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Dick Scanlon recalls a big game of 2005. It was played in Tampa Bay, but celebrated in Japan. Hideo Nomo was going for his 200th major league win:

Nor did anybody care much about Nomo, except for a pack of about 30 Japanese journalists assigned to cover his every move and record his every word. Under normal circumstances, the pack would be pursuing Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui, today's Japanese stars. But these were not normal circumstances in Japan, where this Devil Rays-Brewers game was carried on live television at 8 a.m.

I kept thinking of those folks eating breakfast around their television sets on the other side of the world. They must have wondered why almost all the seats were empty, why Nomo's big moment was attracting so little attention in the country where baseball had been invented.

It was an eerie feeling watching what was regarded as a celebrated event somewhere else, yet looked and sounded like a funeral where it was being played.

Sam Perlozzo is trying to speak with Tejada about Miguel's gripes, but can't get trhough to him:

Whether he stays or goes, Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo would like a chance to hear Tejada's gripes first-hand. Perlozzo has twice left messages on Tejada's answering machine, but neither was returned. Since then, at least one of Tejada's Orioles teammates has left a message on the machine and almost immediately received a response from the shortstop.

"My frustration is that I wish Miggy would call me back," Perlozzo said. "My frustration comes in the fact that we don't need to discuss this in the media. I wish he'd call me so I could tell him what we want to do."

Perlozzo said he thought he and Tejada respected each other.

"Lord knows in two years we worked extremely hard together and ... I thought I had a good relationship with him. I wish I had an opportunity to" talk to him, the manager said.

The more I read about the Tejada situation, the more I feel he wants to be traded more than he wants the Orioles to win. He says publicly he doesn't want to be traded, then his agents work for a trade. He talks to the press but not to management.

Billy Sample once told me it's easy to get traded. You just need to get management angry at you. It looks like Tejada is going down that road.

Bob Sikes was a trainer for the Mets from 1980 through 1991. He started in their minor league system and worked his way up to assistant trainer with the major league team from 1985 to 1991. He's writing a remembrance of that time and is looking for a publisher. Here's a sample of his writing as he remembers game 6 of the 1986 NLCS against the Houston Astros, one of the great games in playoff history.

Bob is currently a science teacher and head girls soccer coach at Crestview High School in Crestview, Florida.

I thought Pokey Reese might be a solution to the Red Sox hole at shortstop, but the Florida Marlins signed him. Reese can't hit, but he had a good glove at short, so at least he could have provided the Sox with some defense. He'll be flashing the leather in Miami, instead.

The alledged murderers of Dernell Stenson are set to go on trial. It looks like one of them will cop a plea to avoid the death penalty.

Court records suggest that a psychological exam of suspect Reginald Riddle caused a panel of prosecutors to reconsider seeking the death penalty.

The trial for Riddle, 21, is set to begin Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court in the death of Dernell Stenson, a Cincinnati Reds prospect.

Stenson, 25, was found slain on Nov. 5, 2003, on a street in suburban Chandler.

David Griffith, a 22-year-old co-defendant, is set to go to trial on March 6.

Riddle's defense attorney, Steve Koestner, said the state and defense have been meeting to resolve the case with a plea agreement.

Miguel Tejada continues to be upset with the Orioles lack of moves:

"If the Orioles don't do anything, I want them to trade me because I am tired of losing,'' Tejada said before a winter league game.

If he isn't traded by the Orioles, Tejada said he would "respect the game as I have always done.''

"I am not asking for a team of superstars, I only want a good group that helps me to win,'' he said.

Miguel, it's supposed to be "help us to win." You're a member of a team. Believe it or not, the Orioles don't exist to get you a championship.

Funeral services for Elrod Hendricks were held today.

At least 50 former Orioles players, coaches and clubhouse personnel were in attendance, including Hall of Famers Earl Weaver, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer and Eddie Murray, as well as Cal Ripken, Boog Powell, Rick Dempsey, Ken Singleton, Mike Flanagan, B.J. Surhoff and Paul Blair.

That's certainly an all-star send off. Be sure to check out the photo essay as well.

Kevin Millwood officially joined the Texas Rangers today. As expected, the Rangers are calling the deal a four-year contract. Millwood put up a good attitude about the park:

The steady righthander, last year’s American League ERA leader, said the ballpark’s powers of ERA destruction were of no consequence. He signed a four-year, $48 million deal (with an incentive-laden option that could nudge it into five-year, $60 million territory.)

“The way I look at it, when I go out on the mound, there’s a guy on the other team that’s pitching in the same park,” Millwood said. “The numbers might not be are great as they are in some other parks. But the final thing is all about winning.”

He's also not fazed by becoming the ace:

“You can number your starters one through five if you want,” Millwood said. “But every guy that goes out there has got to pitch like a No. 1 guy. If you don’t then you’re in trouble.”

He's off to a good start with that press conference.

Kevin Millwood officially joined the Texas Rangers today. As expected, the Rangers are calling the deal a four-year contract. Millwood put up a good attitude about the park:

The steady righthander, last year’s American League ERA leader, said the ballpark’s powers of ERA destruction were of no consequence. He signed a four-year, $48 million deal (with an incentive-laden option that could nudge it into five-year, $60 million territory.)

“The way I look at it, when I go out on the mound, there’s a guy on the other team that’s pitching in the same park,” Millwood said. “The numbers might not be are great as they are in some other parks. But the final thing is all about winning.”

He's also not fazed by becoming the ace:

“You can number your starters one through five if you want,” Millwood said. “But every guy that goes out there has got to pitch like a No. 1 guy. If you don’t then you’re in trouble.”

He's off to a good start with that press conference.

Talking Chop finishes up their three part interview with John Schuerholz of the Atlanta Braves.

Jon Weisman interviews John C. McGinley of Scrubs on his favorite subject, baseball.

Jon Weisman interviews John C. McGinley of Scrubs on his favorite subject, baseball.

A Red Sox fan explains why he's rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Maury Brown misses Charlie Finley. He's writing a two part series on the former A's owner at Baseball Analysts. Part I is here.

It would be nice to have a dissident voice like Finley's among today's ownership. Selig does a very good job of keeping all arguments between the owner in house, but I'd love to hear the other ideas that are surely discussed at owner's meetings.

The Pirates signed Joe Randa on Wednesday to play third base. I like the spin by the author of the article:

Randa, 36, hit 17 home runs and drove in 68 runs while batting .276 with a .335 on-base percentage for the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres last season. Over the course of his 10-year major-league career, Randa has produced 119 home runs, 711 RBI, a .285 batting average and a .240 on-base percentage. His lifetime fielding percentage is .962.

Basically, he is a lot like Bill Mueller, whom the Pirates tried in vain to sign earlier this month.

Bill Mueller, with a 30 point lower OBA. The move will likely keep the Pirates third base prospect in the minors:

Such a move would also mean that power-hitting third-base prospect Jose Bautista -- 23 home runs and 90 RBI in 445 at-bats for Double A Altoona last season -- likely will start the 2006 season at Class AAA Indianapolis.

Is Bautista really a prospect at this point? He's 25 years old. If you're not in the majors by the time you're 25, you're not going to have much of a career. The truth is the Pirates needed a third baseman, and Randa is the best they can do.

Update: There's a typo in the original story quoted above. Randa has a .340 career OBA, not a .240 OBA.

Chad Bradford signed with the Mets yesterday.

"When you're a guy with a unique delivery and you switch leagues and guys have no history with you, it's a great advantage," Met pitching coach Rick Peterson said yesterday. "He's been a dominant ground-ball pitcher. Before the back problem, he was a premier right-on-right specialty guy because he gets grounders. "He had a couple of big years for us in Oakland, facing the best righthanded hitters in the league."

Bradford indicated that knowing Peterson was one of the reasons he picked the Mets. "New York is a great situation for me," Bradford said. "I worked with Rick Peterson in Oakland and I know what he can do. With all the offseason additions, I'm sure the Mets will be contending for a playoff spot and I want to do all I can to help."

I was hoping Colorado would give the submariner a try, but I understand why Chad would want to play for the Mets.

The Diamondbacks found their stop-gap in center field by signing Eric Byrnes to a one-year contract. Byrnes doesn't have a great OBA for his career. Josh Byrnes was talking about a better OBA for the team yesterday, but I don't see how this move helps that.

If you missed tonight's show, you can hear the recorded version here. It's also available on demand at TPSRadio.

The Baseball Musings Radio Show is coming up in a little while at 8 PM EST. You can leave questions during the show in the TPSRadio Chat Room.

I was doing some research for my radio show tonight, and I wanted to see just how good Damon was as a leadoff man. Here's a table of OBA batting in the #1 slot over the last three seasons, minimum of 500 plate appearances:

Batter	OBA
Jason Kendall	0.386
Derek Jeter	0.380
Ryan Freel	0.377
Ichiro Suzuki	0.373
Brady Clark	0.373
Brad Wilkerson	0.372
Matt Lawton	0.366
David DeJesus	0.364
Johnny Damon	0.363
Ray Durham	0.360
Jerry Hairston Jr.	0.358
Chone Figgins	0.357
Brian Roberts	0.356
Shannon Stewart	0.356
Juan Pierre	0.355
Grady Sizemore	0.353
Eric Young	0.353
Craig Counsell	0.351
Ronnie Belliard	0.349
Kenny Lofton	0.349
Michael Young	0.349
Rafael Furcal	0.348
David Eckstein	0.346
Mark Kotsay	0.345
Marlon Byrd	0.343
Scott Podsednik	0.343
Craig Biggio	0.342
Reed Johnson	0.342
Jimmy Rollins	0.341
Sean Burroughs	0.340
Dave Roberts	0.340
Alfonso Soriano	0.335
D'Angelo Jimenez	0.333
Felipe Lopez	0.327
Alex Sanchez	0.325
Carl Crawford	0.325
Tony Womack	0.321
Willy Taveras	0.321
Aaron Miles	0.319
Cesar Izturis	0.317
Coco Crisp	0.312
Jose Reyes	0.297
Endy Chavez	0.293

What's clear is that Jeter is a much better leadoff hitter than Damon, and I'd bat them Jeter-Damon rather than the other way around. However, from what I can tell, Damon prefers to bat leadoff and Jeter second, so it's likely they'll be happier with the proposed arrangement.

It's continues to shock me that there are no great leadoff men anymore. There should be two or three players capable of generating a .400 OBA from the leadoff slot. No wonder Rickey Henderson believes he can still play in the majors. The best leadoff man in terms of getting on base is a catcher!

The White Sox and Jon Garland avoided salary arbitration today and put off free agency for two years. Chicago inked Garland to a three-year contract:

Garland, who was scheduled to become a free agent after the 2006 season, will earn $7 million next season and $10 and $12 million the two following years.

Garland, 26, had his finest year last season in helping the Sox to their first World Series title in 88 years, going 18-10 with a 3.50 earned-run average. He was named to the American League All-Star team after a first half in which he went 13-4, including an 8-0 start.

In a way, free agency came a year early for Garland. He certainly would command the $11 million a year he'll earn over the last two years of this contract. He'll also still be young enough for a big payday if he decides to test free agency at the end of the 2008 season.

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Richard Griffin is calling out the Blue Jays fans:

Many are the fans who for the last four years were outspoken in boycotting the Jays because they were clearly not trying to compete. These same fans must now step up and spend their own money to buy tickets for a team that has committed the funds experts believed it had to in order to be competitive.

Not everyone among the general populace is so obliged, just those who had been ripping the organization since the Jays cut payroll after the hiring of general manager J.P. Ricciardi in 2002.

Countless were the times I heard fans claim they didn't go to games because the Jays were cheapskates. They claimed, convincingly, that as soon as the Jays stepped up to the financial plate and spent the money to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox, they would return to the Rogers Centre. That time for digging deep is now.

Josh Byrnes talks about the Troy Glaus deal and the future of the Diamondbacks.

"There are a lot of ways to score runs," Byrnes said. "I think last year the Diamondbacks were third in home runs and 10th in runs. I think our lineup this year will probably have a little less power and a little more tough at-bats and on-base ability and speed and the ability to score, one through eight.

"To the extent that we gave up some power, I don't think we gave up offense."

It's good spin, but I'm not sure how true it is. Certainly Hudson's strength is his defense, not his offense. The DBacks are expecting a lot out of Conor Jackson and Johnny Estrada. Given that Estrada had one good offensive year at age 28, the OBA is going to need to come from Jackson.

It's likely the Diamondbacks will be weaker offensively in 2006.

The Blue Jays and Diamondbacks completed the deal for Troy Glaus today.

The Arizona Diamondbacks traded power-hitting Troy Glaus and top minor league shortstop prospect Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday for gold glove second baseman Orlando Hudson and pitcher Miguel Batista.

The Blue Jays were not exactly weak at third base. Toronto third basemen posted a .361 OBA with 52 extra-base hits in 2005. With Overbay at first, Koskie may move to DH or be packaged to another team.

Glaus is one of my favorites, especially before injuries took their toll on his playing time. His resurgence at the end of the 2002 season helped the Angels to their only World Championship. He'll bring some needed power to the Blue Jays lineup.

The Diamondbacks are getting a fine defensive second baseman in Orlando Hudson. He led American League second sackers in fielding win shares in 2005. He's no offensive threat, however. Batista became expendable with the acquistion of B.J. Ryan. Batista came to closing late in his career and did a decent job. He doesn't blow people away; his 6.5 K per 9 in 2005 doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the 9th inning. It looks to me like a pretty good trade for Toronto.

Correction: Arizona is getting Hudson.

Jose Vidro joins Alfonso Soriano in not wanting to move from second base.

Soriano has said he won't change positions, and Vidro said he won't either.

Soriano "is a tremendous plus for the team. But I'm a bit confused about what can happen if he doesn't want to play left field," Vidro told the local daily, El Nuevo Dia for Tuesday's editions.

Maybe the Nationals can think outside the box to satisfy both players. Instead of the shortstop moving for a shift on a left-handed batter, just bring in Soriano from left. The team doesn't expect a lefty to go the other way if there's a shift on, and this will give Alfonso a chance to play the infield, especially against Barry Bonds. Of course, the winner of a Celebrity Death Match works too.

Talking Baseball sums up the Red Sox off season.

Former closer Jeff Reardon is closed in right now after being arrested for robbing a jewelry store:

A four-time all-star who earned more than $2 million a season at the height of his 16-year career, Reardon walked into a jewelry store on Monday and "handed an employee a note stating that they were being robbed and that he had a gun," Palm Beach Gardens Police said in a news release.

Reardon was arrested at a nearby restaurant and the stolen money was recovered, police said.

Since Johnny Damon signed with the Yankees, I've had a number of discussions with family and friends about the money earned by ballplayers. At some point, the question is asked, "When they're earning that much money, what difference does a few million dollars make?"

Any ballplayer who lasts long enough to become arbitration eligable should be set for life. What we tend to forget, however, is that large earnings tend to lead to large spending habits. Bobby Grich, who made good money in his era, retired broke. Ron Guidry went bankrupt while he was still pitching. Jack Clark made bad investments. It's amazing how many of these stars never plan for their future, as if they're going to be making big money forever.

Reardon's case is an especially sad one. If the story is true, he'll be spending time in entirely different kind of pen.

Update: According to this article in the Star Tribune, Reardon is not having financial difficulty. Jeff is blaming drugs he's taking:

He said Reardon had a 20-year-old son who died of a drug overdose in February 2004, which "has been very difficult for him and his family,'' and has been on medication for depression. Reardon, who is married and has two other children, also underwent a heart angioplasty last week and has been taking medication for that.

"He asked me to apologize to his fans and friends,'' Beers said. "This bizarre incident is completely uncharacteristic of Jeff Reardon.''

We'll wait and see how this one turns out.

Update: There seems to be some controversy over my statement that Bobby Grich retired broke. I'm working from memory, but I remember reading Grich being quoted on the subject when he left baseball in 1986. A couple of people have pointed out a 1990 article that suggested Grich was doing very well for himself. It's possible both are true. Grich, I believe, would be entitled to a pretty good pension, given his years of service and earning power during that time. It also could be that Grich, when he said he was broke, was talking about free cash instead of assets. Anyway, that's what I remember, and I'm glad he didn't stay broke.

The Cleveland Indians signed former Oriole and Tiger Jason Johnson to a one-year, $4 million contract. He'll take the spot in the rotation occupied by Kevin Millwood. Johnson has a 4.88 ERA. Why did Cleveland agree to put such a pitcher in their rotation? Let's look at his walk and strikeout rates over his career:

Jason Johnson, career.

Season	Seasonal Age	Kper9	BBper9
1997	23	4.5	1.5
1998	24	5.4	4.05
1999	25	5.54	4.292
2000	26	6.604	5.099
2001	27	5.235	3.536
2002	28	6.647	2.81
2003	29	5.599	3.796
2004	30	5.72	2.746
2005	31	3.986	2.1

Johnson's improved his walk numbers greatly over the last few seasons. Unfortunately, his strikeout numbers sank to a new low in 2005, not reaching four per 9. So batters put a lot of balls in play against Johnson. The Indians, however, play excellent defense, posting the 2nd best DER in 2005 in the American League. That means they can cover up Johnson's weakness in strikeouts, while taking advantage of his strength in walks. He's a cheap fifth starter who should give the Indians 200 innings, and he won't kill the team because of the defense behind him.

