Dirty Davey Worth noting about Surhoff's situation: I believe he had an autistic son who was being treated at the Kennedy-Krieger Institute in Baltimore, and that for that specific reason he was unwilling to take his family out of the Baltimore area.

Right. He mentioned that though he said it wasn't the only reason he was unhappy to leave.

pcv2006 Now heading for season number sixteen of sub-.500 ball, my feelings haven't changed. Can we please have an owner who at least pretends to care how his club performs? Where's Mark Cuban when you need him?

Trying to buy the Cubs

timbuktom Maybe a bigger deal - Pudge will help the Yanks

Future Hall of Fame cather Ivan Rodriguez went to the Yankees yesterday, to catch for the rest of the season. The Yanks gave up high-journeyman reliever Kyle Farnsworth.

Yeah, that was a nice trade. I-Rod is having a genuine bounce-back year at the plate. Not a bounce-back to his old self but a bounce-back from his way-down 2007. He's a league-average hitter, which for a catcher is good, and for a catcher replacing Jose Molina will look Ruthian.

Not sure I buy the received wisdom that I-Rod's defensive ability truly makes pitchers significantly better. I'd love to see some proof that a catcher's ability to "manage a staff" or whatever has a real effect.

Farnsworth was pitching well of late and subtracting him will hurt, especially since it seems to me that the Yankees' pitching is shakier than their hitting, though the numbers say they're middle of the pack at both. Relievers are easier to replace than catchers, though. Good trade.

crinklecutbubba For weeks I've been waiting for King's first rant about the opening ceremonies so I could get a fix of my favorite description -- "children of the world twirling ribbons to French horn music." And he didn't use it. Disappointed I am.

It's children of all nations.

CornbreadRed Watching sports is mental masturbation anyway..

If you're going to watch these farces, go ahead, otherwise turn the tv off, go outside, whatever.

Your letter is mental masturbation.

Why do people write letters like this? Do you go to model-train sites and write comments like "Model trains are a big waste of time! Go outside or something!"?

Your moral superiority to people whose tastes and hobbies and choices of entertainment are different from yours is duly noted. Now kindly get lost.

It took longer for the letter page to appear than it took to read your non-article.

And yet, you hung in there! You stuck it out, so the rest of us could be treated to your whining. You are such a giver!

MCD I bet you they wish there was a black guy with baggy pants to blame this on.

I don't get it. Am I being dense? I'm trying to piece together some kind of "Wizard of Oz"/M.C. Hammer reference ...

Gwool Manny is no longer a dominant force in the middle of the lineup. He's just slightly above average like a Kevin Youkilis at this point in his career.

Yeah, Red Sox fans haven't become spoiled. Youkilis and Ramirez are slightly above average like Shaquille O'Neil is slightly above 235 pounds.

Gwool [Responding to J M F Q] You made the comparison to the TEAM on which there are a number of very good hitters such as Youkilis and Mike Lowell. When you are making $20M a year, you do not get compared to a kid making $450K or a moderately priced vet making $8M. You get compared to the best in the league.

Manny no longer ranks in the top 10 in any category.

Ramirez place on Baseball-Reference AL leaderboards, through Sunday:

OBP: 5

Slugging: 10

OPS: 6

Runs: 8 (tie)

Home runs: 9 (tie)

RBIs: 8

Adjusted OPS+: 9 (tie)

Adjusted batting runs: 7 (tie)

Batting wins: 10 (tie)

lutherhouse 2. ... Club declines to extend Manny ... Sox convert draft picks into more talent in the minor leagues. But Ortiz suffers without Manny's protection.

The Red Sox would have to offer Manny arbitration and he'd have to refuse it for the Sox to get the picks. That's not going to happen. If they offer him arbitration, he might take it. There's kind of no telling with Manny. In order to have even a chance of winning, the Sox would have to offer something north of $15 million. Manny could fashion a pretty good argument for something north of the $20 million in his option: They thought I was worth $20 million eight years ago, when the average salary was X. Now, the average salary is [number much higher than X], and right through the end of the contract I've produced exactly as everyone expected. $20 million would be an underpayment, a salary in 2001 dollars.

Yeah, the Sox might save a few million if they win, but it's an unpredictable process, and why would the Sox, who have more money than there is in the world, give up their autonomy on the matter for the cost of a fourth outfielder?

Also, the whole protection thing is highly overrated. There's not much, if any, evidence that it exists.

I agree with your assessment of the Sox team, which is what might make the trade scenario slightly more likely than if they looked like a sure title team.

debaser If I were them, I'd hold on to him for at least one of the option years (can they do that? or do they have to re-up for both options at once?).

Yes, they can do that. Two separate options. The options don't even have buyout clauses. It's just yes/no. The widespread thinking is that Manny's agent at the time -- Jeff Moorad; it's Boras now -- wanted them in so the total contract value would be $200 million.