In yesterday's game thread, Future Ed asked, "How many names are needed for a complete line up? 4?" and he proposed a lineup made up of Suzukis, Sweeneys, Ramirezes, and Sanchezes. I'm sure one could complete a lineup card with just three names, it's only a question of how deep one has to dig into the minor leagues to do it.

This suggests an amusing puzzle: What's the best team you can construct using only three last names? Go ahead and fill out the roster as far as you like, but I guarantee you'll be scraping the bottom of the barrel by the time you reach 25. Pitching counts, too. Try to come up with enough staff to get through a playoff series.

No restrictions on where the players come from, but every player is considered in terms of his talent right now. So if you want to promote someone from the minors (or college, or Japan) or bring someone out of retirement, go ahead ... but if he's not in the big leagues right now, it's probably because he isn't that good.

Here's my best effort:

Lineup:
• Hanley Ramirez, SS (Florida)
• Aramis Ramirez, 3B (Cubs)
• Manny Ramirez, LF (Boston)
• Melky Cabrera, CF (Yankees)
• Miguel Cabrera, 1B (Detroit)
• Ramon Hernandez, C (Baltimore)
• Orlando Cabrera, DH (White Sox)
• Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B (Cleveland)
• Jolbert Cabrera, RF (now playing in Japan, I think)

Bench:
• Luis Hernandez, 2B/SS (Baltimore)
• Alexei Ramirez, CF/2B/SS (White Sox)
• Yordany Ramirez, OF (Houston, AAA scrub)
• Anderson Hernandez, 2B (Mets, AAA scrub)
• Max Ramirez, C (Texas, AA prospect)

Rotation:
• Felix Hernandez (Seattle)
• Daniel Cabrera (Baltimore)
• Livan Hernandez (Minnesota)
• Horacio Ramirez (unemployed!)

Bullpen:
• Ramon Ramirez (Kansas City)
• Edwar Ramirez (Yankees)
• Fernando Hernandez (White Sox sent him back to AA)
• Erasmo Ramirez (now in AAA somewhere, I think)

I'm afraid I don't really have a fourth starter -- not until Orlando Hernandez comes off the DL, anyway. Ho Ram is terrible, but I don't have any better ideas. There's another Ramon Ramirez in Cincinnati's AA rotation. I suppose I could give him a try. My bullpen is also pretty thin, though there's probably a few more guys I'm not thinking of. (Baltimore's Fernando Cabrera is also on the DL.)

The top of my lineup looks great, but it falls off pretty dramatically at the end. If it were just the lineup, I could improve it by dumping Hernandezes for Lees (Derrek! Carlos! Cliff!), but then my rotation suffers. It's bad enough I don't have a fourth starter; I'm not willing to go out there without even a third.

Lots of other tempting names out there -- Rodriguez, Gonzalez, Jones, Johnson, and probably more I'm not thinking of -- but I couldn't get them to add up to a whole team.

Can you do better?

(Warning: If you take this challenge seriously, be prepared to waste a lot of time. I thought it would be fun to play around with it for a lark, and then the next thing I knew three hours had gone by....)