Frayed Knot

[JoeMorgan]"See, this proves that computers and statistical analysis causes mental illness!"[/JoeMorgan]

btw YES did not even cover the Soriano introductory presser, sort of making his signing the corporate equivalent of hiring a minority in the 1950s but then sneaking the new guy in through the kitchen door lest anyone raise a fuss. But of course the station has a ton of other things on their plate during the winter months so maybe there wasn't time. There's the Francesa show for instance ... except that there was no time conflict in this case. There's also their Nets schedule and the occasional Ivy League hoops game ... except that the Soriano thing was in the morning so that wasn't a problem either. No, your friends at YES were showing an old Yanqui game at the time - specifically the Luis Castillo drop-pop game. Ahhh yes (or ahhh YES), journalism at its finest.

At least two articles in the past week or so - one was Bill Madden, I forget the other - suggested that it's looking increasingly like Cashman wants out. The spouting off in the news conference about the Soriano signing not being his idea was the major piece of evidence. There were also hints about him probably taking an even tougher stance with Jeter if left to his own devices (like two years tops or there's the door) and other such stuff. The idea is that he's wary (and probably weary) of being known as the guy who does little but write big checks (he's said that flat out) and is almost making it sound like he'd be happier in a small market job.

I'm not so sure I want to see pictures of what peeps are doing which caused them to put on their "Dickey Face"

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Mo Vaughn was covered by an insurance policy, but I think I read that these insurance policies on athlete contracts have become much more difficult, if not impossible, to get. The salaries have been getting higher and higher, and the risk of injury hasn't gotten any less. I think the premiums got so high that the prices were prohibitive. This. Insurance policies don't just come automatically with the signing, they have to be purchased separately and they're expensive. Pitchers, in particular, are very hard to insure and the final year of a deal is almost never covered. What teams are trying to avoid is taking the huge hit of someone getting injured near the beginning of a deal and being unable to play anymore so they purchase a policy to cover themselves in case of that event. But by the last year of a deal all you're out is the one year's salary so it's not worth paying a significant portion of that final year's pay just to cover that final season. What Meche is entitled to, of course, is his agreed-upon salary. To get it he'd likely have to remain a member of the team and probably undergo an operation and rehab as if he were working toward being a viable ML hurler again. Sounds like he simply doesn't want to go through the motions of doing that while he sticks KC with the bill. I don't think that's the choice I'd make in that position but I also don't already have set-for-life money and that we have here a situation where the two sides aren't treating each other like enemies to be gored at any opportunity isn't such a bad sign.

Just slightly higher than my expectations for Cindy Lou Hu

I expect Keith to refer to him as 'Jerry' at least once for every three days he's up with the big club.

Ashie62 wrote: I count 7 "currently" rostered (as of closing time, 2010): C Brad Ausmus (Dodgers, now FA) RP Craig Breslow (A's) UT Mark DeRosa (Giants) SP Ross Ohlendorf (Pirates) OF Fernando Perez (Rays, now Cubs) OF Will Venable (Padres) SP Chris Young (Padres, now FA) and they all suck. Yes, but in several languages.

Gwreck wrote: Michael Cuddyer DING DING DING!!! Magglio Ordonez spent the first half of his career with the ChiSox. LGGamesSincePLAYERAL2,2951995Derek JeterNL2,2611993Larry JonesNL1,9301997Todd HeltonAL1,7141995Jorge PosadaAL1,5882001Ichiro SuzukiNL1,5582001Albert PujolsAL1,5082000Michael YoungNL1,4942000Jimmy RollinsAL1,4781997Jason VaritekAL1,3931999Vernon Wells*AL1,3201998Eric Chavez*AL1,2342002Carl Crawford*AL1,2972001Brandon IngeAL1,1942001Brian RobertsNL1,0062003Chase UtleyNL1,0042004David WrightAL1,0002001Michael Cuddyer

Nope Final clue: He part of that large pack of players that came out of eastern Virginia in a relatively short span of time.

Brian Roberts is correct. Travis Hafner = 941 "Mr. 1,000" is an AL Central player who has played a variety of positions. LGGamesSincePLAYERAL2,2951995Derek JeterNL2,2611993Larry JonesNL1,9301997Todd HeltonAL1,7141995Jorge PosadaAL1,5882001Ichiro SuzukiNL1,5582001Albert PujolsAL1,5082000Michael YoungNL1,4942000Jimmy RollinsAL1,4781997Jason VaritekAL1,3931999Vernon Wells*AL1,3201998Eric Chavez*AL1,2342002Carl Crawford*AL1,2972001Brandon IngeAL1,1942001Brian RobertsNL1,0062003Chase UtleyNL1,0042004David WrightAL1,0002001

C'mon down Chase Utley - a full four years older than Wright he's just ahead of him in games played. LGGamesSincePLAYERAL2,2951995Derek JeterNL2,2611993Larry JonesNL1,9301997Todd HeltonAL1,7141995Jorge PosadaAL1,5882001Ichiro SuzukiNL1,5582001Albert PujolsAL1,5082000Michael YoungNL1,4942000Jimmy RollinsAL1,4781997Jason VaritekAL1,3931999Vernon Wells*AL1,3201998Eric Chavez*AL1,2342002Carl Crawford*AL1,2972001Brandon IngeAL1,1942001NL1,0062003Chase UtleyNL1,0042004David WrightAL1,0002001 * Streak will break with the beginning of 2011

**MISTAKE ALERT** -- the list should have included Carl Crawford who was well over the limit with Tampa Bay. I suspect the source I took this from must have pre-exed him from the list on account of his FA contract with Boston whereas the Wells trade just happened and the Chavez destination is up in the air.

