Alex Gonzalez will, in all likelihood, be the Red Sox Opening Day starting shortstop. ESPN is reporting that the deal is done. This is not a deal to do cartwheels over but at 1 year and $3 million, the price is right for a guy that in my estimation is a top-20 offensive shortstop and a top-10 defensive one. And who knows, he’s a righthanded pull hitter with a little pop in his bat - maybe he drops an extra five home runs into the Monster Seats this season? I mean, we all remember this…

Sure the walk rate and on-base figures leave a bit to be desired, but a shortstop slugging .413 over three seasons playing home games at spacious Dolphins Stadium is nothing to sneeze at. In addition to being a sure bet to provide reliable glove-work, I don’t think an OB/SLG like .320/.430 is anywhere close to out of the question for Gonzalez. Nice pickup.

I have to admit that snark is one of my guilty pleasures. Yes, it’s generally unattractive and unless pulled off with wit and in good fun can come across as awfully arrogant. That said, I still really appreciate well-done snark, which is exactly what Alan Schwartz manages in his latest piece on the Florida Marlins for espn.com. If you have a little wise ass in ya, I guarantee you too will like the article.

If Cabrera does not play third, look out for Wes Helms — particularly if you sit behind first base.

Making a trade for a center fielder (say, Tampa Bay’s Joey Gathright) would solve several issues, the first being that convention mandates you have one.

Veteran righty Brian Moehler (6-12, 4.55 in cavernous Dolphins Stadium) rarely falls down on the mound, earning him the No. 2 spot.

Enjoy!

So it’s done.

What you see is what you’re gonna get now with the Red Sox…something like this.

Lineup:

Coco Crisp, CF
Mark Loretta, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Trot Nixon, RF
Jason Varitek, C
Mike Lowell, 3B
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Alex Gonzalez, SS

Bench:

Dustin Mohr, OF
Willie Harris, IF.OF
Alex Cora / Tony Graffanino, IF
J.T. Snow, 1B
Josh Bard, C

Rotation:

Curt Schilling
Josh Beckett
Tim Wakefield
Matt Clement
Jonathan Papelbon

Bullpen:

Rudy Seanez
Keith Foulke
Julian Tavarez
Mike Timlin
David Riske
Bronson Arroyo

That’s the likeliest 25-man as I see it, and a pretty good one at that. I think David Wells will be gone before Opening Day, and so too will one of Alex Cora or Tony Graffanino (probably Graf). The Red Sox will have plenty of depth to turn to in Pawtucket. Hurlers Lenny DiNardo, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, Cla Meredith, Jermaine Van Buren and Jon Lester will all just be a call away. So will position players Roberto Petagine, Dustin Pedroia, Adam Stern and Alejandro Machado.

Time to turn our attention now to the 2006 season and away from the long-term well-being of the Sox or the front-office drama. It will be upon us before you know it.

The Sox nabbed Dustan Mohr, the Denver Post reports. Boston signed him to a minor league deal though it is likely he breaks camp with the big club given his ability to hit left-handers. Over the last three seasons, Mohr has hit at a .261/.345/.470 clip against southpaws, making him an able platoon partner for right-fielder Trot Nixon, who rather famously can’t hit his way out of a paper bag against lefties. It’s a nifty, low-risk pickup if you ask me.

Whither Coco? Who knows? Lots of speculation now about what may come of this deal after Gullermo Mota reportedly failed his physical.

And man, if this Theo stuff really works you into this much of a lather, you gotta get a grip. Whether it is that a young man had the audacity to change his mind after 10 weeks or that the Red Sox don’t even have the common courtesy to personally telephone you and explain every detail of the situation that angers you, just go take a jog or something. It’s not that big of a deal.

Are things really this bad for the Sox? Am I missing something? Ken Rosenthal, a great reporter for Fox Sports and typically a decent writer, contributes this piece entitled New-Look Red Sox Could Use a Makeover.