The Texas Rangers land a big name free agent pitcher, signing Kevin Millwood to a quasi five-year deal:

Millwood is the first pitcher to get a five-year deal from Texas since Chan Ho Park. The Rangers had said repeatedly that they wouldn't give out five-year contracts for pitchers again after the club's ill-fated signing of Park for $65 million before the 2002 season.

But they made an exception for Millwood, a front-line starter who should lead a rotation that has been reshaped this off-season.

The fifth year depends on Millwood reaching a certain level, so I guess the Rangers will argue it's not really a five year deal. Are they getting another Chan Ho Park, however?

The thing that struck me about Park at the time of the Texas deal was Chan Ho's home/road breakdown. Park's ERA in his time with the Dodgers was almost two runs worse away from Los Angeles. It's not clear why, however. Park walked a few more people on the road, but struck out more and his home runs allowed were nearly the same. What's clear is that many more balls in play were falling for hits away from Chavez Ravine. There was something about Dodger Stadium that greatly benefited Park, and that benefit did not exist on the road.

Millwood's been pretty even home and road (having called a few different parks home over the years). What should be encouraging to the Rangers are his splits at Citizens Bank Park, a park with a high home run index. According to The Bill James Handbook 2006, Texas has a home run index of 119, second highest in the AL. Philadelphia has an index of 121, second in the NL. Millwood allowed just eight home runs in Philadelphia in 2004 vs. six on the road. Part of it may be that Millwood was willing to intimidate batters, as he hit six at CBP but just one on the road that year.

So the home/road problem isn't there for Millwood. The evidence is that ball parks don't effect him very much. My big question is, do the Rangers believe they are getting the AL ERA leader? Millwood's league leading ERA in 2005 was due to a combination of luck and good defense. His DIPS ERA (3.88) was a run higher than his actual ERA (2.86). Millwood pitched extremely well with runners in scoring position last season, something that is out of character with previous seasons.

What the Rangers have is a pitcher that's capable of posting an ERA in the low fours. Given the level of offense Texas produces every year, Millwood can win a lot of games with that level of pitching. That makes him worth a lot of money to the Rangers. We'll know just how much when the contract is finalized.

Via the USA Today Salary Database, I calculate the total salary paid in 2005 was $2.135 billion. With that number in hand, we can calculate how much a win cost in 2005. Since there are 15 *162 games, there are 15*162 wins. That makes the cost per win about $880,000 dollars.

We can calculate win shares for each player. Each win share is worth 1/3 of a win, or approximately $293,000 per win share.

I bring this up because I wonder just how much the Yankees are overpaying for Johnny Damon. Damon posted 25 win shares in 2005. That was worth 7.3 million (the Red Sox paid 8.2 million). Damon would need to post 44 win shares in 2006 for his contract to be worth the money in terms of win shares.

Of course, everything balances. Damon is getting over paid now for above average past performances. Jason Bay put up 30 win shares last year, worth 8.8 million but only received $660,000. At some point, he'll be over payed for this season, too.

Jack McKeon already wants to get back into baseball. He's bored by retirement:

''I'm a turnaround specialist,'' said McKeon, the most successful manager in Marlins history. ``I would probably like evaluating talent or being on the field. I wouldn't mind being a bench coach. Something I can do where I don't have to sit around and make a lot of reports out.

``So if someone calls, I'll listen. I'll go back.''

Maybe he should start a blog. :-)

Tracy Ringolsby points out that in addition to having one of the lowest payrolls in the majors, the Rockies are shedding a good deal of money owed to former players:

The Rockies will have only minimal demands on their payroll the next couple of years for players no longer on their roster.

They owe Florida $2 million in 2006 and 2007 and $2.5 million in 2008 to offset the Mike Hampton contract, and then, from 2009-2012 they owe Hampton $1.5 million annually for his buyout.

If and when their current crop of players develop, Colorado should have the money to keep the good ones around.

Bob Keisser of the Press Telegram in Long Beach tells us why he likes Ned Colletti:

There are two reasons why so many members of the local media approved the hiring of Ned Colletti as the Dodgers' General Manager, despite his having spent so many years among the pinot lovers in 'Frisco.

1. He's a regular guy because he's a former sportswriter.

2. He's a smart guy because he got out of the sports writing business.

If nothing else, the move to hire Colletti was a great public relations move after having DePodesta ripped for two years in the press. Keisser likes Colletti's moves so far because Bob believes Ned's improved the team without sacrificing the farm system:

He didn't have to trade a single prospect to restock the lineup for 2006, and in fact got one back from Oakland in the Bradley and Antonio Perez deal.

How is this different from what Keisser believes DePodesta would have done?

If McCourt hadn't made the change, DePo probably would have hired Terry Collins as manager, and would have stuck Sergio Robles at shortstop until Cesar Izturis was healthy, and asked that Antonio Perez, Willy Aybar and Norihiro Nakamura compete for the third-base job, and that Choi and Saenz split playing time at first-base, and McCourt find it in his heart to keep Bradley.

There probably isn't a single player Colletti signed that DePo would have pursued certainly not Furcal, Nomar or Lofton.

The DePo Dodgers of 2006 would have looked a lot like the 2005 Dodgers, and also been cost-efficient. Colletti's signings gives the team better brand name parts and he got McCourt to open his wallet in the process.

And it didn't cost the Dodgers their future. Baseball America, the ultimate arbiter of prospects and minor league player depth, says the Dodgers system is flush with talent that is due to arrive between 2006 and 2008.

To sum up, according to Keisser, DePodesta wanted to wait for the minor league talent to develop, keeping money in the owners' pocket while that happened. Colletti's hired stop gaps until that happens. Bascially, both are working toward a good, young team in 2008.

But Colletti's a regular guy, so his plan is better. :-)

I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday!

The Dayton Daily News reports on a nice gesture by Sean Casey toward the fans of Cincinnati:

How many professional athletes would take the time (and money) to say, "Dear Reds fans," as Casey did in the ad. "In the middle of this holiday season, my family and I wanted to thank the baseball fans of Cincinnati, the friends we made and the charities and children we worked with over the last eight years. We will cherish those memories for the rest of our lives. ... A piece of my heart will always be in Cincinnati. Bless you all."

Although I've never met Sean, we have a mutual friend who is a priest. It doesn't surprise me that a friend of Father Paul would send a message like this to his fans.

The other day I wondered how much more the Yankees had to pay to get Johnny Damon away from Boston. Cashman answered that at the press conference yesterday:

Cashman phoned Damon over the weekend.

''At that point," Cashman said, ''he was disgruntled with how the process had gone with the Red Sox negotiation for whatever reason, but he was also honest in the fact that he had a very strong bond with that fan base. Separating himself from that Red Sox Nation -- and I thought this from the very beginning -- was going to be more difficult than getting him away from the Red Sox team. That was the biggest hurdle.

''He gave me some honest answers. All things being equal, he would stay there. I knew we had to pay a separation."

So what was the premium for separation?

Through reading the papers and doing his homework, Cashman said, ''I was estimating they were probably at $11.5 million for four years." Thus, if the Yankees were to offer $12 million a year for four seasons, Cashman felt ''we were going to lose him, because he was going to stay where he was comfortable." So, Cashman went to $13 million per year.

''I wasn't going to go higher," he said.

Cashman probably over-estimated the Red Sox offer, but I bet if Boras had gotten the Red Sox in a back and forth with the Yankees, they would have gone that high. Cashman thwarted that as well:

''I felt we had to . . . make him make a decision now," Cashman said. ''Over time, he was just going to wind up staying [in Boston], I thought, because they would maybe increase their offer."

The Yankee GM called Boras Tuesday and said, ''If it doesn't work out, we're pulling out and we'll announce [we're out of the running for Damon]."

And that, of course, would put the Red Sox in the drivers seat with Boras. Scott knows a good deal when he sees it, and Damon's a member of the Yankees.

The Cubs and Orioles are reportedly in discussions over Miguel Tejada. It's sounds like a discussion between two bad fantasy GMs so far:

According to team and industry sources, the most serious discussions the Orioles are having about Tejada appear to be with the Chicago Cubs, who are dangling a package that includes standout right-handed pitcher Mark Prior.

According to industry sources, however, the Cubs want Orioles left-hander Erik Bedard included in the deal and don't want to trade top outfield prospect Felix Pie, whom the Orioles covet. The Orioles also are slightly wary of Prior's recent history of elbow troubles and would prefer obtaining Carlos Zambrano, but the Cubs reportedly have no interest in trading him.

It seems to me the Cubs could really use Tejada. With the Cardinals doing a poor job of rebuilding and Clemens out of action, the NL Central is wide open. Landing Tejada makes the Cubs a different team (remember, the alternative right now is Neifi Perez). The Cubs shoud decide who is untouchable, then offer the Orioles their pick of two or three players from the rest. The Cubs have gone 40 years more than any other team without winning the World Series. Getting Tejada should be a no-brainer.

As for the Orioles, I can't blame them for wanting Zambrano over Prior, but Prior isn't exactly nothing. His injury last year was an accident. He's young, and has less service time than Carlos, so he'll be cheaper to keep for a few years. If the Cubs won't budge on Zambrano, Prior is more than worth the risk.

The Kansas City Royals picked up another free agent from the other side of Missouri as they showed Reggie Sanders the money.

“They had a game plan,” Sanders said. “Kansas City wined and dined me at the beginning. We sat down for a good three hours talking about where they’re going and what they’re trying to do. I needed to be the last piece of the puzzle. If I sign early, I’m left out to dry, no matter how much money I’m making. Now I see they got (Mark Grudzielanek), they got all these guys.”

Indeed, the Royals have spent generously in an effort to restock a team that lost 106 games last season. Emboldened by owner David Glass earmarking at least $22 million to upgrade the team, the Royals have added Sanders, Grudzielanek at second base, starting pitchers Scott Elarton and Mark Redman, first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, reliever Elmer Dessens and catcher Paul Bako for $21.75 million.

Sanders was on his way to the best season of his career last year with St. Louis before a broken bone in his leg sidelined him for almost two months. In 93 games, he batted .271 with 21 home runs, 54 RBIs and 14 stolen bases.

The game plan, as far as I can see is to put a better on team on the field this year with aging free agents and hope that in a couple of seasons the farm system produces. The Royals didn't turn themselves into a good team by any stretch of the imagination, but they hope they won't be the embarrassment of 2005.

Juan Encarnacion certainly had his career year at the right time as he parlayed his 2005 season into a 3-year, $15 million dollar contract with the Cardinals. He'll replace Larry Walker. It's quite a step down for the right field slot for the Cardinals. Juan has a .316 career OBA, Walker was an even .400 over his lifetime in the majors.

Over at Fire Brand of the American League, Andrew Lipsett tries to convince us that the perception of Johnny Damon's value is greater than his actual value.

Take all of this together, and here’s what we can see about Johnny Damon; as a hitter, his 2005 season was overwhelmingly misleading as judged only by top-level stats. So much of his value was taken up by singles - in BA, in OBP, in OPS, even in SLG - that the true predictable skills he had as a hitter were masked. Johnny Damon was a below-average Major League hitter in 2005. Below Average. He fared somewhat better among center fielders and leadoff men, but not by enough to make his loss a real crime. For $13 million dollars a year, along with the promise of lost speed and plunging production, I want way more for my money than a singles hitter who failed, catastrophically, to do much else.

To sum up the argument, Damon's a singles hitter, and singles have a lot to do with luck, while extra-base hits are a skill.

I'm sorry, I don't buy it. It seems to me that Andrew is looking for stats to make himself feel better about losing Damon. Take a look at win shares. Remember, win shares count everything; they count all hits, walks stolen bases. They count how well you hit in certain situations. They count the effects of the ball park. They count defense, including throwing arm. Take a look at the rank of Damon in win shares among outfielders last year. He's tied for fourth with Matsui, who received a similar contract. He's sixth in offensive win shares among outfielders, and fourth in defense. Only one outfielder had more putout than Johnny Damon in 2005! He catches the ball, which is what the Yankees need.

What about his age and declining? Let's say he declines 10% each year. His win shares would look like:

• 2006 - 23


• 2007 - 20


• 2008 - 18


• 2009 - 16

Bernine Williams was 36 (seasonal age) in 2005, a year older than Damon will be when he finishes his contract. Over the same age, Bernie posted 83 win shares (54 came in the first two seasons). A 10 percent decline per year gives Damon 77. Bernie was earning about $12.3 million per season over that time. Damon is earning $13 million.

To put it simply, Damon is one of the top outfielders in the game. For about the same money they were paying, the Yankees upgraded the position with a better hitter and a much better fielder. Damon catches the ball, and does a decent job of getting on base, even if he does reach by a lot of singles. Selectively pointing out weaknesses in his game doesn't change his over stature.

The Oakland Athletics are covering the third deck of the Coliseum, reducing the capacity of the stadium of around 34,000.

Taking the third deck out of play will make planning much easier. In addition, making tickets more scarce will encourage fans to purchase seats earlier and could increase the season-ticket-holder base, which is currently less than 10,000, one of the smallest in baseball.

More important, perhaps, is that the new baseball capacity will be 34,179 -- which is just about the size the A's would like to have if and when they get a new stadium. So, essentially, a smaller Coliseum will be a test run for a new ballpark.

This is a case where less appears to be more (Unix joke).

Puerto Rico wants the US to allow Cuba to play in the World Baseball Classic:

Puerto Rican athletic officials said Thursday that the island should not host next year's World Baseball Classic unless the U.S. government reverses its decision to deny Cuba permission to play in the United States.

I'm sure MLB is quaking in their boots over this. It's not like they can move the site to Atlanta or Miami or Houston!

I also keep reading that keeping Cuba out of this tournament hurts the US chances of landing an Olympics in the future. I don't quite understand that. This is a private tournament. As far as I know, Cubans are not banned from competing in the Olympics in this country. If MLB were not offering prize money (operating like the Olympics) there would not be a problem. In fact, isn't that the best solution to this whole thing? Just withdraw the prize money.

Matt Lawton admitted he used steroids:

Lawton told Sports Weekly's Bob Nightengale that he was playing poorly and was hurting, so he turned to steroids.

"I wasn't playing well enough to be on a Little League roster, let alone be on the roster of the New York Yankees," Lawton told Sports Weekly in its current issue. "I just wasn't physically able to do the job. I had never been in the playoff hunt before. So I did something that will always haunt me."

Lawton said that he's never taken amphetamines, but injected the steroid on Sept. 20. The next day, he started in center field and hit a home run in his first at-bat. He said he didn't feel any pain.

He was tested the next day.

I wonder if someone tipped off MLB on this. Lawton goes on to say he was "talking to some guys," and I wonder if someone else heard the conversation and made a phone call.

It also makes me wonder if why we shouldn't use steroids for pain medication. I'm not an expert, but is there a dose that helps with pain while not doing much for building muscle? If Lawton weren't a baseball player, but someone who had a physical job, would a doctor treat him with steroids in such a case? Any comments by doctors would be appreciated.

Update: Lawton signed with the Seattle Mariners for a bit above the major league minimum. He'll miss the first ten days of the 2006 season.

The Minnesota Twins tap Rondell White to replace Jacque Jones in the outfield:

The Minnesota Twins agreed Thursday to a contract with Rondell White that guarantees the designated hitter $3.25 million for one year and could be worth up to $8.5 million over two seasons if he plays regularly.

Playing regularly is the tough part. If Rondell can stay healthy, he'll hit better than Jones. But he's only played 130 games or more four times in a 13 season career. The Twins are not risking a lot of money here, however.

Bernie Williams agreed to a $1.5 million dollar contract with the Yankees. I think this is good for Bernine and the team. It doesn't make the team better, but so many people complain about player and team loyalty, it's good to see a pillar of the franchise get a chance to finish his career with the only team he's known.

Maybe the Red Sox can trade for Bubba Crosby.

Elrod Hendricks passed away yesterday, and John Eisenberg of the Baltimore Sun remembers the longtime Orioles catcher and coach:

Six years ago, I undertook a massive assignment, publishing an oral history of the Orioles, the first of its kind. I interviewed dozens of former players, coaches and managers, gathering hundreds of hours of tape. My session with Elrod was the longest. I lost track of time.

He was a unique figure in the history of the franchise. He knew almost everyone and had seen almost everything, and wise as he was, he could comment, analyze, interject, further the story. I came away from our session understanding that, in a sense, he was the conscience of the franchise.

I started watching baseball in 1969, and the Orioles had a catching platoon of Elrod Hendricks and Andy Etchebarren. I thought those were both great names. Both were Earl Weaver type players. Neither hit for a high batting average, but both drew a decent number of walks. Looking at that 1969 team now, they've been very successful since leaving the playing field. An extraordinary group of players.

My thought go out to Elrods family and friends.

Tony Massarotti continues to be the leading voice on the Red Sox front office:

For Red Sox ownership and upper management, in particular, there are some bad trends being established, particularly during the last two offseasons. Pedro Martinez left. So did Derek Lowe. Now Damon is gone, too, his departure coming after negotiations with Theo Epstein also resulted in an ugly divorce between the Sox and their young general manager. When it comes to negotiating with their high-profile personalities — Jason Varitek is the exception — the Sox generally seem inclined to let the market dictate the price, then decide they do not want to pay it.

