My latest column at SportingNews.com looks at the chance of the Giants competing for the division title due to the efforts of their starting pitchers.

La Velle Neal can't believe the Twins couldn't come up with a better package for Mark DeRosa than the Cubs.

The Angels sign Brian Fuentes to a two-year deal. He'll take over the closer role vacated by Francisco Rodriguez.

Since the start of the 2005 season, when Fuentes became a closer, K-Rod leads the majors in saves. Fuentes ranks 14th, but his strikeout rate and home run rate compare well with Rodriguez, while Fuentes walks fewer batters. Given the Angels ability to win over the time period compared to the Rockies, I suspect Brian might set a career high for saves this season.

The Cubs sent Mark DeRosa to the Indians today, teaming him one again with Kerry Wood:

The Cubs acquired three pitching prospects from the Indians for DeRosa -- left-hander John Stevens, who was added to the 40-man roster, lefty John Gaub and right-hander Chris Archer.

The addition of three prospects could signal the rekindling of talks with San Diego for right-hander Jake Peavy, now that Colorado has agreed in principle to take starter Jason Marquis for Luis Vizcaino, opening up a spot in the rotation.

DeRosa is a versatile players with a an above average OBA, meaning the Indians can use him wherever they see fit. He played six different positions in each of the last two seasons.

According to Baseball Reference, John Stevens is really Jeff Stevens and a righty. He's posted great strikeout and walk number in his career and keeps the ball in the park. Gaub is a lefty and strikes out a ton of low minor batters but shows little control. Archer is very young, but also not very impressive. Looks like a good trade, as the Cubs get a pitcher who should be useful this year, a good prospect and one that needs a good bit of polishing. The Indians get a solid offensive player who gives them a lot of flexibility in the field. A nice way for both teams to end the year.

The Astros first round pick from 2006 is fighting meningitis.

Max Sapp, the Astros' first-round draft pick in 2006, has been hospitalized for more than two weeks in Orlando, Fla., with a case of meningitis, assistant general manager Ricky Bennett said Tuesday.

Bennett said Sapp, 20, has been breathing with the help of a respirator after undergoing surgery to repair a severe sinus infection and contracting meningitis.

Let's hope he makes a speedy recovering. It appears his athletic conditioning helped him through the illness.

Hat tip, BBTF.

The Lahman Database update for 2008 is now available.

Beyond the Boxscore looks at the best pitch locations to hit for power looking at the axis perpendicular to the direction of the ball (inside/outside). As you might imagine, players hit for more power on inside pitches than outside pitches, but balls over the heart of the plate deliver the most damage.

Red Reporter uses the Lineup Analysis Tool to estimate the number of runs the Reds will score in 2009. The results aren't pretty.

The Mets off Derek Lowe $12 million a year for three years. He wants $18 million a year for five years. I wonder how close they'll end up to $15 million a year for four years?

The Cubs shipped Jason Marquis to the Rockies for setup man Luis Vizcaino:

The deal, first reported by ESPN, likely won't become official until next week. The Rockies made the math work to get a starter they have coveted for a month, while removing a setupman who asked to be dealt at season's end after expressing unhappiness with his role.

The Rockies will ship the $4 million remaining on Vizcaino's deal for the $9.875 million left on Marquis' contract. The Cubs are expected to eat around a $1 million on Marquis' contract, leaving the Rockies to pay approximately $5 million for one season of the right-hander.

Chicago, meanwhile, still nets a $5 million savings, crystallizing the motivation for both clubs.

I'm not crazy about this deal for the Rockies. Marquis's FIP has been higher than his ERA in four of the last five years, and the big park in Colorado is tough to defend. He does induce a high number of ground balls, however, and although he hasn't pitched much at Coors, the Rockies haven't hit him there. We'll see how he holds up over a full season.

I just saw a Nutri-System ad starring Chris Berman. It's by far the best Nutri-System ad ever.

Update: Here it is:

Value Wins appear to be the new rage around the baseball blogosphere. Right now, they are just for batters, but it looks like the Yankees got a good deal on Teixeira, the Red Sox got an even better deal on Pedroia, and A-Rod earned his salary in 2008.

Buster Olney wonders if the power struggle between MLB and the MLBPA is shifting in favor of the owners.

Wealth might have eroded the determination to enforce Miller's core principles, however. The sport is generating billions; the players are making millions. The respectful and cooperative relationship that has developed between Michael Weiner, players' counsel, and Rob Manfred, baseball's labor guru, is often cited by peers as being as asset.

But soon enough, we will know whether the owners will look to take back some of the financial landscape ceded in past battles.

I don't think so. My favorite book from college is The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. In that book Thomas Kuhn discusses how paradigm shifts happen becuase the old, hard-line believers in the previous theory die out. That happened in baseball. With George Steinbrenner stepping down, there are no owners who operated under the old reserve clause system. (George was always cool with free agency, so it was the departure of Selig from the Brewers that really ended the line.) Today's owners never knew the joy of being able to renew players year-to-year, so they really don't think about going back to that system. They operate in the confines of an agreement that allows them to keep most players under control through their prime seasons, and sign the best and the brightest when they become available. Owners today are much more interested in taking down the rich teams than the rich players. It's the unions job to make sure that taking down the rich teams doesn't hurt the players as well.

Wezen-Ball looks at news reports of the day to see just how much Jim Rice was feared:

However, as great as Rice was for his relatively short career, the argument his supporters make today - that he was the "most feared hitter" of his time - is hard to substantiate when you look at the press clippings from the day. There were plenty of accolades written about him during those years, and there was a short time-frame where people did call him the "most feared hitter," but it did not persist throughout his career. As questionable as the argument may be, there is some truth in it, but not nearly enough to make it such a cornerstone of Rice's candidacy.

The whole post is well worth your time.

Hat tip, The Book Blog.

SportsAgentBlog notes that there are a few possible collusion cases available to the MLBPA, but no grievances have been filed:

Why is the MLBPA not taking action against the MLB based on these potential claims? Is there not enough evidence? Has the association felt that labor peace is more important than filing a grievance on behalf of a few players who may not have strong cases? Do you see a possible grievance being filed any time in the near future?

One reason might be to keep dirt under the rug. I assume if the MLBPA files a grievance, there comes a period of discovery on both sides. In regards to the 2002-2003 case and the Bonds case, I would bet there would be a lot of questions directed at players about steroids during depositions. Maybe MLB doesn't want that to come out.

The other (and probably more relevant motive) is that the players don't have a good case. 2002-2003 was a down time, with the economy taking a big hit after 9/11. Also, like this year, there were a large number of good free agents seeking jobs, which tends to hold the price down. Even Bonds, who has the best case of anyone, is going to have a tough time proving he was blacklisted. With an indictment hanging over his head, any single GM could decide on his own Bonds wasn't worth the negative publicity.

Sox Machine notes A.J. Pierzynski's better hitting against lefties the last two years, and wonders if that would allow the White Sox to carry another left-handed hitting catcher.

It seems the Dodgers are also interested in Bobby Abreu, which makes perfect sense. Torre knows Bobby from his last year in New York, and Bobby's a better defensive outfielder than Dunn. I disagree, however, with this on Manny Ramirez:

Having already turned down $45M over two years and the $25M he likely would have received in arbitration, Manny's painted himself into a corner and has two options: go crawling back to Coletti, or retire. I'm very interested in seeing how this one plays out.

I don't think Manny will go the way of Barry Bonds. I still believe he can help the Marlins, and possibly the Rays as well. With his home in Florida and his price dropping, don't be surprised to see him in the uniform of one of the Florida teams.

I also would not rule out the Cardinals. Yes, they have other options in the outfield, but imagine Manny and Pujols back-to-back. That would be a lot of offense in the middle of that lineup.

I'd just love to see the Twins dump a short term ton of money on Manny as well. They didn't play Santana his $20 million a year, and since they were willing to go that high on Santana, they likely have the money. Why not spend it on Manny and add one more bat to the Mauer/Morneau combination?

Two Cuban players defected, and should generate much interest in the major leagues:

Right-hander Yadel Marti, Cuba's best pitcher in the first World Baseball Classic in 2006, and outfielder Yasser Gomez left the island and are in an unknown location before attempting to reach the Dominican Republic to seek an MLB career, sources told ESPNdeportes.com.

Players' relatives and friends in Cuba confirmed their departure, without disclosing details of the planned route.

Gomez was left off both the 2006 WBC team and the 2008 Olympic team, leading me to believe the Cubans thought he was a flight risk. We'll see where they land and how much they can help a major league team.

Jayson Stark reports the Dodgers are now looking at Adam Dunn instead of Manny Ramirez. One of the nice things for teams who need a corner outfielder is that they have three good ones available in Dunn, Burrell and Ramirez. If one is asking too much money or too many years, just go sign another. That should keep the price down on all three.

Another Red Sox fan defends the Yankees.

Bleeding Blue and Teal analyzes a potential Hideki Matsui for Erik Bedard trade.

The Orioles are on the verge of signing Mark Hendrickson. I hope they are paying him very little money. Mark is a low strikeout pitcher who is easy to hit. He doesn't give up many walks because batters don't need to wait around for a pitch to smack. As you can see at the link above, he's especially bad with runners in scoring position. If an unclutch pitcher exists, Mark Hendrickson is it.

The Orioles got rid of Daniel Cabrera, with a career 5.05 ERA, and move in Hendrickson with a 5.07 ERA. Why? The point is to improve. Derek Lowe is sitting out there cheap, and would improve the Orioles rotation. This move is just Baltimore spinning their wheels.

A bit of trivia, Hendrickson Ken Griffey's 600th home run.

