Damn You In Advance, Mark Shapiro

So it's been a week.. well 2 weeks really since I only made one post in all that time, but I'm back with no explanation about my absence and I'm sure you all understand. So with that, I'm ready to press on with regularity once again.

I remember last month or so when idiot Yankee fans laughed uproariously at the Red Sox series of misfortunes. Manny wanted to be Manny in a new town, Edgar Renteria's busted ass was sent to Atlanta, boy-genius Theo Epstein departed the organization in a gorilla suit, and the Yankees became the new employer of Way Back Machine Bernie the Messiah after Boston failed to scrounge up an extra 12 million quid. It's all unraveling down in Beantown and those chumps will never be able to compete!...Right? I'm not so sure. Manny doesn't appear to be going anywhere, Epstein has returned, and the Sox have responded to the Damon loss with a multiplayer deal, the crux of which appears to be Andy Marte for Coco Crisp. Assuming the deal goes through, the Red Sox win the centerfield war. Crisp is a gritty player that has steadily improved during his 3 years in major league baseball and I think it's fair to wager that his years aged 26-29 are going to be better than Damon's aged 32-35. Crisp won't ever be some masterful leadoff man or a world-beating MVP but he's a solid hitter only now entering his prime. His CF skills left something to be desired in Cleveland, but I fail to see how he isn't an upgrade to the blackhole that was the Boston outfield.

In any case, lost in this news is the magic being worked by Mark Shapiro in Cleveland, who acquired the best prospect in baseball and only gave up his 3rd best outfielder to do it. The simple idea of Andy Marte was worth more than Edgar Renteria and now he's being shipped off to a team that is racking up a silly amount of young talent just starting to hit its stride. Marte is the type of player that you gamble on and build your franchise around, and if the hype surrounding him is spot on, he'll only further solidify the Indians' position as a perennial contender in years to come. This is the Indians lineup in 2007: CF - Grady Sizemore, SS - Jhonny Peralta, DH - Travis Hafner, C - Victor Martinez, 2B - Ronnie Belliard, 1B - Ben Broussard, 3B - Andy Marte. Broussard aside, that's a helluva core.. with the acquisition of a couple solid corner outfielders, Cleveland will be the newest team to contribute to my post-season nausea... At least I'll be able to prepare myself and say I saw it comin.... fuck.