Tuesday's coming...

I realize that his contract is huge, and that he did give up during the last third of the season in '06, but there is no real trade involving Manny Ramirez that would make me happy. There isn't anyone the Sox could get in trade who could replace his productivity, and there is hardly a batter in baseball that can hit good pitching as consistently and with as much power as Manny.

I sincerely hope all these trade rumors and hearsay involving the Predator look-alike fall through, and that he's back in the shadow of the green monster in '07. As much as I don't like his personality, he's the best thing the Sox have on offense, and while the guys at baseball prospectus tend to disagree with me, Ortiz needs that protection.

Years in the left field at Fenway have honed his skill at playing balls off the monster. Watching Willy Mo struggle in right on the days he filled in for Trot made me realize just how quirky the Fenway outfield can be, and with the defense heading the way of the buffalo this off-season, it's important to make damn sure that whoever is in left can play the monster.

I like Manny, and as long as he puts up 100+ RBI’s and 30+ HR’s a year, I don’t give a crap who he is (Manny or otherwise), or what he’s like in the clubhouse.

Speaking of teams in the AL East, the Orioles sure are going at their bullpen with a chainsaw, which is great. Their pen was crap last season (and has been for a long time.)

I haven’t heard a damn thing about Barry Zito or Jason Schmidt yet this off-season. Strange.

A note: When I said the Phils should sign Adam Eaton in a comment a few posts ago, someone listened. Now if they had retained Randy Wolf, I would have said they had great odds to have the best rotation in the NL East. May still be true, but I digress.