Dan Gould

I don't see how you keep Kotchman on the bench, if can't be optioned and then brought back September 1. What is forgotten in all of this is that they sent Kotsay, their backup OF, away, and made Nick Green (NICK FUCKING GREEN, CAREER BACKUP INFIELDER) their fifth OF. What the hell do they do if Drew comes up lame and Baldelli can't play because of his medical issues? They're adding first basemen at a torrid clip and forgetting that their fourth outfielder has a substantial medical problem and they've got no one behind him! On top of that - they've traded Masterson away now. OK, he was probably the 12th guy in the bullpen, first out if the starter sucks but otherwise not getting the call unless they have to in extra innings. He was basically tied with Saito for last or next to last name called. But do they go with one fewer arm now? Kotchman has to be sent down, or traded. Or someone has to be moved. Otherwise, between Buchholz, Penny and Smoltz, they are going to wear out a bullpen that is already a man short! Bowden has to come up, and Kotchman has to be sent away.

Am I missing something about Kotchman? Is it possible they'll do a waiver deal on Lowell in order to give Kotchman and V-Mart time at 1B? Or maybe they just accepted Kotchman because they know he has value, isn't that much different from LaRoche and could be gotten through waivers and he'll be on the roster about as long, or even less than, LaRoche was? Otherwise I can't figure out why they started the day with an extra every-day player in LaRoche, and basically ended the day with two extra everyday players (who play the same position) in V-Mart and Kotchman? I realy want to hear how they are going to deal with this, and especially whether or not Varitek begins to be eased out now. FoxSports suggested that the best defensive they could put out there would be Kotchman at 1B and Lowell at 3B, with Martinez getting his ABs at C and DH.

And what the hell kind of deal is that?!?! One third-string 1B for another? And a worse one at that. They couldn't get one or two mediocre prospects for LaRoche? Then they'd be even with what they gave up for ten days of having him on the roster. Maybe they are sending Kotchman somewhere else? Unless he has options left and can be sent to Pawtucket, it makes no sense. And meanwhile, Rolen being traded to the Reds just puts the lie to that a-hole Blue Jay GM claiming that if they don't get what they want, they'll just go for it all next year with Halladay + all their other young pitchers coming back. They've got a shitty offense as it is, and they get rid of Rolen now? We may find out how good Theo's draft people are, because V-Mart did cost TWO first-rounders in Hagadone and Price. At least it will be a little while before they make this trade look bad, if that's how it turns out.

Giving up Masterson is giving up a lot of flexibility, as someone that could be an eighth inning guy (last year) or a long man/starter (this year - and he didn't do it very well this year either). In all seriousness Masterson slipped significantly in my eyes this year. V-Mart is a very good hitter with no real position, though he can play 1B and he catches. He's a substantial offensive weapon, the problem is that there is no place for him to play without sitting a regular everyday starter. What do they plan to do, sit Youkilis, Varitek, Lowell and Papi once a week? That's not a full week from Martinez, who is used to being a starter. I'd love to find out that since they didn't give up Clay or Bard that somehow they are going to pull of Halladay, but the reality is that they have less than an hour to deal poor Adam LaRoche, who came to Fenway, looked at the Monster, and smiled, and now is going to end up somewhere else less than 10 days later. Unless of course he is going to Cleveland since I am pretty sure they need a 1B now - weren't Garko and V-Mart sharing the position? I will say this - with V-Mart signed for next year, they will either ease him in as primary catcher over 'Tek (because even if they don't exercise the team option on Varitek, Varitek has a player option) or else look seriously at sending Lowell away in a Lugo-style 100% salary dump, as no one will take Lowell with his bad hip. The Phils must be ecstatic that Lowell didn't take their offer in 2007, or they'd be on the hook to him for two more years.

Drew, I am afraid you don't really have a clue about anything. There's been no greater "crackdown" in 2008 to explain Ortiz' decline - AND HE HAD A MAJOR WRIST INJURY!. Nothing changed in 2008, except for Ortiz' injury. There was no change to the testing regime, and no change to the penalties. Its ridiculous of you to assert otherwise. As for a federal law limiting the pay for athlete/entertainers in a multi-billion dollar industry? I suggest you take that to the Politics forum, where the ridiculous always gets a few "hallelujah"s. Otherwise, I can only say, what planet do you live on? He's

