Frayed Knot

Well if he is a FA it was almost certainly because the team cut him loose, not because of some pre-arranged sped-up time limit.

]Does this mean they think Duncan is ready for some point this coming season? If they do they're the only ones. Duncan actually regressed somewhat this past year before having a good AFL. There's also some question about his defense and about whether he'll even be a 3rd baseman in the future or need to move across the diamond. I don't believe that rumored trade for a second. Posada has an option for next year that kicks in at a very reachable # of games (90-some games started). IOW, he'll almost certainly be very expensive ($20mil or so) over the next 2 years. I don't see Philly taking on his $20 and Pavano's $30+ just to get Eric Frickin Duncan. Lieberthal's out after this year (I believe) and Abreu's reasonable.

'Chased Hard' is sportswriter speak for 'mentioned at least once'

Blyleven & Sutter represent two opposite sides of an argument: the guy who was very good for a long period vs one who was dominant but had a much shorter prime. I'd put Burt in before Bruce.

Say what?!? I didn't realize that a HR every 11.5 innings (19 in 217 IPs) was a lot.

Met fans have a new white whale to chase. Beltran, Delgado, Pedro & Wagner within a 12 month span just doesn't quite scratch that 'I wanna BIG name' itch enough.

A ballot weak with newbies is often good news for long-time 'just missing' types (or so the theory goes). Perhaps that's good news for the Blyleven, Sutter & Gossage rooting sections.

One of the tricks in having a bunch of players under long-term deals is not to have them all run out at the same time. If they're staggered you only need to replace a piece or two at a time. Of course if said players suddenly turn to shit before their deals run out then you're in hot water in any case. As of right now, this is what we're looking at for the final year of current long-term contracts ( * = option for the following season): [u:6b8ae2bb82]2006[/u:6b8ae2bb82]: Matsui Floyd Trachsel Glavine [u:6b8ae2bb82]2007[/u:6b8ae2bb82]: Benson * [u:6b8ae2bb82]2008[/u:6b8ae2bb82]: Delgado * Martinez [u:6b8ae2bb82]2009[/u:6b8ae2bb82]: Wagner * [u:6b8ae2bb82]2011[/u:6b8ae2bb82]: Beltran At some point soon we'll most likely be adding a catcher onto this list. (edited due to inability to count)

]Couldn't we have waited two weeks to sign him? Once you decide you want someone you don't go stalling for 2 weeks with nothing but hope that he'll still be available. Also, since Philly was apparently willing to go for 3 years at major money in a FA deal, shirley they would have offered BW arbitration. There'd be no downside to not doing so. So Philly gets our (#18?) draft pick. Maybe we offer arb to Looper and get one back if he signs elsewhere.

FAN (Eddie Coleman) reporting that Billy W. is coming to NYC to "finalize details". Stresses that he's not signed yet but expects that he will be so by this time tomorrow. Says it's for 4 years but no specifics beyond that. "He said Wagner Max. Wagner!"

Given the improvements, or anticipated improvements, made in other areas: 1st base, catcher, closer; plus having a few readily available replacement-level players for 2nd base: Keppinger, Andy-Handy; I'd roll the dice on getting at least a decent-enough season out of Matsui. There's talent in there somewhere and seeing it finally come out for a sustained period is as good a bet as many of the alternatives.

Newsday: BoSox reportedly to make offer to Wagner, maybe as soon as today.

Rule 1: When a player's RiSP numbers are considerably better than his regular numbers counting on them to continue to be that way in the future will likely leave you disappointed. Rule 2: Refer often to rule 1 Nice that Klapisch pulled that "clutch" number out of Manny's arsenal -- although one could probably find plently of contradictory numbers as well by looking around enough. Klapisch likely knows this (or he certainly should) but naturally he chose the one that makes for the best story. And speaking of Klapisch, while there's nothing "wrong" with the idea of that article, he follows the other two I mentioned by turning small tidbits: quotes saying, "we have a shot"; or un-named outside sources suggesting that progress has been made; into something more than it probably is in order to provide raw meat for the hungry masses.