MLB is opening up its video vault for the premier of MLB TV. The new channel is supposed to be on DirecTV 213, but is not up yet. Some cable subscribers, however, are seeing some things on their MLB channel, however. The 2-teens on DTV now have channels for the NFL, NHL and tennis.

Studes looks at the drama of games to show why we believe late season games are more important than early season games. His Washington Nationals graph shows great evidence why no one was watching in 2008.

The Red Sox made an offer to Josh Bard.
His physical will seal the deal at last.
His catching tasks will not be made too hard,
Since Wakefield's balls too often ended passed.

Squawking Baseball looks at the how the Pirates are usings losing to win in the future.

Ken Rosenthal reports the Red Sox are about to sign Brad Penny to a one year deal:

The move would give the Red Sox the ability to keep Justin Masterson in the bullpen and be patient with Clay Buchholz.

Or, trade one of those pitchers to Texas for a catcher.

Brad is great when he's healthy, but 2008 wasn't that year. With a sore shoulder, it was the worst of his career. Penny's also played his career in home parks that favored the pitcher. His career ERA is 0.8 runs higher on the road than at home. I suspect the designated hitter and Fenway Park will raise his ERA a bit. For one year, however, it's a risk worth taking.

Buster Olney looks at the teams interested in Manny Ramirez and comes out with one:

The Nationals apparently have money to spend, and in theory, if they were to sign Ramirez, it could be an interesting play. He would be a lure for fans and would give a reason for folks to tune in to watch the Nationals, something that very few people did last season. But here's the quandary: For that gambit to pay off, Ramirez would have to play hard for the duration of his contract.

Would you be willing to bet $100 million on that?

Or even $40 million? Because as some general managers have said privately, a great concern they have about Ramirez is that if you give him a deal of two or more years that is worth far less than he thinks he deserves, you run the risk of having a very unhappy Manny. As the Red Sox can attest, that didn't work out so well in the end. Thus, it's almost a new year, and one of the greatest hitters of our lifetime who's coming off one of the greatest showings of our lifetime is unemployed.

It strikes me that the Marlins would be a good place for Manny to land as well. The team is close to his Florida home, and the Marlins make enough in revenue sharing to pay for Manny's contract. Unlike the Nationals, however, the Marlins become legitimate contenders with Manny on the team.

If I were a GM, I would offer him a $25 million, one year contract, with three team options of $27, $29 and $30 million dollars. That way, he's always playing for a contract, and if he gets into one of his snits, the team can let him go at the end of the season.

Alex Belth dispels the idea that you can't buy championships:

But facts are facts: since the start of free agency in 1977, no team has spent more money on players than the Yankees have; no team has won more pennants or more championships. So while no team can ever fool themselves that they can pre-arrange success (as George Steinbrenner was accused of believing in the Eighties), the Yankees aggressiveness in the free agency market hasn't always back fired either.

I would also argue that the 1977 Yankees Championship was bought with Reggie Jackson. The 1997 Marlins certainly bought a champion (compare to the Indians who developed the team and signed players to long term contracts). The 2001 Diamondbacks wasn't exactly home grown. I'm sure my readers can think of others.

There are many ways of building a champion, and buying a team works just as well as anything else.

The Reds sign Willy Taveras to lead off. Taveras is a pretty poor offensive players, never posting as OPS+ over 89. He's not even much of an improvement over combined players used by the Reds in the leadoff slot in 2008. They combined for a .266/.326/.423 line. Willy's career line is .283/.331/.337. So he gets on base a tiny bit more, but provides no power.

Did Walt Jocketty forget what a leadoff man does? This is the person who gets the most plate appearances for your team in a season, and he's giving it to someone who provides a minimum of offense. With signings like this, don't expect Cincinnati to rise to prominence any time soon.

U.S.S Mariner compares Bill Bavasi and Jack Zduriencik in terms of process.

Randy Johnson gets $8 million from the Giants, with $2.5 million in incentives. His signing makes Barry Zito the most expensive fifth starter in the big leagues.

Red Sox fan Daniel Drezner defends the Yankees spending:

First, it would be awesome if American corporations acted more like the Yankees. One cause of the deepening recession is that firms are afraid to do anything other than hold cash in hand at the moment. The smart ones should invest in expansion -- capital is ridiculously cheap right now and they'll be well-poised once the economy takes off again. If enough firms acted that way, the economy actually would take off again.

In signing these players, the Yankees have made long-term investments while keeping their expenditures constant relative to last year's payroll. Given their move to a new stadium, their revenues should increase. They have made these moves in order to improve their chances of competing. That's how corporations should behave.

The Yankees are like Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life. He was buying up bank shares cheap during the depression, but he was also supplying liquidity. The Yankees are doing the same, as their luxury tax and revenue sharing bills help keep other teams competitive.

Randy Johnson reaches a deal with the San Francisco Giants. He'll try to win five games for 300 wins with a poor offense behind him.

Randy Johnson beats out Terry Bross as tallest San Francisco Giants player. Bross was 81 inches, Johnson is 82.

Johnson's 2008 season was actually pretty good. He improved both his strikeouts and walks over last full season, 2006 with the Yankees. With the ability to strike out close to a batter per inning, Johnson is still someone who can be an effective pitcher. He might also teach the youngsters on the Giants something about pitching. I haven't heard the price yet, but it's a good signing. Fans will come out to see him win 300, and he likely makes the rotation better.

East Coast Bias suggests a new luxury tax scheme. The element I like is that the teams receiving aids must put it back into salaries. The author suggests this is done by signing free agents, but I would be happy to see the payroll of the team rise by the amount of the tax received.

The Twins sign R.A. Dickey, although the terms have not been revealed (it may be a minor league deal). La Velle Neal wonders what use the Twins have for the knuckleballer.

But in an offseason during which finding eighth-inning help is a higher priority, it's a little bit of a head-scratcher to see the Twins sign someone to be a middle reliever or spot starter. It's hard to see that when, if they need a spot start during the season, they can turn to Boof Bonser or Philip Humber or call up Brian Duensing, Anthony Swarzak or even Jeff Manship.

Now it's fair to come back with the argument that the Twins likely aren't spending a lot of money here and that teams bring in veteran arms all the time. But the Twins have plenty of options for starters, and we have seen in the past when trying the cagey veteran instead of the kid with more talent has failed.

Dickey's pitched poorly most of his career, and it's tough to believe the Metrodome will help him that much.

Purple Row looks at the advantages and disadvantages of the Rockies trading for Jason Marquis rather than bidding up Tim Redding.

Matthew Cerrone asks, why don't the Mets spend like the Yankees?

I understand why they had to spend less 10 years ago. But, now the Mets also have a successful regional sports network, they also have a new stadium, they also play in New York City, and also charge a fortune for tickets and hot dogs.

So, what is it? What's the difference? Is it a lack of capital, is it outside forces we are unaware of, is it the team's minority owners, is it personal preference?

The thing is, I'm fine with any answer, because it's their answer, their money and their decision. I won't argue against it, judge or criticize it, because what do i know.

However, as a fan, as a customer, who spends a ton of time and money helping to support their business, spending money on tickets and TV time, popcorn, pretzels and parking, only to drive myself crazy every fall, I believe you and I have earned some sort of response.

The Yankees are taking advantage of being a rich team in a down market to stock up on very good players. However, there is a potential downside. If the economic situation gets so bad that the stadium attendance goes down, and advertising on YES goes down, the Yankees might find themselves in a situation in which they are bleeding money. The probability of that happening may not be that high, but I'm guessing it's more like 10 or 20% than 1%. The Yankees are taking a gamble, probably to get the Boss one more championship before he dies. It's a good gamble, but I can see where lots of teams in this environment don't want to be caught three years down the road with a bloated payroll and reduced revenue.

Kevin Youkilis's agent says Kevin will reach a one-year agreement with the Red Sox.

Youkilis now will decide between arbitration and signing a one-year contract. He has slightly more than four years of major league service, meaning he will be under the Red Sox' control and not eligible for free agency until after the 2010 season. He is eligible for arbitration until then, and he and the Red Sox can try again next season to strike a long-term deal.

Last offseason, Youkilis avoided arbitration by signing a one-year, $3 million contract. It seemed possible the Red Sox would sign him to a longer deal this offseason, especially after second baseman Dustin Pedroia, the 2008 American League Most Valuable Player, signed a six-year contract worth $40.5 million last month.

Kevin's seasonal age will be 30 in 2009, meaning he's entering the decline phase of his career. On top of that:

The Red Sox have another long-term option at first base in highly regarded minor league first baseman Lars Anderson. Though Anderson likely will not be ready for the majors for at least two seasons, the Sox feel he eventually may be an elite player.

I think the article may be underestimating Anderson's readiness. He tore up high A ball last season and did even better in a short stay at AA. If he rises fast this year and hitting well at AAA in August, I suspect he'll be a major leaguer by the end of the year.

I hope you enjoy a joyous holiday with your friends and family!

The New York Times is looking to sell their share of the Red Sox:

Under pressure from investors to sell noncore assets in recent years, executives of the Times Company have said repeatedly that they were open to selling the stake, but only on the right terms.

But recently, they have been actively shopping the company's stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Red Sox, said the person briefed on the plans, who was not authorized to discuss the matter and was given anonymity. The Times Company informed its partners in the venture of its plans last month.

The company executives have suggested that the central aim of any sale is to protect the company's newspapers, particularly the flagship Times. They have also been reluctant to consider the sale of About.com, an Internet site that is profitable and growing.

