Frayed Knot

And now 'Baseball Prospectus' chimes in with: Multiple baseball sources say the Red Sox are on the verge of sending disgrunted left fielder Manny Ramirez to the Marlins in a trade for a package of three players that includes low Class A Greensboro outfielder Mike Stanton, an 18-year-old who is hitting .275/.351/.569 with 26 home runs in 96 games. I'd be shocked if this is accurate, particularly if it's only for minor leaguers. If Boston is REALLY sick of Manny and are intent on dealing him I can't see them NOT getting at least one major leaguer back to take his place for now, like Jeremy Hermida maybe.

First stumble last night: 3-1/3 IPs, 3 runs and [u:2tbbjyxw]7[/u:2tbbjyxw] walks.

In the meantime the Top talent the alligator in-lived itself however in the USA and for higher tasks was already recommended. What the fuck could this sentence possibly mean? I'm going with; The best talent the Alligators ever produced on their own is now in the tougher competition in the USA but still could see a promotion to a higher league in the near future. Either that or it's an encoded appetizer recipe.

Pudge, a FA at the end of the season, isn't nearly the player he used to be but he's certainly a step up from Jose Molina and Chad Moeller. Brandon Inge has been doing more of the Detroit catching lately and Farnsworth helps plug the hole created by Joel Zumaya's latest DL stint.

Regularly Gronauer creates two hits per portion and ejects opposing runners with the attempt of the base stealing at the second plate. Its impact average up-snapped on far over 40 per cent, which catapults it at all up in its team not only to the most successful Catcher but also into the Gefilde of the best impact people. Exactly what I was saying!

Jon Heyman: Philly, Dodgers and [u:e64652b1c8]Florida[/u:e64652b1c8] are in on the Manny bidding. Either Boston is serious about trading him or wants to make it appear that they are. No indication that the Mets are in on talks.

You people don't use the mute button enough.

Sure, but not all deadline deals are made for strictly rentals and the quote was "under any circumstances", implying that those are the guys you're going to hang onto and build with. Plus, it's not like I'm bothered by being told certain guys are off-limits only to have them dealt later on. I assume most GMs are shading the truth (to put it nicely) when making public statements. I just get a kick out of seeing that year-old statement in print coming in a week where Omar is declaring hands-off on Martinez, Kunz, Niese, Murphy, Carp and maybe a couple others. P.S. Only three of those 4 went in the Santana deal. The untouchable Milledge went for Schneider & Church.

I was looking at them as seperate deals and was saying they did 'OK' with this one. But even overall, Teixeira did everything the Braves wanted from him during his time there. That the rest of the team fell apart and they failed to reach the WS I don't think stamps the original trade as a failure. And going forward, Kotchman could still outplay Saltalamacchia et al putting them ahead in the long run.

]Not for nothing but many of us (including Omar) felt the Mets wouldn't/shouldn't/needn't go get relief help at last deadline either. It's not that I don't want to improve the pen, it's just that I'm dubious about finding the one guy who's going to have enough of an impact to nudge the needle on the Pen-o-Meter scale away from the 'Shakey" end and far enough towards "Lockdown" to make it worth the gamble and the asking price. A Jayson Stark quote from last year's thread: the Mets are now telling clubs Milledge is on a list of six young players they won't change under any circumstances. The others: outfielders Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez, and pitchers Mike Pelfrey, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra ... four of whom were later dealt. Not at the deadline, of course, but just a few months later. Just a reminder that the word "Untouchable" is frequently nothing more than a challenge to the trading partner to up their offer.

I just saw CG running around in tonight's highlights so it looks like he's OK. Thing about that crash is that right after Gomez was pulled from that game his replacement, Denard Spann, crashed into the same wall in just about the exact same place - although not quite as violently. btw, that Spann guy is fun to watch. He's a defensive highlight film all by himself.

