Time and PI articles still in sync

Both the Times and PI focus on decreased playing time for Edgar Martinez. Now that Bucky and Justin have "earned" semi-regular playing time, Edgar's role will diminish. He is a classy guy, so we have no reason to think he will handle this in anything but a great manner.

Regarding trading Edgar, how big a market can there be? I mean, clearly we are talking AL only teams, so who would even consider playing 'Gar?

NY- have plenty of DH bodies
Boston- Ortiz having a great year
White Sox- with Thomas being out, maybe?
Twins- unlikely
A's- can't see Beane and Bavasi making this trade
Angels- need pitching
Rangers- plenty of hitting, need pitching

I don't know, the market seems small and I'm not sure the M's would get anything back. We have to assume this is Edgar's final year, even if he hasn't figured that out. It would be nice if the M's and Edgar announce this is it and we give him a nice sendoff in September.

Regarding Bucky, it sure is fun watching him play. One gets the feeling with the M's you'd better start out fast, because the leash can be short. We saw with Putz he started out strong and the M's had patience they didn't show in the past. While we know Bucky and Leone will have poor stretches, the recent good play should help them stay in the lineup.

As far as the M's as a team, the pitching is as bad as we've seen in a long time. Freddy Garcia is currently 5th in ERA and 2nd in innings pitched in the AL. While Freddy is not coming back, someone will have to be indentified to take his place next year, because the crop of young pitchers coming up from Tacoma is not showing much.

Chalk up one more thing for the M's to acquire during the offseason- 1 or perhaps 2 starting pitchers.