Brandon Inge is also correct LGGamesSincePLAYERAL2,2951995Derek JeterNL2,2611993Larry JonesNL1,9301997Todd HeltonAL1,7141995Jorge PosadaAL1,5882001Ichiro SuzukiNL1,5582001Albert PujolsAL1,5082000Michael YoungNL1,4942000Jimmy RollinsAL1,4781997Jason VaritekAL1,3931999Vernon WellsAL1,3201998Eric Chavez**AL1,2972001Brandon IngeAL1,1942001NL1,0062003NL1,0042004David WrightAL1,0002001 Two infielders and one OF/IF remain

LGGamesSincePLAYERAL2,2951995Derek JeterNL2,2611993Larry JonesNL1,9301997Todd HeltonAL1,7141995Jorge PosadaAL1,5882001Ichiro SuzukiNL1,5582001Albert PujolsAL1,5082000Michael YoungNL1,4942000Jimmy RollinsAL1,4781997Jason VaritekAL1,3931999Vernon WellsAL1,3201998Eric Chavez**AL1,2972001AL1,1942001NL1,0062003NL1,0042004David WrightAL1,0002001 Incorrect answers so far: Jose Reyes Carl Crawford Mariano Rivera Chavez has declared for FA although I don't think he's signed anywhere yet and may not at all.

Vernon Wells getting dealt to the Angels will take him off the list of active players who have been with just one franchise and have surpassed 1,000 games played. Wells is currently in 10th place in terms of games played with one team on the list which, as of the end of the 2010 season, contained 16 such players with at least 1K appearances. Your mission - should you decide to accept it - is to come up with the other 15. The chart below gives the league, number of games played, and the season each first appeared as clues. All, not surprisingly, are non-pitchers. At least one other player (**) in addition to Wells looks to be a non-returner to his life-long team for 2011. Good luck Mr. Phelps. LGGamesSincePLAYERAL2,2951995NL2,2611993NL1,9301997AL1,7141995AL1,5882001NL1,5582001AL1,5082000NL1,4942000AL1,4781997AL1,3931999Vernon WellsAL1,3201998**AL1,2972001AL1,1942001NL1,0062003NL1,0042004AL1,0002001

Valadius wrote: Vernon Wells to the Angels for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera. That qualifies as a WOW!! Deal not official yet and the Jays are reportedly picking up at least some of Wells's contract, one which was pretty much modeled on the Beltran contract but still has $86 million to go over the next four years. Wells can opt out after the 2011 season when he draws $23 million but there's no way he's doing that when he can earn $21 million each in '12, '13 and '14.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Now that's a headline. Beats the hell out of 'All Purpose Buffalo Bisons Thread'

I expect him to get ZERO NYM ABs in 2011

Yeah, Andruw's cumulative WAR edge over Berkman is mostly a factor of two things: getting a good start while real young and racking up a bunch of defensive brownie points. Berkman's 1B and corner OF play I'm sure lags way behind, plus his offensive peak wasn't that long either.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: This is a well known dance danced by dance partners who've danced the dance and studied the dance ad nauseum. Both sides know every step of the dance and every variation. No one is shaking in their boots when the player's side declares that negotiations will end on such and such a date. To me, whatever Reyes said is an insignificant non-story that I'll probably forget about before the week's over. Personally, I'd bet that whatever conditions came out of the Reyes camp aren't worth the breath they traveled on and that the if the Mets really wanted to, they could sign Reyes whenever. Yup!

... it was funny that for awhile you could buy a baseball glove or a steak named after the same guy. And possibly both were made from the same critter.

Looks like he re-signed w/Az two days ago.

He's a FA from Arizona but I don't believe he's re-upped there and anywhere else at the moment.

Carl 'The American Idle' Pavano, the last remaining 'Type A' FA, re-ups with the Twins on a 2-year deal. Three 'Type B' FAs remain on the market: reliever Chad Qualls; reliever/wannabe starter Aaron Heilman; and infielder Felipe Lopez. If/when Qualls signs with a team other than the Rays it will give Tampa its [u[seventh sandwich pick and [u:30g597wb]11 of the first 77[/u:30g597wb] choices in next June's draft. Or they could re-sign him themselves and make do with only 10 of those picks.