The Yankees won a championship last year with Damon (same age as Blake), Jeter (year younger), Matsui (year younger), Posada (2 years older), Rivera (4 years older), Pettite (2 years older). Blake may not be the same caliber player, but if age wasn’t a factor for them, it doesn’t have to be for Blake.

Third base is a position at which it won’t be long before the Dodgers require a replacement. It might be this year, maybe not.

Expecting Repko to return to the infield is probably not very feasible. And yes, defense does count. A few botched plays at 3B is all that it would take to open some eyes. Besides, Repko’s bat is not big enough to carry his glove.

And while Repko has a marvelous outfield arm, so does the X-man. And it may well be that Paul has the better bat. Unless the Dodgers carry 5 outfielders (unlikely with a 12-man pitching staff), one of them will likely not break camp with them. I’m betting that Paul stays.

I still see signs that Martin could return to his old form. He hasn’t lost his ability to hit as much as he just needs to go back to what he used to do (and still does on occasion), which is take a balanced approach at the plate, and hit the ball where it’s pitched instead of trying to pull everything out of the park. And quite frankly, anyone who wants Molina needs to have their head examined. Yes, he’ll pop one out every once in a while, but will probably not approach the 20 HR he hit last year. And I don’t think we want his .285 OBP, which was only 20 points higher than his average. 68 strikeouts and 13 walks is not what we need. And Molina defines the word SLOW. Finally, his arm ain’t what it used to be, and it will probably get worse. He might even challenge Blake for team geezer.

There are 4 NL West third baseman currently in the top 15 and Casey Blake ain’t one of them. He faded out completely last year and he isn’t any younger. I sure hope he stays on the field, because we have nobody to replace him. But, I wouldn’t count on .280 with 79 rbi again. Not on this team.

In Beard We Trust!