Shouldn't they be keeping the asset that is performing well (the Red Sox) and sell the one that is performing badly (the newspaper)? I'll be happy to pay $10,000 for the New York Times!

Daniel Drezner poses as the GM of the Red Sox and comes up with an excellent innovation:

Convert Justin Masterson into a three-inning closer. Here's an area where the Red Sox can make in innovation, or retrovation; bring back the three-inning closer. Masterson would be perfect in this role, and helps to give the bullpen a guaranteed rest day.

Bill James once described Bob Stanley as a long reliever who could actually pitch. Using Masterson in this role sounds like a great idea to me. He could easily pitch three inning every third game.

AZ Snakepit likes the contract extension offered to Chris Snyder:

Personally I think this is a great deal. We get maybe the league best defensive catcher at 5 mill per. I think he also lowers our team ERA quite a bit, if that is even possible. Sure his offensive production is the best but he should quite a lot of power splitting time and has potential for 25 homers playing all the time.

This could mean the end to Miguel Montero though, who we've been shopping anyways. I love Miggy but I say we dump him if the price is right (i.e. one of Boston's many great young arms.) Maybe, if were lucky, we can throw that blonde-headed stepchild in left field in.... ;)

Mark Attanasio is complaining about the Yankees and calling for a salary cap:

In an e-mail to Bloomberg News, Attansio voiced his frustration, while hinting at a solution: "At the rate the Yankees are going, I'm not sure anyone can compete with them. Frankly, the sport might need a salary cap."

Speaking to Bloomberg News on the phone, Attansio added, "They (Yankees) are on a completely different economic playing field. I paid $220 million for my team; now they get three players for $420 million."

Really, the Yankees just shelled out $420 million? No, the Yankees committed to that much money over a long time period.

Secondly, Mr. Attansio's investment in the Brewers was worth $331 million as of the last Forbes report, a 50% increase. The income for the team is $19 million, an 8.6% annual return on his original investment. So maybe, just maybe, Attansio had the resources to go five-years, $120 million on CC and hope that goodwill would carry the day.

Update: This might be the real reason Attansio is upset:

Because Teixeira's Elias rating is higher than those of CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, the Angels now get the Yankees' first round draft pick, pushing the Brewers' compensation pick from the first round to the second (at least 40 picks below where it would have been had the Yanks not signed Teixeira). This is no insignificant matter for a small market organization that has used the draft to its advantage in constructing a playoff-caliber team.

The Mets ownership does not want Manny Ramirez. Although people think the Yankees are done, I really wonder if they don't swoop in with a one-year contract at some point.

Maury Brown compares the salaries of the Yankees three signings to the salaries of some teams.

David Golebiewski uses pitch f/x to distinguish Jon Lester four-seam fastball from his one-seam fastball. It's very interesting reading. I hadn't heard of a one-seam fastball before.

The Nationals lose out on the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, but do pick up five players off the scrap heap. They even corner the all-important Gustavo market!

Justin Morneau gives back to the community and serves up two surprises to a Minnesota family.

Not everyone is happy with the Yankees signing Teixeira:

Still, I'll just argue that I still think baseball needs a salary cap. It will never happen, but I love what it's done for other sports like hockey and football. Yes, you can still have dynasties emerge, but it seems like everyone has a chance. Everyone will use the Tampa example of a team that is in a horrid market that has risen from the ashes. The problem is that it took the Rays years and years of wallowing in those ashes and getting tons of remarkably good draft picks in order for them to do their phoenix impression.

Listen, I know that it's never going to happen. Selig and company would never want a salary cap and salary caps are initiated from frustrated owners. I just sometimes need to state the obvious. I hate the freaking Yankees and the system in baseball blows.

The system blows because it creates artificial markets in which a small supply can drive up the price of a player. Make everyone free agents from the time they graduate from high school to the day they retire and there will be no need for a salary cap and every team will have a chance at signing decent players. Unfortunately, that will never happen.

Kevin Rozell of Zell's Pinstripe Blog ran into Phil Hughes on a baseball card message board and ended up scoring some autographed items. The world keeps getting smaller all the time.

I just plugged the 2009 Bill James projections for the Yankees into the Lineup Analysis tool. The best lineup comes out at 5.92 runs, the worst lineup at 5.56 runs, and the lineup listed in the ESPN article at 5.82. That kind of offense should win Sabathia and Burnett a lot of games.

Sources are telling everyone that Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees, pending a physical.

The New York Yankees swooped in Tuesday and nabbed prized free agent Mark Teixeira, reaching agreement with the first baseman on an eight-year contract worth $180 million, two sources involved in the negotiations tell ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

The Yankees had made an offer to Teixeira weeks ago, but then withdrew it. Their intention all along was to make a deal if it fell within parameters acceptable to the organization. They made their formal offer Tuesday.

The contract will pay Teixeira an average of $22.5 million per season.

Note that this blog had the Yankees signing three big-name free agents on Sept. 9th, and actually got two of them right.

Mark does it all offensively, hitting for average, getting on base, and hitting for power. On top of that, he added very good range numbers. Think of a Jason Giambi who can move.

The main problem with the signing is that it creates a glut in the outfield and at designated hitter. Matsui, Damon, Swisher, Nady and Cabrera. On the other hand, with a righty, two lefties and two switch hitters, and Damon, Swisher and Cabrera all able to play center, there are plenty of platoon and defensive alignments available. No one should get worn out. Still, I won't be surprised if one of these players moves in a trade.

This also means Jorge Posada won't be moving to first anytime soon.

Once again, the Yankees are taking advantage of their strong financial position in a down market to stock up on great players. Now, we'll see if it actually pays off.

Yankees Examiner Pete Sabatini likes the move.

The comments to Jon Heyman's latest Mark Teixeira rumor are priceless. Most are like this:

Heyman, please. Just let us know when he actually signs with someone. Jeez. We don't need a play-by-play, especially when there is nothing to report!

It would be something if Teixeira signed with a team that is totally off the radar.

R.J. Anderson notes that the Padres should be fun to watch in 2009:

Imagine you were just crowned General Manager of a replacement level team that won 50 games last season. There's very little you could do that would be worse, and the team is so cheap that getting rid of the broken parts isn't too worrisome on a cash-strapped owner's checkbook. The Pads aren't quite that bad off, but that doesn't mean they can't take some chances that in previous years were off limits.

In short, the Padres are a sabermetrician's dream laboratory!

The Washington Nationals upped their offer to Mark Teixeira. This seems strange, since the two biggest bidders are now not talking to Boras.

I would really like to see Teixeira sign in Washington. The Nationals need a public relations boost, and there's nothing issuing a huge contract to a star to get the public's attention.

Happy Festivus!

Brian McNamee sues Roger Clemens for defamation. I would think it would be pretty tough to defame someone who wrote an article for the New York Times that was a big lie. I think we've moved from tragedy to farce at this point.

Sons of Bill Simmons get the scoop on the Red Sox reaching a deal with Mark Teixeira. We'll see if this one works out better than the last one.

Squawking Baseball notes that the next innovations in baseball earnings are going to need to come from a new crop of CEOs.

Vertigo Comics sent me a copy of the 250th issue of John Constantine, Hellblazer. There are five stories in the special issue, the first Vertigo to reach 250 issues. The third one caused the issue to come to my house, "All I Goat for Christmas." Constantine is hired to end the Billy Goat curse, and Rafael Grampá's illustration of the curse will give Cubs fans nightmares. One warning, this book is for adult fans of Wrigley.

Chien-Mig wang and the Yankees avoid arbitration with a $5 million, one-year deal.

His agreement raises the Yankees' payroll to about $164 million for 15 players for next year. That includes pitcher Andrew Brackman and infielder Juan Miranda, who don't figure to be on the major league roster.

Peter Abraham spoke with the righty's agent:

"This time we were not that far apart from the Yankees and both sides made a committed effort to get it done," Chang said. "It's a deal that is respectful of what Wang has done. He was happy about it."

Wang will return to the United States in about three weeks to start working with a trainer in Arizona. His right foot, Chang said, is completely healed. But to play it safe, Wang is doing his conditioning work on a bike instead of running.

I'm a bit surprised the Yankees didn't try to work a longer term deal. A one year deal does make some sense, since they'll want to see how well he recovered from his injury.

Rafael Furcal adds his two cents on the Braves deal that didn't happen:

Braves president John Schuerholz and general manager Frank Wren were quoted in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying Furcal's agent asked the Braves to send a signed letter of agreement, then reached a deal with the Dodgers.

"That is not true," Furcal said. "We never, not my agents nor me, agreed to anything with the Braves."

This reminds me of the story I linked to recently on common law and the infield fly rule. What Furcal and his agent did wasn't against the written rules of baseball. It did appear, however, to be against the common law of these matters. It's pretty clear from the Braves point of view that you don't ask for a term sheet before the deal is done. Furcal's agent violated a common practice, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that put into writing at some point.

Chris Jaffe writes a terrific column on why Steve Garvey is and should be the most reviled player of all time. I actually believe Pete Rose is slightly ahead of Steve, but the article makes a great point:

In fact, his status as the most vilifiable player was proven in a rather unscientific method a couple years ago at a discussion at Jim Furtado's excellent Baseball Think Factory website. A thread there launched into a discussion of who everyone's least favorite player was.

After 100+ replies, someone noticed three clear themes emerged in the Most Hated Player Sweepstakes. People picked their least favorite because he either: 1) did something unspeakably vile to your favorite team (such as help beat them); 2) committed some sort of dastardly off-field transgression; or 3) according to the sabermetric point of view, the individual was overrated by the public at large.

