Frayed Knot

As usual there's too many CFers and no corner guys. And as usual there's an incumbancy factor that rivals the House of Reps P - Maddux -- wasn't even a full-time pitcher by the end of the year C - Y. Molina -- OK I guess 1B - Adrian Gonzalez -- God choice 2B - Brandon Phillips SS - Jimmy Rollins 3B - Wright Zimmerman's better but didn't play enough this year. Feliz is too but the offensive gap is (wrongly) too big for some voters. Chipper never was better and certainly isn't now. OF - Beltran, Pitt's Nate McClouth (no doubt given for his offensive uptick year), Victorino

More goofball than asshat - and reportedly very popular with the other players (for whatever that's worth).

Just a thought but ... - he's rumored to be available from the ChiSox - can play either corner OF spot (CF in a pinch) and 1B - switch-hits (throws L) - turns 28 in a few weeks - is signed for the next few years: 2009 = $5.3mil; 2010 = 6.75; 2001 = $9.0; 2012 = $10.25/$1mil buyout Drawbacks you ask? ... well, he kinda fell off the table last year[/url:1n1r03vz] after a trade from Oakland to Chicago and I have no idea why. He lost 40 points of BA, 50 of OBA, and 45 of slugging (despite moving to a better hitter's park) off his usual season of 55-60 XBHs and a .260 avg But he might be the type of guy for a kind of challenge trade where you deal your disappointment for theirs. - Might Heilman-plus get it done? - Dare I say Castillo? (the Sox are moving their 2B Alexei Ramirez over to SS ) - or maybe the trade expands from there (Javy Vazquez) Like I said, just a thought.

"Omar is obsessed with getting .... "

Hey, at least there are NYM logos on that gating and not LAD

Not a big surprise: AJ Burnett opts out of the final two years of his contract w/Toronto making himself a FA. The Jays got more medical bills than innings out of that deal No surprise at all: Yanx decline the final year option on Jason Giambi (to the tune of a $5mil buyout - heh, heh) and Carl Pavano making them both FAs

Vizquel's only real value is as a SS and ours plays about 159x9 innings. Certainly not a PH, probably too old to be a PR. I'm sure he could play 2B but might not outhit the guy everyone wants to get rid of.

I'm not saying he fits here either - for a variety of reasons. But what I wouldn't do is use a handful of ABs to pronounce him as a lousy PH and reject him solely on that basis.

So that one "failed" PH AB is somehow proof that he's useless in that role for ever and ever afterward?

Rays will NOT pick up their option on Cliff Floyd

The Rox have also said that they will NOT continue to persue Fuentes. I wonder if that means that they also won't offer him arbitration?

Marlins pick up LHP Dan Meyer off waivers from Oakland. He was the one-time hot-shot prospect out of the Braves org who was the main trade bait in the Tim Hudson deal but never panned out. I hope he doesn't suddenly find himself now. Beane made out great in the Mulder deal with StL (Dan Haren & Daric Barton) but bombed out in dealing Hudson.

Brewers pick up their option on Mike Cameron. I like this move because I like Mile and think the Yanx were ready to pounce on him otherwise. Also in Milwaukee, Dale Svuem continues his tour of the bench positions, going from bench coach, to interim manager in 2008 ... and now to hitting coach for '09.

Murphy and Akroyd, two of my favorite SNL alumni ever, may have set a record for bad movies made in their post-TV careers. TP was one of the exceptions.

Valadius wrote: Someone explain why Doug Brocail is worth Type A compensation. The rankings are based on old-school style stats accumulated over the last two seasons. So Brocail, despite being about to turn 42, has rung up decent enough WHiPs, ERAs, W-L records and so on in each of the last two years to put him into the top 20% as compared to other relievers.

I'm not sure that this is official, but "according to documents obtained by SI.com" Jon Heyman's column lists the following FA types as determined by the Elias Bureau: Type A - Team receives (subject to arb procedures) a draft pick from the signing team + a supplemental pick Bobby Abreu Doug Brocail A.J. Burnett Pat Burrell Orlando Cabrera * Juan Cruz Ryan Dempster * Adam Dunn * Brian Fuentes Brian Giles Trevor Hoffman Bobby Howry * Orlando Hudson * Raul Ibanez * Derek Lowe Damaso Marte Jamie Moyer Mike Mussina Darren Oliver Oliver Perez Andy Pettitte * Manny Ramirez Edgar Renteria * Francisco Rodriguez CC Sabathia Ben Sheets Russ Springer * Mark Teixeira Jason Varitek * Kerry Wood Type B - Losing team receives Supplemental pick * Jeremy Affeldt Moises Alou Garret Anderson Luis Ayala Joe Beimel * Casey Blake Milton Bradley Paul Byrd Mike Cameron Alan Embree Eric Gagne Jon Garland Luis Gonzalez Ken Griffey Mark Grudzielanek LaTroy Hawkins Jason Isringhausen Randy Johnson Jeff Kent Paul LoDuca Braden Looper Mark Loretta Brandon Lyon Greg Maddux Brad Penny Denny Reyes Arthur Rhodes Ivan Rodriguez Rudy Seanez Brian Shouse John Smoltz Frank Thomas Salomon Torres Juan Uribe David Weathers Randy Wolf Gregg Zaun. * = rumored or possible NYM interest

Not bad for a 9th round draft pick with a 74-71 lifetime record.