It’s a tough piece to slug through as he contradicts himself numerous times. One assumption that he seems to hold self-evident is that although the Sox have retained much of their pitching and bolstered their bullpen, they now have question marks on offense. I couldn’t disagree more. I think this offense is well on its way to another 900 run season. Anyway, here is what the Sox lost for contributors last season with their 2005 numbers in parentheses…

Edgar Renteria (.276/.335/.385)
Johnny Damon (.316/.366/.439)
Second Base: (.254/.333/.396)
Bill Mueller (.295/.369/.430)
Doug Mirabelli (.228/.309/.412)
Kevin Millar (.272/.355/.399)
John Olerud (.289/.344/.451)

Their replacements and their ZIPS projection for 2006:

SS: Alex Gonzalez (.253/.305/.406, in Florida mind you), Alex Cora (.269/.334/.368), Dustin Pedroia (.275/.343/.403)
CF: Coco Crisp (.303/.353/.448 in Cleveland)
2B: Mark Loretta (.320/.387/.441)
3B: Mike Lowell (.283/.356/.489)
Back-up C: Josh Bard (.260/.323/.393)
1B: Kevin Youkilis (.268/.400/.417), JT Snow (.267/.346/.378…ugh)

I don’t know. You net out the upgrades, clear defensive improvements and the potential bounce-back seasons, even while factoring in some age regression, and I think this team looks improved.

Jimmy Piersall, Lyman Bostock, Willie McGee, Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran, Randy Winn and Mark Kotsay all have in common?

They are close (top 20) Pecota comps for Coco Crisp.

Of this list, Piersall, McGee, Damon, and Winn have all had volitility in their careers. Their power/discipline tends to be tied up to batting average, and although they have decient periphs, they go up and down based on the location of a few bleeders and bloopers that a defense gobble up.

Beltran and Kotsay were much more stable going foward until they both had dips in 2005.

Bostock was dead by the time he was 27.

Best player by age:
20: Piersall
21: Damon
22: Beltran (Crisp 6th out of 6)
23: McGee (7th out of 7)
24: Beltran (5th/8)
25: McGee (3rd/8)
26: Bostock
27: Beltran
28: Kotsay
29: Damon (note…Damon’s age 29 season would have been the 5th best if he had it in his age 28. All 5 players (minus Crisp and Beltran who aren’t there yet, and Bostock, who was dead, declined from 28-29)
30: Damon (They all bounced back, minus Kotsay, who is entering his Age-30)
31: Winn

From 32 on, McGee and Piersall ceased to be good baseball players, and instead were 4th outfield types. When McGee was 33, he had a big spike before he declined to his 40s.

In something unreleated to Crisp, Beltran probably will bounce back in 2006. I’m guessing the Age 29 decline came a year early.

What this tells me is that if the Sox get Crisp, there is a really good chance:
1. He will be a good 4th to 7th best hitter on a good ball team type
2. He will be decent defensively, enough not to hurt the team
3. He will have volitility of performance, but probably not big enough to be detectible considering he’s going from the best pitchers park in the AL (in 2005) to the 3rd best hitters park.
4. He will probably suck balls when he is 29…the year before he’s a FA.

As a note, I’m guessing that age 29 was the first year their collective speed started to decay. Less infield hits…triples become doubles things like that. In their age 30 year, they start to walk more and start getting those “old people skills” that James talks about, and their career gets a few years of that before they turn into guys that hang around and spell the starters.

The Globe this morning is reporting that Boston will get David Riske and Josh Bard along with Coco Crisp, while the Tribe will get Kelly Shoppach in addition to Guillermo Mota and Andy Marte. I have to say, this even further confounds. Riske represents a slight upgrade over Mota but Shoppach is a far more promising player than Bard. Bard is what he is now, a guy that will be 28 on Opening Day who sports a career OPS+ of 77. So the Indians and Red Sox compared Marte and Crisp and apparently determined that Boston needed to sweeten the deal? I don’t get it.