Naturally, the question arose if anyone fell into all three categories. Steve Garvey fits the bill if you're a Cubs fan. No one else in that thread could think of another Trifecta of Scorn winner. This could only mean one thing: Cubs fans have the obligation--nay, the sacred sworn duty--to vilify Steve Garvey more than any other fan disdains any other player in all baseball history.

Which was pretty cool, because, of course, that was already the way I felt about the guy in the first place.

In the mid-1980's, I joined a Strat-o-Matic league called the SOMBILLA. To kick off the draft every year, they burned Pete Rose's strat card. When I saw them do that, I knew I picked the right organization. When Rose retired, Garvey got the honor.

My favorite story, of course, is that some town named a school after Steve, and then were rather embarrassed when his numerous paternity suits came to light. Garvey, the gift that keeps on giving.

Impacto Deportivo reports that Manny Ramirez is going to sign a three-year, $75 million deal with the Yankees. We'll see, but it would not surprise me. If they do sign Manny, however, they would probably need to deal away one or two of their surplus outfielders.

Hat tip, The FanHouse.

The Angels withdraw their offer to Mark Teixeira:

Yahoo! on Sunday quoted sources saying Angels owner Arte Moreno concluded Teixeira didn't want to play for his team and the Angels were being used as a bartering tool to drive up the price.

It seems teams caught on to Boras's game and the rich ones will no longer allow themselves to be used that way. I wonder how Mark will look in a Nationals uniform?

Negro League star Carlos Manuel Santiago passed away today (Sunday).

Santiago played second base and shortstop for the New York Cubans in 1945-46. He was invited to spring training by the Cleveland Indians in 1951 but was soon drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Korea. He was honorably discharged as a sergeant about two years later.

There can't be too many Negro League players left. The youngest would be in their 70s. Certainly the number left from before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier has to be pretty small.

My thoughts go out to his friends and family.

The Pirates sign Ryan Doumit to a three-year deal, covering his arbitration year and giving themselves an option for his free agency period. I always like these deals since they take a good player and eliminate arbitration inflation and the general cost of going to arbitration.

Lone Star Ball points out a reason Mark Teixeira might not want to play for the Yankees:

I mean, we heard back in 2004 about how much the other Rangers players (including, presumably, Mark Teixeira) disliked Alex Rodriguez and how much better they could play once he was gone...surely Teixeira wouldn't want to go lock himself in to almost a decade of sharing an infield with ARod if that was true, would he?

As Cyndi Lauper so eloquently put it, money changes everything.

The million dollar arms post video of them eating at the food court. I'm really enjoying their blog, by the way. It will be fun to watch their English improve with time.

Scott Boras called the Yankees about Mark Teixeira:

The Yankees do not have an offer on the table for Teixeira, and Boras apparently called the Yankees telling them what it would cost to land Teixeira. According to my source, that number was $22-23 million a year over eight years for a total of $180-185 million. The Yankees are still debating that, and there are some in the organization who want to do it, but they appear to be leaning against making an offer.

This could be an interesting game of passive chicken between the Yankees and Red Sox. With neither of them bidding at this point, the Nationals and Angels can keep their prices low (if $20 million a year is low). Then, we'll see if one of the two big rivals blinks at the last minute and tries to land Mark. At that point, they may be able to obtain his services for $21 million a year.

Peter Abraham notes some encouraging numbers from Robinson Cano:

Robinson Cano has driven in 15 runs in 17 games in the Dominican and has nine extra-base hits. He actually has more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five). Considering he walked 26 times in 634 plate appearances all last season, that's a good sign.

Indeed, if he can do that against major league pitching.

Murray Chass provides a nice summary of the Rafael Furcal debacle. He calls Paul Kinzer to ask about the term sheet, but Kinzer won't talk:

Asked that question in the brief phone conversation, Kinzer replied, "I can't say anything about it right now because there are some other things." He, of course, didn't say what the other things were.

The term sheet is the pivotal piece of evidence in the dispute. Furcal said upon his signing Saturday that he hadn't made up his mind whether he wanted to stay with the Dodgers or return to the Braves. A friend said he had a serious conflict not just choosing the team but also with the managers, liking both Joe Torre and Bobby Cox.

But if Furcal had not made up his mind to play for the Braves, why did Kinzer ask for their term sheet?

Tellem did not address the term sheet in his e-mail statement. Defending Kinzer's actions, Tellem said it was simply a case of Furcal's ultimately deciding to take the Dodgers' offer, basing his decision on several factors, the most important being the position switch.

Chass notes that the Braves refusal to work with WMG may lead to a grievance by the union, and that Yunel Escobar is represented by the group.

No new jobs at MLB.

The Nationals pick up a pitcher off the Orioles' scrap heap.

Daniel Cabrera is no longer an Oriole, but he's not leaving the area.

Cabrera, who wasn't tendered a contract by the Orioles last week, has signed a one-year, $2.6 million deal with the Washington Nationals, pending a physical, according to an industry source.

The Orioles would have had to pay him likely between $3 and $4 million in 2009 had they offered him arbitration.

Cabrera posted a 5.05 ERA during his career. If you knock down his ERA a bit for pitching in the National League, he would rank about third in the Nationals rotation.

The trick, of course, is to get Cabrera's walks down. If the Washington coaching staff can accomplish that feat, they might have a #1 starter on their hands.

MouthpieceBlog looks at the Jake Peavy trade negotiations as a game of chess. However, I can't wait for this:

Tune in next time, when I compare interleague baseball to Hungry Hungry Hippos!

Buster Olney looks at how the market is collapsing for free agents.

I believe one of the reasons the Yankees are spending so much this year is that they are getting their players for a relatively low price. When you're cash rich in a down market, it's a good time to acquire assets.

CC Sabathia will be paid all year, not just during the baseball season:

While most players are paid semi-monthly during the six months of the regular season, Sabathia's salary will be paid in semi-monthly instalments over all 12 months of the year. That means he will have received six payments of $583,333 before the opener.

I'm not sure if this was CC idea or the Yankees. I can see where this might help the Yankees with cash flow, but mostly, CC gets to earn more interest on his money.

Dock Ellis's liver gave out yesterday. Dave Studeman remembers the pitcher. A note on Dave's post, Doc Medich was a medical student at the time, not a real-live doctor.

Ellis's ability to strike out batters didn't last long. In 1969 he K'd 173 in 218 2/3 innings, 7.1 per nine. In 1970, that dropped to 5.7 per nine, and for his career he came in at 4.8 K per nine. I wonder if the drug abuse killed his ability to get the strike out.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

WCBS News captures images of the new Yankee Stadium with the lights on. Hat tip, River Ave. Blues.

Baseball Musings is now available on the Amazon Kindle. If you're a Kindle user, subscribing on the device would send a little money my way.

I learn about a rash of bank robberies in my area from Deadspin.

Did the Red Sox Bandit don his shiny new hanging sox logo cap and hit another bank on Thursday? Sure looks like it. And once again the so-called Batman does nothing.

This time it was the Webster Bank on Route 190 in Enfield, Conn., which is just over the Massachusetts state line, on Thursday. This follows on the heels of robberies in Chicopee, Mass., last Friday, and an earlier one in West Springfield. The suspect in Thursday's crime seems to fit the description of the suspect in the other cases, including the hat.

I actually witnessed a bank robbery once. My wife and I were eating lunch at Rinaldi's, and I was facing the parking lot. I saw a man get out of his car and walk into one of the businesses next door. I noticed him because he was wearing a face plaster. I felt sorry for the guy, because I thought he broke his nose or had surgery. A few minutes later, four police cars show up. The plaster was a disguise, and the guy robbed the bank! They caught him a few months later after robbing other banks.

Raul Ibanez knows about statistical fielding models:

"I have to say a number of things,'' he said. "Number one, with sabermetrics in general, it's a statistical probability thing,'' he said. "And the way they come up with the defensive measurements, or ratings, is flawed. It's as flawed as the Gold Gloves. One of the reasons is, they don't consider things like ballpark factors, defensive positioning or allignement for certain hitters.''

Actually, PMR builds the park right into the model. In addition, if a player positions himself well, that helps his score. Still, it's nice to know Raul gets the gist of the idea.

Hat tip, Bleeding Blue and Teal, which has much more.

Majel Barrett died yesterday. I never cared for her mother Troi character, but she did a great computer voice.

There are reports the Red Sox reached an agreement with Mark Teixeira. I'm waiting for a somewhat more official announcement.

Update: The reports were wrong:

Red Sox owner just e-mailed several media members with a stunning twist in the team's pursuit of Mark Teixeira. "We met with Mr. Teixeira and were very much impressed with him. After hearing about his other offers, however, it seems clear that we are not going to be a factor."

There must be a a ton of money or years on the table.

Via Lone Star Ball, the Braves are furious with Arn Tellem's agency:

"Having been in this business for 40-some years, I've never seen anybody treated like that," Schuerholz said. "The Atlanta Braves will no longer do business with that company -- ever. I told [agent] Arn Tellem that we can't trust them to be honest and forthright. I told him that in all my years, I've never seen any [agency] act in such a despicable manner.

"It was disgusting and unprofessional. We're a proud organization, and we won't allow ourselves to be treated that way. I advised Arn Tellem that whatever players he represents, just scratch us off the list. Take the name of the Atlanta Braves off their speed dial. They can deal with the other 29 clubs, and we'll deal with the other hundred agents."

Tellem counters that they did everything by the book. However:

Schuerholz said he phoned Tellem on Wednesday night.