The rule of thumb is that anyone who wins an auction over pays, since the winning bid is beyond what anyone else is willing to pay. And that's a perfectly good way to run a ballclub. Cleveland is doing that right now, but they've been developing young players for a few years. As Massarotti points out later in the article:

Of course, while all of this has been going on, the Sox have been throwing away money in other areas. Last winter, even when Epstein was the GM, the Sox overpaid for Matt Clement. They forked over $40 million for Edgar Renteria, then decided he wasn’t worth it (after one year) and shipped him to the Atlanta Braves. They ate $11 million of Renteria’s remaining contract and took on the $18 million due Lowell. In the same trade that brought the Marlins third baseman, they shipped away Hanley Ramirez, a highly regarded prospect who seemed part of their long-term plan.

The Sox plan appears to be "win now and rebuild." Maybe you can't do both.

The Angels and Giants agreed to a deal last night, sending Steve Finley north and Edgardo Alfonzo south.

The Giants continue their love affair with aging outfielders:

In joining Bonds -- for whom he'll likely fill in quite a bit -- Finley exacerbates the Giants' trend of aged outfielders. Last year's Opening Day trio of Bonds (40), Marquis Grissom (38) and Moises Alou (38), the AARP outfield, will seem almost young next season when Finley is on the field. He turns 41 in March, and Bonds is now 41 and Alou 39. Randy Winn is the kid of the group, at 31. (This is nothing new. In 2001, the Giants had an outfield that at times included Bonds, then 36; Shawon Dunston, 38; and Eric Davis, 39.)

"I still don't view myself as a 40-year-old," Finley said. "I see my age next to my name, but I don't feel like that. It's a testament to all of us (Bonds, Alou and Finley) that we're still able to play at that level.''

Are the Giants incapable of developing a young outfielder? Do they ever draft any? There's got to be a 22-year-old in their system who can play as well as Finley for 1/20th of the price.

I also take it this mean the Angels won't be trading Figgins to the Red Sox for Manny Ramirez.

But the Giants needed a fourth outfielder to spell aging Barry Bonds and Moises Alou, and the Angels needed some insurance in case young third baseman Dallas McPherson doesn't fully recover from hip surgery and/or struggles at the plate.

The Giants had no need for Alfonzo, having declared Pedro Feliz their third baseman, and the Angels had no need for Finley, having all but handed his job this winter to Chone Figgins or Darin Erstad, though Stoneman said Wednesday's trade "makes it more likely that Figgins will play more center field than he has in the past."

It's a good trade for LAnaheim. And Finley's in the right role as defensive replacement, but that's still a lot of money for a part-time player.

John Smoltz discusses his favorite pitch (emphasis added):

"My favorite pitch is the one that's in the dirt that they can't hit but they swing at; I still can't figure out why they do it but I'm not going to try," Smoltz said.

I've always wondered that myself.

Was Watching rounds up Red Sox Nation thoughts on the Yankees signing Johnny Damon.

Chad Finn gives five reasons he's glad and sad to see Johnny Damon go.

Some are sad.
And some are glad.
And some are very, very bad.
Why are they sad and glad and bad?
I do not know.
Go ask your dad.

Alex Belth at Bronx Banter quotes a friend on the possibility of signing Johnny Damon.

While you're there, check out Alex's latest, as he responds to comments about the deal.

Disciples of Doug Dascenzo is a new Cubs blog. Stop by and say hi. You can get his take on the Jacque Jones signing here.

Boston fans are not happy with Damon moving to New York:

It was an ugly start to the day for Laura Cipriano. She awoke at 6 a.m. Wednesday to a call from a New York Yankees-loving friend breaking the news that Johnny Damon had defected to New York.

"She was taunting me," said Cipriano, 30, of South Boston. "She was laughing. She was saying, 'Your favorite Red Sox player is leaving.'"

Both my wife and a colleague at work had the same reaction to the news, "That Bastard!"

What's not clear to me is what kind of premium the Yankees paid to lure Damon from Boston. The last reported offer from the Red Sox was for $40 million for four years. I assume that if the difference between the Yankees offer and the Red Sox offer was relatively small, then Damon would stay in Boston. So my question is, how high were the Red Sox willing to go? If it was only $40 million, then that's a pretty big markup the Yankees are paying to get Johnny to move cities. I'm guessing the Red Sox would go to $48 million. Of course, that means $1 million a year was all it took to sway Damon's loyalty.

The nominations are in. You have until January 2nd to vote for your favorite sports blogs at Red Reporter.

The St. Louis Cardinals are ready to sign Sir Sidney Ponson to a one-year deal.

The one-year contract represents minimal financial risk but a significant leap of faith by a Cardinals organization acutely sensitive to controversy. Ponson was arrested twice last year for DWI and submitted to a 30-day treatment program for alcoholism after his release by the Orioles. He also spent 11 days in an Aruban jail following an incident in which he punched a judge on a beach.

Maybe Dave Duncan can work a miracle. Or maybe the incentives will work. Losing $10 million a year might be enough of a wakeup call for Ponson.

Joe Christensen looks at how the Twins outfield might shape up after losing Jacque Jones.

Here's a nice story about Nelson Cruz of the Brewers playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic. He's leading the league in home runs. It also sounds like a fun place to watch a game:

Ticket prices are more than fair, even on a Dominican's budget. $150 pesos (about $5) buys a good seat, and the stadiums are well-kept up, even for U.S. standards.

And as much as fans enjoy the action, the level of competition is high enough that scouts can get an accurate picture of a player's potential. With most teams in the league retaining more than a handful of active Major Leaguers, players agree that the quality of play surpasses AAA baseball in the states. In fact, it's more like "4A" ball.

Johnny Damon will shed the cave man/Jesus look after agreeing to a four year contract with the Yankees for $13 million a year.

So how did it happen so quickly?

Despite Boras' rhetoric, there was never a market for Damon at seven years, and apparently he decided to get serious about making a deal this week. The only other teams to show interest besides the Yankees and Red Sox were the Orioles and Dodgers; Damon wasn't interested in playing for the Orioles, and when the Dodgers signed Kenny Lofton yesterday, it left the Sox and Yanks.

According to sources, Boras told the Yankees on Monday that he was ready to talk about a four-year deal. The Yankees were careful not to make an offer that Boras could take back to the Red Sox. They talked "parameters," meaning they said, "We're prepared to offer $52 million if you're ready to sign."

Indications are that Boras then let the Red Sox know the kind of money it would take to keep Damon, and they told him they weren't willing to go anywhere near $50 million.

Basically, Damon received the same money as Matsui. Over the last three years, Matsui posted 71 wins shares, Damon 69. They're the same seasonal age. This means the Yankees will carry six players who produced at least 25 win shares last year. The offense will be potent, to say the least.

The Yankees, however, don't make themselves any younger. And with Matsui, Damon, Jeter, A-Rod and Giambi under long term contracts, we won't see that happening soon.

Overall, however, this is a positive for the Yankees, if for no other reason than the Red Sox need to find a new center fielder, in addition to trying to trade Manny.

Damon’s departure leaves the Red Sox with a glaring hole in their leadoff spot, a vacancy of more concern than center field. They have already inquired about Cleveland’s Coco Crisp, San Diego’s Dave Roberts and Seattle’s Jeremy Reed this offseason. Count on those talks to intensify.

This signing also gives the Red Sox more of a reason to try to keep Manny Ramirez in the fold:

In addition to continuing to pursue a trade of Ramirez, Red Sox co-general manager Ben Cherington said on a conference call yesterday that “we also continue to talk to Manny and his representatives and continue to work on flushing out issues related to Ramirez’ desire to be traded. “We’re trying to appease some of his concerns,” Cherington went on. “At this point, we just want to listen. We’re not going to get into the reasons why he wants out.”

Jacque Jones signed with the Cubs today. The Cub Reporter sums up his feelings consicely:

And with that I’m off to bed to dream of just how I’ll celebrate in September 2008 when this deal expires.

In six years, Jones had one outstanding season, 2002. Then again, the Cubs aren't paying through the nose at a little of $5 million a year. Maybe they wanted Corey Patterson with consistency.

The Yankees signed Octavio Dotel to a one-year deal for $2 million. This reminds me of the Jon Leiber signing. It might help them down the road if Dotel comes back healthy, and it's not costing them too much money.

It wasn't a good day for the Nationals. The D.C. Council delayed the vote on the stadium, angering MLB:

If the lease is not approved by the end of the month, "the City will be in default on its contractual commitments and we will then have no choice but to prepare for arbitration," Major League Baseball President Robert A. DuPuy said in a letter to Cropp. "In arbitration, all prior concessions by MLB would be revisited."

I didn't realize that MLB made any concessions other than moving money around so it looked like they were making concessions.

On top of that, Soriano still doesn't want to change positions.

"I don't want to change," Soriano said Monday night at a dinner held for major league players by Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez. "If I haven't done it before, I won't do it now."

Soriano said he had a greater comfort level in the AL, and he plans to become a free agent after next season and sign with an AL team.

Maybe they should sell a soul to the devil.

The Boston Red Sox did not offer a contract to Chad Bradford, signing Rudy Seanez instead. I'd love to see Bradford end up in Colorado. It would be another test of the "unusual deliveries work well at Coors" hypothesis.

Mets Geek uses Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) to try to see how many wins the Mets added with their moves this off season. He pegs them at 95 wins. This post pegged them at 93 wins using a seat of the pants win shares estimate at the end of November.

The Rangers picked up a starting pitcher today, getting Adam Eaton from the Padres in a six player deal.

The Texas Rangers have helped address their pitching woes by reaching agreement to acquire San Diego Padres right-handed pitchers Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka and minor league prospect Billy Killian in exchange for right-handed pitcher Chris Young, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and outfielder Terrmel Sledge, ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick has confirmed.

This Chris Young is not to be confused with the Chris Young recently traded to the Diamondbacks. I guess with the two players in the same division, we'll be seeing Chris Young facing Chris Young soon!

I have to say that Adam Eaton looks like another Chan Ho Park to me. He's a guy that posted an unimpressive overall ERA pitching in park that's tough on offense. Last year, his ERA was 1.5 runs higher on the road. On top of that, he's only had two seasons in which he's made 30 starts or more.

Otsuka is the same sort of pitcher. Great at PETCO, terrible away. Killiam is very young and hasn't done anything much in professional baseball yet.

The Padres get Gonzazlez, who had decent minor league numbers, but didn't show the power you'd like to see in a first baseman. Chris Young is probably a better pitcher than Eaton, even though he did go to Princeton. :-) And Sledge was expendable given the outfield depth on the team.

I'm not sure why a team would want Adam Eaton over Chris Young. Young strikes out more per 9 innings (7.3 vs. 7.0) and is the better road pitcher, without taking into account the designated hitter difference. In a trade where no one involved is that good, it looks to me like the Padres got the better of this deal.

Benjamin Kabak looks at the ethics of the sports media, from the Michael Vick scandal to award voting.

I would disagree a bit on award voting. The MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year voting is structured so that favorite sons can't win. Let's say that every year in voting for the MVP, the sports writers each picked the best player from their local team. The person who wins, in that case, will be the consensus second choice. It's easy to say, "I work with this guy, I like this guy, I'm voting for him #1." But the second choice you think about. So in favorite son voting, the second choice is really the guy you think deserves the award.

This type of voting is called a Borda count, and it's designed precisely to negate the conflict of interest voting. One writer can't make that much difference. People point to Pedro Martinez losing the MVP vote to Ivan Rodriguez because one writer left Pedro off the ballot, but if the other 27 voters all had Pedro #1, Martinez wins that award. There was a clear split in the voting that year, with six different players getting first place votes. What everyone agreed on was that Ivan Rodriguez was near the top, and he won.

So the conflict of interest in MVP voting is overblown. The much bigger conflict, as I see it, is with newspapers and media outlets that own clubs. Chicagoans see this every year in the difference in coverage of the Cubs and White Sox, while Boston fans saw this in the reporting on the general manager negotiations this winter. Maybe there should be a disclosure in every article written about a team that the newspaper owns a share.

Art Thiel of the Seattle Post Intelligencer compares the signing of Jarrod Washburn to the potential signing of Freddy Garcia.

Still, despite Garcia's shortcomings and wanderlust, it is hard to imagine there is anyone in baseball who would take Washburn over Garcia straight up, much less if the $11 million and extra year differential were factored in. Yet, that is the essence of what the Mariners have done to anchor their staff.

I see that the Marlins are working on a one-year deal for Dontrelle Willis. I'm more surprised by this, however:

Cabrera, 22, has not yet qualified for arbitration. The Marlins have the right to renew his contract. Cabrera is expected to make about $475,000 this season.

Here's a thought. Give your two stars decent contracts! The Marlins cut their payroll to next to nothing already. Cabrara and Willis are the only reasons to come see the team this year. Why not send a message to them and the fans that they're going to stay a while. Broker a deal for a three-year contract for Willis at $15 million. Give Cabrera a 4-year, $22 million deal. This accomplishes a number of things:

1. Neither player nor team needs to deal with arbitration.
2. The two Marlins would still be eligible for free agency at the earliest possible time.
3. The fans would know that the Marlins are serious about winning in the future.
4. If the team is going to move, they may get a city to build a stadium if the city believes people are actually going to attend games. With Cabrera and Willis, that's more likely.
5. Given the ability of these two players, the contracts are still cheap for what they can deliver, so if the Marlins decide to trade them, they can still get good value in return.

Paying Cabrera less than $500,000 is certainly the right of the club given the structure of the CBA. But Cabrera isn't a run of the mill ballplayer. He's been something special since he arrived in the majors, and the Marlins would be wise to recognize that and treat him accordingly.

Roy Oswalt received an early Christmas present. Drayton McLane made a promise before game 6 of the NLCS:

Oswalt came through with seven strong innings of one-run ball to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1, earning the NLCS Most Valuable Player trophy. McLane, who initially offered his old bulldozer, paid up Monday morning with a slightly-used D6N XL from Caterpillar.

According to Jason Watson from Houston's MUSTANG CAT dealership, the D6N XL runs about $230,000 brand-new. Although Watson wouldn't say what Oswalt's bulldozer cost McLane, slightly used D6N XLs can cost into the $200,000 range.

Most little boys I know want a bulldozer. Most settle for a Tonka. Oswalt gets to drive the real thing.

The Mayor of Washington, D.C. does not have the votes to pass the lease agreement:

Mayor Anthony A. Williams asked the District of Columbia Council on Monday to delay consideration of a lease agreement for his proposed Nationals baseball stadium on the Anacostia River waterfront.

In a signal Williams might not have the votes needed to gain approval, officials said Monday evening that he had asked Council Chair Linda W. Cropp to withdraw the lease from Tuesday's agenda to make "small, technical changes" to the 30-year agreement with Major League Baseball.

Cropp is in favor of this issue, so my guess is that the mayor gets his wish. Of course, all this does is delay the sale of the team further.

Unlike A.J. Pierzynski, Josh Paul won't be getting a raise from the Angels. He was traded to the Devil Rays today. Paul was the catcher on the strikeout that allowed A.J. to reach first and score the winning run in the ALCS.

The Angels get Travis Schlichting. Given his batting stats so far, it's not much of a trade.

The other day, we took a look at Jarrod Washburn's batting average allowed with runners in scoring position. It made me think that it would be convenient to have a display of a split by season. So, here's the latest addition to the Day by Day Database: Batter Splits by Season and Pitcher Splits by Season.

Enjoy!

The Sports Economist reports on interest in buying the Braves.

Bryan Smith at Baseball Analysts compares the trade of Andy Marte to that of the Dodgers trading Paul Konerko.

Winning the World Series does wonders for your paycheck. A.J. Pierzynski scored a three-year contract worth about $15 million from the White Sox. He earned his money in game 2 of the ALCS when he alertly went to first base after an apparent strikeout and subsequently scored the winning run. It's a nice turnaround for A.J. after being released by the Giants one year ago.

It looks like Kenny Lofton will sign with the Dodgers, according to this report in the Arizona Republic. The Diamondbacks were attempting to sign the veteran outfielder. This means that Chris Young, the prospect the Diamondbacks obtained from the White Sox has a better chance of making the team in the spring.

Ray Ratto reports on a potential soccer deal that may lead to the Athletics building a stadium in San Jose:

Then suddenly, the A's put out a news release announcing that (you cannot make up this stuff, I swear) they would be very interested in owning said expansion team.

So you ask yourselves, "What? Who? Why?" That leads to the next question, "How unspeakably dim are these people?"

But because Fisher is nobody's yutz, and Wolff can hear a piece of re-bar hit a snowbank at 1,500 yards, "unspeakably dim" isn't the question at all. Earthquakes IV (after the indoor and outdoor Quakes of the old NASL, and Earthquakes III of MLS) need a stadium. The A's want a stadium. The land for both is right near Sharksville.

Connect the dots, Marmaduke. The A's are playing the leverage game.

You see, MLS teams make no money whatsoever. It's a loss leader for Anschutz, who is so loaded that he has first call on money that hasn't been printed yet, but as an investment for newbies, it's right up there with soaking your cash with lighter fluid and rubbing two sticks together.