Well I suppose it is time to let it go. The Red Sox are dealing Andy Marte. What this doubtless does is improve the team’s chances for the 2006 season, so that’s exciting. And it is tough to quibble too much since Crisp should be just about as good as Johnny Damon was last year and he is only 26.

The Globe also reports that the Sox are close to a deal for Marlins shortstop, Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez is a nifty glovesman with some pop, though his on-base numbers fail to overwhelm. At a reasonable price I like the deal because I am a believer that if you collect enough bodies in an uncertain situation, something is more likely to work. Remember, David Ortiz was acquired as insurance for Jeremy Giambi and Kevin Millar in 2003. So now the Sox have Alex Cora, Alex Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia to potentially play shortstop, a combination that I think is likely to allow them to get more out of the position than they did in 2005.

Tony Mazz is reporting it’s done.

With the return of Theo Epstein all but formalized, the Red Sox now appear on the verge of concluding a heretofore tumultuous offseason by acquiring both center fielder Coco Crisp and shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

And not a moment too soon.

According to baseball sources, the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians have agreed in principle on a deal that will bring outfielder Crisp to the Sox in a multi-player trade. The deal was agreed upon several days ago under the condition that Cleveland be able to acquire another outfielder to replace Crisp, presumably Jason Michaels from the Philadelphia Phillies.

There was some indication that the Phillies and Indians were hoping to complete the deal for Michaels as soon as last night. Cleveland was believed to be sending one of two relievers - left-hander Arthur Rhodes or right-hander Rafael Betancourt - to the Phillies in exchange for Michaels.

So Cleveland Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro has replaced Coco Crisp’s production by flipping a relief arm for Jason Michaels, who, at worst, will be able to approximate what Crisp provided. Shapiro then essentially replaced whatever reliever he has to send to Philly for Michaels by getting the Sox to chip in Guillermo Mota. And apparently, that was the hold-up on the deal!!! “Eh Jed, Ben, bear with me. I am very interested in this deal but I just want to make sure that every hole I have will be filled before actually pulling the trigger.” So that’s right, he just more or less acquired Andy freakin’ Marte for nothing.

Why didn’t the Sox just send an arm or two Philly’s way for an actual centerfielder you ask? Beats the living shit out of me.

Chris Snow has some information on the latest talks between the Tribe and the Sox regarding what seems to be an imminent deal involving Andy Marte and Coco Crisp.

In the most recent version of a deal that has been undergoing regular revision, the Sox, according to multiple major league sources, would be giving up third base prospect Andy Marte, setup man Guillermo Mota, and another player, presumably a prospect. The Indians would send Crisp to Boston along with two other players/prospects. As of last night, the deal appeared to have some parts moving into and out of the equation.

I hate that there is even talk of this deal. It is tough to quibble too much, however, because if you could have told me that Edgar Renteria plus cash could have netted the Sox a good centerfielder at the beginning of the off-season, I would have been elated. But they did better. They netted one of the very best hitting prospects in all of baseball. It was desperation that forced John Schuerholz’s hand when he traded Andy Marte and it will be desperation that would force the Sox to do the same. Do the Sox have problems in centerfield? Sure they do. But here is what you have in Coco Crisp. You have a very good defensive left-fielder whose defensive abilities in left may or may not translate to good play in centerfield. You have a guy who hit .300/.345/.465 last season as a 25 year-old. But a closer look at his season reveals some concerns. He walked just 44 times and featured a .326 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) versus the American League average of .298. So if, like me, you believe Crisp is more like a .280 hitter than a .300 one, then you are looking at a guy that looks more like a .280/.330/.450 type. He would probably be an above average centerfielder and the Sox would have four cost-controlled seasons of the guy, but is it worth parting with a guy that ranks anywhere between 3rd and 10th on the most respected prospect rankings? In my opinion, you don’t trade a potential perennial MVP candidate for a guy that you plan to acquire simply because you have a hole and you think he can fill it capably. Absent some compelling names accompanying Crisp back to Boston, the Sox would be much better served continuing to talk Bill Bavasi down on Jeremy Reed, getting Pat Gillick to part with Jason Michaels or simply hitting Willie Harris extra fly-balls out there come Spring Training time.

