SC: The Scott Cashes

Infield: First baseman Sean Casey (1997-2008) was a very fine player without ever quite crossing that line into stardom. He was a .300 hitter with gap power and a good batting eye, and he had a good glove at first base. He scored 100 runs twice and drove in 99 twice. Third baseman Scott Cooper (1990-97) was OK but never quite broke through. (The Red Sox traded the young corner infielder Jeff Bagwell in part because they figured the young corner infielder Scott Cooper was blocking his path to the majors.) Shortstop Starlin Castro (2010- ) was the first major-leaguer born in the 1990s. He is still just a kid, but he is an emergent star with the Cubs - a .300 hitter with gap power who hits a ton of doubles and runs well. Time will tell if he develops any home run pop, and the verdict is still out on his defense, but he is clearly an impact player. Spider Clark (1889) was a utility player who emerges as the best candidate to start at second base.

Outfield: Wahoo Sam Crawford (1899-1917) was one of the great right fielders of all time. He holds the career record for triples, had almost 3,000 combined runs and RBI and just short of 3,000 hits as well. and was a flat-out electrifying player. He played alongside Cobb in the deadball era, and if he had played during the 1920s and '30s his numbers would look a lot more impressive. Center fielder Shin-Soo Choo (2005- ), a South Korean import, has established himself as a fine player with the Indians - a .300 hitter who is good for 20 homers and 20 steals. He has yet to score or drive in 100, but he draws walks and plays good defense and he's still in his prime. Left fielder Sam Chapman (1938-51) hit 180 home runs despite missing four years in his prime to military service during World War II.

Catcher: Sam Calderone (1950-54) is the best this team can do behind the plate. He batted .291 in 140 at-bats but never played regularly.

Rotation: They used to say of Steve Carlton (1965-88) that you knew a guy was a good pitcher if you called him “Lefty” and everyone knew exactly who you meant. Carlton was that good – 329 wins, and a historic season in 1972 that gets more impressive the more you look at it (27 victories for a team that only won 59, with a starting outfield that featured lummoxes in left and right and a first baseman in center). He had a sensational move to first base and holds the all-time records for both pickoffs and balks. He struck out 4,136 career strikeouts, and for a long period in 1983-84, Carlton and Nolan Ryan kept trading off the career record in that category - whoever had pitched more recently would edge back into the lead. Carlton was a fascinating guy, a workhorse with a fanatical fitness regimen that involved activities like exercising in a vat of uncooked rice to build up his leg muscles. He was smart but ornery, and when he felt like the press was not taking his philosophical beliefs seriously he stopped talking to reporters. Shortly before his induction to the Hall of Fame in 1994, Carlton startled everyone by giving an interview in which he touted a wide variety of paranoid delusions hinting at international bankers, Jewish conspiracies and mysterious helicopters, but he quickly distanced himself from that talk and has positioned himself as a respected, if eccentric, senior statesman. Stan Coveleski (1912-28), also a Hall of Famer, won 215 games. In the 1920 World Series he had three victories, all complete games, with an 0.67 ERA. Spud Chandler (1937-47) was a great pitcher for some great Yankees teams, and as a result he won 72 percent of his career decisions (109-43) and won the American League MVP in 1943. (By the way, if your name was Spurgeon Ferdinand, you’d go by “Spud,” too.) Sugar Cain (1932-28) was a fairly average pitcher who had real trouble finding the strike zone (you’d like to have twice as many strikeouts as walks, but Sugar had it the other way around). Steve Comer (1978-84) fooled batters for a while – at age 25, he went 17-12 with a 3.86 ERA despite just 86 strikeouts in 242 inning) – but you knew it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t. He was in the bullpen before too long, and he ended up 44-37 for his career.

Bullpen: Closer Sandy Consuegra (1950-57) was a Cuban who got batters out with smoke and mirrors for a few years (you don’t see many pitchers succeeding with a 4-to-1 ratio of hits allowed to strikeouts). Stew Cliburn (1984-88) pitched fairly well for a couple of years, and his twin brother is behind the plate. Steve Chitren (1990-91) and Scott Chiamparino (1990-92) pitched at the same time. They both came up young, looked pretty good, burned out fast, and to be honest, at this point it’s kind of hard to tell them apart. Steve Crawford (1980-91) gave the Red Sox a few pretty good years in his prime. Snipe Conley (1914-18) had a good year in the Federal League at age 20, and Slick Castleman (1934-39) was a reasonably good swing man whose name sounds like a compliment you’d pay to your friend’s new home (“Slick castle, man!”).

Bench: Infielder Scott Coolbaugh (1989-94) and outfielder Sil Campusano (1988-91) were touted as hot prospects but couldn’t even sustain major-league careers as role players. Outfielder Shano Collins (1910-25) was good enough to start for several years for the White Sox and Red Sox - a decent hitter with good wheels and a fine glove. Stan Cliburn (1990) is the backup catcher and the twin brother of one of the setup men. Sam Crane (1914-22) has an acceptable glove at shortstop but he wasn’t any kind of hitter. He will be Starlin Castro's defensive sub.

Manager: The Sam Crane who managed Buffalo and Cincinnati in the 1880s is not the same as the Sam Crane who starts at shortstop. They’re two different guys, although they look like they were similar players.