I added Gagne and Lugo to the poll. If you guys already voted and it won't let you re-vote for Lugo, let me know who you voted for and I'll correct it.

I guess you could make that argument, but I was thinking more on the field accomplishments. What does Fire Brand think? Should we have an All-Aughts GM of the Decade?

If you commented here (Tim, barroomhero, maeamian and Aaron) your vote went through but if you did not, I need you to please resubmit your vote -- sorry for the inconvenience.

I don't think there's any question R.Ram v.1 is going to have a spot. It's going to come down to Bonser, Shouse and Atchinson for the last spot. Atchinson has options left, so I think he's a virtual lock to go down, ditto Shouse due to having a minor league deal. That leaves Bonser, who I think the club really wants to get a good look at in relief. I've heard encouraging sotries about Boof's abilities in the bullpen.

I disagree that V-Mart wouldn't do well at DH. We've been spoiled with Papi all these years, but Victor's bat does play at DH. I do agree that it's not a good idea to replace Ortiz with a catcher inseason. It will be tough to find a "good" catcher, and I wouldn't want to block any potential Mauer acquisition. I don't want the Sox to put all their eggs in the Mauer basket, but shouldn't Boston at least leave V-Mart at catcher and acquire another bat -- regardless of position, who can improve the 2010 team (maybe 2011 and on I suppose, in a perfect world) -- and put THAT player at DH? If the catching market is poor in July, wait it out. Maybe Mauer happens, maybe not. Maybe the trade market is better. Catcher is a sensitive position and I just don't see a permanent solution at catcher happening in July. I wouldn't be opposed to taking on Chris Snyder should Arizona be willing to eat the salary and trying him out in August and September and evaluate from there -- worst case, make him the backup. But any acquisition of catcher in 2010, unless we're talking a legitimate catcher who can produce in the future, should only be temporary.

Yes, it's a quibble, and it's a scientifically-backed one, but the popular notion of decade and millennia is 0-9. Factually incorrect, but far more meaningful in society.

He tweaked his delivery in spring training to yes, take pressure off his shoulder. In August, he tweaked them again -- not to the extreme of going back to what he used to do, from what I've heard, but he incorporated more of his previous mechanics that he had drifted away from. Now that he's focusing on secondary pitches as well, I'm optimistic.

Yeah, that's what I meant about questionable antics and off-the-field issues. But there's no denying he was worth his contract, and then some, on the field for the Dodgers and I think we would have found him immensely useful especially in '05-'06, although part of me wonders if he would have been able to be as successful in Boston where he was viewed with skepticism by fans.

Good catch

Oh god... I don't think I can take a metric conversion.