I don’t think this is much of a story. There were differences. They were patched up. Now, onward.

From my vanage point, that’s the extent of it.

Link

I don’t have a whole lot to add here. Kevin Millar’s 34 and a crummy ballplayer. Jeff Conine plays for the O’s too. He’s like Millar, only 39.

They each play a decent first, a brutal outfield, walk sometimes and neither can move but neither can slug either.

There’s a reason the O’s are the O’s you know…

The Team
Finish: First in the AL East 86-58 7 games ahead
2nd in the AL 14 games behind the Indians

Lost in the ALDS to the Indians, 3-0

Managed by Kevin Kennedy

Adj RS/G: 4.6
Adj RA/G: 4.2
Predict Record: 78-66
Offensive Efficiency: 94.2%
Defensive Efficiency: 70.1%
Sacrifices (per 550): 4.4
Stolen Bases Gained: (-1.1)
Runs Saved: 373.8
Era adjustment: 1.157 (over 1.000 favors hitters)

Offense
C: Mike MacFarlane .225/.319/.404 3.8
1b: Mo Vaughn .300/.388/.575 6.3
2b: Luis Alicia .270/.367/.375 4.0
3b: Tim Naehring .307/.415/.448 5.7
SS: John Valentin .298/.399/.533 6.5
LF: Mike Greenwell .297/.349/.459 4.7
CF: Lee Tinsley .284/.359/.402 4.2
RF: Troy O’Leary .308/.355/.491 5.1
DH: Jose Canseco .306/.378/556 6.3

Notable Benchmen:
Willie McGee .285/.311/.400 3.5
Reggie Jefferson .289/.333/.479 4.7
Bill Haselman .243/.322/.395 3.6
Dwayne Hosey .338/.408/.618 8.3

Notable minor players:
Scott Hatteberg .500/.500/.500 5.4
Matt Stairs .261/.298/.398 3.2
Mark Whitten .185/.239/.241 1.4
Terry Shumpert .234/.294/.298 2.6
Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes .080/.179/.120 -0.1

The numbers are batting average/on base/slugging rc/27 outs (adjusted for all time)

Two players contributed more with the bat when they were in the lineup than MVP Vaughn, Valentin and Canseco. Jose couldn’t play the field, and missed 42 of 144 games. Valentin went largely unnoticed.

This was the only time that Tim Naehring played a full season. This was also Mike Greenwell’s last year as a regular. In 1996, he got hurt, went to Japan, and retired.

Believe it or not, Willie McGee played 500 more games after the 1995 season.

Pitching
Rotation (4 highest games started, last number is runs saved)
Tim Wakefield 16-8 2.95 88.3
Erik Hanson 15-5 4.24 57.5
Roger Clemens 10-5 4.18 44.1
Zane Smith 8-8 5.61 17.3

5 Best Relievers (My discretion, last number is runs saved)
Rick Aguliera 20 sv. 14.6
Rheal Cormier 7-5 4.07 37.6
Mike Maddux 4-1 3.61 33.9
Stan Belinda 8-1 3.10 30.3
Mike Stanton 1-0 3.00 9.4

Notable minor pitchers:
Jeff Suppan 1-2 5.96 2.7
Aaron Sele 3-1 3.03 14.5
Derek Lilliquist 2-1 6.26 1.9
Aleandro Pena 1-1 7.40 -1.0

Aaron Sele pitched opening day for the hurt Roger Clemens. Sele got hurt pretty soon after that.

The entire pitching staff was pieced together with spare parts (including signing of broken down Pirate minor league knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield). Up until 1999, this staff might have been Duquette’s best work.

Zane Smith was horrible.

