Red Sox no brainer re Damon & Ramirez

[Toro]

Despite having mediocre starting pitching, a disaster of a bullpen with no closer, lousy at first base, average at second, lousy at short, average at third, solid defensively but no great shakes offensively at catcher and mediocre at best in rightfield, they somehow managed to win 95 games and get into the playoffs.

With so many weaknesses/flaws, how did they do it? Well we all know how they did it. They did it on the backs of just three players who had outstanding seasons. Damon, Ortiz and Ramirez.

So to me it's a no brainer. There's no way they can trade Ramirez and they got to find a way to re-sign Damon. I'm not really panicking yet because I think at least hope this whole trade Manny thing is just a charade to appease the baby. And there appears to be no market for Damon, so hopefully that gets done too.

But if they lose one or both, I don't see how they compete for a playoff spot in 2006.