GUESS WHO'S BACK BACK AGAIN THEO'S BACK TELL A FRIEND

Did he walk back into the building in the mascot suit?

If this were a Peter King column it would start like this.

- Wild guess: Luis Matos will be the new Red Sox CF in 2006.

We'll cast our opinion on a host of personnel moves. Our breadth is incredibly widespread.

To wit:

Jerry Bailey retires from jockey "work" to become a commentator.

Jerry Bailey is a horrible interview and an even flimsier pretext for a person.

I don't sanction horse racing even since I read James Herriot's books about being a vet in the Yorkshire Dales.

The Lions hire Rod Marinelli to coach the team. Lions fans cry, cry again.

Marinelli is a nutcase, and the Lions won't win anything. I would have waited for Russ Grimm.


Dodgers trade Duaner Sanchez for Jae Seo. Dodgers trade Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez to the A's for Alex Ethier. Dodgers trade Edwin Jackson and Chuck Tiffany for Danys Baez and Lance Carter.

The Dodgers traded away a provence of young talent while getting players who won't be with the team past 2006. This is the trouble of having to satisfy a win-now fanbase. Ned Colletti might increase his popularity in LA now that they have a very good chance to win this division. Money may pay his way out of trouble, but for now I think you have to question what's he done this off-season. Signing Bill Mueller was a non-reaction, and with the fragility in this lineup (Nomar!) I'd be very shocked if Heep Seep Choi didn't end up taking somebody's at bats. But inflexibility within the infield will raise its head at some point. They may be hoping Cesar Izturis comes back strong.

New York Jets hire Eric Mangini to be their head coach.

While Mangini was a no worse choice than the usual retreads, and his work ethic is unquestioned, the Jets face tough decisions. They should part ways with Chad Pennington and Curtis Martin while selecting a young quarterback if they can. If you're looking to the free agent market for a quarterback, you're not exactly going to have your pick.

As a sidenote, I'm really interested to see where Shaun Alexander goes. It may depend entirely on how successful this Seahawks team is.

Theo Epstein returns to the Boston Red Sox.

Their planning was basically textbook Theo, from parting ways with Renteria, the big free agent signing (admitted where he'd erred) to building the most solid farm system in baseball not managed by a Brian Sabean disciple. The young Sox pitching is legit, and will be helping the big club now. As for CF, here are my top five candidates to play CF for the Red Sox in 2005.

5. Ron Artest
4. Ken Griffey Jr.
3. Willie Harris
2. Dave Roberts
1. Luis Matos

- Interesting Jim Callis tidbits from an ESPN Chat. (Callis is a Baseball America writer.)

Matt (Boston, MA): It seems that most teams overhype their own prospects but is Jon Lester going to be as good as advertised (a #1 starter)?

SportsNation Jim Callis: There are very true No. 1 starters, and I wouldn't say anyone is a sure thing. But I will say this--after Francisco Liriano, Jon Lester is the top lefthanded pitching prospect in baseball. I don't think many teams would dispute that.

am Kim, Cerritos, CA: This is kind of out of the blue, but do you ever see baseball scrapping the compensation system and allowing teams to trade draft picks? And if trading of picks occured, do you see a majority of picks being hoarded by the big market teams or small market teams?

SportsNation Jim Callis: It's a good question, Sam. There are some strong proponents of trading draft picks, but also some strong opponents. If you look at how certain agents already manipulate the draft process by pricing their players over the budgets of less-desirable teams, what would stop agents from forcing those clubs to trade the picks to teams with more money? Or to have a player demand a trade a specific team?

I have always liked the NBA system the best.