So Fisher couldn't care less about the soccer team. But land, in San Jose, there for the stadiumizing ... that, he could care about.

Buy a soccer team, get a stadium, knock it down and build one for your baseball team. Looks like the owner plays Moneyball, too.

Tracy Ringolsby discusses the future of Byung-Hyun Kim:

Today is the deadline for free agents who were offered arbitration, such as right-handed pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim, to accept or decline. Kim agreed to decline before the Rockies made the offer. A waste of time? Not at all. By the Rockies making the offer that Kim declined, the two sides can continue to try to work out a deal until Jan. 8. If the Rockies had not offered arbitration, the negotiations would have ended Dec. 7.

The Rockies would like to bring back Kim, but it's going to be for about one-fifth of the $6 million he earned last year, and Kim will have to reclaim his spot in the rotation. The Rockies see Kim adding depth to their rotation, and what makes him especially attractive is his age - he turns 27 on Jan. 19. Before finalizing the deal, though, the Rockies want a sit-down with Kim in which they can make sure he understands his role.

Kim's unusual delivery seems to work well in Colorado. The Rockies are correct in wanting him to continue in the rotation.

Sidney Ponson got out of jail yesterday. We now wait to see if any club is willing to take on his baggage. He's really thrown away a promising career. Over the last two seasons, the league's hit .315 against Sidney. Since he doesn't give up many home runs, either the defense behind him been really bad, or he's been serving up meat balls.

My traffic since late yesterday afternoon is very unusual. I've gotten many more hits than I usually get on a weekend, but there's no clear referral. This usually means someone wrote about the blog without providing a link (so people are typing in the URL). Can someone tell me if this happened? I'd like to thank the person who cited this site.

U.S.S Mariner dissects Jarrod Washburn's 3.20 ERA:

Jarrod Washburn did post a 3.20 ERA last year. No one denies that. The question we’ve been posing is how consistent are the skills that he showed that led to that 3.20 ERA? The answer: not at all. Washburn posted a low ERA thanks to putting men on first base and leaving them there. That’s not a recipe for success, and its not one he can repeat.

I'd say it's not likely one he can repeat.

John Perricone reminds St. Louis Cardinals fans that a privately funded stadium does not necessarily lead to more money spent on salaries.

Humbug Journal now has a Scrabble calculator for player names. One of my favorite graphics I researched at ESPN was the all-time list of highest scoring baseball names. Javier Vazquez was 1st at 53. As of this writing, he's still #1 among active players.

The Boston Herald is reporting that Nomar Garciaparra is going to sign with the Dodgers.

Last night, the former Red Sox shortstop agreed in principle to a one-year deal with the Dodgers worth $6 million in base salary. The 32-year-old will play first base.

Looks like someone will get a sweet deal on Hee-Seop Choi. I wonder who might be interested?

Garciaparra’s decision to play in Los Angeles, where he has a home and will be reunited with former Red Sox manager Grady Little and third baseman Bill Mueller, is a blow to the Yankees. New York believed he was a good fit to its lineup since the Yankees would have played him at first base and moved Jason Giambi to DH.

Choi's a lefty and he's patient at the plate. He's also a lot cheaper than Nomar. If the Yankees let him play everyday and encourage his selectivity at the plate, maybe New York can absorb the blow.

Jack Curry of the New York Times looks at what went wrong with Cuba's invitation to the World Baseball Classic (WBC). It turns out Cubans had no problem competing in a soccer tournament called the Gold Cup:

Chuck Blazer, a general secretary for Concacaf, said that the organizers had paid Cuba for travel, meals, lodging and other costs during the Gold Cup. Blazer added that the Cubans were not paid for participating in the event because that would have violated the Cuban embargo.

Jim Scherr, the chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee, said the baseball officials had violated State Department rules in organizing the World Baseball Classic. Scherr said he was hopeful that Major League Baseball and the State Department would agree to a compromise that allowed the Cubans to compete.

"Obviously, it's not a positive development for U.S. international relations, either for the Olympics or in general," Scherr said. "It's just not a good thing for the U.S. in international sports."

Scherr said baseball officials had not consulted the U.S.O.C. about how the tournament was arranged and how to deal with Cuba. Scherr said it was "much too early" to determine if blocking Cuba in baseball would influence a future Olympic bid.

Dennis Coates at Reason Online comes out square against the DC Stadium deal.

The Washington Post has the latest head count on how the D.C. Council plans to vote on the stadium lease.

In addition to Cropp, Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) and Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) are likely to support the lease, council sources said.

David A. Catania (I-At Large), Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) are likely to oppose the lease, the sources said.

Schwartz, Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) and Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) are considered keys to the outcome. Cropp has called some of them to lobby for support for the lease, council members said.

Carol Schwartz is also undecided and is being actively courted to vote for the lease. Two of the undecideds must vote in favor of the lease for a majority.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are sprucing up The Trop.

The Rays are trying to apply a "five senses test" to the fan experience, he said, by improving the lighting systems throughout, upgrading the sound system, changing the concessions' food varieties, cleaning the facility and even offering a "touch tank" with live rays in seawater.

"The Trop has always been comfortable, but we want it to sparkle," Silverman said.

And cleaning the park is not easy.

Since the seating areas can't be pressure washed, every seat in the house is being cleaned by hand and the surrounding common areas scrubbed down as well.

I haven't been to the stadium. Do people who regularly see ballgames there think the renovations will make a difference in attracting fans?

The Mariners are on the verge of signing Jarrod Washburn to a four year contract, worth about $9 million a year. There's a good FYI at the bottom of the article showing how Washburn declined the last four years. While he posted a very good ERA in 2005, it's mostly because the opposition hit very poorly against him with runners in scoring position.

The Mariners are also trying to acquire Matt Clement or Bronson Arroyo from the Red Sox for Jeremy Reed. There's also a story that the Red Sox may trade one of those pitchers for Coco Crisp. Either Arroyo or Clement seems to much to give up for either outfielder, so I wonder if Boston is making these inquiries to put pressure on Damon. When a club is not desperate to sign a player, they should be able to get a better deal.

Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? discusses the options for the Pittsburgh Pirates in right field.

By the way, I love the Van Slyke quote included in the sub title.

A franchise broker warns that Braves fans shouldn't be that happy that the Braves are on the block:

“The best I think you can hope for is you get somebody almost as good,” said Sal Galatioto, who sells sports teams for a living. “And maybe you won’t. Look, everybody who buys one of these things thinks they’re smarter than the seller, clearly, or else they wouldn’t buy it. But, oftentimes, they find that they’re not.”

A veteran who has helped broker 60 pro franchise transfers in all four major pro sports, Galatioto, of New York-based Galatioto Sports Partners, is amused by how gladly the news of Time Warner’s selling has been received in Atlanta. If anything, he sees any potential new owner taking on a serious potential for failure.

“It’s not as if they’ve mismanaged the team,” he said. “Why is everyone so happy? How much better is a new owner going to do than winning 14 years in a row? The odds are better that he’s not.”

Just to be clear, Time-Warner owned the Braves since 1996, so their not responsible for the whole 14 year run. And although they were part of a business conglomerate before that sale, you always got the feeling Ted Turner was very involved with the Braves.

I did think the AOL takeover would kill the team since after that the company seemed more interested in the bottom line than a winning team. It just shows the skill of John Schuerholz, that even with fiscal restraints he's still able to deliver a winner.

Sometimes I get the feeling that steroids in sports are a new issue. But I was just over at the IMDB and noticed they were recommending Rock and Roll High School as a DVD. In looking at the cast, I noticed that one character is named Coach Steroid. Just another reason to love this movie. That and exploding mice.

George Southrey writes:

As for MLB and competitive balance, I believe the draft pick compensation idea is way overrated. Most small-market teams can hardly even sign top draft picks these days, with agents like Scott Boras dictating terms that almost always lead his clients to big-market teams. In the long run it doesn’t help much, and a cinderella season every 10-15 years hardly qualifies as competitive if you’re a Brewers, Royals, Devil Rays, or Pirates fan. When you look at the FA listings on the various baseball websites every offseason, you always see the same 4-5 teams listed as the probable destination of every top FA: NY, NY, Boston, LA, Chicago, maybe Atlanta or Baltimore.

One radical thought is something that is used by multinational corporations to balance out overseas assignments. It’s basically a hardship allowance (HA), an “Equalizer”, and it is usually calculated by an independent firm. They establish the HA for every location around the world, and employee compensation is adjusted accordingly.

Suppose MLB did something similar? After all, few Latin players want to live and play in a city like Milwaukee, or Denver. Those cities are not attractive from a weather standpoint, from a cultural diversity standpoint or from an endorsement $$ standpoint. Most Free Agents won’t go there unless they are fringe players or the money is irresistable. This puts the Brewers at a competitive disadvantage, having to overpay for FA, which can lead to a vicious cycle of being a losing team that no one wants to play for, and having to overpay more, and so on.

An independent firm assigned by MLB and the MLBPA would evaluate each franchise based on stadium, cultural diversity, weather, market size, endorsement opportunity, state income tax, and so on. Each team would then receive a HA, either positive or negative, the net total being 0. So, for example, New York might be rated as having a HA of (-)12, Boston (-)7, while Kansas City is (+)8, Milwaukee (+)9. The HA would be updated every 2 or 3 years, or even annually, or whenever a franchise moved or built a new stadium, etc.. Any future franchises would be evaluated in a similar fashion as a condition of acceptance.

In the above example, when a player plays for the Royals, he receives an additional 8% over his salary as an adjustment. This money is paid by a MLBPA Hardship Fund. When a player plays for the Yankees, his salary is ‘taxed’ at 12%, the money going to that same MLBPA fund. Now, in fact, players would not be paying this tax, the team would because a FA would negotiate a net salary rather than a gross salary if the team had a negative HA. If most of the higher-paid stars went to negative HA cities like NY, which is likely, the fund would have a surplus.

What impact would this have? Using the Royals and Yankees, let’s say they are both looking at signing the same FA, whose asking price is $20 mil over 4 years, or $5 mil/yr. For the Royals, the cost would be about $4.6 mil, with the other $400k coming from the HA Fund. Or, they could in fact pay $5 mil, with the player receiving an additional $400k over that, taking home $5.4 mil/yr.

The Yankees, on the other hand, would have to pay $5.7 mil/yr to land that same FA, $700k of which would go to the HA Fund, the player getting $5 mil.

So the difference between NY and KC signing the same player for the same salary is actually $1.1 mil more for the Yankees than the Royals. Over time and over many signings, this provides a sizeable balancing effect on the teams’ costs. If Billy Wagner wants $10 mil/yr, it costs the Mets $11.4 mil, while it would cost the Brewers $9.2 mil. That’s significant, because Milwaukee could offer Wagner $11 mil/yr and still spend less than the Mets, and for the Mets to match that $11 mil would cost them $12.5 mil, and so on.

Trades would not effect a player’s salary, only the Fund. A player making $4 mil in NY that is traded to KC would still receive $4 mil. The Royals would receive a $300k subsidy from the Fund. The Yankees would save the $545k HA that they would have paid. This makes it easier for small-market teams to acquire higher-salaried players in trade.

Why would the Yankees or Dodgers accept such a scheme? Because it would replace the current payroll tax and revenue-sharing schemes, which do nothing to help competitive balance and just provide cheap franchises with more money to keep without investing. A small-market team under the HA program would get no money. They only benefit by paying less than big-market teams for the same players.

The fact is that all franchises and teams are not created equal in terms of the ability to attract players. Most players come from warm climates, from Japan, California, Latin America, etc.. They don’t want to live and play in Milwaukee. Most stars want to be in NY and LA, Boston or Chicago, not Cincinnati. There’s nothing you can do about that: some locations are sexier than others, some cities bigger, some have more off-the-field opportunity.

Multinational companies recognize this, and know that employees would rather live and work in London or Paris rather than Lagos or Mumbai. To get talented employees and managers to go to those places they have to make it worth their while. Otherwise, only marginal or entry-level staff will go. And so many companies ‘equalize’ by taking from the people in the choice locations and giving to those in the hardship locations. MLB might do well to look at their various teams a similar way.

I send this to you via email rather than posting on your blog because it’s a bit long-winded, and it’s also a bit off-the-wall, perhaps too outside-the-box. But I haven’t seen any suggestions that really address the inherent differences in the current lineup of teams, cities and ownership groups in MLB (other than the verboten salary cap) that would improve competition without killing the game itself (lower entry requirements for the playoffs!).

It's an interesting idea. I could be wrong, but I thought compensation for taking a job in an undesirable location came from the company, not a tax on other employees (but it probably amounts to the same thing). My guess is the union would not go for it, because it's in the union's best interest to have the high spending clubs drive up prices.

Trent McBride looks at a complicated playoff structure at Catallarchy.

The Royals picked up three veterans today, signing Mark Grudzielank, Doug Mientkiewcz and Scott Elarton (okay, Scott's name isn't tough to spell). I like this spin on signing:

The signings, while reflecting the Royals' increased payroll, do not deviate from the club's commitment to its young core. The short terms of each deal will give the team time to develop its young players while striving for a more competitive product. Also, none of the contracts will cost the Royals a draft pick.

The Royals are just finding warm bodies to fill in positions until they can find people who can actually contribute. Mark's never been a great OBA guy, and Doug hasn't been for two years. Neither has much pop. Has Elarton ever been a good pitcher? In my opinion, the Royals would be better off with $300,000 players from triple A and saving their money until there are players on the market that will actually help their team get better.

Alex Rodriguez is not playing in the World Baseball Classic:

"After thoughtful deliberations with my family, I am announcing my decision to withdraw from the World Baseball Classic," Rodriguez told The New York Post for Friday's editions. "When faced with the decision to choose between my country, the United States of America and my Dominican heritage, I decided I will not dishonor either."

I'm not sure I understand his reasoning. How many US citizens would really feel dishonored if Alex played for the Dominican Republic? If you're going to hold these tournaments, and allow a player to make a choice based on heritage, there shouldn't be recriminations. Is Alex getting pressure from both sides? And if so, why not just make a decision and live with it?

It looks like Tommy John will be working in the radio booth for the White Sox next year:

His talks with the Sox have rekindled old memories. He was one of the Sox's standout starters from 1965 to 1971 before being traded to the Dodgers for Dick Allen. He credits former Sox pitching coach Ray Berres with teaching him how to pitch.

John, along with Joel Horlen and Gary Peters, was part of a stellar rotation for the Sox. They nearly won the American League pennant in 1967 despite a team batting average of .225.

When asked how that threesome compared to the current Sox starters, John cracked, "Not so good. We're all in our 60s."

For some reason, the Washington Nationals gave Frank Robinson a contract for another year. I suppose if D.C. decides to drag out the lease negotiations, MLB may continue to run the team. The Nationals also fired four coaches:

First base coach Don Buford, also a longtime Orioles player, won't be back. Neither will hitting coach Tom McCraw, bullpen coach Bob Natal and third base coach Dave Huppert.

Returning with Robinson will be bench coach Eddie Rodriguez and pitching coach Randy St. Claire - the two coaches who seemed the least expendable to Robinson.

Robinson, who boasts that he doesn't use computers, leans on Rodriguez to crunch numbers used in making lineups and substitutions. Meanwhile, St. Claire oversaw a pitching staff that included two All-Stars, Livan Hernandez and Chad Cordero, and posted a 3.87 ERA.

If the team is sold, the new owners can decide they want to bring in their own people, so the new contracts don't guarantee anything. I'm guessing MLB is trying to show the DC City Council, as the vote on the lease approaches, that they are willing to keep a new owner out until a deal is done.

The Cardinals reacquired Bradon Looper today, returning him to his original team:

Braden Looper and the Cardinals agreed Thursday to a $13.5 million, three-year contract, giving St. Louis another newcomer in the bullpen.

Looper had 28 saves in 36 chances with a 3.94 ERA for the New York Mets last season, but will be a setup man for closer Jason Isringhausen with the Cardinals. The 31-year-old right-hander fills a slot held the past two seasons by Julian Tavarez, who became a free agent.

To me, Looper works better as a setup man. He doesn't strike out tons of batters, while his walks are very low.

St. Louis now replaced the missing pieces of their bullpen, and now can concentrate on filling in their missing positions.

John Romano thinks competitive balance in baseball is a sham:

It doesn't matter how the commissioner's office spins it, or if the Players Association continues to ignore it; the idea that major-league baseball's 30 teams begin each season on an even playing field is a joke.

Limited revenue sharing hasn't solved it. Neither has a payroll tax. And momentum for significant realignment is nonexistent.

So where is the hope in Tampa Bay?

Where is the hope in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit and other communities with lower revenue streams?

Perhaps in an expanded playoff system.

John proposes six teams from each league make the playoffs. The problem, of course, is that a team like Tampa Bay is not going to be helped by an expanded playoff system, unless you have one like the NHL did in the late 70's, where 16 of 24 teams reached the post season. Even with six teams making the playoffs, a team is going to need to win more games than it loses.

Romano leaves off the real leveler in major league baseball, the draft. A smart team will use it's years of cellar dwelling to stock pile prize players by means of the draft. Yes, you may to pay large bonuses, but you control the player through the minors and six years into his major league career. That's more than enough time to build the core of a winner.

