Well, Nomar's gone. But hey, we got a whole slew of .250 hitters for him!

I guess I've gotta be optimistic, though, as is my tradition.

At least Doug Mientkiewicz is a legitimate first baseman. Rare in Boston. I do like my first baseman to hit above two-friggin'-fifty, though.

And Orlando Cabrera seems like a great defensive shortstop, but again, I don't know about this whole .250 thing.

I look at this trade and what I keep seeing is 250, jumping out at me in really big letters. I mean numbers.

Dave Roberts, I'm down with him, he may be a steal. (Except for, you know, .250.)

The hope is that these guys can use the wall to their advantage, and maybe hit, I don't know, .275? Please? And I guess if Nomar was gonna leave anyway, at least we got a little something back. But this "infield of the century" or whatever Theo's calling it, is currently hitting, roughly, .250.

They better be really good on defense is all I'm sayin'.

I think the only hall-of-famer in these deals, besides Nomar, of course, may be Matt Murton. I remember some caller to a talk radio show once raved about that guy, after seeing him in the Cape League, I believe. And the guy was really psyched that the Sox drafted him. Is it bad to say he may be a hall-of-famer based on just that? Yup. I'll take that chance, though, why the hell not, you only live once, depending on future scientific advances.

I will miss Nomar. I really wanted him to stay. How messed up would it be if the Cubs win it all this year?