Farewell, Gonzales

totally agree w/ the globe about alex gonzales. there was no reason to let him go when he was willing to sign a reasonable 1-year deal and the sox should've pounced to keep him. in fact, i wonder if theo's a bit too deliberate in some cases. he should've pounced on damon and texeira too. on the other hand, deliberation would've helped in the case of one julio lugo, so who knows.

if i'm epstein

these are my priorities for the off-season:

* re-sign jason bay
* either sign rich harden or trade for halladay, with the latter preferred only if you can work out an extension with him. si.com thinks this is possible but they'd have to trade buchholz.
* dip into the bargain bin for a ss who can catch the ball: gonazales, everett, cora.
* explore trading lowell to the phillies, which would open up younger possibilities at 1st, such as laroche.
* bring back wagner or sign mike gonzales.

i don't see the padres trading gonzales to the sox and i think the sox need another top flight starter more than they need another bat. peter gammons recently tweeted:

"David Oritz admonishes Red Sox for not adding power. 2007 WS year they scored 867 runs, hit 166 HR. In 2009 scored 872 runs, hit 212 HR."

cool animation

w/ dock ellis' narration of his no hitter back in the early '70s: