I can only hope a deal goes down with my preference in the order of Halladay, Gonzalez, then Martinez, though I'd take any of them if the package of players is right. Less than 24 hours and the clock is ticking. What's gonna happen?!

Westmoreland has something equal to a a no trade in his contract genius

Trading for Adrian Gonzalez makes no sense IMO. He is not that big of an upgrade on Laroche at the cost of 4 or 5 prospects. Lack of outfield production is a more pronouced concern. Jason Bay has 5 RBI in last 30 games, his average has dropped 45 points since June 1, yet his agent is apparently requesting Teixeira like money which is 22.5 mil a season. J.D Drew turning 35 this year, has 5 RBI in July on pace for his 3rd consecutive 60 RBI season costing 14 mil.. Package Bay or Drew with prospects to get a young Adam Jones type outfielder. Youkilis can play a little outfield if need be, so Laroche and Lowell get their at bats.

ESPN reporting a 3 way deal perhaps in the works?

"The Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians were discussing a three-way trade Thursday night that would send Victor Martinez to Boston, Clay Buchholz to Cleveland and prospects flying in all directions, according to clubs that spoke to both teams.

The Red Sox also would attempt to move recently acquired Adam LaRoche, either to a third team or in a companion deal, to make room for Martinez in their lineup, one source said.

The Red Sox have spent several days working on parallel deals with Toronto for Roy Halladay, San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez and Cleveland for Martinez. There were indications Thursday afternoon that they were making no headway with Toronto and San Diego, but that they were having trouble making the pieces fit with Cleveland.

They began contacting other teams to help make the deal fit and are believed to still be searching for a third team.

One potential reason for involving a third club was the need to find a destination for LaRoche, who would seem to be crowded out by the acquisition of another bat for the Boston lineup. But with very few contending teams searching for a first baseman, finding a taker for LaRoche could be a challenge."

Sox will make a deal....why? because they need a distraction from the Ortiz thing!
Anyway, I still say 07 was a great WS win and 04 was spectacular! Testing started after 03 so here's hoping the boys were clean after that.....05 started naming names so 07 is arguably the "cleanest" WS win of the previous 20 or so(probably took 2 years to get out of everyone's systems...)
So, I still believe 04 was played on an "even" playing field...they were all juicing...LOL. 07 was probably a bit more pure....I guess. BUT, baseball and cheating have gone hand in hand forever...."if you aint cheatin you aint trying".
And all you Football fans getting on your high horse...please!! NFL allows a 6% rise in testosterone AS A RULE...LOL. You can cheat a little bit.....;-)

Thinking outside the box...Any chance that the White Sox send Alexei Ramirez to the Red Sox for Mike Lowell, Justin Masterson and a lower level prospect? They could move Gordon Beckham to shortstop and call up Josh Fields to man third when Lowell sits or DH's against lefties. Then, the Red Sox could package Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, Lars Anderson, Chris Carter and a lower level prospect to pry Adrian Gonzalez from San Diego.

Dear Theo: Go get A-Gone!

Gonzalez is a monster. Give him some protection and watch him rake into the record books.

offer papelbon in the package and include heath bell

Id love to get gonzalez but the padres are asking for way to much

Oh God... Let's hope not. None of these packages look appeasing. We already have a staff ace in Beckett, and the type of talent that we'd have to surrender for Doc Halladay would be wayyy to costly for our future. Who do we look like, The Hankees?

Same thing for A-Gon. I love the guy: He's a two-player who can make an impact on the game with his bat. Gotta love to plate discipline as well. It's almost Mark Teixeira-esque. Once again, however, we'd be giving up too much talent to address a position of strength. Unless you want to trade Youk, I'd suggest that you step off your high horse, Theo!!!

Oh God... Let's hope not. None of these packages look appeasing. We already have a staff ace in Beckett, and the type of talent that we'd have to surrender for Doc Halladay would be wayyy to costly for our future. Who do we look like, The Hankees?

Same thing for A-Gon. I love the guy: He's a two-player who can make an impact on the game with his bat. Gotta love to plate discipline as well. It's almost Mark Teixeira-esque. Once again, however, we'd be giving up too much talent to address a position of strength. Unless you want to trade Youk, I'd suggest that you step off your high horse, Theo!!!

V-Mart is a decent bat, but the Sox have no room for him, either. You can't just magically take time away from V-Tek and LaRoche. His defense is what has me concerned as well.

If anything, go for a SS. Orlando Cabrera's on the market, so how about another go?? It wouldn't take THAT much to get him, but his defense and range would provide a spark. The Sox should send down/designate Nick Green, who did a fine job for a while, but the fact remains that he is a stopgap player, meaning that he's expendable. Lowrie's ABs can be reduced so that he can rest that wrist and maybe he might be able to start in 2010. It's all science, folks!!!!

With respect to steroids and their effect on the actual playing of baseball, there are two issues: records, and games won. Records are definitely tainted by steroids, but games won is probably not. Steroids helped people pitch better and longer, and helped hitters hit more home runs. So we have to take present records in those areas with a grain of salt, actually with the whole salt shaker. But let's look at games won. Over time, that is, several long seasons, I think this evens out because people on every team were taking steroids. In the end, the have's continue to win while the have not's continue to lose. I do not believe steroids altered the balance of the league over time, not at all.

The Gonzalez talk has been going on for a couple of weeks now and I see no mention of who from the current Sox roster get's moved if we do get him. He's a first baseman, we have Youk already, does Youk get moved to 3rd and Lowell get's traded or does Youk get traded?

I wouldnt doubt it if the Sox manage to get both Martinez and Gonzalez. I think it is a matter of waiting to see if the Jays accept an offer sent which includes Buchholz. There is probably a deadline set for the Jays to act upon it and if it is not met, the trigger will be pulled to land at least one, but probably both of the the other two. The suspense is killing me. Who is it going to be, Halladay or Martinez and Gonzalez?

Gonzo and Halladay would be enormous, worlds series berths both of the next 2 years! Get it done Theo

In this unfortunate era of rampant cheating throughout major league baseball, consider this: When Ted Wiliams batted .406 in 1941 (the last player to hit over .400), sacrifice flies were considered an "at bat." In other words, a sacrifice fly, unlike today, was counted against a player's batting average. If Teddy Ballgame played the 1941 season under present day rules AND we conservatively estimate that the great slugger hit a measly ten (10) sacrifice flies during the season, Ted's final batting average would have been closer to .420!