Upon the signings of Grudzielanek and Mienkiewicz, my brother called me to say the Royals are cornering the market on the hardest to pronounce Infielders. 
So this must be an obvious trend. His theory it his harder to deride a player if you can’t say his name.
Casey1505: Just curious, you don’t see Damon as a defensive Liability?
Can you tell me why?
I look at him as a great leadoff hitter that plays below average defense and he will be 36 at end of contract.
Sure I see him as a defensive liability. But now he’s New York’s liability and not Boston’s. 
He was one of Boston’s leaders on the field. Not in any offensive or defensive sense, but he was the “face of the franchise”. That’s going to be hard for the Sox to replace (not to mention finding a quality leadoff hitter to replace him), and he certainly won’t be playing a leadership role in pinstripes. There are far too many people ahead of him on that totem pole.
I’m hoping he fails his physical. Not to be malicious to him, but nothing’s officially happened until then, right? I’m betting the barber’s on hold until after the physical. If he fails it, he’s still with with the good guys.
His failure to even call Boston to say “Hey, I have this great offer on the table, do you want to talk further or not”? was disappointing. The Sox found out from reporters.
He may have been the public face of the team, but was he really a clubhouse leader like Varitek is or Millar claims to have been? He always seemed too goofy to me, even though there’s no questioning his effort or productivity.
A 32-year old outfielder with about an .800 OPS. Can you say “Potential disaster”?
Yes, especially the back two years.
Jim (Yankee Fan)
Blue Jays trade Orlando Hudson and Miguel Batista to Arizona for Troy Glaus and Sergio Santos.
A good trade for Toronto if Glaus stays healthy; as wonderful a glove man as Hudson is, his offense has plateaued and Aaron Hill is ready to take his spot. The team desperately, desperately needed power. Glaus will likely spend a lot of time DHing so as to keep him healthy; the Jays already have a better defensive third baseman in Corey Koskie.
Also probably a good trade for Arizona. A 2005 free agent spree didn’t work, Arizona needed to save some money, and they could use Hudson at second to replace Craig Counsell. Batista can shore up the back end of the rotation, and had his best years in Arizona.
The wild card is Santos, a big (6’3") shortstop from Orange County, reputed to have tremendous power. His defense is a question mark and his plate discipline is not where it should be, and he struggled his first year in AAA, but he’s young and had “Gary Sheffield type bat speed,” according to one observer. He’s a few years away, anyway; with Arizona he may have competed for a starting job in 2006, but in Toronto’s infielder-rich organization he’ll work on his game in AAA. So he’s not yet a factor.
This Mariners fan is anticipating another year of struggling to stay out of the cellar.
Jarrod Washburn is not the answer. Carl Everett is definitely not the answer. Kenji Jojima is a huge gamble to fill in an aching hole. The only thing they’ve done right this offseason is bid farewell to the morale-sucking Ryan Franklin.
And check out the GM’s lack of diplomacy in considering hypothetical moves in the media.
I watched or listened to half the M’s games during last year’s miserable season. I’m not a fair weather fan. This year, though, I might finally check out.