Dan Gould

True dat. But I would argue a repeat by any team is a tall order. The Pads and Giants will both be tough again this season to be sure. Dodgers need a divorce settlement before they go anywhere. The Rocks and D'Backs may surprise some folks, too. The NL West is and has been a very competitive division these past ten years or so. Padres without Gonzalez are even more punchless than the Giants. The Dodgers still have an impressive group of young stars but seem to underachieve, and with the divorce still being litigated seem frozen as far as making any positive changes (as opposed to shedding payroll). So I do think the Giants should have the pitching and enough offense to make it back to the playoffs but my impression of the NL West for the past few years is that its competitive due to having a bunch of good but flawed teams fight it out. Has an NL West team won 95 games recently?

More reason to suspect it was a once-in-a-lifetime magic carpet ride not likely to be repeated. The pitching should keep them competitive though especially in a division with two main competitors going backward.

what would you be willing to pay if it really was a jam session of that group?

I don't know but I'd really like to know when Allens' next volume of his blues project will arrive. Its like six months overdue and I pre-paid for him volume 2.

:party:

They'd have to be very happy with the bullpen to add him as starter depth and not change that plan. OTOH, its true that the bullpen is lined up right now with every spot filled except "lefty specialist" so they may have signed him purely for depth and as a low-risk move.

Where have you found that tidbit? H e's coming off back surgery and would rank no higher than the eighth starter on the depth chart, after Wakefield and Doubront. I'm sure they want to see if he can slide into the sixth-seventh inning role that Wheeler will have, or as the guy who comes into an extra-inning game if Wakefield isn't available.

Yet they wouldn't take a flier on Alfredo Aceves, who was one of their best relievers for two years but lost most of 2010 to a back injury. Now the Sox have signed him - and he has two options left which means if he is healthy and effective again, they potentially control him for two seasons, if I'm not mistaken. In 126 major league innings, he's gotten righties (.221/.275/.359) and lefties (.223/.276/.337) out pretty effectively. He'll only cost $600,000 if he makes the team, $200,000 if they stash him in Pawtucket. I definitely like this low-risk/high reward signing.

Best three words in the English language take effect on Sunday: "Pitchers & Catchers" report.

Speaking of too many "ifs" - there is no reason to think 100+ wins unless every "if" starting with Beckett, Lackey & Papelbon pitching like they have in the past comes to fruition. If there are no major injuries, and Lackey pitches like a No. 1 in the four-spot, then yeah, maybe they can get to 100 wins. Maybe. I'd settle for 96 and a pennant.

I think I like the Red Sox latest bullpen addition, Dennys Reyes on a minor league deal. He's long past the time when he was a shut-down set up guy in Minnesota but lifetime he's held lefties to a .238/.332/.337 line, for a .669 OPS allowed. In some ways he's the best option they'll have for lefty specialist, at least in terms of length of success in the majors, and having him on a minor league deal is an extra benefit. And, he looks a lot like a left-handed El Guapo.

As much as I have enjoyed the off-season travails of the Yankees, I'll believe its 2008 all over when its August or September and they are out of it. The reality is that Burnett could very well pitch like 2009 again and given his history is probably more likely to bounce-back than to be as awful as 2010. And Hughes could very well prove that he's figured it out, and pitch to his press-clippings again. Hell, Joba, with no more BS "is he a starter or isn't he" questions, might pitch like its 2007 and imagine if the Yanks line up Joba, Soriano and Mo for innings 7-9? If just the first two scenarios happen, the Yankees can be fine by pounding the opposition into submission on the days Larry & Moe pitch. And on that question, aren't there pretty good odds that Jeter regains a little mojo? Or that A-Rod plays closer to the way he did in September than the way he did in July-August? I'm not burying the Yankees yet and until they are buried, their fans should minimize the "woe is us" talk. Hell, don't you know its February, and everyone "is in the best shape of (their) life"? And that every team has playoff aspirations?