Tampa Bay has botched this opportunity. They should be at least at the level of the 1984 Mets. Where is their Strawberry of Gooden? Where is their Canseco-McGwire-Weiss? Why aren't they the Twins of 2002?

There's new management in Tampa Bay this season. I don't expect them to turn things around over night, but running a competent draft of two or three years will put them on the right track.

One of the fun things about writing this blog is hearing from people the world over. I recently received this e-mail from a softball player in Iran.

my name is mahdi golmohammadi.iam the member of tehran baseball team i have been the member of national team for 5 years.i had 6 championship of the country and i was the best outfielder for 3 times and for one time the best batter.for one time participated for phillipin asian competition.and i attended in 9 american trainers classes and three major league players(don gordon-shawn boskie-jet hansen).iam prepering for 2006 doha(qatar).iam studying in sport sciences at tehran university.i intend to continue my sport activity in newer field.if you would like i will send you my pictures and my documents.( thank you)

I didn't know they played any type of baseball in Iran. So today Medhi sent me some photos that I'm happy to share with you (click on an image for the full picture).

Here's his award for the 2005 season:

Here's his certificate from the Manila tournament:

Here's his team at the Asian games:

And here's Mahdi with his American trainer Glenn Johnson.

And here's a story from Iran Today explaining how baseball came to Iran.

In regards to this post, CB at Royals Authority sends this picture of the original design for the roof at the Truman Sports complex. He writes:

I saw the link you posted on the rolling roof. I've got the plans for the original stadium complex in KC that were drawn up in 1968. Like the article says, there were cost overruns and the plan was to eventually construct the roof.

Anyway, I'm just passing along some worthless trivia. Here's how they envisioned the roof:

Cardinals Diaspora is a blog aimed at Cardinals fans living away from St. Louis. Stop by and say hi.

John Levesque at SeattlePI.com is looking forward to Carl Everett joining the Mariners, but not for the reasons you might think:

But, clearly, the Mariners are intent on creating a more exciting clubhouse in 2006, and also on correcting the impression that the only baseball players who can grace their 40-man roster must be Eagle Scouts and on the fast track to sainthood.

Oh, happy day!

The signing of Everett to a one-year contract Wednesday gives the Mariners a little left-handed sock, something they've been pursuing fervently, if unsuccessfully, the past two years. It also gives them something to take our minds off how awful this team could be next season.

I especially like this bit:

Concerned Everett's reputation preceded him in Seattle, Mariners president Chuck Armstrong took the unusual step of writing a letter to season-ticket holders, saying: "We are aware of the issues that Carl had in the past, but are confident that he has dealt with them and has moved on. ... White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf personally assured me that Carl is a good man who can be a positive force for our club."

Of course, the guy who used to own the used car you just bought rarely mentions the oil leak and the rusted-out floorboards.

The Yankees are using Jason Giambi to recruit Nomar Garciaparra. However, I found this amusing:

As of now, the Yankees do not have an everyday DH. GM Brian Cashman, who flew home from Tampa last night after two days of meetings with scouts, said choosing a DH would "be up to Joe, based on the matchups that given day." Andy Phillips and Bernie Williams (assuming he signs a one-year contract with the Yanks) are other options.

How many teams really have an everyday DH? The DH is the slot for the extra good hitter on the team, or the injured player who can't field that day, or a platoon or someone you just want to rest a bit. There are very few players of the caliber of Edgar Martinez or David Ortiz who fit the description of an everyday DH.

The Truman Sports Complex is looking at reviving the idea of a sliding roof for the two stadiums, something that was shelved when the complex was built do to cost overruns. Randy Covitz uses this as a starting point to look at the history of domes and retractable roofs.

If you missed tonight's show, you can hear the recorded version here. It's also available on demand at TPSRadio.

The US Treasury Department won't let Cuba compete in the World Baseball Classic:

The decision by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control was conveyed to Major League Baseball on Wednesday, according to Pat Courtney, a spokesman for the commissioner's office.

A permit from OFAC is necessary because of U.S. laws governing commercial transactions with the communist island nation.

Paul Archey, the senior vice president of Major League Baseball International, and Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the Major League Baseball Players Association, issued a joint statement saying the organizers would try to reverse the decision. The commissioner's office and the union have jointly organized the 16-team tournament, which runs from March 3-20 in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Japan.

There's a suggestion that a team of free Cubans, culled from the US majors and minors represent the country. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I don't like giving repressive governments a world showcase (and that includes China). On the other hand, it's a great chance for Cuban players to defect the the US, or just see how nice it would be to play here. There will be appeals, of course, so this may not be the final word.

The Baseball Musings radio show will be on TPSRadio tonight at 8 PM EDT. Check out their other sports programming as well.

You can also call in at 888-985-0555 and leave a question for the show, or stop by the chat room at TPSRadio during the broadcast and leave a comment. Also, feel free to leave a question in the comments to this post and I'll be happy to answer it on the air.

Bill Mueller signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers today, showing once again that money isn't always as important as location:

Mueller, 34, chose the Dodgers over what was believed to be a more lucrative offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates, and had considered a contract offer from the Chicago White Sox, but was not assured a starting position there.

Barring injury, he'll be an offensive improvement at third for the Dodgers.

The deal is done pending various physicals and league approvals. Javier Vazquez is about 1000 miles closer to home, and the Arizona Diamondbacks get three players in return. Orlando Hernandez, Luis Vizcaino and prospect Chris Young are now Diamondbacks, as rumored earlier.

Speculation is that the White Sox will turn their depth in starting pitching into a superstar position player:

What makes this deal so exciting is the door it opens for another blockbuster trade. The Sox could go into 2006 with six starting pitchers, allowing plenty of rest to their weary staff and providing insurance for an injury. But given the scarcity and value of quality starting pitching around the league, the Sox can dangle one of their starters for a huge return in a trade. The possibilities are tantalizing enough to make even the most stoic of Sox fans froth at the mouth with giddiness.

Just look at these names, each of which is a legitimate possibility: Miguel Tejada, Bobby Abreu, Carl Crawford, Vernon Wells, Carlos Beltran, Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, Alex Rodriguez. Sounds ridiculous, but you can make a case (and don’t worry, I will) for any of those names suiting up in the Silver and Black next season.

I don't know if I'd put Carl Crawford in that class, but you get the point. The White Sox will be dealing from strength. They have the commodity everyone needs, and they should be able to improve the team with that commodity.

A party for Marlins season ticket holders turned into a Festivus celebration:

Among the highlights of Samson's time on stage:

• Boca Raton attorney Larry Corman drew cheers when he accused the Marlins of fielding ''a minor-league team at major-league prices'' and said ''every season-ticket holder would love his money back.'' Samson said, ``we were [considered] the most disappointing team in all of baseball [in 2005]. It's not like we traded the '27 Yankees.''
(Off stage, Samson said the team has received fewer than 100 refund requests, which the Marlins won't grant.)

• When one fan said he doesn't see how the Marlins are committed to staying if they're visiting other cities, Samson said, ``Five of the last seven stadium deals were done in cities where the team started to relocate and then didn't. . . . The first thing I said to the mayor of San Antonio is you are not our first choice.''

• Samson again ruled out building a stadium without a retractable roof to save money.

• Samson received light applause when introduced but was booed when -- in trying to explain how the fan support has risen under Loria -- he said he didn't see people wearing Marlins gear in 2002.

• When one suggested the Marlins sell the team to Venezuelan media mogul Gustavo Cisneros, Samson said, ``I'm sorry. Do you work for [Miami city manager Joe] Arriola?''

Dontrelle Willis was on hand to perform feats of strength, but as far as I know, no one pinned Samson. If you read the whole thing, you'll find it was a pretty poor performance by the team president.

Everytime I visit a newspaper covering a local major league team, there seems to be a story about that team having interest in Nomar Garciaparra. Here's the latest from the Houston Chronicle. It almost seems as if Nomar is being used by all these clubs as a bargaining chip. They don't really want him, but because Garciaparra is willing to move positions, they use the possibility of signing Nomar as a way to keep the price down on the player they actually want.

Want to play Bill Mueller less? Tell him Nomar's available. Rondell White in left? Maybe we'll try Nomar. Damon in center? Nomar can play there, too. Second base, first base, next thing you know the Marlins will be looking at him as a catcher! Even if he doesn't sign a contract for next season, MLB teams should compensate Mr. Hamm for all his help this winter.

The Atlanta Braves may be for sale soon.

Forbes magazine estimated the Braves' value at $374 million in 2004.

I suspect that price went up this year. With the Washington Nationals about to sell for $450 million, one would think the Braves and their national sports network would be worth a lot more. It's Time for Time Warner to cash in.

The Arizona Republic has more on the Vazquez rumors. It looks like Jon Garland isn't the likely pitcher:

But an American League source intimated Tuesday that neither Garland nor Contreras was likely to be a part of the deal.

That would leave Hernandez, the Cuban right-hander with four World Series rings and a reputation as a big-game pitcher.

Of course, the downside of having a big game pitcher is he's pretty useless unless you play big games!

The real trade is for Chris Young. Chris is a centerfielder who gets on base and has shown power in the minors. He'll be 22 in 2006.

Late today the Dodgers traded Milton Bradley to the Oakland Athletics. The Dodgers also send infielder Antonio Perez for hot prospect Andre Ethier. The Dodgers dump their malcontent and get a pretty good player in return. In Perez, the Athletics get a middle infielder who can draw a walk.

Off the the top of my head, the A's appear to have the better of this deal, getting two major leaguers for a prospect. Ethier, however, may prove to be great, and there's no telling how long it will take Bradley to wear out his welcome in Oakland. Two years appears to be his limit.

In other Bradley news:

Bradley became a parent for the first time Sunday, when his wife gave birth to a son, Jeremiah.

If your name is Milton Bradley, isn't it incumbent on you to name your son something equally creative, like "General Omar" or "Dollar Bill"?

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Diamondbacks and White Sox are working on a deal for Javier Vazquez. Arizona wants Jon Garland and the White Sox to pick up all of Javier's salary. That would allow the Diamondbacks to keep the money the Yankees are sending Arizona to offset Vazquez's contract.

I've added a new link in the Navigation section of the side bar. Baseball Musings is now offering throwback jerseys through Mitchell and Ness. A portion of the sales helps support this site, provided you use the link in the navigation area. I hope you find something you like!

Bleed Cubbie Blue has details on the reconstruction of the Wrigley Field bleachers, including the addition of a "knothole." The opening will allow fans to view the game from the street.

My ISP had a major crash, and I need to restore many files. (I don't keep all my files on my host; pod casts, defensive charts, some pictures are kept on my ISP's server). If you come across a broken link, please let me know so I can attempt to fix it.

Update: I've fixed the defensive charts. I'll be fixing the podcasts over night.

JD Arney at Red Reporter is taking nominations for best sports blogs in a number of categories. Here's your chance to nominate your favorites (hat tip, Marc Normandin).

There's a useful chart attached to this article comparing the costs of building a new D.C. stadium next to RFK vs. along the Anacostia River. What I find impressive is that it costs $61 million dollars to design and consult on the park. I'm in the wrong profession!

Does anyone know if any of the following former players are scouts?

• Mark Clear
• Bud Anderson
• Mike LaCoss
• John Fulgham

National Interest took a few days to chew on the Alfonso Soriano deal and decides it wasn't a good move.

Fishstripes invites commenters to leave their thoughts on what the Marlins opening day lineup will look like. I had thought of this myself:

Dontrelle in the three-hole? Why not?

Willis batted as high as 7th when the Marlins middle infielders were injured. Why not make him the rightfielder when he's not pitching? He's probably going to be a better hitter than some of the starting position players.

Jon Weisman excerpts his article from the The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2006 and presents some charts that didn't make the book. They show Paul DePodesta did a very good job of acquiring players.

With Ricardo Rincon signing with St. Louis, Athletics Nation speculates on who will fill the LOOGY role in the east bay next year.

Whenever I hear LOOGY, I think of the Beavis and Butt-head episode with the exchange student.

The Texas Rangers picked up Vicente Padilla from the Philadelphia Phillies today for a player to be determined. It's an interesting move by the new Rangers GM. Padilla isn't that good a pitcher, but he's also not as bad as his stats. Over the last two seasons, Padilla has a 4.98 ERA at home, 4.21 on the road. The big difference is home runs allowed, 28 at home vs. 10 on the road over that time. With Texas posting an ERA near five last season, a pitcher who keep his ERA at 4.50 or lower actually improves the team. It looks to me that the Rangers got a pitcher who can handle their ballpark and be pretty good on the road.

This deal has the potential to be very good for Texas. It's almost the reverse of the Chan Ho Park signing. The Rangers paid through the nose for someone whose stats looked much better than reality due to the ball park. Here, they're giving up a minor leaguer for someone whose stats look worse than reality.

Update: Fixed spelling of Vicente.

The Boston Red Sox made it official that two former assistants will share the job of general manager:

Hoyer will control the organization's major league operations, including free agent signings and trades, while Cherington will oversee the farm system, player development and scouting.

Basically, they'll continue the jobs they've been doing, except they'll answer to Lucchino instead of Theo Epstein. I'm not surprised by this. It saves the Red Sox money and no one under Lucchino has too much power. Boston fans have to hope it works better than Baltimore's Beattie/Flanagan partnership.

Sidney Ponson faces the possiblity of being denied a work visa based on his criminal record.

SawxBlog links to a scientific study of the effect of Laser Refractive Surgery on offense. Bottom line, it doesn't help has much as you might think.

Maury Brown at The Hardball Times writes the first of a two part article examining the Major League Baseball Constitution.

Talking Chop posted part two of it's John Schuerholz interview. They talk about Chipper Jones, Jeff Francoeur and the starting rotation.

A nice article by Alan Schwarz on different ways of estimating a player's win value. The Hardball Times gets a prominent mention.

Larry Lucchino received a vote of confidence from John Henry yesterday:

"People currently speculating about a reduced role for Larry Lucchino don't know what they are talking about," Henry said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "It's completely absurd."

When a field manager gets a vote of confidence like this, he's usually gone in a couple of weeks. What's really interesting is the last line of the letter to the AP:

As if to stress his vote of confidence in Lucchino, Henry concluded his two-paragraph e-mail by saying, "Larry is commenting on all GM issues."

Commenting? Wasn't Lucchino the person interviewing the candidates? If he just gets to comment on them, it seems to me Lucchino is already less powerful.

Miguel Tejada now says he doesn't want a trade.

"I never said I wanted to be traded; I said I want to see a better team," said Tejada, who spoke via phone from the Dominican Republic. "I don't want to keep losing like we have the past two years. Look at the division we're in. It's not easy to win without pitching. It's the hardest division in baseball with the Yankees and Red Sox. And look at what Toronto is doing with their pitching staff. They're going to be tough."

Then what does this mean?

Club officials also talked directly to Tejada on Saturday night, the first time since he told an Associated Press reporter, "Things haven't gone in the direction that we were expecting, so I think the best thing will be a change of scenery."

Does he want the Orioles to move back to Memorial Stadium? Play their games in Philadelphia or Washington? Come on Miguel, you said if the team doesn't improve, you want to be traded. It seems pretty simple.

Matt Morris is close to signing a deal with the Giants.

Agent Barry Axelrod would not divulge financial terms, but Morris is expected to get a guarantee of three years worth approximately $27 million.

"We still have some details to square away, but our focus is on the Giants," Axelrod said. "We've basically said, assuming we get the last details worked out with the Giants, that's where he wants to go."

Axelrod termed those details "endgame-type issues" that should not derail an agreement with San Francisco, which beat the Rangers, Cardinals, Dodgers, Mariners and Reds in bidding for the 31-year-old right-hander.

Morris did not allow a home run in his four starts at SBC Park. Morris would have been better off going for free agency after the 2003 season. Here's what his career looked like at that point. Since then, his strikeouts have fallen off, but he's maintained his excellent K/BB ratio. He's become more of a control pitcher. Unfortunately, that's led to his becoming more hittable, as his home runs per 9 nearly doubled. SBC Park has the same home run index as St. Louis, so I don't expect that to change.

I do worry that the Giants (or the people covering the Giants) are overly impressed with Morris' won-loss record:

On the other hand, Morris has not had a losing season and he was the winning pitcher in the Cardinals' Division Series clincher over San Diego in October.

You can have a winning record with a high ERA if your team scores lots of runs. Since San Francisco was 15th in the NL in runs scored during 2005, that might be a problem.

I'll be on 1250 WTMA in South Carolina at 6:30 EST.

Update: Actually, I'm on now at 6:20.

Dan Fox follows up on his Caribbean players and walks article with a look at how a lack of lefties among Caribbean hitters might account for the difference.

Is this all Bill Mueller is worth?

In their effort to land free-agent third baseman Bill Mueller, the Pirates have increased their offer to a three-year deal believed to be worth over $4 million a year. The club had originally offered Mueller a two-year contract.

Mueller, 34, is also speaking with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, and is reportedly leaning toward signing with a West Coast team.

It seems to me a player with a good OBA that plays an important defensive position well should be worth more money. I guess his injury history is holding down Bill price.

Frank Thomas always struck me as the right-handed Ted Williams. They hit for average, hit for power, and had an amazing knowledge of the strike zone, leading to tons of walks and gaudy on-base averages. But they were alike in that they were not universally loved in their baseball towns. Williams gained a lot more love and respect from Red Sox fans after he retired, and same thing appears to be happening with Thomas.