Significant transactions:
12/5 Drafted Vaughn Eshleman in the Rule 5 draft (Orioles)
12/7 Traded for Luis Alicia (Cardinals/Jeff McNeely & Nate Minchey)
12/9 Traded for Jose Canseco (Rangers/Otis Nixon & Luis Ortiz)
4/8 Signed Mike MacFarlane
4/9 Signed Stan Belinda and Reggie Jefferson
Traded for Rheal Cormier & Mark Whiten (Cardinals/Scott Cooper & Cory Bailey)
4/11 Signed Eric Hanson
4/14 Claimed Troy O’Leary off waivers (Brewers)
4/18 Signed Zane Smith
4/22 Signed Derek Lilliquist
4/23 Signed Alejandro Pena
4/26 Signed Tim Wakefield
5/30 Signed Mike Maddux
6/6 Signed Willie McGee
7/6 Traded for Rick Aguilera (Twins/Frankie Rodriguez & JJ Johnson)
7/24 Trade for Dave Hollins (Phillies/Mark Whiten)
7/31 Traded for Mike Stanton and Matt Murray (Atlanta/Mike Jacobs & Marc Lewis)

Remember, the strike pushed opening day back, so that there were a lot of free agent signings in April. The pre-strike settlement signings of Sammy Sosa, John Wetteland, and Kevin Appier should get a nod, but they aren’t listed.

Most important move for 1995: Rick Aguilara. He stabilized the bullpen. Sort of like the Kim move in 2003.

Most important move, long term: Picking up Wakefield for nothing. Ten years later, he’s still there…the elder statesman of the Red Sox staff, and historical link between Roger Clemens and Josh Beckett.

Boston avoided arbitration with Tony Graffanino and inked reliever Julian Tavarez to a two-year contract with an option for a third year.

In and of itself, the Tavarez deal is a good one. Despite surrendering that Game One homer to Mark Bellhorn that rattled so beautifully off of Pesky’s pole, Tavarez has actually been an awfully effective reliever over the last few years. What follows is his ERA+, OPS surrendered against righties and the same against lefties.

2003: 116, .533, .747
2004: 176, .575, .702
2005: 125, .727, .823

Though there was some slippage in 2005, overall he looks pretty good. But is he a ROOGY? I’ll let you decide. Also of concern with respect to Tavarez is his relatively low K-Rate (5.6 K/9 since ‘03). He’ll need a good defense behind him and I am not sure the Red Sox have assembled one. Finally, there is the issue of Tavarez being the 83rd pitcher on Boston’s staff heading into Spring Training. It seems he, along with a few others, may be blocking better, younger talent. Let’s hope this acquisition is a sign that a legitimate centerfielder may be forthcoming. Maybe Guillermo Mota is now expendable and could help sweeten a deal.

Anyhoo, tough to quibble with the move because the Sox have the dough at the moment and there is very little chance this move makes them any worse. Sure, right now it amounts to little more than wheel-spinning but let’s all hope there’s more to come.

Is this the best those entrusted with the important duty of electing Baseball’s Hall of Fame members can do?

Bruce Sutter: 76.9%
Jim Rice: 64.8%
Rich Gossage: 64.6%
Andre Dawson: 61.0%
Bert Blyleven: 53.3%
Lee Smith: 45.0%
Jack Morris: 41.2%
Tommy John: 29.6%
Steve Garvey: 26.0%
Alan Trammell: 17.7%
Dave Parker: 14.4%
Dave Concepcion: 12.5%
Don Mattingly: 12.3%
Orel Hershiser: 11.2%
Dale Murphy: 10.8%
Albert Belle: 7.7%
Will Clark: 4.4%
Dwight Gooden: 3.3%
Willie McGee: 2.3%
Ozzie Guillen: 1.0%
Hal Morris: 1.0%
Gary Gaetti: 0.8%
John Wetteland: 0.8%
Rick Aguilera: 0.6%
Gregg Jefferies: 0.4%
Doug Jones: 0.4%
Walt Weiss: 0.2%
Gary DiSarcina: 0.0%
Alex Fernandez : 0.0%

Bruce Sutter was elected to the Hall of Fame today. He was a very good pitcher, but he pitched fewer innings than 28 year-old Roy Halladay has and was he really any better than Dan Quisenberry, who got a measley 18 votes on the 1996 ballot? I won’t belabor this point but for a good synopsis of why Sutter was not the best choice, check out this piece by Rich Lederer from just over a year ago. Goose Gossage, even though he sports a slighlty more swollen ERA, had a better career than Sutter. You see, Goose pitched 765 innings more than Bruce. As Rich writes…

If we don’t begin to make a distinction in the number of innings pitched (as well as the quality), they’re going to have to order a bus to transport the potential onslaught of relievers to upstate New York in the future.