Perez - 4.0 Heilman - 1.0 Wagner - 0.4 Delgado - 1.4 Evans - 1.2 Reyes - 1.0 Beltran - 1.0

Discussed in the booth at some point during the game was the feeling among NYM brass that if they couldn't find a reliever who'd be "a difference maker" then they'd stick with what they have and/or replace from within. I agree. I think we've seen enough Jason Bay for Jason Middlebrook disasters over the years.

When Carlos get a pitch he ain't been missing 'em.

Nice recovery.

NOt that Aaron doesn't deserve a bag of shit for walking two of his first three hitters (particularly the first one) but DANG he isn't getting any calls!!

And this Angels mgmt team has been VERY reluctant to trade away their home-growns. Plus I beleive Kotchman's father is an exec within the organization - Regional Scouting Director or something like that - so Casey is someone they've literally had since he was a kid.

themetfairy wrote: Olsen is sweating to a degree that I've never seen from a professional athlete. It's literally pouring off of him! I gotta think he's soaking his hat in cool water between innings.

- Pedro threw a bullpen today in prep for a start on Friday. Will NOT be available to pitch an inning or two tonight as had been suggested in various places. He talked about his command being off due to lack fo pitching for a whole week. - Church took BP with the team - Maine having his MRI right about now. Obviously no word yet.

They did OK I guess. Kotchman's not as good as Teixeira and probably never will be -- but he's decent, plus younger and cheaper and under club control for another three years. Don't know anything about the other guy, sounds like he's bullpen material.

Ollie Perez vs Scott Olsen BP chimes in on Olsen: Tonight's starter for the Marlins has passed Perez heading in the opposite direction. Olsen had a 2.40 RA after his first seven starts of the season, thanks primarily to a .187 batting average against. But in his 14 starts since, Olsen's RA is 6.28, as opponents have hit .282 against him over 81 2/3 innings ... Olsen is simply allowing too many balls in play this season to be a front-of-the-rotation starter, especially since he pitches in front of a sub-par Marlins defense: his 4.6 K/9 is the fifth-lowest amongst NL qualifiers. They didn't mention that he's also an ass. Reyes Evans Wright Delgado Beltran Tatis Easley Castro Perez

Make me an Angel, who flies from Atlanta ... Just in time too for the Yanqui series starting Thursday. Yanx, in fact, have 10 games remaining with the Halos.

Valadius wrote: Marlins catcher Matt Treanor is married to U.S. Olympic volleyball player Misty May-Treanor. And what are the odds that she married a guyl whose last name matches half of her hyphenated one?

Relievers carrying gasoline to the mound last night naturally prompts calls of bringing in help from the outside, including several comments in the IGT saying; 'to hell with an outfielder, get me a reliever' ButIdon'tknow. Trading for relievers always scares me from a risk/reward point of view and it's a strategy that seems to backfire as often as it succeeds. Last year's big pickups at the deadline: Eric Gagne (Boston) and Scott Linebrink (Brewers) cost 3 prospects each and did almost nothing (Linebrink) or less than nothing (Gagne) to advance their new teams. And as far as who's out there that's a significant step up what we have, Huston Street (Oak) & Brian Fuentes (Col) are the names being bandied about. Both also come with the 'Closer' title attached to their names, something which automatically makes them more expensive even though neither would fill that role here, this year or next. Fuentes is a FA at the end of the year. Street would be under control for another year or two. Street boasts a good WHiP (1.11) but a pedestrian ERA (4.00) and save rate (18 of 23). Fuentes - whose leftiness is probably more valuable to any other team but ours - checks in at 1.12; 3.07; 17 of 21. He was also the guy who lost his closing job for a time last year. There are probably other guys out there to be had but are any of them really a significant step up from the Heilman/Sanchez/Smith/Feliciano crowd, or even taking a chance on the likes of Collazo, Kunz, etc.? Personally, I'd rather be spending my allowance on an OFer if the right one is available.

Maine - 1.5 Sanchez - 0.5 Tatis - 2.0 Wright - 1.0 Easley - 1.0 Beltran - 1.0