Witness this article about Frank Thomas and his rebar warmup:

If you're a baseball fan, you've seen Big Frank's routine in the on-deck circle, reaching for a length of that heavy rebar, the steel green and pitted, as he'd start swinging lightly, stretching. And whatever conflicting emotions we fans felt about Thomas over the years, one thing was constant. When he reached for that rebar, it was prelude to one of the most exciting moments in sport, because he was about to do something spectacular: Hit that ball hard and far.

Vince Fresso has been with the team since Bill Veeck had the Sox, first working bullpen security, then the visiting clubhouse, before being promoted to working the umpires' room. That's when he saw the young Thomas hunting through some construction debris.

"You remember how dilapidated the old ballpark was; there was always some construction going on there," Fresso said. "Frank was rummaging around, looking for something, but he didn't know what, exactly."

As Fresso talked, I wasn't thinking of the public Frank, the star, awkward and uncomfortable with writers, some teammates and himself. Instead, I saw the young artist on the edge of greatness, knowing the sense of what he was looking for but not the thing itself, yet.

Too bad more people didn't appreciate his artistry when he was playing.

The Chicago Sun-Times posts a nice biography of new Cubs centerfielder Juan Pierre:

Derry is a head-start teacher who made sure her children -- including Juan's brother, Derrick, 35, and his sister, English, 30 -- excelled in the class room.

''He was an average student from a social standpoint in that he was quiet and laid-back,'' said Jim Looper, Pierre's world history teacher at Alexandria High. ''But an exceptional student academically. He was a member of the honor society his junior and senior years.

''Because he was so quiet and laid-back, there was no way I could see him ever becoming the major-league baseball star he became. But I knew that whatever he'd put his mind to do, he could do it because he was such a hard worker and a committed overachiever. He always willingly did more than what was expected.''

It's clear the people who knew Pierre while he grew up loved and respected him.

I've been reading a number of unconfirmed stories in the Boston media about the quest to create order out of the chaos that is the Red Sox front office.

First the Herald reports that the Red Sox are going to have co-GMs. The Boston Globe picked up on the story the next day. Now, to add a wrinkle, the Herald is reporting that Theo will advise the pair of kings.

Very telling in this whole misadventure is that Lucchino's candidates are losing out.

Lucchino has been leading the search process for a replacement for Epstein, yet by all accounts, the team president’s first choice - Jim Beattie - and fellow interviewees Jim Bowden and Dan Evans have not exactly been greeted with enthusiasm by Henry. The owner is known to be fond and trusting of both Cherington and Hoyer, and the indications in recent days that Henry wants them to lead the baseball operations department does not so much signal a repudiation of Lucchino’s efforts but a realization that for whatever reasons, some related to Lucchino’s management style, the search for external candidates was not only unsuccessful but also unnecessary.

Lucchino interviewed Beattie three times. I'd say it's pretty clear that Larry wanted to hire Jim, but Henry doesn't. My guess is Henry appreciates the sabermetric aspects of the GM job more than Lucchino, and realizes that he really wants Theo, or someone very much like Theo, running the baseball operations of the club. When this restructuring is finished, I wonder if we'll see Lucchino isolated from the baseball side of management, with more power given to whatever GM arrangement is employed.

There's a new addition to the Day by Day Database. Team splits are now in place along with the player splits. Again, you can drill down with home/road, opponent and stadium choices. Enjoy!

There was some speculation that Miguel Tejada and Ramon Hernandez are engaged in a feud, which is one reason that Tejada wants to be traded. However:

Flanagan found the timing of Tejada's comments especially puzzling, considering that the Orioles reached a tentative agreement with free-agent catcher Ramon Hernandez on a four-year, $27.5 million deal. Hernandez is a former teammate of Tejada's in Oakland and is the godfather of Tejada's 6-year-old daughter, Alexa. Tejada is the godfather of one of Hernandez's kids.

Eric Goldschmidt, Hernandez's agent, said that the two players are friends and that one of the main reasons Hernandez, who arrives in Baltimore tomorrow and will have a physical Monday, signed with the Orioles was because Mora and Tejada were on the team.

So much for that theory.

The New York Mets signed the ancient Julio Franco. Julio started playing about a month before I graduated from college. As long as he's in the game, someone older than me will be playing major league baseball.

Part of the reason the Mets signed Julio is to get him in the organization:

"I've told Julio that as long as I'm in the organization I think I want Julio Franco to be part of my organization,'' said Minaya, who is about 2½ months younger than Franco and has known him since his own playing days more than 20 years ago. "When Julio Franco sets a goal, he usually gets his goal.''

The Mets should designate him as a player coach, since part of his job will be working with Jose Reyes.

At the other end of the age spectrum, the Mets sent 20-year-old Gaby Hernandez to the Florida Marlins, along with Dante Brinkley. Brinkley turned 24 in August so I'm not sure I'd call him a prospect at this point. He gets on base decently but never got past A ball. Hernandez, on the other hand, is pitching well in the minors at a tender age. His strikeout, walk and home run numbers are all eye popping. The Mets limited his amount of pitching as well, giving him just 135 innings in 28 starts last year. The Marlins keep grabbing these pitching gems. In 2007 or 2008, they may not need much more than the offense Cabrera gives them to win.

The Washington Nationals moved a step closer to building a new stadium yesterday as Major League Baseball and the D.C. government finished negotiations on a lease deal. The document still needs to be approved by the city council.

The mayor won concessions from MLB:

Under terms of the lease deal, baseball would give the city $20 million for stadium construction and a letter of credit that would cover Washington Nationals rent payments in case of a terrorist attack or players' strike.

Twenty million is a drop in the bucket. In exchange for that consession, MLB gets a share of the non-game day parking fees. In fact, the owners of the franchise get a very sweet deal:

The team would collect all stadium revenue other than non-game-day parking and advertising collected by the city during the 18 days the city could use the stadium for other events. And the Nationals would control all advertising on and inside the stadium and would receive all income from naming rights if a corporate sponsor paid to put its name on the ballpark.

If the stadium did not open by March 2008, the District would be required to pay penalties that could reach millions of dollars, depending on how much revenue the team lost during the delay.

The Nationals would pay an average of $5.5 million in rent during the 30-year lease and donate 8,000 tickets to city charities each season. In a statement, the city said it would control development rights on land outside the stadium and within the 21-acre footprint of the project. The lease agreement states that the Nationals and the city will "jointly evaluate . . . to attract economically viable commercial activity" south and east of the stadium.

The team can't move for 30 years, so the city is going to get about $165 million from the team. The ticket incentive is backwards, too. The Nationals have no reason to push beyond 2.5 million attendees, since they don't make as much money on tickets sold after that number is reached. Take the $1 out of the first 500,000 in attendance each year, then it would be worth it for the Nationals to push attendance higher.

I also believe the tax on utilities to finance the stadium will not go over well. Given the high price of oil, gas and electricity right now, tacking on more for a stadium isn't going to sit well with consumers. This project strikes me as a poor investment for the city. We'll see if the council feels the same way.

The council has scheduled a public hearing on the lease for 10 a.m. Tuesday. Those wishing to speak must register by 5 p.m. Monday.

Here's your chance to be heard on the issue. 10 A.M. Tuesday is an inconvenient time to schedule a public hearing. It makes me think they're trying to keep the public away.

Alfonso Soriano does not want to play the outfield:

"I have the same position [on moving] as I always had when I was with Texas," Soriano told the newspaper. "I said that I'm not going to change from second base."

Although he said he hasn't spoken with anyone from the Nationals, Soriano told the Star-Telegram that he believes the club traded for him to play second base.

"I think that if they traded for me, it's to play second base," he told the newspaper.

However, Washington already has a past All-Star at second base in Jose Vidro, though he was hampered by leg problems last season that limited him to 87 games.

Of course, this could be a negotiating strategy. A power hitting second baseman is more valuable than a power hitting leftfielder as Soriano approaches arbitration with the Nationals.

Via Deadspin Eric McErlain speculates on the fun that might happen if Roger Clemens signs with the Mets.

U.S.S. Mariner notices that Carl Everett is soul searching over whether to sign with Seattle:

Hey! Carl!

It’s horrible here. We’re all heathen gay paleontologists. Millions of us. Stay away.

Dan Fox at The Hardball Times, inspired by the Larry Krueger/Felipe Alou controversy, does an excellent historical study on the offensive trends of Caribbean players over the last 50 years. The bottom line is while they have not caught up to non-Caribbeans in walks, less strikeouts and more hits put them ahead of non-Caribbeans in terms of overall production, especially when you add in the fact these players are manning the tougher defensive positions.

So far, the Florida Marlins fire sale makes sense. The team has two young stars and is building toward making a run with a great pitching staff in a couple of years. But David Samson said something yesterday that may change that:

Samson said he could not rule out adding Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera to the team's payroll purge.

"We've never guaranteed that," Samson said. "What happens if a call comes tomorrow, we could get five Yankees, all paid for, for Dontrelle Willis? It's highly probable that they will (return), though."

The Marlins are in a very bad public relations situation right now. They're tearing down the team and threatening to move. This can be tolerated if Willis and Cabrera are going to be playing when (and if) the trades pay off. My guess is that talking about trading these young stars is only going to alienate more loyal Fish fans.

The Yankees picked up ex-Boston pitcher Mike Myers yesterday, having waited to see if Boston offered him arbitration.

Yesterday, however, the Bombers finally made a little noise. They completed a trade to send Tony Womack to Cincinnati and, in a move designed to shore up their bullpen, the Bombers agreed to a two-year deal with lefthanded specialist Mike Myers believed to be for about $2.5 million. The Yanks did not make an official announcement, but they had an eye on Myers for weeks and were waiting to see if the Red Sox offered him arbitration; when Boston did not, it allowed the Yanks to move in and add the veteran without forfeiting a draft pick to their division rivals.

Myers will be 37 in 2006, but he hasn't pitched a lot, averaging just 45 innings over 10 full MLB seasons.

Did you know that Myers is the only Colorado Rockies pitcher to post an ERA under 3.00 in at least 85 innings pitched? That alone should continue to make him worth a risk every few years. :-)

Did the Royals actually make a smart move yesterday? They drafted Fabio Castro first in the rule five draft and sent him to Texas for Esteban German. German was a walk machine in the minor leagues and sported a .300 batting average to boot. At age 26, he's only had about 100 at bats and they've been poor. But anything can happen in 100 at bats. Given his age and his history, Esteban will jump right into the leadoff spot and improve the top of the order. He's also an excellent base stealer, swiping close to 400 bases in the minors and doing it at a 83% clip. It's a nice move by the Royals.

Texas does well, too. It's the second minor league pitcher they've picked up this week with good strikeout and home run numbers, the same type of pitchers the Marlins have been acquiring all winter. Daniels appears to understand DIPS.

The Rangers gained outfield depth with their trade of Alfonso Soriano, and want to use that depth to bring in pitching:

"We're not evaluating this deal on what we got back," Daniels said. "We're not evaluating it in a vacuum. We're evaluating it on what this allows us to do."

At least five clubs have contacted the Rangers about such a deal: Toronto, San Diego, Baltimore, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.

The Rangers had previous talks with Toronto about Mench and catcher Gerald Laird, but those bogged down over the Blue Jays' reluctance to meet the Rangers' pitching demands. Toronto has long coveted Wilkerson, so it could make a deal involving some combination of pitchers Brandon League, Ted Lilly and Miguel Batista and perhaps second baseman Orlando Hudson.

It's a good deal for Texas even if they don't move any other players. If they land a good starter, so much the better.

Miguel Tejada is upset with the direction of the Baltimore Orioles and wants to be traded.

"I've been with the Orioles for two years and things haven't gone in the direction that we were expecting, so I think the best thing will be a change of scenery," Tejada told The Associated Press during a telephone interview in his native Dominican Republic.

Well, that's the risk of signing a six-year contract. The team you sign with might stink. And while a deal with Boston might be fun to think about for Red Sox fans, do you really think the Orioles will trade a star of that magnitude to another team in their division? More likely, Baltimore could send him to the Cubs, the team that lost out on Furcal.

Of course, if I were running the Orioles, I'd be doing everything possible to make Miguel happy. Players like Tejada are difficult to replace.

John Perricone is not at all happy with the Giants off season.

Oh, and in one of the press releases I read, Sabean is quoted as saying that the Giants saved a million dollars a season on the Worrell deal by letting him go. Yeah, good, solid logic there. Two seasons of almost 70 blown saves for a team trying to get the last possible greatness out of Bonds to save $2 million. Throw a million dollars away to downgrade your relievers, throw $18 million dollars at an aging, declining and soon to be out of baseball Kirk Reuter, throw away $5 million dollars on Neifi Perez, throw away two seasons to save $2 million dollars on Tim Worrell, and then tell us you can't afford to sign real players and real pitchers 'cause your mortgage payments are too high, something we know isn't true, by the way.

That's called lying to your constituency, or in the case of the Giants, your clientele. Generally, not good for business. Ready to pony up the cash for 2006 season tickets yet?

BlueBird Banter is a new blog by Marc Normandin, who has a lot to banter about lately. Stop by and say hi.

It looks like the Yankees and Bernie Williams struck a deal to keep the centerfielder in New York one more year:

Faced last night with a midnight deadline to reach agreement on a new contract, offer arbitration or lose negotiating rights with the veteran center fielder until May, the Yankees received a handshake deal from Williams' agent, Scott Boras, which buys them more time to work out a new pact and effectively ensures Williams will return to the Bronx.

As part of the deal, the Bombers will offer arbitration to Williams - who made about $12.3 million last season - but have Boras' word that he will decline, meaning the Yanks have until Jan. 8 to get Williams signed as a reserve outfielder/DH. The Bombers are looking to give Williams a one-year deal for around $1.5 million-$2 million with incentives that could push the value up to around $3 million.

It's nice to see this working out for both the team and the player. Williams gets to play his whole career with one team, and the Yankees get to keep a fan favorite on the team. I suspect without the daily wear and tear, Williams can still be a valuable offensive player as a DH and pinch hitter.

Although it's not definite, word out of Detroit is that the Tigers are going to sign Kenny Rogers.

No longer wanted in Texas, All-Star pitcher Kenny Rogers agreed to a $16 million, two-year contract Thursday with the Tigers that will give Detroit a veteran left-hander it hopes can provide leadership to a young rotation.

It's not a lot of money given what pitchers are commanding these days, but when has Rogers been good for a long stretch? In 17 years he's had 6 or 7 outstanding seasons, two of those as a reliever. And given his antics of 2005, I'm not sure he's the best person to provide leadership. The Tigers are more in need of someone who can provide a low ERA. There's about a 1 in 3 chance that Rogers will do that.

It looks like the Orioles are close to signing Ramon Hernandez to catch. This makes Javy Lopez available for a trade, but I hope the Orioles can do better than this:

With Hernandez close to being on board, the Orioles made several calls yesterday to gauge interest in their current everyday catcher Javy Lopez, according to two industry sources. One of the teams they talked to was the Los Angeles Angels and a deal that included Angels veteran outfielder Steve Finley was at least discussed, according to a source.

The Yankees pawned Tony Womack off on the Cincinnati Reds, picking up a pair of 24 year-olds in the deal. I hate to call them prospects, because if you're in the low minors at age 24 you're more or less on your way to becoming a career minor leaguer.

The Colorado Rockies made some deals, acquiring Yorvit Torrealba and Ray King. Seattle will get a player to be determined, while the Cardinals pick up Larry Bigbie and Aaron Miles. King has never allowed a HR at Coors in 27 ab bats. Looks like all three teams are doing low level patching.

It appears from article and comments that the Red Sox are not going to flip Marte for Julio Lugo. Marte has very good minor league numbers, but I'm not awed by them, especially if this is true:

Marte, 22, has been one of the Braves’ top prospects for several years but with Chipper Jones expected to be manning third base for the Braves for the foreseeable future, Marte was deemed expendable by Atlanta. He will probably begin the year in Triple A, and the Red Sox expect to try him out at first base there. He is rated as an average defensive third baseman, with considerable upside as a run producer.

Right now, Marte has an OBA in the high .300's and a slugging percentage in the low .500s. I don't know if his parks hurt him or not. I'd love to see those numbers (especially the slugging percentage) much higher if he's going to be moved to first base.

And this still begs the question who will play short? Since they didn't do a three-way deal for Lugo, the Devil Rays can demand more if Boston comes knocking that way again. The free agents available aren't exactly top shelf. Could there be a massive deal in the works to trade Manny for a leftfielder, shortstop and first baseman?

Here's some tax advice for blogs that are generating income.

The Red Sox traded Edgar Renteria to the Atlanta Braves for third baseman Andy Marte. This is probably not the end of the deal, as Marte may go to Tampa Bay for Lugo. More later, but right now the Red Sox have traded their starting shortstop and their shortstop prospect, leaving them with a big hole in the middle of the infield.

The Toronto Blue Jays acquired Lyle Overbay from the Milwaukee Brewers for the disappointing Dave Bush and two other players. Ricciardi sums up the move for Toronto:

"I think he's more of a gap hitter, he's more of an on-base guy,'' Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said of the 28-year-old slugger early this morning after the deal was finalized. "We can use a little bit more on-base in our lineup and I think he helps us with that.''