Bruce Sutter, perhaps more than any other selection in the Hall’s history, has opened the floodgates for some clear, sub-Hall-of-Fame talent to make its way to Cooperstown. So congrats to Armando Benitez. He, apparently, is of Hall of Fame quality. Just five or six more decent seasons and you’re in, Armando!

————

Here’s a fun exercise:

How would you rank these careers? I think there is enough relevant information here so that even if you knew nothing of any of these players, you could take an educated stab. Provided is career WARP3, an all-encompassing figure from Baseball Prospectus that seeks to determine how many wins a player creates over a replacement player of the same position, and then adjusts for all time. I will include position played, number of seasons, OPS+ and On-Base Average only because it is under-valued in any OPS+ figure.

Jim Rice, LF: 89.6 WARP3, 16 seasons, 128 OPS+, .352 OBA
Andre Dawson, OF: 99.4 WARP3, 21 seasons, 119 OPS+, .323 OBA
Steve Garvey, 1B: 82.7 WARP3, 19 seasons, 116 OPS+, .329 OBA
Alan Trammell, SS: 117.6 WARP3, 20 seasons, 110 OPS+, .352 OBA
Dave Parker, OF/DH: 78.8 WARP3, 19 seasons, 121 OPS+, .339 OBA
Dave Concepcion, SS: 101.0 WARP3, 19 seasons, 88 OPS+, .322 OBA
Don Mattingly, 1B: 92.4 WARP3, 14 seasons, 127 OPS+, .358 OBA
Dale Murphy, OF: 90.1 WARP3, 18 seasons, 121 OPS+, .346 OBA
Albert Belle, LF: 88.5 WARP3, 12 seasons, 143 OPS+, .369 OBA
Will Clark, 1B: 101.6 WARP3, 15 seasons, 138 OPS+, .384 OBA

So how would you rank ‘em? This is an admittedly rough exercise but do you realize that this is exactly the order in which they finished in the balloting today? How does one, straight-faced, contend that Jim Rice had a better career than Alan Trammell or Will Clark? I won’t further expound. I don’t think I need to. But take the above list in and if you care about this stuff, maybe write to a BBWAA guy or two. We, as fans, deserve better and the more we all at least try and encourage these folks to at least open their minds and have a look at a different take on things, the better chance the Hall becomes more of a meritocracy.

The aforementioned Rich Lederer has done this with great success. Just look at Bert Blyleven’s year over year voting percentage progression.

No real explanation, it’s just that sometimes real life takes over…oh well.

As for what’s coming, well, you can be sure I will have some opinions to share regarding Hall of Fame voting. It looks like a lot of voters find Andre Dawson to be an appealing choice and Alan Trammell not so much. That sucks. Further, I plan to continue harping on my off-season theme that this team will be just fine even if they have to go with Adam Stern and Alex Cora respectively at centerfield and shortstop. I get the sense that the rest of MLB seems to think they have the Red Sox by the balls, whether it’s with respect to perceived holes in centerfield and shortstop or the Manny situation. Smartly, the Red Sox seem to be sticking to their guns and holding off on any deals that would harm them in the long-term.

Hall of Fame stuff either tomorrow or Wednesday…see you then.

Unbelievable

“He’s excited,'’ said agent Dan Horwits.

I take it Mr. Horwits was not referring to Kevin Youkilis or Roberto Petagine.

