I don’t know about him being next years closer, but I have liked the idea of Soriano and agree Woods could be an option. If Bavasi/Other decides to groom a new closer every year, to trade for other needs the next year, I’m all for it. I thought they should have traded Guardado last offseason with the arms available to replace. This year I’d say it’s more of an ‘if’. There’s no certainty that Soriano will ever pitch the same competitively. I mean look at the shot Holman took that he never looked the same after and that was just a HR after 8 2/3 Perfect. At least we had Buhner instead of a perfect game. Most of us know there have been pitchers who got hit by line drives that, though they physically recovered, were never the same on the field. Herb Score is a different example because of the busted eye socket

From an interview with Yogi Berra Was there a pitcher that gave you trouble? Any pitcher you didn’t like?

No. Well, Herb Score. I remember Herb Score was a tough man. I had a tough time with Alex Kellner in Philadelphia, ’til I got the hang of him. But he gave me a little rough time. But Herb Score could have been another Sandy Koufax, I think, if he didn’t get hit in the eye with Gil McDougald’s line drive.

On the Johjima front I’ve been wondering if the idea is to keep him at catcher long enough to ease a Japanese pitcher or 2 in before Rauls contract is up and Clement may be ready for the show. If Clement comes around defensively, and Johjima was happy and productive as a DH this could be a great way to implement both. Having a productive backup catcher at DH is a luxury I’m sure any Manager could enjoy.

Anyways, I’ve seen Gassko talk about chaining before, and honestly, I think he makes too big a deal out of it. And, as always, he really needs to learn to make less conclusive statements. He has a bad habit of showing somewhat interesting information and acting as if he’s closed the case. His data work is almost always better than his writing.

I’m heading towards Corco territory, here . . .

I was just trying to point out that the difference is not as bad as it might seem to some of us at first thought — because we all remember the end of Wilson’s career (when the performance slide just seemed to go on and on and on year after year after year) and forget that for a couple of years he was actually a decent hitter.