[NT!]

some of the things boston fans think about their team are pretty silly.

wakefield - he said he'll be back, glad to have him. if he can't hold up to be in the rotation he's a great swing guy out of the pen, class act, and a great clubhouse guy.

mirabelli - the stud who no longer hits bombs is going to hit the road. time to focus on getting a young guy to replace tek when he totally breaks down, which could EASILY be next year.

timlin - yes he is older than dirt and could implode at any time. but he also (improbably) was very valuable this season, and all the young guys love him. there is really no harm in giving him another year if he wants to come back, if he sucks we can just DL him and bring up a kid like we did this year. he is a team guy and will be cool with whatever.

coco - i think sublime is right, his value is too low right now to move him, and ellsbury isn't going to keep hitting .350 next year anyway. the fact that he's one of the most expensive 4th OFs in baseball will be mitigated by the fact that ellsbury is one of the cheapest starting CFs [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

tavarez - pick up his option, use him or trade him, whatever. at that price he'll have some value to an NL team that needs back-of-the-rotation help, or he can stick around and keep providing depth and crazy.

schill - he says he really wants to come back but it wouldn't shock me to see him go to an NL team for a two-year deal. he looked totally gassed by the end of this year and i don't expect he'll ever be able to go a full season again. thanks for everything curt, regardless of what happens.

lowell - on the one hand, the price he will demand will be much higher than what the sox should (and probably will) pay. on the other, there's not a lot out there at the corner infield spots, and it's not my money. i won't be upset if we overpay for him because i love this [censored] guy, but i think he probably walks.

gagne - of course they offer him arb and like 99% sure he declines. but either way it's not a bad situation.

free agents - doubt we'll get a-rod, but if we did it would be pretty interesting - do you move him back to short and tell lugo to kick rocks? or do you fill the existing gap at 3B and leave the rest of the infield the way it is? hell you could even move him to 1B and play youk at 3rd to reduce wear and tear on a-rod. i don't think there's a big difference between the two of them defensively but i could be wrong.

barry bonds on the red sox would be hilarious and probably awful. i would sure as [censored] watch. not gonna happen though.

trading / speculation

the two pieces that we've already seen at the MLB level who are most likely to get moved are ellsbury and manny. the FO would have a hell of a time dealing with the backlash of an ellsbury trade after his postseason, but you never know. i doubt that they'd be able to get santana this offseason for a price they'd be willing to pay, but i expect them to try. using him as bait for miggy is still in the back of my mind too but i think that's wishful thinking.

moving manny to an NL club willing to give up some really good young CI or C talent would be a major coup. if i could ask for one trade this offseason this would be it, unless of course lowell is back.

my top priorities going forward are

1. find someone else who can catch the knuckler next year and hit a little bit. kevin cash is not the answer.

2. extension for papelbon.

3. get some CI help either by bringing back the WS MVP (not likely), signing someone (slim pickings), or moving manny.