He'll be a bit of an improvement over Shea Hillenbrand, but Overbay is not a big bopper. Toronto is still low offensively at the position compared to other teams.

Of course, this opens the door for Prince Fielder to be crowned king of the first basemen in Milwaukee. Brewers fans are hoping for a long purple reign.

It looks like Jim Bowden's parting shot to Washington was the worst trade of the winter, sending three players to Texas for Alfonso Soriano. Wilkerson for Soriano straight up would be a bad deal, but the Rangers also get Termel Sledge and a minor league pitcher as icing on the cake.

First off, Wilkerson is younger than Soriano by over a year. Not only is he younger, but Brad over the last two years posted back-to-back 19 win share seasons. Soriano posted two 16 win share seasons! He's gone from years of 28 and 27 win shares with the Yankees to a combined 32 with the Rangers.

Sledge was an old rookie in 2004, so I don't see him being a long term star. But if he contributes at all, it's just widens the trade gap.

Texas also get Armando Galarraga, a right-handed pitcher. He strikes out a good number of batters and his control is improving as he moves through the minor leagues.

Washington fans, you got ripped off. And with this deal, I doubt Jim Bowden will ever be hired in Boston.

Correction: Fixed a typo.

Blogging's been a bit light lately as I've been working on a new feature for the Day by Day Database. What I've wanted for a while is an updated database that lets me calculate batting in various situations. I notice that Retrosheet.org posted event data for the years 2000-2004 on their site, so I thought this was a good time to give this program a shot.

As I worked on extracting the data, it occurred to me that it was possible to do a very cool splits program. Instead of just displaying splits by season, the user can input dates, looking at splits over any time frame. It was also possible to use the same selection criteria as the daily logs to drill down even further. So it's possible to look at splits for Bobby Abreu playing at home in Veterans Stadium.

Given the complicated nature of extracting splits for base runners, the database only contains batting events. The splits for pitchers are not pitching splits but opposition batting. Still, it's my belief that this is going to be a very useful research tool. I know of nothing like it on the web.

Baseball Info Solutions sold me the 2005 data and will provide updates in 2006. My thanks to Steve Moyer and Damon Lichtenwalner for their help on this project.

Find splits for batters here.

Find splits for pitchers here.

I've been testing the program, but my test have not been exhaustive. If you find something that looks wrong, or have suggestions for improvements, let me know.

Enjoy!

The Houston Astros did not offer Roger Clemens arbitration today, making it impossible for Clemens to start the season with Houston in 2006.

By refusing to offer Clemens, 43, arbitration by today's 11 p.m. deadline, the Astros accept that their negotiating window with him will be closed until May 1. By then, the 341-game winner will likely be playing elsewhere if he opts against retirement.

Clemens earned $18,000,022 this year, a record for a one-year contract. If the Astros had offered arbitration and he had accepted and taken them to a hearing, he would have earned no less than $15.4 million next season but more likely something in the $20 million range. By offering arbitration, the Astros would have at least extended the negotiating window with Clemens until Jan. 8.

It's an interesting decision. Clemens is still a very good pitcher, although his durability has to be in question. The Astros probably decided that given Roger's likelihood of injury, $15 to $20 million dollars just wasn't worth it. We'll now wait to see if Clemens decides to play somewhere else. If he should retire, he'll certainly be going out on one of the great high notes of all time.

The San Diego Padres retain one player but said good bye to others as Kevin Towers was busy remaking the club. Trevor Hoffman decided to stay in southern California instead of moving to Cleveland, agreeing to a two year contract with incentives.

"I'm just really happy that I'm not having to traipse my family across the country, although it was a tremendous opportunity with the Cleveland Indians," Hoffman said. "In particular, the class that they showed throughout the process and the respect that they showed went above and beyond and I truly appreciate it. But it came down to me making a decision for my family and not disrupting what we have going on."

Location matters. It's likely now that Hoffman will finish his career with the Padres, having only played briefly for one other club, the Marlins.

Meanwhile, Mark Lorreta is heading north and east, joining the Boston Red Sox as catcher Doug Mirabelli heads west. The Red Sox get a middle infielder with a good on-base average, and the Padres gets some insurance against losing Ramon Hernandez. Still, it looks to me that Boston got the better of the deal. Tim Wakefield can't be too happy, however.

Finally, a trade of disappointments as Sean Burroughs goes from first to worst as he moves to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Dewon Brazelton.

The Braves and Diamondbacks traded players, giving up opposite poles of the battery. Arizona sent two pitchers to Atlanta for catcher Johnny Estrada. I take it this means the Diamondbacks aren't as high on their catching prospects as they were a year ago.

The Braves get Oscar Villarreal who had a great 2003 but has not pitched much at the major league level since. Cormeir has a 6.21 ERA in 124 2/3 innings pitched in the majors. Seems like both clubs were just dumping spare parts.

The Pirates continue to trim their bevy of lefties, sending Mark Redman to the Royals for sophomore Jonah Bayliss and a player to be determined. Bayliss has good strikeout numbers but walks a few too many. Like the deal above, this is not going to make or break either team.

Gary Garland writes:

According to Hochi Sports out of Japan, the Boston Red Sox are said to have gotten the negotiating rights to Seibu Lions ace setup man Shinji Mori for between $400-500,000. Mori has a fastball that is between 91-94mph with a devastating splitter and an average slider.

Between 2000-2003, the righthander was perhaps the premier setup man in all of Japanese baseball, However, the last two seasons have seen his ERA inflate substantially even if his 2005 left/right splits and opponent batting average against were excellent. You can view his Japanese stats at:
http://www.japanbaseballdaily.com/PitchingMonma-Motohigashi.html

At best, Mori is a kind of downmarket Kazuhiro Sasaki. At worst, he will go through periods where his command takes a vacation and he gets taken deep.

After the 2003 season, Mori asked to be posted to MLB, but the Lions front office refused that request and an acrimonious back and forth dialog ensued, leading some to speculate that he may have deliberately tanked it for a while in 2004, though it didn't keep the Lions from winning the Japan Series. Mori then asked to be posted again at the end of 2004 and was rebuffed again. Last season, Seibu's bullpen was awful as Seibu barley finished third, so that they would suddenly unload one of their prime pitching assets suprised the hell out of the press and the team's fans. One has to think that they just got tired of Mori, who was coming up to his free agency at the end of 2006, and decided to see if they could get some cash for him.

The Yankees were also whispered to be interested, but it is unclear if they made an offer. More details about the results of the bidding should be made clear in the next couple of days.

Thanks, Gary.

This is big. The Marlins and Cubs agreed to a deal last night that send Renyel Pinto to the Marlins. Pinto is another high strikeout, low home run pitcher, which seems to be all the Marlins are getting in these trades. And all the Marlins had to give up was Juan Pierre!

Actually, the star of the deal appears to be Ricky Nolasco, a 23 year-old righty with impressive minor league numbers. Again, lots of strikeouts and few homers, but in Ricky's case he doesn't walk many either. Sergio Mitre was also in the deal, although he doesn't fit the profile of pitchers the Marlins are acquiring.

With the Marlins overflowing with live, young arms, I'm starting to wonder if they're not going to turn some of these pitchers around to bring in some position players for the 2006 season. Or maybe, in a couple of years when they know who is going to be the heart of a new staff, they trade the rest away for the talent to win. The more I see the way the Marlins are going about this restructuring, the more I like it.

John Olerud is hanging up his spikes. He was one of my favorites. John had a picture perfect swing; no wasted motion, no wasted energy. When I was working on Baseball Tonight Online, Tom Candiottie was asked to name the nicest guy in baseball. Candiotti said, "Not only would I let him baby sit my children, he has baby sat my children!"

Congratulations to John Olerud on a fine career!

The Cincinnati Reds are sending high-average, low-power first baseman Sean Casey to the Pirates for lefty starter Dave Williams. I guess the Reds liked Eric Milton so much they picked up a much cheaper version; a lefty who allows home runs.

Casey does get on base, something the Pirates need. Bat him second in front of Bay and watch Jason's RBI totals go up. The Pirates' #2 hitters managed just a .309 OBA last season. If Casey comes close to his career average of .371 (and Tracy bats him second), the Pirates will be solid 1-4 in their lineup. That's all the White Sox had this year. If their bevy of young lefties perform, this suddenly looks like a team that could finish over .500.

The Dodgers are about to announce the hiring of Grady Little as their new manager. Given the five choices under consideration, Grady was the best one. If the Dodgers were going with a bunch of youngsters, one of the rookie managers would be fine. Each had spent a number of years in the minors and knew how to deal with up and coming talent. But the Dodgers are a mix of vets and youngsters, so Little fits better with that talent. He's worked with both, having spent a number of years managing in the minors and two years on the stage in Boston. He's also a manager that got fired over not using statistical information supplied to him by a young, Ivy League GM, so the LA Press should just love Grady.

Even if you don't like Little that much, just be glad they didn't choose Jim Fergosi.

There's a bet going on at Sports Blogger Live concerning Will Clark, Don Mattingly, Hall of Fame voting and mustaches. All I have to say is that Jamie should be a man and grow it for the month! I guess he's not too confident in his man winning.

ESPN is reporting that A.J Burnett agreed to join the Toronto Blue Jays for $11 million a year for five years. The yearly amount is not outrageous, but the length of the contract is pretty iffy.

The Blue Jays sign another pitcher with lots of strikeouts, okay walks and who is very good at keeping the ball in the park. Of course, he's only been able to pitch 200 innings twice in his seven year career. The Blue Jays appear to be playing Moneyball with real money.

Since they now have A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan, can the following be far behind?

• C.J. Nitkowski as the mop up guy.
• D.J. Tanner as the new luxury seats beer girl.
• E.J. Dionne as the cranky sports writer.
• JJ Evans as the holler guy (Dyn-o-mite!) and practical jokester.
• MJ Watson as the girlfriend.
• O.J. Simpson as himself.
• P.J. O'Rourke as the funny sports writer.
• R.J. Reynolds as the sponsor.
• TJ Hooker as the new security chief.

There seems to be some disagreement over Ken Griffey's status for the World Baseball Classic.

Gene Orza, an executive with the players union, made special mention of the fact that Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. will be playing for the U.S. team.

It was a surprise to Griffey when he answered his cell phone Monday during his celebrity charity golf tournament that raised $180,000 for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

"I don't know anything about it," he said. "I don't know where or when they practice, Florida or Arizona. I don't have any of the details. I have not committed."

Later, his Cincinnati-based agent, Brian Goldberg, said he talked to the players union at the end of last week and was waiting to hear back with more details.

I've met Gene Orza and he's very good with facts. I'm surprised he'd get this wrong.

The Cubs are trying to acquire Bobby Abreu. Philadelphia is willing to trade him:

According to National League sources at the winter meetings here, the Cubs asked the Phillies yesterday what it would take to pry away two-time All-Star rightfielder, Gold Glove winner and reigning Home Run Derby champion Bobby Abreu.

The answer: Mark Prior.

The Cubs didn't say yes.

But they didn't say no, either; at least, they haven't so far.

Now that would be a blockbuster.

Joseph Reaves recaps the first day of the winter meetings. The big rumor of the day was a three-way deal between Boston, LAnaheim and Arizona:

The Diamondbacks were mentioned in one of the biggest rumors swirling about. That one had Arizona's Troy Glaus headed to the Red Sox, Boston's Manny Ramirez off to Anaheim and the Angels packing up a slew of prospects to the Diamondbacks.

One general manager said he knew the Red Sox were working hard to meet Ramirez's request to be traded, but he doubted a deal was close. Arizona GM Josh Byrnes specifically denied late in the day that he was working on any three-way packages.

Since the Red Sox acquired Mike Lowell and his big contract, I assume they'd want Glaus to play first.

Chad Finn posts his wish list for the Red Sox at Touching All the Bases.

Two interesting links concerning the state of finances in major league baseball. Benjamin Kabak frets that the Yankees debt is going to cause them to cut back on spending, hurting other clubs as their luxury tax goes down. I've seen the Daily News articles on this subject, and frankly I think the whole thing is overblown. The Yankees are only in debt if you consider the pure baseball operation. Revenue from the YES Network appears to make up for the loss.

The Yankees debt is not a problem, since it's backed by a $1 billion dollar asset, the New York Yankees. Since Steinbrenner and his group paid a mere $20 million for the franchise, they have a ton of equity in the club. I have no doubt the Yankees could get a $500 million credit line tomorrow at a reasonable interest rate (if they don't already have one).

The Yankees debt is not a problem, since they can easily go from red to black by cutting payroll. As the White Sox, Athletics, Braves, Twins, Cardinals and Indians have shown, it's quite possible to put a competitive team on the field for under $100,000,000. It would take the Yankees a few years to get to that point, but at that level they would make a profit and most likely have a winning team.

The luxury tax was put in place to slow the growth of player salaries. The Yankees ignored it in order to win, and it ended up benefiting the rest of baseball. As it turns out, baseball found new streams of revenue, and teams are spending again. It turns out the only way to keep MLB salaries down is to make the sport unpopular so there's less revenue coming in. Looks like the lords of baseball failed at that, too.

The second article is by Neil deMause at Baseball Prospectus (subscription required). He talks about what's coming up in the new CBA. If the CBA renews for one year, no one pays luxury tax in 2006. My guess is the luxury tax doesn't make a comeback. It didn't work. Most teams never came close to spending near the trigger, and the teams that did blew by it without batting an eye. It's not needed.

Neil reminds us of something more ominous, however:

Luxury tax shenanigans, though, pale in comparison to what could be the baseball bombshell of 2006: The return of contraction. When Bud Selig & Co. agreed to shut their yaps about eliminating teams during the 2002 labor talks, they exacted an enormous concession from the labor side: Starting in 2006, MLB owners are free to eliminate two teams if they so choose--without needing the approval of the players' union. Owners have a three-month contraction "window," from April 1 to July 1, in which time to notify the union that contraction is imminent for 2007. And--this is the key part--they don't need to identify which two teams are on the chopping block.

Given what we know about Bud and his gang of Seligians, it's easy to see how this would play out. Sometime next spring, probably a moment conveniently picked to coincide with the Florida and Minnesota legislative sessions, the baseball cabal puts out the word that two teams will get the axe the following year. Immediately, panic ensues on sports pages across the nation, as baseball writers fearful of being consigned to the high-school field hockey beat send up the alarm that Something Must Be Done.

He also points out that there are very good reasons why this would be nothing but a bluff by MLB. There's just too much money involved in buying out the teams. When this happens, let's hope everyone calls the bluff.

It looks like timing is the key ingredient in landing A.J. Burnett. He'd like to play for the Cardinals:

Along with the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners, the Cardinals general manager continued to wait Saturday for free-agent pitcher A.J. Burnett to decide on the club's four- year offer worth roughly $40 million. If Burnett accepts the Cardinals' offer - something sources say he is prepared to do should the club guarantee a fifth season - then the meetings' cornerstone will be laid.

Toronto is willing to give Burnett the fifth year, and Burnett's agent appears to be using that as leverage to get more from St. Louis:

Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who is expected to be a major player in trade discussions the next four days, arrived here around noon and said the Burnett talks could drag through until mid-week. Braunecker didn't dismiss that suggestion, but added: "It might go that long, or somebody can phone us up (today) and the deal will be done."

That scenario playing out would most likely suggest the Cards hold the upper hand, since their four-year offer in the $40 million (all figures U.S.) range is reportedly for a season less than Toronto's bid — making it the Cardinals' phone call to make.

St. Louis isn't in the habit of doling out five-year deals, but Burnett is said by sources to be leaning toward the Cards — meaning that even an easily vested option for a fifth year could be enough to get him to St. Louis.

Does Toronto have all it's chips on the table? Do they have anything left to counter if the Cardinals go for five years? It would seem not.

No wonder the Royals aren't signing any free agents:

Naturally, a stigma attaches itself to a team with consecutive 100-loss seasons. As free agents have visited Kansas City this offseason, though, the Royals have talked about the future — about their core of young players and the need for veterans to complement Mike Sweeney and Matt Stairs.

Who wants to sign a contract that makes you say, "Matt, you look very handsome today," or "Mike, that's a lovely swing," every time you run into one of the veterans? :-)

Dave Van Dyck points out that since the Chicago Cubs lost out on Furcal, they have lots of money to spend and lots of holes to fill:

By unofficial calculations, the Cubs will have more than $57.5 million to spend on players this winter.

That's what they were willing to pay shortstop Rafael Furcal in a deal that would have covered as many as six years. And that figure doesn't even include the additional millions they would have had to pay a couple of outfielders to fill other holes.

So teams gathered for the winter meetings will surely be willing to huddle with the Cubs, trying to unload some high-priced players. They will find a willing partner in general manager Jim Hendry, who was stung and stunned when Furcal accepted about $39 million from the Dodgers for three years.

The Baseball Savant uses the late Doug Pappas' Marginal Payroll/Marginal Wins ratio to see which teams spent their money wisely in 2005. Not surprising, the Cleveland Indians rank as the most efficient team. With the White Sox, Indians and Twins ranking near the top of the list, and the Royals and Tigers near the bottom, the AL Central provides us with great examples of the right and wrong ways to build a winner.