I have been more optimistic than most about this off-season for the Red Sox but I must say, a pal brought something to my attention last night that has forced me to temper that enthusiasm. In my opinion, when you add up the Red Sox losses, the Red Sox acquisitions, the Red Sox guys likely to develop into quality Major Leaguers and the guys likely to bounce back from disappointing 2005’s, I think the Red Sox appear to be, at worst, the same as last year and at best, a good bit better. Yes, because of age, injuries and the reliance upon youth, the variance in possible 2006 outcomes for Boston is enormous. Still, I think the most likely scenario is that they are just about every bit as good as last year when they won 95 games. But what about their competition? Not only has the AL East improved, but much of the AL in general has. Without hesitation I can say that Toronto, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Minnesota, Detroit, Oakland, Texas and Seattle will all be better in 2006 than they were in 2005. The White Sox may have too, but it would be hard for them to be better than last year. Still, in acquiring Jim Thome and Javier Vazquez, Kenny Williams has had a good off-season himself and has his Pale Hose poised for a big 2006. So while the Red Sox, at best, make marginal, incremental improvements, their competition is making longer strides.

But if you honestly want to know how I feel, if Coco Crisp or Jeremy Reed are going to cost Jon Lester or Andy Marte or Dustin Pedroia, I am ready to throw my support behind Adam Stern. If Miguel Tejada is going to cost Manny, a quality starter and a bundle of cash, Manny will have to come around and put up with Boston. To put it as simply as I can, the Red Sox have a good team right now but one with question marks. I am willing to live with those question marks in 2006 and run the risk of sufffering through an 85-win season if it means a juggernaut from 2007-2010. But I don’t think that’s a real concern.

The Sox are in the mix of contending teams, nothing more and nothing less at this point. And for the long-term health of the franchise, that may have to be good enough for fans (Lord knows it won’t be for the media).

The Boston Globe is reporting that the Red Sox are very close to coming to terms with veteran first-baseman J.T. Snow, formerly of the San Francisco Giants and California Angels. Why would the Red Sox be looking to sign a player old enough to have played for the California Angels to play a position where they already have plenty of viable options? You got me. Oh and in case you don’t believe me that he actually played for the California Angels, I was able to find this poster, which as far as I can tell, is still available for purchase. Might be a nice keepsake, because it was shot at Fenway back when he was actually a pretty good player. Something to dust off when Snow is maddeningly taking at-bats away from guys like Kevin Youkilis because, you know, Snow’s a veteran.

Snow will not be an offensive asset by any stretch, though he will have his uses as a late-inning defensive replacement and Lord knows the Sox feel that particular role is necessary. But that’s just the thing. When you only have 25 roster spots, why use one on a guy whose only real use will be to play marginally better defense at the easisest position to play in baseball? There is no reason to believe that Kevin Youklis or Mike Lowell can’t handle the position defensively, and both are likely to provide far more offense than Snow could. We have learned over the last few years, however, that this is a position the Sox feel is necessary. From Dave McCarty to Doug Mientkiewicz to John Olerud, the Red Sox have proactively sought out these limited types. It’s not that these guys are not worthwhile to have on your roster if you don’t employ a decent-fielding first-baseman, but the skills they bring to the table are not exactly scarce. As a result of these kinds of acquisitions, the Sox are sub-optimally using their precious 25 roster spots because guys currently playing for the Red Sox can do what Snow does.

The other consequence of this deal is that once again, it seems as though Roberto Petagine, probably the third or fourth best hitter in the organization, will have trouble seeing significant playing time in Boston. As regular readers here know, this frustrates me to no end and I am probably going to have to figure out a way to deal with the fact that the guy will most likely never see anywhere close to the 500 plate apperances in a season that he ought to for the Red Sox. It won’t be easy, but I need to find some peace with this because I think about it and become angry because of it more than any reasonable man ought to over such matters.

Anyway, while we anxiously await for the other shoe to drop with Manny, a centerfielder, a shortstop and a fourth outfielder, it looks like all we are getting for now is J.T. Snow.

Blech.