I guess steroids make you fat, huh, WB3? As for Bonds and A-Rod, there is abundant evidence everywhere you look about their long-term use. A-Rod copped to it. If Bonds wasn't on the juice, he's the only BALCO client who didn't get the good stuff. And we know all the other evidence of Bonds' juicing. Ortiz had a hole in his swing. No one ever said steroids fixes a hole in your swing. Bottom line is this: Its obvious what Ortiz is getting ready to do. Ortiz is going to say he must have tested positive due to a supplement he used. In other words, he is going to lay down the gauntlet: "I never knowingly used, and when testing with penalties started, I made sure to stop using any supplements that might cause a positive test." That denial is a Gary Hart style challenge to all of the steroid hounds out there. He's putting his entire reputation on a statement that he never knowingly used. So let's see what happens. Let's see if anyone puts the needle in his trainer's hand. If anyone finds any real dirt. Then I'll hang the guy out to dry.

How ironic would it be if it were Jim Rice?

And equally important, in the case of Bonds' "anonymous" sample in 2003, is that the Feds got a valid search warrant before it was destroyed. The court said they were entitled to get that sample and test it but due to a screw up by the Union, they ended up getting everybody's result, as well as the list of what anonymous sample matched up with what player. This is why there are 104 names out there of which we've now heard, what, five or six? So Bonds' result is legitimate, it was subject to a search warrant. Everything else fell into the Feds hands and has been in legal limbo ever since because they want to talk to these people about sources and the union is trying to prevent that from happening.

Am I wrong or does this seem to be an IE thing and not something to worry about with Firefox?

Bonds tested negative because there was no test for the designer steroid he got from BALCO. That is why a re-test gave a positive result, they knew what they were looking for. As for Papi, he never came close to getting muscular like so many confirmed 'roid users did. He was always a pretty big guy, and he surely never looked like he spent a lot of time working out. Furthermore, as to his performance in Minnesota, its been widely reported how their coaching effected his power hitting, as encapsulated in this story: One year in Minnesota, with a runner at second, he took a mighty cut and flew out CF. He got yelled at because he didn't ground out to the right side to advance the runner. He learned his lesson and when he came to Boston, in the same situation in a spring training game, he grounded to second and was promptly told that they want him to give the ball a ride, not worry about advancing the runner. In short, he was set loose in Boston from a very constrained environment in Minnesota.

That's certainly true. And why was this leaked now? So much happening in Boston ... and epic collapse, Dice-K mouthing off to the Japanese press, these potentially big blockbuster trades being discussed ... and I bet it was some Yankee fan lawyer who blabbed.

How to tell when its a resource hog? For instance, when I had nothing open but Magic Jack and Yahoo IM, with Avast running in the background, I had CPU usage of like 2%. Right now, I have 12 Firefox tabs open, a file download in progress, plus the other programs that run in the background, I am operating at 25% CPU usage. Aside from significant slow downs in performance, how can I tell that Avast is hoarding resources, and how do I distinguish that from Firefox resource hogging. I mean, the real-time virus protection has to increase with a lot of tabbed browsing, right? But tabbed browsing also uses resources. I should mention too that I recently added a gig of RAM and I am running at 1.5 gigs now. Everything is much faster.

Can't wait til Goody comes and spews forth. I've been waiting for the chance to adopt my live and let live approach. "That's your opinion, Tim, and you are entitled to it. You'd be wrong though." Lather, rinse, repeat.

There is no salt to be rubbed, thanks anyway, Jon. Number one, he tested positive in 2003. There is no evidence he used in 2004 and beyond, as he has never been penalized for a positive test. Number two, they must have been the super-slow-acting steroids since they didn't kick in until Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Seriously though, from that Times article: Ortiz has acknowledged the possibility of inadvertent use. He's also become one of the toughest of all players in advocating a much more intensive testing program with a full year penalty for a single positive test. That doesn't sound like a guy who used for a long time. So, bottom line: He tested positive in 2003. They didn't win in 2003 either. As for Manny, I don't give a shit. He's your problem now.

I did a year or so of college radio in 1985. I was surprised to discover that 8 tracks were still being used, though not for music. Our 30 second public service announcements (or those we didn't read) were on 8 track. Those were called "carts" and were played on a "cart deck". I may be wrong but I am fairly certain that while there were superficial similarities, these were not true "8 Track cartridges". As for the multi-CD changer for the car, my wife has one, and there were many, many options to choose from when I bought it for her. I can imagine though that the I-Pod/MP3 era has changed that.

Your link doesn't work; I am aware of malware being installed from sites offering the alleged Erin Andrews video; I don't think anything happened in the short time I had no virus protection but I did find the Erin Andrews video without causing any harm (on Rapidshare, no "video player update" required).