"I expressed my great disappointment to him," he said. "I watched as Frank shared with me the circumstances of his negotiations with Furcal -- negotiations to the point where we increased our offer, and he [Kinzer] then asked for a signed term sheet to be sent over. We never got that signed term sheet faxed back to us, and we later found out why -- because they took that offer and shopped it."

I wonder if other clubs will back away from Tellem now. I suspect they will at least be very careful in future negotiations with his agency.

Peter Abraham posts a note from Sam Borden with tons of good tidbits on how the Yankees signed Sabathia, plus some comments from A.J. Burnett.

Beyond the Boxscore provides a table of the cost of a marginal win for each team. The post makes a very good case that if the Marlins increase their pay roll by $30 million, they likely make the playoffs.

Former Harvard pitcher Shawn Haviland is blogging as he works his way through the minors at Ivy League to MLB. This first winter in the Athletics system, he's learning a whole new way to train, detailed here and here. Stop by and say hi.

I had a brush with Shawn at my 25th reunion.

Sabernomics passes along notes on an interview he heard with Frank Wren. On the Furcal deal falling apart:

Furcal's agent left a voice mail asking for a "term sheet" and stated "we're good." Wren emphasized that "we're good" was a direct quote, and that in a business where face-to-face meetings are rare this constitutes a done deal.

So you can see why the stories about Furcal coming to the Braves broke.

The Chone Projections have a new home.

Nick Willhite died Sunday. His life after baseball was a rough one that at least ended well:

Willhite bounced around from one job to another, working as a pitching coach at Brigham Young University and in the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees organizations.

Divorced three times and living on the streets of Salt Lake City as a drug and alcohol addict, he reached out to another former Dodger pitcher, Stan Williams. Williams put him in touch with the Baseball Assistance Team, which helps former baseball players in need. Willhite entered a treatment center in 1989 and eventually became an addictions counselor.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

There are talks going on between Kevin Youkilis and the Boston Red Sox on a long term contract. Kevin's agent has the right attitude:

Youkilis, Bick said, would be comfortable repeating what he did last offseason: avoid arbitration and sign a one-year contract. Youkilis, who will turn 30 in March, has a little more than four years of major league service time, meaning he will be able to file for free agency for the first time after the 2010 season.

"Kevin is perfectly content to do it one year at a time," Bick said. "There's no urgency whatsoever. If we are presented with a multiyear deal, he's fine with it either way. We're all pretty confident that Kevin is going to remain an outstanding player. He is not the kind of guy that is going to be antsy if he has to do a one-year contract."

Would the Red Sox pull an Arroyo and sign Kevin to a long term deal at a good price in order to trade him? Kevin doesn't have much service time, but that doesn't make him young. He's a better pickup for another team if his salary is fixed for a while.

CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett hold their initial Yankees press conference today. YFSF predicts the first tactless questions for both.

Former relief pitcher Dave Smith died of a heart attack:

Dave Smith, a former All-Star closer who holds the Houston Astros record for games pitched, died Wednesday. He was 53.

Former big leaguer Tim Flannery said Smith apparently died of a heart attack, but the official cause of death wasn't known.

"He's gone. My tears are the rain," Flannery, the San Francisco Giants third base coach, told The Associated Press.

Smith was consistently good throughout his career. He was particularly adept at keeping the ball in the park, averaging 5.9 HR per 200 innings.

My thought go out to his family and friends. At age 53 he leaves plenty of the latter.

MLB Fanhouse posts video of Brian Giles that appears to show him knocking his girlfriend to the floor.

The trade for Jake Peavy fell through. A.J. Burnett signed with the Yankees. Now, Rafael Furcal decided to stay with the Dodgers:

The Braves' winter of discontent continued Wednesday, when shortstop Rafael Furcal reached a contract agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers -- two days after the Braves said they had an agreement with Furcal.

One week before Christmas, the Braves have coal in their stockings and something other than holiday cheer for Furcal's agent, Paul Kinzer.

"I think you have to be upset with the turn of events," Braves general manager Frank Wren said. "We usually don't do business this way. You don't expect people you have to deal with to do business that way."

Wren said he and Kinzer negotiated all contract details Monday night and the Braves sent a term sheet to the agent's office for Furcal to sign Tuesday morning. Term sheets are the final step, after an agreement is reached.

Wren said the term sheet was never returned.

"We were very surprised," he said. "After reaching an agreement on Monday night, and being asked to produce a term sheet for signature on Tuesday morning, which we did, we were surprised that they didn't return the term sheet. ... All of a sudden, they said they needed to go back to the Dodgers."

I'm guessing Kinzer won't be well trusted in the future.

Geoff Young on Joey Gathright:

I've got nothing against Joey Gathright; it's just that, well, he adds no value to a baseball team. He'll be 28 in April and his career line is .263/.328/.304 in nearly 1300 big-league plate appearances. That's a 68 OPS+. That's Juan Pierre without the batting average or power.

Mindy McCready tried to commit suicide.

There's been quite a brouha over Rafael Furcal. Reports yesterday had him going to Atlanta, but here's the latest from Furcal's agent:

"They know we didn't have a signed contract, that we didn't have even a verbal agreement. We had, 'Things look very good and Raffy's going to sleep on it,'" Kinzer said after a news conference for another client, Francisco Rodriguez.

David O'Brien rants about the handling of the situation here.

The Nationals fans at We've Got Heart remake a Christmas classic to lure their favorite free agent.

Craig Calcaterra talks about the age of the Yankees potential starting lineup:

That's not a baseball team. That's the cast of "The Big Chill," with Cano playing the Meg Tilly character.

I always preferred Jennifer Tilly myself.

The Tigers are ready to sign catcher and Baseball Musings favorite Matt Treanor to a one year contract:

Treanor has a long-standing connection to another noteworthy Tiger: He made his debut in a game started by Dontrelle Willis on June 2, 2004. Willis did not allow a runner that day until ex-Tiger Sean Casey, then with the Cincinnati Reds, singled in the seventh inning, according to Retrosheet.org.

Research through Retrosheet.org also revealed that Treanor was the starting catcher in 11 of Willis' final 14 starts with Florida in 2007.

Here's how Dontrelle pitched in that period.

Nick and Nick would rather the Twins stand pat than sign Ty Wigginton:

I don't think Wigginton would be a terrible acquisition at the right price, but he doesn't get me particularly excited. The Twins entered this offseason with a sizable surplus in their budget and it will be unfortunate if they end up sitting on their excess rather than using it to add players who can help them win, but having the money to sign Wigginton is not reason enough to sign him. When all aspects of his game are taken into account, I don't think he adds much to this club. Even if it's not particularly exciting, sometimes holding steady makes sense.

If the Red Sox do sign Teixeira, maybe the Twins would use that surplus to acquire Lowell or Youkilis from Boston.

It appears Rocco Baldelli was misdiagnosed last year, and doesn't suffer from mitochondrial disease. His illness is at the cellular level, but treatable. That's good news to any team thinking about signing Rocco as a free agent.

It's not a great year for significant others associated with the Padres:

San Diego Padres outfielder Brian Giles is being sued by his former girlfriend for more than $10 million, alleging he battered her while she was pregnant and caused her to suffer a miscarriage.

That's more than Giles's 2009 salary.

Manny Ramirez might be holding up the Brewers-Yankees deal for Mike Cameron:

One possible explanation for the Yankees' sudden halt to the negotiations with Milwaukee is the Bombers' increased interest in Ramirez. Should the Yankees sign Ramirez, he would become the new left fielder, shifting Johnny Damon to his old stomping grounds in center. In that scenario, Cameron would no longer be needed.

If the Yankees sign Ramirez, they should try to move either Damon or Matsui. Manny should be the designated hitter.

Martin Silver wants to buy the Mets. He's betting on Fred Wilpon being more broke than we think. It's not a bad idea, as this is a good time to buy assets cheap.

Update: On a more serious note, the New York Times explores how the fraud might impact the Mets.

Might Seattle be in on the bidding for Mark Teixeira?

Curtis thinks about the situation when he's batting, not the spot in the order he occupies.

If the Red Sox do sign Mark Teixeira, what happens to the rest of the infield? After all, Boston just signed Mike Lowell to a new contract last year. Kevin Youkilis was a legitimate MVP candidate in 2008. Do they flip Youk for a catcher? Do they try to trade Lowell and let Kevin take over at third? Offensively, some combination of Teixeira-Youkilis makes the most sense. So would Texas want Lowell for one of their remaining catchers? Or does Kevin become trade bait to land a package of prospects?

Cesar Izturis takes over at shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles:

The Baltimore Orioles finally filled their hole at shortstop, signing free agent Cesar Izturis to a two-year contract Tuesday.

The 28-year-old Izturis batted .263 in 135 games with the St. Louis Cardinals this year. He ranked third in the NL with a .980 fielding percentage.

"This is a good opportunity to play every day," Izturis said. "I think they needed a defensive shortstop. I just want to help the team win; it will be fun."

Amazingly, despite Izturis's poor career numbers as a hitter, this is actually an improvement at the position over last year. Cesar's career line is .260/.299/.331, so it tells you just how bad the Orioles were at shortstop in 2008.

Defensively, the Orioles were in the middle of the pack in 2008 according to the Probabilistic Model of Range. Izturis should improve that as well.

This signing is a small step in the right direction for Baltimore. They needed to fill a hole, and they got halfway there with Izturis.

It looks like the Braves are about to land Rafael Furcal, and possibly Jake Peavy:

FoxSports.com reported early today that Furcal, a free agent and former Braves standout, has agreed to return to Atlanta on a three-year contract that could be announced as soon as he passes a physical. He missed much of last season with back problems.

