jackie hayes

Yeah, for 2b, w/ Uribe at ss.

I don't really want Larkin, but it's not a bizarre idea. Between Vizquel and Larkin, Vizquel has an advantage in durability, speed, fielding, bunting (? -- maybe, not sure if Larkin's few sacs are due to ability or team philosophy), and hitting lhp. But Larkin may well have 2-3 million advantages, himself, along with a more consistent overall obp (though there is the one awful year in 2002). If we are thinking of a stopgap ss, there are much worse ideas than taking the very small risk of signing Larkin. But I'd still prefer a younger player.

Kerry, although neither was great. Bush skirted a number of key issues too obviously (Roe v Wade, affirmative action, assault weapons ban). He did sound much better than Kerry on border issues.

Ah, our funniest modern president... The Bushisms shall never become more few.

Okay, just curious. When someone says 'talk like Bush', I think of "Is our children learning?", not an accent.

No.... Honestly, I'm a bit confused. GW=George W. Bush? "idears" is just how some people talk. It's like "Warshington."

What do you mean?

You seem to focus on a ss. But it seems to me that (unless we have no faith in Uribe) we only need a middle infielder. Uribe can play ss and we can pick up a 2b. I'd far prefer Placido Polanco to Vizquel.

Kerry hittin' all the swing states.

How can you say his production hasn't declined? From 1996-2000, his obp was .362, .347, .358, .397, .377. From 2001-2004, it has been .323, .341, .321, and .353. He's getting on base less, he has fewer steals (on average he seems to steal 20 fewer bases per year), his defensive stats have become worse (gets to about 84% of the balls in his area, compared to 88% in his prime). Now, Vizquel does do some things well. He doesn't strike out, he draws some walks, and he doesn't get caught stealing. But he doesn't get on base at any great clip (avg obp over the last four years, entirely excluding 2003, is .339) -- is that worth $6 mil for 2 years, taking all the other factors into account? And that's counting on no further decline. We're talking about one pretty good year in the past 4, one so-so year (2002, although his value then was largely due to his power), and 2 bad ones, including an injury year. That doesn't impress me.

Does anyone know Williamson's status? He was injured for most of the year, and there was some speculation that he'll have to get Tommy John surgery and miss all of next year, but after rejoining the Red Sox he was lights out. The Sox have been interested in him before, and (healthy) he's one of the better rh relievers in the game.

The rbi are not important, I agree w/ that. But it's not like he's an ob machine, either. His obp this year was .353, which is good, but he's been around .320 twice in the last few years, too. His fielding isn't anything special, b/c he simply doesn't get to as many balls as before. We should be able to get a better player.

He's capable of it, but not on the Montreal Expos. It'll be interesting to see what DC puts on the field.

I never think of him b/c his avg has always been respectable. I think you may have seen (well, noone actually saw it ) his breakout year in 2004. But it was a pretty good year. The last 2 years I've had him on all my fantasy teams at the beginning of the season, b/c he's always underappreciated, so his price is low. He's one heck of a good player. 8-7, Ortiz couldn't flex a bit more on that one?

Yeah, the odd thing is that -- although he walks a lot compared to an average player -- he doesn't walk as much as Frank, say, where you'd see that and say, That's why his obp is so high. Frank's k/bb ratio is roughly 1/1, Bellhorn's is about 2/1.

Comeback! C'mon Red Sox! About Bellhorn, he never makes sense to me. I wonder if anyone in the majors has a bigger difference between ba and obp. I mean, I look at his stats, and I'm just amazed they add up. Last year, .353 obp w/ a .221 ba. This year the same, just better on both counts. What a weird player.

With all due respect to Jevon Kearse... Mark Bellhorn is the real freak. How a guy strikes out that much and still has a good obp is beyond me.

LOL! Suddenly Mussina's great again.

Calc is just computation (as is diff eq). You won't know if you really like math until you take an abstract algebra or analysis course. (And I imagine you'll hate teaching math if you don't enjoy it at that level.) Battle through calc and see if you like the more heady stuff. I think it's fun to play w/, but I don't have much of a talent for it.

Math/science may give you better opportunities, especially if you want to take a 2nd job. But then, I'm not speaking from personal experience, just some friends' experiences.

If that sort of stuff works, then Beltran is definitely out of our range after tonight! What a game.

What do you mean? What are you considering?

Oswalt high fb to Andruw Jones. Jones just smiles. Now that's baseball!

I would rather have Polanco, who's younger and has been very good the last 2 years against both rhp and lhp. Uribe can play ss well, there's no reason to limit the search to ss.