The Sox have traded the two-time AL batting champ for two former Gold Glovers. Can the Sox make the playoffs with this new lineup?

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Yes, they can. They clearly needed to sacrifice some offense for better gloves in the field. The moneyball approach to winning looks great on average. Then you realize that the team wins games against chumpy teams 10-2 and loses close games against good teams 3-2 or 4-3.

Edward, Cambridge, MA

Prediciton: Sox make the playoffs because pitching finally comes together (lowe, wakefield, embree wake up) Get to World Series against the Cubs and in Game 7 blow a lead with Nomar hitting the game winning home run to finally bring a championship to........Chicago. the bambino haunts us all

Dong, Somerville

I think the Red Sox are a better team without Nomar, the question is can Terry manage this team. He now has a team that can run, but does his style of management match the team he now has?

Helton, Boynton Beach, Fl

Typical, a trade simply for the sensation of accomplishment that won't accomplish anything other than weakening the team. No, I'm not saying Nomar was the answer, but I am saying that the lineup adjustments that must be made to work in the new players (who, by the way, don't impress much with their stats on defense this year) lacking the hitting prowess of the regulars they will replace doesn't make sense. If the sox won primarily due to the quality of their pitching staff this year, I'd say the trade was sound. But they haven't, and it's not. I'm out!

Randy, North Adams

Adding 2 every day players batting .246 definately puts us over the top.. CMON. I could swallow this trade if we got a player of near equal value, especially a pitcher.. but this is rediculous. Now everything is on ortiz & mannys back. And what happens to Millar? This team is now destined for another 86 years of mediocrity. Lets Go Cubbies!

Joe, Somerville

As much as I love Nomar and even though this saddess me, I really think it's for the best. I wish they could have gotten a starter instead. It improves the team defensively and will make all of the pitchers better in the end. Good Luck Nomar.

Vera, Newington, CT

How can you call this trade a move to upgrade the defense when your two biggest defensive liabilities, Millar and Bellhorn are still in your every day lineup? The Cubs got Mientkiewicz for a single A pitcher but we have to trade a Hall of Famer to make the deal? Please. This was John Henry telling Theo to take the heat and get Nomar out of town. Evidently Henry reads that idiot Dan Shaunessy's articles about what a cancer Nomar is. Dan also helped to run Roger and Mo out of town and took cheap shots at Jimy Williams before he even got off the plane in Boston. If Orlando Cabrera is that good of an upgrade at shortstop why has he been toiling in obscurity for so long in Montreal when every other player of value has been sold off? Question, for Theo and CO. How are you going to like seeing Manny walked three times a game. Would you pitch to Manny if you had Varitek or Millar in the five hole? Of course not. Unless the Sox find another bat to protect Manny watch his numbers decline in the second half and realize that would not have happened if Nomar was here. Thanks John Henry, Larry and gang for doing everything you could to run Nomar out of town. Don't think Red Sox Nation didn't notice. Go Cubbies!

Gary, Newington, CT

There's no denying that this is a particularly sad day for Red Sox Nation or that Nomar was the very talented young face of the club for the past number of years and will be dearly missed. BUT we cannot let ourselves be blinded by our tears here. 1) Nomar turned down a $15M a year extension last year. This price tag is well above the going rate these days for an all-star calliber player. What would have sufficed money-wise? $16M? $17 or even $18M? Too much for one player. And, I'm afraid to say, too much for a player that appears to be becoming injuy-prone and whose best hitting days are likely behind him. 2) This move does represent a definite upgrade defensively. The Sox defense has been at times adequate and on far too many other occasions just downright pathetic. When a team like the Sox are at or very near the league lead in errors committed, something's wrong and Epstein is right in both saying that the Sox past defense wouldn't win any championships, and in implying that Nomar's defensive range was an issue with this type of injury. 3) Mientkiewicz is not only a Gold Glover, but a career .300 hitter with power having (at present) an off-year. Cabrearra is without a doubt one of the finest defensive shortstops in the game today, as the rest of the world will see now that he's in a baseball-crazy atmosphere like Boston. He's also better offensively than his numbers would indicate- a line-drive type right-handed hitter who will benefit not only from the presence of the Green Monster in left, but also by a home market that actually takes an interest. Coming from a dead-end moribund market like Montreal to Boston will definitely put a bounce in his step & don't be suprised to see his numbers go up (and did I mention his speed on the basepaths?). In the final analysis, the Sox lost some punch offensively (perhaps...) but went a long way toward shoring up that Swiss cheese infield of theirs. They also, lest we forget, gained TWO players for ONE, and the one they lost was by most accounts only going to be around for another couple of months or so anyway (and in an ijured state at that!). So kudos to you, Theo! You tightened up the ship for the play-off drive, and didn't wait until you got nothing in return for Nomar's likely departure (ala Dan Duquette...). We all love and will surely miss Nomar. In the end, though, it can't be said that Red Sox Nation (or management) didn't love Nomar enough, but that he (or his agent...) quite simply didn't love us enough.

Greg, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Only if Francona changes his attitude and aquires more of a Dick Williams stance where winning is important and you don't leave the picthers in the game when it is obivous that they don't have it and you can't get back the runs they give up. What's wrong with using middle relief pitchers?

Everett, Rockport

From the second I got my head around Mientkiewicz in Boston, I at least knew that we found the perfect solution for a defensive, slugging 1st baseman. Dougie's a peach of a guy too, and will prove a fan favorite in no time. Minnesota is really reeling over the loss of Mientkiewicz, and I'm thrilled to have him in a Red Sox uniform.

Tanya, Minneapolis native in VT