If the Braves land Furcal, 31, it could possibly signal an imminent trade of shortstop Yunel Escobar or second baseman Kelly Johnson in a deal for an elite-level starting pitcher the Braves have spent so much time this offseason attempting to acquire.

It's also possible they trade for Zack Greinke.

Given Furcal's career in total, he's on the same offensive plane as Johnson and Escobar. So the Braves will increase their spending on the middle infield without an offensive boost to grab a front-line starting pitcher.

I bid $10,000.

The ageless Jamie Moyer signs a two-year deal with the Phillies. He'll be 47 when the deal is done.

When I started working for STATS, Inc., I wondered who would be the last player to still playing in the pre-STATS era, that is, before 1987. I figured there was a good chance it would be Barry Bonds. With Greg Maddux retired, however, the honor goes to Moyer.

River Ave. Blues posts pictures from inside the new Yankee Stadium.

It looks like Rafael Furcal turning down the Athletics initial offer wasn't such a bad move after all:

The A's have improved their initial four-year offer to Furcal, according to major-league sources.

Furcal, 31, does not appear to have another four-year proposal, though negotiations are fluid and subject to change.

That's odd the A's are bidding against themselves. Hat tip, BBTF.

In light of the earlier post on season tickets vs. single game tickets, this cartoon seems appropriate. Thanks to my lovely wife for the link.

Just in case you're wondering, Barry Bonds hasn't retired. Since the Washington Nationals like to hire ne're-do-wells, maybe they can sign both Barry and Manny. Lots of balls would drop in the outfield, but the offense would be fun to watch.

Might Jake Peavy be headed to the Brewers? Hat tip, Brew Crew Ball, which also makes this remark:

There's likely not any truth to the rumor that Doug Melvin has refused to make the trade until Brian Cashman agrees to send over all of his disappointing players.

The Detroit Tigers Weblog promotes Curtis Granderson's charity:

Last year's event was a great family night out.

This year's sounds like one, too, especially if your family is made up of a bunch of teenage boys:

2008 Miss America Kirsten Haglund and 2007 Playboy Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood have committed to participate along with Project Runway Season 5 Designer Joe Faris. ESPN personality Dana Jacobson has also committed to play.

Just keep Dana away from the bar.

The Phillies sign Chan Ho Park. He seems to know more about his strengths and weaknesses than Ruben Amaro:

The Korea Times reports it is a one-year, $2.5 million contract with performance bonuses that could push the contract to $5 million. It quotes Park as saying, "I was a little worried about the Citizen Bank Park, the home of the Phillies, which is hitter-friendly, but as they considered me as a starter, I signed with Philadelphia."

I'm guessing Park puts up a 5.50 ERA at home this year.

Sports Agent Blog continues to cover the case of Andy Oliver.

Mark your calendars for January 5th, because a matter that I once assumed would be settled before ever going to court may now make its way to the bench. If the case is heard, it has the potential to bring the NCAA down a few pegs. The Court has already noted that there is a contractual relationship between the NCAA and its student-athletes. What is left to determine is whether that relationship has been breached and if compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded. If punitive damages end up being granted, it will really hurt the NCAA.

Good. Over the years, I've come to loathe the NCAA. I used to think that they were trying to enforce fairness and ethics, but they're really just trying to keep college players from earning some money from their athletic endeavors in school. On top of that, I bet they've created more jobs on campuses, as alumni are no longer allowed to recruit. I can't even go up to a student athlete at my local high school and suggest Harvard as a place they might want to attend!

The NCAA needs to throw out their rule book and start from scratch. They've added rules and rules over the years, never wondering how they got there in the first place or how schools may work around the rules. It's a nightmare. The NCAA needs to figure out their mission and a way to simply carry out that mission.

Pat Burrell talks about the Phillies quietly letting him go. He doesn't see to be bitter at all. I'm sure going out on top helps. Some fans actually like Pat:

"Living downtown with Michelle and having the dog, walking to the park every day, the support was incredible coming down the stretch. I can't tell you how many people came up to me and said stuff like, 'We love having you here, we hope you stay. You went through such bad times and you made it out. You came back and became a great player.' Stuff like that is important, for me anyway, to know that, hey, they're behind you and they care about you and they're pulling for you to get back on track."

Now Pat is competing with Adam Dunn and Manny Ramirez for a job.

Rev Halofan at Halos Heaven is wondering if he should give up his season tickets to the Angels games:

If we make 24 games this season and spend $100 on two tickets each time, we will probably get great seats for every game. Make that 20 games and throw in a visit to the Diamond Club. Mix and match - the buying options have never been easier and the glut of good seats available at reasonable one-game prices has arrived.

2009 will be the season that more tickets are available for less than ever before. I have to give Robert Alvarado $2,400 by January 9, or it will be the first time since the 1998 season that I do not have some sort of ticket package.

I always thought the advantage of season tickets was the ability to buy post-season seats. If that's not important, then fewer games with better seats seems like a very good option.

R.J. Anderson makes the case for signing good but injured pitchers:

The Pavanos and Clements of the market are undervalued. Teams are unable to rely on injured starters for entire seasons, which is irritating and annoying, but good pitching for fewer innings is usually better than league average pitcher over more innings.

That last point doesn't get enough credit, but it's true. Clement's career FIP if 4.24 and Pavano's 4.21. Over the same amount of innings either will save one more run than an average American League Starting Pitcher (FIP of 4.48). If Clement could give the Jays 80 innings he'll save 13.2 runs, Mr. League Average would save 14.1 in 100. That's not a very wide margin despite an extra 20 innings, and the Jays other starters aren't guarantees to be league average anyways.

Of course, you can also end up with Mark Prior who doesn't pitch at all.

Craig Calcaterra follows the political movements at the Negro Leagues Museum. The latest appointments may kill Buck O'Neill's dream of an education and research center there.

The Baseball Card Blog says goodbye with a visual tribute to Casey at the Bat.

I thought Dave Dombrowski was smarter than this.

Peter Schmuck agrees with the Orioles allowing Daniel Cabrera to walk. However:

Of course, when he suddenly blooms into a 15-game winner, we'll all act like we were totally against this decision and blame Andy MacPhail for being short-sighted and cheap. That's baseball.

Yep.

Squaking Baseball looks at how NASCAR troubles might hurt the Red Sox, while Michael Schmidt examines Fred Wilpon's finances to see if the Madoff fraud might impact the Mets.

There a rumor that Peter Angelos is wooing Mark Teixeira at the Ravens game today.

Buster Olney writes that despite the spending spree, the Yankees are going to be younger and cheaper than in 2008. On top of that, none of these moves cost them any prospects from their system.

The Mariners move their advance scouting operation to their home office.

I just received Instant Replay: The Day That Changed Sports Forever in the mail. The author, Tony Verna tells the story of how he conceived of and executed the first instant replay in a zinc-plated, vacuum-tubed culture. His tape machine weighed a ton, and there was no way of cuing tapes. He had to invent a way to make a machine do something it wasn't meant to do.

For fifty years, Verna directed major television events and he tells the story of his life in broadcasting. Having spent some time in production trucks, it's amazing how much broadcasting changed since his invention. It's a nice gift for someone interested in the history of broadcasting.

Baseball Musings is site of the week at The Sports Hot Sheet. Thanks very much!

Grover at Athletics Nation blasts Billy Beane for not signing Rafael Furcal when he had the chance:

Enough with the "buts", if there's one thing the A's have right now is the financial flexibility to spend a little more on Furcal if they have to. If there's one thing the A's don't have is a quality SS, or even anyone who projects to be an average SS in the next few years. Don't blame me for that, blame the guy who traded Haren, Blanton, Harden and Gaudin and didn't get one damn SS prospect back in the exchange. Quite simply, the A's need Rafael Furcal because he's the best free agent SS on the market this year and next and the A's are in a position to add talent through monetary means and not lose talent via trade. The quicker the A's sign Furcal the better their chance to sign Randy Johnson. If Beane can add those two talents to his roster it could mean 4-5 extra wins for Oakland in the 2009 season. That would give them a strong chance to win the division and that could lead to a better chance at retaining Matt Holliday in 2010 and beyond. I'm not saying that signing Furcal guarantees the A's sign Johnson, win the AL West crown and keep Holliday beyond 2009 but he'd go a long way towards making all those things happen.

I get it. Beane's trying to save a couple bucks on Furcal.

But at what cost to the A's?

The Indians satisfied themselves of Kerry Wood's health and completed the deal for the closer:

Wood, 31, passed his physical Thursday in Cleveland and the Indians signed him to a two-year deal worth an estimated $20 million. The deal, which will be announced later today, includes an option for a third year that contains a vesting mechanism.

Two years ago, it looked like the Indians owned two potential closers in the Rafaels, Betancourt and Perez. They were unable to step into Joe Borowski's shoes in 2008, however, so the Indians went for someone tested in the role at a higher cost.

When Wood is right, as he was in 2008, he strikes out a lot of batters, walks very few, and gives up a low number of home runs. In other words, he makes it difficult for an offense to generate consecutive hits, or generate the power that turn a mistake into two or three runs. If he stays healthy, this is an excellent signing by the Tribe.

The Mets acquire Connor Robertson from the Diamondbacks for Scott Schoeneweis. I don't understand this move from the Diamondbacks perspective. Robertson is nine years younger and struck out a high number of batters in the minor leagues. They must see something they don't like about him. Maybe he has a tendency toward fly balls, which would hurt him in Arizona? I'm curious what Arizona fans think of this deal.

The Red Sox non-tendered Kevin Cash, meaning their top two catchers from 2008 are both free agents.