:party:

We can't help ourselves. It's that darn entitlement mentality. On the upside, if you're a Mets fan, I hear Mark Cuban has reached out to the Wilpons to make it known that he'd be interested in owning a piece of the team. That might shake things up. Can you even imagine Fred Wilpon and Mark Cuban in the same room? No thanks, I've already got an idiot running the Rangers and Knicks! FWIW, to fully understand my views on the Yankees and their fans, you REALLY have to live in New York. Also, let's not nominate Pettitte for sainthood quite yet. He's admitted to having done steroids, AND he's about to testify against his former best friend. Nice! He's about to testify in a criminal prosecution. Its what honorable people do. Its what citizens are supposed to do. And apparently you think it reflects poorly on his character.

I think the writing is on the wall in that regard, Brad. With the trustee suing because they took out more money than they invested, they'll probably be forced to sell eventually. Remarkable to me was the fact that they took their deferred payment obligations and invested the money with Madoff, pocketing the profit over the agreed-upon interest rate. Of course that should be "profit" since it was all illusory.

A wonderful singer and a wonderful record. Indeed! And now I am taking the full plunge and have on order the "complete Goldwax recordings" and am leaning toward taking the plunge on at least one of the Ace compilations of the Goldwax label. My brother, who knows the soul genre much better than I do, sent me a link to an NPR piece on the label, that's how I found out about Carr.

I'm somewhat ashamed to mention that James Carr was a name completely new to me but I'm real glad I heard "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man".

We're so much gentler here. Imagine if we poked fun at chew-chew-chewy.

I'm lazy but love anything that embarrasses the Hoffman forum. So can anyone post a link to this discussion of the internal decision-making at SH?

That is completely absurd. To say that the dogs, which were abused, deserve a second chance is completely different from saying the abuser deserves a second chance. How is this hypocritical? I really have to do this? Really? Try this on for size then: The dogs are being give the chance to be loving canine companions rather than vicious, dangerous wild animals. Animal activists approve. Vick asked for the chance to be a loving human companion of a canine rather than raising them to be vicious, dangerous animals. Animal activists are terribly upset at the thought. I am sure there are but exactly how many of them are world famous athletes like Michael Vick? I seem to recall some hip-hop guy got caught in this business but I would submit that Vick is the poster-child for the evil of dog-fighting and that further, animal activists need Vick to stand in for every one of those other anonymous demons. And the last thing they want to see is Vick scoring any sort of publicity coup by showing that he can be a good canine companion. See Mark, there is more hypocrisy: The animal activists plead for the chance to show that this breed can be loving and decent members of a human family. But under no circumstances should Vick be allowed to show that he can be a loving and decent "parent" to dogs, ever again. And I totally don't get this "he did it before, he'll do it again" idea when it comes to an athlete celebrity like Vick. Does anyone have any belief that dog-fighting proves some sort of psychological deficiency, like pedophilia? Its a crime about making money (via heartless treatment of animals). Does anyone believe Vick needs to abuse animals?

Saw that piece in the Times and it was pretty cool to see how well so many of those dogs are doing. One thing really aggravated me though, and that was the unremarked hypocrisy of the people who insist that the dogs deserve a second chance but dismiss out of hand the idea that Vick should possibly be allowed to adopt a dog as part of his rehabilitation. Completely hypocritical - dogs deserve a second chance but their owner, who went to prison, served his time, can't be allowed a second chance as a pet owner. I respect those who have a different view of whether Vick should be allowed to play football, or if he got off easy (I surely wish he could have been sentenced to more jail time), but at the same time I have no doubt that Vick wants to prove he can be a responsible, loving dog owner. In fact, if he did adopt a pet, I would bet dollars to donuts that within six months there would a cover story about his dogs in People, or another profile on 60 Minutes. Maybe that's what the people who oppose Vick owning dogs again don't actually want - they don't want him showing he can be a loving dog owner, they'd rather use him in their clear good vs evil dog-fighting narrative.

Paul, I can only imagine what its like to leave a companion behind and not be there when his time comes. Its good to know your ex was there with him but I'm sure its extra hard finding out that he's gone to the big dog park in the sky. Try to remember those happy greetings and playful romps rather than the way it ended. I do like your version of heaven. If God truly loves us, its exactly how it should be.

I'd think they definitely were too high. At the time, Louis Smith was the only one with even two leader dates to his credit, Strozier and Coleman hadn't recorded as leaders yet, Little had recorded once ...

Nice jam session, long-ish tracks, definitely worth hearing. Glad I found the LP about 6 years ago. Someone else got in during my liquidation a few years ago.