In the meantime, these Manny-to-Mets rumors still won't go away. Both Newsday and the Times (and maybe others) mentioned it in their Sunday editions. Newsday's Jon Heyman - under a banner headline reading; Minaya Still Wants Manny - keeps the fires burning though really doesn't add much fuel. A second-hand quote attributed to Minaya saying; "I'm going for it", could mean almost anything, while another "mets official" characterizes things as "not impossible" all while admitting to numerous hurdles. And over at the old gray lady, Murray Chass warns us to "not be too stunned" if/when the stunning event occurs while also tossing in more of the same 'lotsa things need to fall in place first' kind of caveats. There's likely some truth to this stuff; after all, why shouldn't Omar check into things to see how badly Boston wants to deal? But I suspect that some of the usual press factors are at work here as well. 1) the usual warning about writers rooting for stories that make their jobs more interesting. Manny would certainly do that and so it's worth it to them to keep the embers warm and their fingers crossed. 2) an attempt by the scribes to not get scooped on this. If it does come through in the future they can always claim that they told us it was in the cards all along. 'See, right there, on November 27th, we said that ... '

Wow, videotape! And here I was thinking that Jesse's debut could have only been preserved in cave drawings.

This sounds like the OLD Steinbrenner theory; I'll pay decent players good money (or good players top money) and then expect that the money will turn them into what the salary imagines them to be. I'll then bitch and complain when that magically doesn't happen. After all, Beltran is making more money now than ever before so there's no reason why he can't set or match his career highs in every category at the same time because of it ... or is there? In fact, I'm thinking of overpaying for my next economy car so it will have a better chance of competing on the NASCAR circuit.

Multitudes of them ... or at least a fairly loud minority.

Carlos will have some questions to answer at the press conference (I think it's sked for Monday, no?) and I'm sure the scribes will make a big deal out of; a) the G-B-A "controversy" and his "anti-NYC" stance of last year Personally I don't care about either of these although those are questions that "need" to be asked. I am getting a kick out of some of the anti-Delgado sentiment I'm hearing from Met fans. On the one issue you'd swear he pissed on the constitution while wearing his bin Laden underwear. While on the other there are fans who are acting as if broken-hearted school girls who'll never speak to Carlos again after he ditch them on the way to the prom last year. Oh God, he spurned us once and I don't see how we can ever take him back". Geez get over it!

" ... others feel Molina's a better fit because of his post-season performance" A really dumb reason on which to base a decision.

I wouldn't have thought that Ryan would get that much per year ($9.4) OR that many years ... much less both. Toronto GM Riccardi, btw, is still denying the numbers or that there's a deal in place -- but that's just prolly because things aren't finalized yet.

Egg-cell-ant !!!

1) Wait until he's ready 2) Play him in the outfield somewhere

Wagner mentioned in an interview the other day that both Boston & Atlanta had expressed interest - but at the same time said he had no plans for more tour-like visits so who knows how strong their "interest" is, or even if it truly exists. Smart money at this point bleieves he'll wind up in either NY or Philly but stuff like Vlad to Ananheim have a habit of coming out of nowhere. I'd really like to stay away fom a 4th year, or even a Glavine-like option that can be reached by merely decent performance.

"How do you continue to punish one of the greatest hitters in the history of the sport because of his gambling habits" because he knowingly and intentionally broke the only rule of the game that has such a "death penalty" and in doing so he risked the integrity of the game -- and then continued to lie about it for decades. "... and then proceed to to jump in bed with the city that has encouraged those same destructive habits for millions of people for decades??" The same rules that insulate the game from becoming connected with gambling will still apply whether you're in a city that permits it legally or not. Object to Vegas if you want, but it in no way relates to Rose's situation.

He had me at ALL CAPS