The Yankees land A.J. Burnett:

Free-agent right-hander A.J. Burnett has reached a preliminary agreement with the Yankees on a five-year, $82.5 million contract, joining lefty CC Sabathia in the team's revamped rotation.

The deal is pending Burnett's physical.

That's a pretty good contract for someone who set his career high for starts and innings at age 31, only $2 million less per year than Barry Zito. Burnett, however, is a good pitcher with a high strikeout rate and a low home run rate. His walk rate is decent, also. In fact, his career ERA of 3.81 seems a bit high for his stats. In fact, in four of the last five years, Burnett's FIP is lower than his ERA. That certainly makes this look like a better deal.

The big question with A.J. is his durability. Over the last three seasons he's made 21, 25 and 35 starts. With that kind of money, the Yankees will want him closer to 30 starts every year.

So the top four of the Yankees rotation looks like Sabathia, Burnett, Wang and Chamberlain. Three big K pitchers and a worm killer. The added strikeouts should take pressure off the Yankees defense. At this point, New York can sign someone like Ben Sheets short term, or make Hughes and Kennedy fight it out for the fifth spot.

The Dallas Morning New is planning on reassigning their Rangers beat writer and reprinting stories from the Forth Worth Star Telegram.

SportsAgentsBlog suggests the defection of Jeremy Guthrie might lead to bad blood between Scott Boras and CAA.

Is Manny Ramirez the next Barry Bonds?

Manny Ramirez is so upset by his lack of suitors on the free agent market that he's told friends he would consider retirement if an offer doesn't come soon, Newsday reported yesterday.

Obviously, the Dodgers want him back, but I find it tough to believe that no one upped the Los Angeles offer even a little. Two years, $50 million? Three years, $75 million? It seems Manny's antics in Boston turned off a lot of teams, even to a short-term deal.

The Angels put in their bid on Mark Teixeira, $160 million for seven years. The Nationals offered the same money for eight years. Do the Nationals reduce their years to seven and see how much Teixeira wants to play close to home, or do they increase the money to $183 million for eight years and beat the Angels on both time and money? Maybe they go $180 million for nine years.

The Phillies sign Raul Ibanez to a three-year deal, but The Good Phight wonders why they didn't go for Adam Dunn instead.

The Tao of Stieb tries to find a silver lining in the Yankees restocking their rotation. All I can say is the only thing CC Sabathia and Jaret Wright have in common is that they started their careers in Cleveland.

Homer Bailey's pitching motion gets a poor review at Driveline Mechanics.

Hat tip, Red Reporter.

Geoff Young sums up the current situation of the San Diego Padres. First, some praise for Kevin Towers:

Jake Peavy isn't going to the Cubs... for now. And just when I was starting to like the names being mentioned. Did you notice how the rumored packages went from being awful, to decent, to pretty good? At the very least, Kevin Towers deserves credit for not jumping on any old deal, like some folks seemed to assume he would.

Then he addresses all the problems caused by the lack of a trade. Down in the article, however, he makes a big mistake:

Meanwhile, the ownership situation continues to be murkier than Mission Bay after a heavy rain. I keep telling myself that I should be upset by all of this, but instead I just find it fascinating. Like, how much worse can the situation get? And the answer is none. None more worse.

He needs to re-read King Lear, especially given the heavy rain reference. All through Lear, just when you think the situation can't get any worse, it does. The Padres are in real trouble now.

The law student who turned the infield fly rule into a study of common law passed away:

William S. Stevens, whose slyly humorous law-review note on the relationship between baseball's infield fly rule and Anglo-American common law became one of the most celebrated and imitated analyses in American legal history, died Monday in Anchorage, where he was working. He was 60 and lived in Narberth, Pa.

The cause was a heart attack, said T. Dennis Sullivan, his brother-in-law.

Mr. Stevens was a law student at the University of Pennsylvania in 1975 when he wrote an anonymous note for the university's law review that drew an ingenious analogy between the infield fly rule and development of common law.

"The dynamics of the common law and the development of one of the most important technical rules of baseball, although on the surface almost completely different in outlook and philosophy, share significant elements," he wrote.

Another reason baseball is the coolest sport in the world.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

I usually don't get political, it's time to endorse the Harvard Hooligan for president. Here's his platform. Based on this video, it's a good thing he hired a body guard. I can't wait for 2024, when he can run for POTUS!

YFSF gives it a whirl as Boras tries to make a market for Jason Varitek.

ESPN the Magazine does everything it can to get the story.

Rays index on the Rays front office:

The Rays have the quietest front office in baseball. Even though the Rays were talking with the Tigers for three days, we never heard a peep. Is that by design? Maybe. Most of the Rays trades seem to come from out of left field (so to speak). Did we hear anything before the Gross trade or the Willy Aybar trade or the Chad Bradford trade?

Do the Rays make it a point to keep everything under wraps as tightly as possible? Or is the front office still young enough, and the Rays still a relatively new player, that the national media has yet to establish connections within the front office?

One thing that is becoming very clear. No matter who we, as fans, think the Rays are targeting, most of the time they will get somebody we were not even thinking about. We don't know about the rest of you, but we love it.

I just think the media get less readership/viewership/hits talking about the Rays than talking about the more famous teams. If the Rays continue to win, however, that will change.

I believe the answer is no, but Bud may force you to blog about the Pirates.

The signing of CC Sabathia is having a positive effect on other free agents:

Additionally, WEEI's Lou Merloni, who played with Lowe, says he is now more interested in the Yankeees because of CC Sabathia.

Compare that to the lament of Dave O'Brien at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Players do not want to come to Atlanta the way they used to want to come to Atlanta. Especially pitchers. It's still more attractive than a majority of the 30 teams in baseball, but not necessarily more attractive, or even as attractive, as a handful or more big-money, big-market teams competing for top players.

Much of that has to do with the facts that A., the Braves have missed the postseason for three years running, and will have to knock off the defending World Series champions and/or the new-stadiumed, deep-pocketed N.Y. Mets to get to the playoffs in 2009; and 2., the Braves are competing against a few teams, one in particular (hint: pinstripes), that are spending far more money than the Braves.

The most famous example was Greg Maddux turning down more money from the Yankees to pitch for Atlanta. Now, both Lowe and Burnett may prefer pitching for the Yankees.

The Mets, Mariners and Indians completed their 12-player swap. If nothing else, the Mariners certainly restocked with young players.

One of my favorite players was released by the Marlins. Craig at FishStripes also bemoans the loss of Matt Treanor:

One of the joys to me about watching the game is seeing a good defensive catcher perform his craft. There is something special about having a catcher quietly move behind the plate, lookup and see if the hitter is trying to gain an advantage by checking the catcher's location and then blocking a ball in the dirt that by all rights should be headed back for the screen. Treanor did all of that and more. He was the go to guy in the clubhouse when the young players had questions about darn near anyhing. He was great with the fans and genuinely just loved playing the game.

He'll a great back up for some team.

I couldn't find the story on the New York Daily News web site, but ESPN picks up their story that the Yankees traded Melky Cabrera to the Brewers for Mike Cameron.

The acquisition of Cameron would give the Yankees a veteran center fielder to hold the position until prospect Austin Jackson is ready for the big leagues.

Cameron a bit better OBA to the team and more power than Melky. He's a $10 million stop gap. It's clear right now that the Yankees want to win their first year in their new park, and the Brewers are dumping payroll. Maybe this will be the wake up call Cabrera needs (he'll be 24 this season), but at this point it seems the talent just isn't there.

Correction: Fixed the name of the team in the last paragraph.

Update: This deal hit a roadblock.

Balls, Sticks and Stuff doesn't like the idea of the Phillies signing Chan Ho Park, and neither do I. Park pitches very well at Dodger Stadium, not so well other places. Both his walk and home run rates were much higher away from Los Angeles last season, with opponents slugging 100 points higher against him on the road. This would be the same mistake Texas made, signing a pitcher whose number were dependent on pitching in a low run park and placing him in a haven for home runs.

Bless You Boys opines on the Matt Joyce for Edwin Jackson trade:

What I'll tell myself as I sign off for the night, however, is that maybe this trade won't ultimately be judged by itself. Could this be the precursor to another move? Might Jackson be flipped in another deal? Did Dave Dombrowski do this, knowing he has something in the works for one of his other starting pitchers? Then this trade might make sense to me. Right now, however, it doesn't quite smell right.

Jackson showed a big improvement in his ERA in 2008, but it was mostly due to giving up many fewer hits. That was probably attributable to Tampa Bay's improved defense, especially with Jackson's strikeout rate going down. I don't see this improving the Tigers staff.

Meanwhile, the Rays pick up another good, young player.

A coast to coast deal is in the works between the Mariners, Indians and Mets:

The Indians are reportedly involved in a three-team trade with the Mariners and Mets. The Mets would receive closer J.J. Putz from Seattle to set-up newly-signed closer Francisco Rodriguez.

As for the Indians, they would send outfielder Franklin Gutierrez and minor leaguers to the Mariners for infielder Luis Valbuena. They would also receive Mets right-hander Joe Smith.

But that's not all:

The Mets would receive Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed and right-hander Sean Green from Seattle. The Mariners would receive Gutierrez from the Tribe and Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez and first baseman Matt Capps from the Mets.

If it goes down, this one will take a while to sort out. I wonder if Putz is really ready to assume the setup role? This makes C.J. Wilson the only AL West closer left.

Update: It's a done deal:

From the Mets' perspective, the deal is Heilman and Smith for Putz. Chavez and Reed are simply an exchange of backup outfielders, Smith and Green are an exchange of right-handed groundball specialists.

