I go to every year.My take is that if it's going to bother you, you should pass on this one. Other deals will come up. Why get something that will rub you the wrong way?

Heh. It's all good. I'm not giving up yet down 5-0 in game 5...but um...yeah, time to start looking to next year in all probability. Things are good. We won a postseason series and are well set up for the future, so this was a successful year. Four things are keeping me from being broken up about this:1.) We'll be able to compete next year. This isn't a do or die thing.2.) The two World Series wins...we've been spoiled in Boston lately and perspective is a good thing.3.) We're not losing to the Yankees (and 3b: Manny isn't going to the series either).4.) We lost (well, are losing) to a better

Yeah, who knows? He was really good last night and was probably the least frustrating outing he's had from a viewability perspective...well, except for the 1st. His ability/luck in tight situations is ridiculous. I have no idea what his deal is, but as long as the results are good I'll deal with the 4 hour games.

I wouldn't mind seeing Coco either. You get to sit J.D. against a tough lefty and rest his back, but you still have him available if needed later on. Coco's not a bad hitter right handed, and has had success against Kazmir in the past (though nothing like Pedroia's 14-25). 1 out of 2 is definitely a success, but I'd really like to put the pressure on. We got 9 runs in 3 innings against Kazmir last time and have roughed him up 3 out of 4 times this year. Coming back to Fenway 2-0 with Lester up pretty much means the series is over.

Haha...the way I heard it he said something to the effect of, "You traded me to ****ing COLORADO?" You know, clearly worried that his nickname was certain to stick.Unfortunately, I can't seem to source this at the moment and may be apocryphal (though I'm going to treat it as gospel).

My two favorite things about Wasdin (besides his nickname):- The fact that he (and Tomo Ohka) through a perfect game in AAA- His reaction when he learned he was traded to ColoradoAs for the subject at hand, this Rays-Sox series will be a lot of fun. The Rays are a top-tier talent with a multi-faceted attack that will shred through whoever comes out of the NL, should they get past the Sox. Still, I can't think of anything more fun than Manny (with his buddies Lowe, Nomar, and Torre) coming back to Fenway. The crowd will go absolutely berserk. I can totally understand not wanting to see the Sox

I'm really looking forward to this. The Rays are a very talented team with nothing to lose, who play us tough. It's going to be fun with these two teams over the next few years, leaving the Yankees behind as the third wheel, and poor Toronto in fourth, despite being good enough to win any other division in baseball...I'm putting the over/under at 1.5 for Coco Crisp HBPs.