Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations:

- With Dayton Moore from the Braves bowing out of the pursuit of the Red Sox GM deal - that leaves just Jim Bowden and Jim Beattie left as far as folks who have been brought in to interview for the job. I think little of Beattie and even less of Bowden and I think all indications point to either the Sox promoting from within (one of the gang of four who represented the team at the recent GM meetings) or a last minute surprise naming of either Kevin Towers or Theo Epstein to the post. (My gut tells me that Epstein wants the Nationals job when it opens up in April and I'd be really disappointed if it was Towers.)

- As I mentioned to Sandy in the comments a while back - I hope the Red Sox don't pursue Carlos Delgado. He hasn't shown he can hit at Fenway (just 1 HR every 33 AB in 73 career games at the Fens) and I think he'll remind people of Mo Vaughn and his injury troubles before his current contract is all said and done. I'd be really happy in a Kevin Youkilis / Carlos Pena platoon (I don't think Pena will be offered arbitration by the Tigers and the Sox could pick him up cheap - plus Pena went to college in Boston and has killed the ball at Fenway in his career).

- Scott Boras wants $84 million over 7-years for Johnny Damon? What is Boras smoking? If I was the Sox I would do a 4-year (max) deal at between $40 and $48 million and no more. If the Sox lose out on Damon - then I'd go after Torii Hunter of the Twins (trade them Bronson Arroyo), Xavier Nady of the Padres (trade them Kelly Stoppach - the Padres will need a catcher after they lose Ramon Hernandez to free agency) or Brad Wilkerson of the Nationals (for maybe prospect pitcher Abe Alverez - the Nationals don't want to go to arbitration with Wilkerson and even though his defense is just OK - he's got 30 HR capabilities). If they lost Damon - they could actually do all three deals and put Nady or Wilkerson at 1st. BTW - Brian Giles is NOT a centerfielder and he's high on my list of steroid suspects.

- There is a rumor about regarding the Angels trading Steve Finley to the Padres for Ryan Klesko. In my opinion - keeping Dave Roberts is a better choice to play centerfield for the Padres but if this trade is made then I'd look for the Padres to trade Roberts back to the Red Sox for David Wells. If that does come to pass - then Kevin Towers would have placed the ancient Wells, decrepit Vinnie Castilla and old-timer Finley in important roles on the Padres roster. I'd say the odds of all three of those guys being on the DL at the same time in 2006 is about 50/50. I really can't see why anyone would trade for Finley and his $7 million contract. If Towers does this deal then all my respect for him will be gone (he took a big hit in my eyes when he traded for Castilla).