Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

My guess is that the Red Sox are waiting on Bronson Arroyo to settle his arbitration case before making a deal to ship him off for a centerfielder (or as part of a deal for a centerfielder). According to the Red Sox website - Arroyo asked for $4.2 million for 2006 and the Red Sox countered with $2.95 million. They will probably settle more in the middle but the closer to Arroyo's number the more likely the Sox may have to add a B-type prospect into any deal.... I think THE team to look out for next year is the Oakland A's. They have the deepest roster in baseball. In the outfield they currently start three centerfielders who can hit (Payton, Bradley and Kotsay) and their pitching staff is the deepest in baseball. They have Zito, Harden, Loiaza, Haren and Blanton in the starting five with Huston Street as the closer. If one of the starters goes down (or is traded to fill a hole) they can backfill with Joe Kennedy and Kirk Saarloos. Defense at first and a right handed power hitter may be their only weaknesses.... Manny Ramirez (199 HR as a member of the Red Sox) needs just 32 HR next year to move into 5th place on the Red Sox all-time HR list. He would trail just Dwight Evans (379), Jim Rice (382), Yaz (452) and Ted Williams (521). Manny is an RBI machine but he would need 638 more in a Red Sox uniform to move into the top 5 all-time for the Red Sox. With 32 HR next year Manny will also move into the top 25 in MLB history and with a typical RBI year Manny will move into the top 40 all-time for RBI as well... The continuing saga of the most expensive blow job in history since Gary Hart told Donna Rice, "I told you to lick my erection, not wreck my election."... Is a Bronson Arroyo and Trot Nixon for Torii Hunter deal too much to hope for?