DING DING DING Guess it doesn't hurt to actually converse with your better half on such important matters as virus protection for the PC. She says they've been using AVAST in her office for the last year and her partner has been using it much longer.

Of course I could install AVG so I am not surfing bareback while I ponder the options.

We can't - or I really, really don't want to - pay for Norton Anti-Virus renewal. What is my best alternative? Is free software like AVG good enough or do I really need to bite the bullet here? For that matter, is Norton a resource hog and will the machine work better without it? Time just ran out, Norton is shut off, and I am sitting here staring at the renewal page, so timely advice is greatly appreciated!

I question the accuracy of the list of "most common" responses since none of them include genitalia or other sex-related responses.

I obviously picked the wrong day to break my promise, so I am reinstating it: Fuck them all with a white hot poker, starting with that asshole inbred hillbilly fuck, Papelbon. I am finished. See you in the 2010 thread.

Well the Red Sox and Jays are both denying the previous rumor about a Red Sox offer, and now Buchholz is doing his best to make sure that eventually, no one will want him by the time Theo figures out he's a worthless POS: 6 hits in two innings so far. Someone needs to send Theo a telegram: There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. There's no such thing as a pitching prospect. 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"I've only done this once"? Sounds like they haven't ironed all of the kinks yet, so I'll wait for trip number 10 ... or maybe #100. Plus, what's this about payment after we get back? Why are we getting paid (and what are we doing while we're gone)?

Since Halladay is the number one prize, it will be interesting to see if anyone else confirms that report about the Red Sox including Buchholz in their offer. Then we'll have an idea whether this report has legs. The interesting thing then will be if the Yankees do anything to prevent this from happening. I don't think they can afford to let it happen but its been reported that the Jays told them it would take Joba and Hughes to get Doc. Do they try to get the Sox to pay more if it comes down to that?

Since the Red Sox may be prepared to transform their roster in the remaining days before the deadline, I will suspend my withdrawal to see what they do. But if nothing happens in the end, I'm withdrawing from the season and this thread - that's a guarantee. In the meantime though - the Sox have apparently offered Buchholz, Bowden and a 19 year old named Westmoreland (regarded as the best athlete in the system) for Doc Holladay. Very interesting, and a pretty good haul for Toronto. I'd accept that package even if they have to add one more prospect as long as it doesn't include anyone at the top of the prospect list. Holladay is the one true difference-maker, and I'd go all-in again if they can land him. It would make Smoltz failures immaterial if they have a rotation of Beckett, Doc and Lester. That beats anyone anywhere and even without another bat (LaRoche looks like he is paying Fenway dividends already), I think they'd be WS favorites this year and next. And there's something to be said for not locking Holladay up when he is 32 now and has a lot of wear on those tires. Get him for 15 months, possibly win at least one WS, then if the bidding gets out of hand (hello Mr. Steinbrenner) let the Yankees have him, he'll be a great match for Sabathia's declining years. Also find it very intriguing that the Sox are supposedly talking to the Indians about a blockbuster that would bring Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee. Probably too costly for both though, and I'd like to save some bullets for a run at Adrian Gonzales though San Diego probably prefers to build around him than jump-start their rebuilding by selling him. And how about this headline you may not have heard: Dice-K has gone wah-wah-wahing to the Japanese media about what the Red Sox have done to his training and pitching regimen, and that's to blame, not, say, arriving out of shape and having over-pitched in March for that stupid fucking WBC title. Knowing full well how Dice-K used to throw 100 pitches just to get loose, I wondered last year when he was pitching so well but making such short outings, what would happen if they left him in there? AFter this disastrous season, I'd make this proposal: Dice-K, you can throw as often as you want, and on your starts, we'll let you go 120 pitches minimum so long as you haven't pissed the game away. But to protect our investment, you've got to give something back: If you pitch, and pitch well, and never get hurt, great. Full payment of entire contractual obligation. But if you do get hurt, or suck shit again, we pay you 1/2 of your salary only. If your performance necessitates a release or a trade, again, 1/2 of your salary is guaranteed. The rest you kiss goodbye because you are a whiny pussy-toad. Last but not least, the Mets are lucky to be in the division they are in. After Minaya is rightfully fired, they are headed to a next-to-last place finish for a long time to come. Nothing in the minors, thanks to the psychotic POS Bernazard (and Minaya), and a lot of money tied up in a few stars on the major league roster. If Wilpon hadn't lost his shirt with Madoff, maybe there would be money left to fix the problems, but this looks very much like a franchise that is heading for Oriole-level of incompetence for several years to come.