Joe Hamrahi at Chop Talk sat down with John Schuerholz. Part I of the interview is up.

JH: Continuing on the theme of younger players, if Furcal doesn't come back (Editor's Note: We know now that he has signed with the Dodgers), do you feel that Wilson Betemit is ready to step in and play shortstop?

JS: We think so. When we signed Wilson Betamit and he began his development as a professional player, he was electrifying as a shortstop. He played in the Futures All-Star Game in Seattle. He hit a home run left-handed and right-handed in the same game. He was a superb shortstop. As his role morphed into more of a utility role at the major league level, he didn't get the same amount of time to play as he did in the minor leagues. The question is, can he regain those everyday shortstop skills? You know. And he's going to be playing shortstop for the last half of the winter season in the Dominican. He'll come to spring training with the chance to put the shortstop's glove on everyday. He'll prepare himself for that challenge, and we'll see. But we have real positive expectations that he'll do a good job.

JH: Well you're certainly not lacking shortstop prospects in the organization. That seems to be one of the team's stronger areas.

JS: We think it is. Whether Wilson or Tony Pena or Elvis Andrus, or (Yunel) Escobar, Luis Hernandez...you name `em.

That's what I love about the Braves management. They're always ready with a player to move into the major league team. They knew they might lose Furcal this winter, so they've stocked up on shortstops. And I wouldn't be surprised to see one of those prospects move to second if Marcus Giles decides to join his brother in San Diego next year.

The Mets and Marlins make another deal. Paul Lo Duca heads north for two more minor league pitchers.

The Mets will send 19-year-old right-hander Gabriel Hernandez and another minor leaguer pitcher to be named, the Daily News reported.

The Mets replace Piazza's 13 win shares with Lo Duca's 11. That's just what they need. With the additions of Wagner and Delgado, they continue to look like a team that will win at least 90 games.

The Marlins get another pitcher who strikes out batters without walking many. And there's another one on the way. If half of the pitchers the Marlins acquire turn out to be okay, they'll have a great rotation in a couple of years.

The Cleveland Indians filled one of their needs, signing Paul Byrd to a two year contract for $14.25 million.

Update: Byrd's strength is that he doesn't walk batters, just 28 in 204 1/3 innings in 2005. In his career, he's only had two poor seasons walk wise. In 1999 and 2000, he combined for 105 walks in 282 2/3 innings. That's more than 1/3 of his career walks in two seasons. In his last four seasons he's walked 111 in 650 1/3 innings.

He doesn't strike out batters however. Luckily, Cleveland, like Anaheim, will put a great defense behind Paul. It's a good fit, and given the way salaries are going, a good value for the Tribe.

I'll be on WTMA Radio, 1250 AM in Charleston, SC at 6:15 talking about the hot stove action with Ryan Walker.

Dan Le Batard gives the emtional arguments for tax dollars building the Marlins a new stadium, and the practical reasons why they shouldn't. It seems like a no-win situation for Miami:

Yeah, the head reiterates, the audacity of this art collector, asking one of America's poorest areas to build his flawed business model a weather-proof home just so he can hog the profits. Sell some more paintings, Mr. Artsy. Build your own playpen.

But the heart reminds the head that a historic South Florida sports figure tried that once.

And all that did was force Joe Robbie's entire family to fight over what little was left of his money.

I believe the practical argument is correct here. Unfortunately, until all cities think like this, teams like the Marlins will look for greener pastures.

Art Martone notices that Nomar Garciaparra is becoming Jody Reed:

Jody Reed turning down a three-year, $7.8-million contract offer from the Dodgers after the 1993 season is regarded in baseball circles as the ultimate blunder in player negotiations. Reed bounced around the majors for four seasons after leaving Los Angeles and earned a grand total of $2.875 million over the rest of his career -- just about $5 million less than he would have made had he stayed in Los Angeles. (Red Sox fans should delight in Reed's misstep. To replace him, the Dodgers traded for Montreal's Delino DeShields. The player they traded? Pedro Martinez, whom the poverty-stricken Expos couldn't afford to keep when he reached superstar status and thus wound up in Boston.)

The question, though, is whether or not Garciaparra committed a similar gaffe (or two) in his dealings with the Red Sox.

Martone points out that Nomar gave up two years of free agency when he signed a long term deal early in his career. I don't see that as much of a blunder. That deal certainly gave Garciaparra a lifetime of security. The big blunder was turning down the extension:

The other mistake was his decision not to accept the four-year, $60-million offer the Red Sox made after the 2003 season. The market had shifted downward by that time, and the $200-million contracts signed by players like Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez were no longer available. Garciaparra, though, wanted A-Rod/Jeter money. He made the call to play out his contract and become a free agent.

And thus began the downward spiral: The foot injury. The trade. The ripped groin. And now he's out in the street, waiting to see who's interested.

The Tribune-Review posts an interview with Pirates GM Dave Littlefield:

Question: What are the areas that you most need to address before Opening Day?

Answer: Right field, first base, third base and the right-handed side of the bullpen. Clearly, we'd like power, people who get on base and defense. Those are three areas that stand out -- that we need to improve in. Defensively, we did not perform well over the course of the year. We need to tighten up.

Dave Littlefield is the opposite of Sparky Anderson in my mind. Whenever I heard Sparky interviewed, my reaction was, "What an idiot." But if you actually watch Anderson manage the game, the season, the players, it was clear he knew exactly what he was doing. He just didn't want to tell us.

With Littlefield, when I read an interview it seems he understands the importance of getting on base and hitting for power. He just does a poor job of putting personnel on the field who get on base and hit for power. He talks a good game, but doesn't produce.

Scott Boras is more than just an agent:

Scott Boras is on a building binge. His company of 40-plus employees is expected to move into a completely redone three-story, 20,000-square- foot building in April. The final cost is expected to surpass $10 million.

After that, he hopes to begin construction on a permanent home for the Scott Boras Sports Training Institute, which he opened in 2003 to better monitor his clients' year-round training regimen.

The fitness institute sprung to life after Chan Ho Park pulled a hamstring muscle during spring training in the first season of his five-year, $65 million deal with the Rangers. Park's hamstring problems and subsequent back problems may have been significant factors in his poor performance with Texas.

Boras realizes that his livelihood depends on his athletes performing their best. Scott does everything to keep them at the top of their game.

Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe provides this handy-dandy list of what teams need and are willing to trade going into the Winter Meetings tomorrow.

I keep seeing this story, usually with the headline, "D.C. nears tentative lease deal." Is a tentative deal anything like a semi-boneless roast? Is it like that line from Annie Hall:

At the moment it's just a Notion, but with a bit of backing I think I could turn it into a Concept, and then an Idea.

Please get back to us when you have an actual deal.

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic looks at what the Diamondbacks might do at the winter meetings:

Byrnes said he has been in contact with about eight to 10 teams regarding Vazquez, noting that talks with some clubs were so advanced that a deal could be only a phone call or two away.

Washington and the New York Mets have surfaced most often in trade rumors.

"We're getting close to arriving at a deal that we like," Byrnes said. "We want to use that trade to set up improvements that we'd like to make with the roster."

Both the Mets and Nationals play in parks where Vazquez should flourish, as both cover one of his weaknesses, allowing home runs.

There's lots of speculation that the Phillies will trade Bobby Abreu:

The Phillies say they are not shopping Abreu. They don't have to. Every team in baseball already knows that he could be had for pitching help.

It's not that the Phils don't like Abreu. They do. He's available because he could fetch some value as the Phils look to fortify their pitching staff.

The Red Sox are among the teams interested, and Abreu would be a perfect replacement for Manny. Since becoming a regular in 1998, Abreu never posted less than 23 win shares in a season. He's garnered 216 win shares in that time, an average of 27 a season. Manny, over the same period, earned 227 win shares, a little over 28 a season. On top of that, Bobby is two years younger than Manny, and you can see why Boston is interested.

Still, that's a lot of wins to trade for pitching. I suspect Gillick will do a good job getting value for Abreu if indeed the Phillies decide to go in that direction.
227 to 216

Rafael Furcal trades the congested freeways of Atlanta for the congested freeways of Los Angels. Reports are the he's about to sign a three year deal with the Dodgers for $40 million.

That's more money per year than Renteria or Cabrera received last season, and frankly Furcal is a better player. He'll be 28 next year, still in his prime. Over the last four years, Furcal's hit the 20 win share mark each time, twice hitting 25 or more. Neither Edgar nor Orlando was that consistent over the previous four years coming into their free agency.

I do hope, however, the Dodgers are buying Furcal for his defense. His offensive numbers are somewhat inflated by Turner Field. Here he is home and road for his career. There's a forty point fall off in batting average and a 30 point fall off in OBA. He's really hit poorly at Dodger Stadium, although it's a very small sample size.

No one put up more fielding win shares than Furcal among NL shortstops last year. If the idea is to improve the infield defense by moving Izturis to second or third (when he recovers from his injury), this was a very good move, and I don't believe the Dodgers have overpayed, given what was spent on shortstops last season.

Jon Weisman's take:

Is this Furcal acquisition like getting the Delino DeShields of daydreams without trading a Pedro Martinez for him?

Any deal where you don't give up a Pedro like player is a good deal.

The Cleveland Indians are running into problems trying to spend the extra money in their budget:

Before the bidding on free agents began, Shapiro thought that his money would go a little further. He said his budget for the 25-man roster will be a little more than $55 million, which is at least $13 million more than in 2004.

That means that he probably has about $21 million to spend on free agents or new players obtained in trades. A princely sum? Had he been the winner in the Giles and Ryan sweepstakes, Shapiro’s shopping spree would be just about over.

The same thing happened last year, when Cleveland was not able to land the players they wanted due to prices going up. Maybe they can use all that extra money to take Manny Ramirez off Boston's hands.

John Eisenberg of the Baltimore Sun has an interesting observation about the Orioles:

The Orioles did throw $65 million at Paul Konerko earlier this week, but you can always throw scads of money at players when you're pretty sure they aren't going to take it. Konerko, the heart of the White Sox, wasn't going to leave the reigning World Series champions for a losing team if the money was remotely equal, which it was.

It's actually more of a gamble to throw money that liberally at free agents who are really free, like Byrd, a capable veteran who would help stabilize the rotation. I'd like to see the Orioles use the same kind of aggressive approach with him as they used with Konerko. Go all out. Ante up whatever is needed. Get someone in here.

Not surprisingly, they offer money more grudgingly to guys who might take it.

It's that old joke about not wanting to belong to any club that would have me as a member.

The Atlanta Braves and Chipper Jones agreed to a restructured contract yesterday. According to this headline, the new deal saves the Braves $6 million next season, but I don't see it:

Jones had $22 million in guaranteed money remaining in a $90 million, six-year contract that began in 2001. He was due to make $17 million next season, and Atlanta had team options for 2007 and 2008 at $15 million annually. The options, which carried a single $5 million buyout, would have become guaranteed if he had 450 plate appearances in the previous season or was an All-Star.

Under the new deal, he gets a $4 million signing bonus in January and $11 million in each of the next three seasons. The contract contains a 2009 team option at $8 million that would become guaranteed if he has 450 plate appearances the previous year and escalators that could raise his 2009 salary to $11 million.

So Jones was going to make $17 million next year, and instead will get a $4 million bonus and an $11 million salary. That looks like $15 million to me. I guess bonuses are counted differently somehow.

BlogCritics now has a sports section.

The Florida Marlins rid themselves of their third infielder today as they traded Luis Castillo to the Twins for two pitching prospects. Luis does a very good job of getting on base, something the Twins lacked in 2005. Twins second basemen posted a weak .320 OBA in 2005, so this trade should upgrade the offense.

Travis Bowyer is one of the pitching prospects going to the Marlins. He's a reliever who walks a lot of batters. But he keeps the ball in the park. He only allowed 12 home runs in almost 400 minor league innings (he did give up three in 9 2/3 major league innings).

Scott Tyler is similar. Over five walks per 9, but lots of strikeouts and few home runs. I'm not as impressed with these prospects as I was with what the Mets and Red Sox gave up. It's tough to believe that's all they could get for Castillo. He'd be a superb leadoff man on a lot of teams.

Are the Marlins done? Or is there still salary that can be moved?

Alex Bleth crosses over into the main stream media with a guest column on SI.com. He discusses landmarks in free agency.

Mike Fish of ESPN.com posts an interview with Miles Werre, the person who mixed the cream the Victor Conte and a government witness vs. Patrick Arnold. Miles did a good job protecting himself when the BALCO investigation became public:

Werre paints Conte as the original rat, a claim the BALCO boss vehemently disputes. But what's clear is that, as word of the federal investigation spread, Werre saw reason to keep his designer stash. So there the drugs sat, in their original plastic bottles, in the U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail box he claims they were delivered in, with an Illinois postmark and return address linked to Arnold, on a shelf in the bedroom of his apartment in Houston.

"So when all this stuff came up, I was like, 'Well, I'd rather -- you just have to look out for yourself,' " he says."Once this case broke open, being the way that people like to turn on people, I decided to hold onto it because you never know."

A nice touch here is that ESPN posts audio of the interview as well.

Sean Kirst looks back at Vic Power's time in a segregated Syracuse, including his friendship with "Lottie the Body."

Before all that, in Syracuse, she spent time with a lonely ballplayer named Vic Power. She laughed this week when asked if she ever dated him. She said he used to come around to see her at the Elks Club, and that what she remembers about him are "secret" and "intimate things."

But she can also close her eyes and "see him playing ball," a game she said he played in a distinct, beautiful way.

Power was often frustrated, Lottie said. He felt that he deserved to get called up by the New York Yankees, who owned his rights, and he thought he knew exactly why it didn't happen. But he never stopped laughing, Lottie said, despite the barriers he found at every level of his life.

Update: Here's more information on Lottie Graves.

The Pirates are interested in acquiring Nomar Garciaparra to play third base:

Making a pitch for big-name free agents hasn't been an option for Littlefield in the past, but Garciaparra -- though a recognized name amongst baseball fans -- likely wouldn't command top dollar for his services after playing in just 143 games over the past two seasons because of various injuries.

And the Pirates probably wouldn't have to commit to a long-term deal to sign Garciaparra.

His willingness to switch positions could be taken as a sign he's seeking a short-term contract with a club to prove his worth over a couple of seasons before once again testing the free-agent market.

The fact that there are also a few third basemen on the market also would keep the price down. It seems like a perfect situation for the Pirates. If Nomar does well, the team benefits and Garciappara gets to try for another big payday. If Nomar ends up injured again, it was a gamble that didn't cost too much money. We'll see if anything happens.

Another "small market" team looking at free agents and increasing payroll. The financial health of the game looks better all the time.

As the reliever wheel continues to turn, Tom Gordon moves south from New York to Philadelphia. Gordon nets a 3-year, $18 million dollar contract from the Phillies to return to the closer role.

The Phillies had been reluctant to offer Gordon a three-year contract, but after the deals Wagner and Toronto's B.J. Ryan received this week, the asking price for closers immediately went up.

The Phillies apparently had targeted Gordon as Plan B before Wagner signed with the Mets. The team also had expressed interest in free-agent relievers Trevor Hoffman and Kyle Farnsworth. In addition, the Phils had an interest in Tampa Bay Devil Rays closer Danys Baez, whom they had pursued in the past.

I'm not crazy about this signing. Three years is a long time for a 38 year-old player. The one thing that made Yankees fans cringe last year was Gordon's inability to get out of tight situations. With men in scoring position and two outs last year, Gordon's averages (BA/OBA/SLUG) allowed were .290/.353/.516. vs. .203/.272/.330 overall. It's why he blew seven saves in the setup role.

Of course, as the closer, he won't be coming into the tough situations. He'll be starting the 9th with the bases empty. It strange that the role of closer can actually be filled by a pitcher who can't get the tough out.

Three True Outcomes is a new group blog covering major league baseball. Stop by and say hi.

It looks like Kyle Farnsworth is headed to the Yankees.

The Bombers were continuing serious negotiations with fireballer Kyle Farnsworth yesterday and, according to sources, are expected to sign him to a three-year contract for approximately $17 million as soon as today.

It seems to me that Kyle's agent might have gotten his client a lot more money if he tried to pass him off as a closer instead of a setup man, but it's possible Farnsworth is more comfortable in the 8th inning. Kyle's main problem is that he gives up a lot of home runs. He's allowed 80 in his career in 548 2/3 innings. That's 29 every 200 innings which I'd consider high for a starter. He also walks over 4 batters per 9.

Balanced against that is a very good strikeout pitcher, 9.1 per 9. If the Yankees do lose Tom Gordon, Farnsworth will be an able replacement.

The San Diego Padres weren't out of the Brian Giles derby after all. Last night they agreed to sign him to at least three years for $9 million a year. With buyouts and options the contract will be worth at least $30 million and as high as $36 million.

Giles was the Padres offense in 2004. Without Brian in the lineup, San Diego would have lots of trouble competing in the weak NL West. As with Konerko, Giles accepted less money to stay with the home town team.

Giles may be one of the best bargains of his generation. Consider that since 1999, Giles garnered 194 Win Shares while earning $45 million. Over the same amount of time, Manny Ramirez totaled 202 win shares, but was paid $101 million. The Padres are lucky Brian likes to play close to home.