I read that too. Clark never has to work again and spends his days hunting and/or golfing. Considering that the min wage is almost 400K these days a vet getting $1.7 isn't crazy and doesn't prevent them from persuing other options or lock them into keeping him as a starter. Mets officially picked up Delgado's option today.

The Rays are definitely a lot stronger (both at the ML level and on the farm) on the mound than at the plate so it's logical that they might want to deal arms for sticks at some point and one could see Kazmir as the bait. I'm not sure they're ready to do that just yet (they did the opposite last winter with Delmon Young for Garza) but they'll probably want OF help if/when they do.

]Is the new stadium on the right or on the left? Yes

Per Adam Rubin's blog: - Fernando Tatis signed a one-year deal to return to the Mets in 2009 Also, Matt Wise, Oliver Perez & Damion Easley filed for free-agency on the first day eligible.

Free agent filing period: first 15 days after World Series ends Nov. 3-6: General managers meetings, Dana Point, Calif. Nov. TBD: Rawlings 2008 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners announced Nov. 10: AL and NL Rookie of the Year award winners announced Nov. 11: NL Cy Young award winner announced Nov. 12: AL and NL Manager of the Year award winners announced Nov. 13: AL Cy Young award winner announced Nov. 17: NL Most Valuable Player award winner announced Nov. 18: AL Most Valuable Player award winner announced Nov. 20: Day to file reserve lists for all minor league levels and major leagues Dec. 1: Last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became ranked free agents in order to be eligible for compensation Dec. 7: Last day for free agents to accept an arbitration offer from former team Dec. 8-11: Winter meetings, Las Vegas Dec. 8: Hall of Fame Veterans Committee vote announced Dec. 11: Rule 5 Draft Dec. 12: Last day for teams to offer 2009 contracts to unsigned players Jan 5-15: Arbitration filing period Jan. 19/20: Exchange of arbitration figures Feb. 1-21: Arbitration hearings period Feb. 14-22: Mandatory reporting dates March 2-11: Teams may renew contracts of unsigned players March 5: World Baseball Classic begins (Tokyo, Japan) March 18: Last day to place a player on unconditional release waivers and pay 30 days termination pay instead of 45 days March 23: Second World Baseball Classic championship game (Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles) April 1: Last day to request unconditional release waivers without having to pay players' full 2008 salary April 5: MLB Opening Day

It's happened before. The contracts doled out from '01-'04 were considerably below what had gone on during the "dot-com era" boom of the late-90s into 2000 and really just re-reached that same point in the last 2-3 seasons. Not only were the per/year $ figures lower but the length of contracts shortened as well: Think of Giambi getting ~ 7 x $21mil; Helton @ 11 years!; Jeter, Manny & ARod for 10 each all circa $20/per; Thome I think got 7 years; plus long-term pitching deals for the likes of Hampton, Mussina, Kevin Brown, etc. Then a year or two later Vlad signed for "only" 4 x ~$14 while pitchers were pretty much held to 3 yrs or less. The last few years have seen the pendulum swing back towards big deals (Beltran, Zito, Santana, plus mid-level hurlers getting 4-5 years) and baseball in general is in good shape at the moment -- but there's no saying things won't nudge the other way again and a credit crunch is just the sort of thing that can do it. Also, attendence was down this past season. Only a shade, but that's the first non-gain in a number of years (maybe since the immediate post-strike seasons) and Bud has already warned teams about being overly optimistic when setting ticket prices.

3 Year comparison: Jacobs: 1,372 ABs - 354 H - 91 2Bs - 69 HRs - .258/.314/.483 Delgado: 1,858 ABs - 440 H - 92 2Bs - 100 HRs - .265/.343/.505 And the thing is you would tend to think that this is the sort of gap which would start big and get smaller as the remainder of Delgado's deal wound up but, if anything, the opposite happened as Jacobs's OBP went down each year.

Vic Sage wrote: I cannot understand those that decry the sentimentality of ET, and then turn around and vote for KARATE KID over the surreal delight of PEE WEE. And don't give me any "but, but" excuses, cuz everybody i know has a big "but". And once again a thread leads to Vic's butt