1. Matt Holliday, Cardinals

- As much as the Mets want Matt Holliday, the stadium dimensions on top of playing in New York have basically wiped them out of contention. The Red Sox appear to be having a tough time signing Jason Bay, or perhaps they are waiting to see how the Matt Holliday sweepstakes plays out before they get serious.

Prediction: Red Sox

Admiral Ackbar yelled "It's a Trap!"
As the Empire tried to strike back
Erick Aybar tonight
laid a trap out alright
And Ellsbury fell for it flat

There once was a pitcher named Lackey
Who would soon be free agent packing
He didn't pitch sloppy
as he struck out Big Papi
Seeking Steinbrenner's offseason backing

The Red Sox have not yet made a formal announcement, but Josh Reddick is on his way back to the minor leagues with lefthander Bill Traber poised to take his spot on the 25-man roster for tonight's game with Tampa Bay.

Eight different players reached double figures in hits for the Red Sox, although no one was as productive as Martinez.

For the Pirates, who are trying to get to the 87-win level, any improvement helps. Every
week Fox e-mails a baserunning report to Pirates third base coach Tony Beasley. "At first I was skeptical," says Beasley. "Now I think [Fox is] a genius. The numbers reveal things you don’t really see with your eyes.
You see that last year [first baseman] Adam LaRoche didn’t go from first to third a lot and didn’t take a lot of chances in general. Now he’s being more aggressive and is one of our best base runners. These numbers give the players something of substance to work for. Players want to hear the truth as long as you can back it up. And now we have numbers to back up everything."

pgammo Dustin Pedroia cares about is that his wife Kelli and their baby is healthy. He;s probably going to skip StL Pray. Great humans
about 3 hours ago from web

Whether they actually pull the trigger on something is up for debate internally as the team patiently awaits the return of Jed Lowrie, who has a great chance to fend off this shortstop talk if he'd accelerate his return to the Sox lineup. Among those on the list: Omar Vizquel, Jack Wilson, J.J. Hardy, Orlando Cabrera, Bobby Crosby, Jason Donald, Miguel Tejada. The Sox have also discussed a shortstop with the Atlanta Braves. After watching Vizquel, 42, this weekend, it's obvious he can still play. It appears the Sox will have to make a tough [easy] decision on Julio Lugo on whether to eat the contract when Lowrie is finally ready. The Mets revealed that Jose Reyes has a hamstring injury, which means Alex Cora starts at shortstop for the Mets for a while. Do I spot a need for Lugo?

Who wins the bet?
If he either does not start either at the beginning of the year OR SOON AFTER THE SEASON BEGINS, or is taken out of the rotation after he DOES MAKE SOME starts because of poor performance or injury due to his age condition(because he is old)! Any of these and I win. If he makes it to the end of the season starting and with a winning record [or tied, as agreed upon later in the thread], you win.

On how long the loser has to change his icon:
I'd say forever, so let's compromise with one season (baseball season!)

You'll probably never witness an unassisted triple play in your lifetime, right? (There have been only 14.) Or see an intentional walk with the bases loaded. (Six.) Or watch one player hit two grand slams in an inning. (Once.)

But you can see something right now that hasn't been around in baseball since the late 1800s: a switch-pitcher.