Sean,

I'm not certain, but I think you're mixing up the order of things. I believe the Yankees were pursuing Belle and willing to let Williams go. When Belle signed, and it was apparent that the Sox were close to getting Williams, the Yankees came back after Williams and got him for less money.

If I were in Williams' shoes, I would have had a hard time with the fact that the Yankees didn't want me until they lost out on Belle. Unfortunately, he didn't have a hard time and the rest is history.

It's a tough call. Ramirez is younger.

Interesting question. I wouldn't call Ramirez a DH just yet, though. He's been bothered by minor injuries this year, but when healthy, he's a pretty good LF. Williams is an excellent hitter; Ramirez is one of the 2-3 best hitters in the game, though he is having (for him) an off-year. It's very close.

I don't know how you can say Ramirez is having an off-year. this is his third best season; the last two were his two best. looks like he's declining a bit from his peak, not having an off year. while williams is underrated, there's no way he's more valuable to a team than manny, especially when he's in the outfield like he is most years.

jd,

I'm not saying that Carl for Adam was a win for the Astros because that definitely isn't the case. I do however wonder if Carl vs. what other player the Sox could have gotten for Adam is a win. I'm not so sure that the Sox wouldn't go in a different direction if Jim's son finishes that time machine he has been working on and sends a box of Baseball Weekly's back to Dan Duquette. I was very excited when Everett came on board as he was exactly what the Sox needed and appeared to plug a big hole, but it has been one big pain in the butt the last season and a half.

For what it's worth, Manny's VORP (that is, how many net runs he is worth over a replacement player) is higher than Bernie's for each of the last 2 years:

Manny 2001 - 61.6

Rich, VORP is great -- it's my metric of choice -- but it doesn't factor in intrapositional defense. I think Williams is going to pass Ramirez if you include that. Of course, I'm quibbling, because those numbers are all within the margin of error anyway. The three year age difference is very probably much more significant. Still, given Ramirez' health issues over the last two years, and given that Williams seems to have overcome the injury bug from earlier in his career, it's awfully close.

Either way, Ramirez isn't the Red Sox' problem... and neither, despite the PR issues and the off year, is Everett. If the Red Sox could get any offense at all out of the rest of the lineup, they win. The injuries to Nomar and Varitek were hardly Duquette's fault, but the lack of a 2B or 3B are.