Based on the spirited discussion on the "More Side Salad" thread, here is a poll to take the pulse of the HH crew.  Have at it! 

Oh, I need 75 words.  Well, heck.  Three times twenty-five is seventy-five.  Five times fifteen is seventy-five.  Three times five squared is seventy-five.  How'm I doing?  Darn!  Only fifty-seven.  OK, my preferred line-up: Figgy (3B),  Howie (2B), Vladdy (RF), Kotch (1B), Torii (CF), GA (LF), JR/Kendry (sorry GMJ) (DH), Napoli (C) (oops, I gave away my vote!), Admiral (SS).  How about now?  Got it!

After today, I was reminded why I wish Sosh would play Napoli more often.  Sure he fell below the Mendoza line but that could be due to infrequent PAs, and sure I love Mathis's athleticism (though his rash of throws into the outfield are not that inspiring) but my sense is that:

1) The two are both great on game calling

2) Mathis has a slight edge in fielding (not so clear in throwing out runners)

3) Napoli is the much more potent offensive threat (HR + OBP)

which given our need for offense leads me to want to return to Napoli as starter, Mathis to spell him (whereas it has been reversed for the last few weeks).

Thoughts?

It turns out that Vladdy was suffering from a bum knee.  Here's the link to the story.  A short quote from the article (I hope this follows correct quotation guidelines):

During his lengthy slump, Guerrero didn't offer any excuses, but it was later revealed he was having trouble getting any lower-body support in his swing with a knee problem that weakened his leg drive.

"My knee wasn't feeling that good," Guerrero said. "It's feeling better now. I'm taking treatment every day. That gives me leverage -- that is the foundation of hitting. When you don't have that, you have to use your upper body. Now everything works together, upper and lower body."

Now that he is better, our offense should be 10 times better.  Look out!

According to Jon Weisman at SI, we have the best rotation in the AL (and therefore the majors), better even than the Red Sux.  Do I believe it?  I would like to.  I think Lackey could be the elite ace who can face Beckett (or whoever) and win, even in Fenway, and maybe 2008 will be the year.

In any case, this made me feel better about losing out on MCab.  I have been so depressed about that, that I have hardly posted for a couple of weeks now.  I still think we should have snagged him (I would have given up Howie, Mathis, Santana, and Adenhart, but that is just me).  OK, I've got that off my chest and I'll stop talking about it now.

LINK-TO-STORY

I know I have been pushing hard to get MCab (which I still like), and I apologize if someone else has already posted this idea (there has been so much activity on multiple threads that it is hard to keep track), but is there a plausible scenario to get Tejada and Bedard from the Orioles?  Would we want to?

I admit to being ignorant of what the Orioles would want.  Can someone more savvy put together a deal for us to discuss?

Here are two players, both at age 24:

                 AB    Avg    OBP    HR    SLG
Player A    2572  .308   .359   148   .551
Player B    2694  .313   .388   138   .542

One has been hailed as the greatest player in baseball.  One is a player the Angels might trade for.  

Would anyone consider this trade?  Kendrick, Mathis, Santana/Saunders, Wood for a 24-yo ARod

Before eveyone jumps all over this comparison, I realize that ARod 1) was a GG-caliber SS, and 2) is still in better shape at age 32 than MCab is at 24.

However, we have a chance to get the offensive production of a 24-yo ARod-type hitter, who will only make $10-12M/year for the next two years, and who we can probably sign long-term.  All we have to do is put in a few weight clauses, and we could have one of the best, or even the best hitter in MLB for the next 10 years!

Why are we debating this?