CC Sabathia's contract also gives the Yankees a cheaper option for demolishing Yankee Stadium.

BBWAA awarded a membership to Baseball Prospectus. Congratulations to Will Carroll and Christina Kahrl!

Update: Rob Neyer and Keith Law are admitted as well. Congratulations to both!

Davey Johnson gets to skipper the United States WBC team. Davey's my favorite manager of all time so I'm always happy to get a chance to see him manage again.

Genetic Future links to a commentary in Nature that comes down in favor of "cognitive enhancement using drugs." I like the guidelines they lay down for use, and I think something similar should have been done with performance enhancing drugs in sports.

MetsBlog.com heard this today:

In an on-air report for ESPN News, Buster Olney said he cannot find a GM, outside of the Dodgers, who will say they have interest in signing Manny Ramirez.

My guess is the lack of interest is due to the length of the contract Manny seeks. If he were looking for a two-year deal, there would be a ton of interest.

The Big Lead notices some NL East trash talk:

"I don't think it affects us much," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. insisted yesterday at the winter meetings at the posh Bellagio. "They've had Billy Wagner, and we still beat them the last 2 years in our division."

It's one thing to own a great closer. It's another to get that lead to the ninth inning.

Update: In a similar vein, this made me chuckle.

The Yankees just became a bit more attractive to Jake Peavy.

There's an opt-out clause in Sabathia's contract:

Sabathia is expected to receive an opt-out clause after three years, which was a prerequisite for him to sign with any team, not just the Yankees, according to a source.

Such a clause would give Sabathia the chance for another monster payday in free agency at age 31 -- and provides him with an escape if he finds the New York experience unappealing.

Since players are more and more exercising their opt-outs, I can imagine the Yankees feeling a little more comfortable with the deal. Unless CC totally breaks down in the first three years, the probability is high that he seeks free agency again in a better market for pitchers.

Oriole Central likes the signing of Cesar Izturis to play shortstop:

Caesar Izturis signed_a_2_year_deal_with_the_O's_today. Which is ok. I'd rather have him than Adam Everrett or Khalil Greene. Izturis is solidly medicore, which is a massive upgrade over the parade of jokers the O's trotted out at short last season.

I didn't realize he was just 28. For some reason I thought he was older. Anyways, it elimates the prospect of Brandon Fahey as starting shortstop so its a good deal.

R.J. Anderson likes the CC Sabathia deal:

Here's the scary thing: even if Sabathia drops 1 WAR per season, he'd still be worth about 129 million over the next seven seasons. That means if Sabathia loses an arm he'd only be overpaid by ~30ish million, and to the Yankees, who are opening a new park, have their own regional sports network, and have contracts coming off of the books, that's not overpaying by much at all.

The Yankees are paying for this with Giambi's contract and part of Mussina's. That still leaves them the rest of Mike's contract, Abreu's and Pettitte's to sign another high quality starter, and even have room for a bat.

FishStripes also believes Fox Sports would be better off losing Buck and McCarver:

May I suggest to Fox-TV, if you are going to drop anyone it should be Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Save some money and put Kevin Kennedy along with Jeanne Zelasko in the booth, they would do a far better job of calling the game.

Or give the job to a couple of well spoken bloggers who know the game. Make it a reality show, "So You Want to Call a Game?"

According to ESPN, CC Sabathia and the Yankees reached an agreement Tuesday night on a seven-year, $160 million contract. That's more years, but fewer dollars per year than the Yankees original offer. For all we know at the moment, there was an option year in the original deal that became guaranteed. More in a while (I picked a bad morning to oversleep), but my big question is, were the Yankees bidding against themselves?

Brian Cashman flew to San Francisco for another meeting with CC Sabathia, and his wife. Maybe Brian flies back with a signed contract!

Hat tip, RAB.

New guidelines for bat manufacturers concern the slope of grain.

The Dodgers sign Mark Loretta. With a .361 career OBA and around .350 the last two years, he'll provide a decent amount of offense in a pinch.

The trade of Ramon Hernandez to the Reds for Ryan Freel opened up space for a Baltimore prospect:

Orioles president Andy MacPhail,pictured, said the Hernandez deal was almost entirely about clearing a spot for Wieters to play regularly. "It had been our goal to introduce Matt on to the major league scene in the '09 season," he said. "As a franchise we realized our future was probably with [him]."

Wieters went from A to AA in 2008, his first season in professional baseball, and saw his numbers improve at the higher level. His numbers are better than Joe Mauer and Taylor Teagarden. He looks like the type of hitter that just doesn't have anything to prove in the minors.

The Phillies rewarded Charlie Manuel's success with an extension through 2011. Since the start of the 2005 season, when Manuel took the helm, the Phillies are 354-294, a .546 winning percentage. That's fifth best in baseball and second in the National League, three games behind the Mets.

It looks like Fox is going to drop their pre-game show next year. I'm a bit surprised by that, since studio shows tend to be pretty cheap to produce. My guess is they would be better off buying out Buck and McCarver and giving the jobs to talented unknowns at a lower cost.

Tom Tango compares both UZR models with PMR at The Book Blog.

Jake Peavy seems to think he's going to the Cubs, but the Cubs don't think so.

Tony Kubek goes into the Hall of Fame as this year's Ford Frick Award winner.

Kubek is the first exclusive television analyst to win the Frick Award, which has been presented annually since 1978. Kubek also becomes the first primarily television broadcaster to be honored since Bob Wolff in 1995 and the first Frick Award winner to have called games for a Canadian team.

"For an entire generation of baseball fans, Tony Kubek was the face and the voice of the game," said Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson. "In the days before all-sports TV networks, Tony brought baseball into your living room every Saturday afternoon for almost three decades. His straightforward style, quick and detailed analysis and no-nonsense commentary on the game's nuances gave viewers an insider's look at what the players were experiencing on the field."

Kubek and Curt Gowdy were my national television broadcasters. I started watching baseball in 1969, the year Tony moved into the booth for NBC's primary game of the week. I always thought Kubek and Gowdy made an excellent team. Later in his career, he was paired with Bob Costas on the backup game, as Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola handled the main game. Costas and Kubek, in my opinion, were the better duo, and only CBS's billion dollar bid for the game in 1990 kept the two of them from becoming the lead NBC team.

Congratulations to Tony Kubek! It's a good week for former Bronx middle infielders.

It looks like closer day at the Winter Meetings as the Indians approach a deal for Kerry Wood:

The club has offered free agent Kerry Wood, the former Chicago Cubs starter-turned-reliever, a two-year contract, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the sides are still working through details at the winter meetings in Las Vegas.

Wood, who has had numerous injury problems in the past, needs to pass a physical before the deal can be completed.

Wood's control returned in 2008, with his high strikeout and low walk totals making him an effective closer. Wood collected more saves than the entire Indians team last season. Jensen Lewis was the Tribe's most effective closer. Given his outstanding minor league numbers, I'm not sure why Cleveland isn't simply giving the job to him and spending the money elsewhere.

River Ave. Blues doubts the rumor that CC Sabathia turned down the Yankees offer:

Let me say this: Beware unconfirmed rumors. They are unconfirmed, obviously.

Second, it makes no sense -- none -- for Sabathia to reject the Yanks' offer. He loses all bargaining position in doing so, and the Giants, Angels or Brewers would have no reason to come close to the Yanks' generous offer. Even if he has no intention of signing with the Yanks, he is far better served to keep the Yanks' offer alive.

Correct. I can see him saying, "I want more money than that to play in New York," trying to get more money, but not walking away from the deal altogether.

The first big free agent names falls:

The Mets agreed to financial terms with free-agent closer Francisco Rodriguez at the winter meetings on Tuesday, signing the record-setting former Angel to a three-year, $37 million deal, sources told the Daily News.

GM Omar Minaya, speaking at the Bellagio, declined to confirm an agreement had been reached with the 26-year-old closer.

If true, this is a great deal for the Mets. It's prefectly reasonable money for a closer, and if indeed K-Rod does blow up, the contract is short enough that it won't kill the payroll. On top of that, it should be fairly easy to insure. Minaya gets a quality closer without giving away anything but money.

On Rodriguez's side of the ledger, he'll be going into his age 30 season at the end of the deal. Three more years of quality closing and he'll do very well in his second round of free agency.

River Ave. Blues covers a news conference for the Torii Hunter Project. The foundation provides scholarships. Kudos to Mr. Hunter for giving back.

Darren Rovell talks to Billy Ripken on the 20th anniversary of the imfamous Fleer card. As Big League Stew points out:

Think about that for a minute. Is there anyone else in the world whose notoriety arose from two completely separate, yet equally random, circumstances? I've always felt a little bit bad for Billy Ripken, even though I light up like a Duraflame any time that card is brought up in conversation. From that era, only the Ken Griffey rookie in the inaugural Upper Deck set holds more weight.

It appears that Derek Lowe is a very popular free agent:

The 35-yer-old Lowe has been pursued by about 10 teams, but it appears those two have been among the more aggressive for Lowe. The Red Sox and Mets are among interested teams discouraged by the price. An official with one team interested in Lowe said he was "shocked'' how high the bidding appears to be going.

He's a good pitcher who is a lot cheaper than CC. Ground ball pitchers tend to work in all ballparks, and I could see where he'd be especially useful in Philadelphia.

Hat tip, Phillies Nation.

Another reason to avoid public financing (or ownership) of stadiums.

If Dayton Moore makes the Zack Greinke for Jeff Francoeur deal, I'm never saying anything nice about the GM again. What happened to the "better OBA" plan?

Update: Craig Brown squashes the rumor.

Francisco Rodriguez came to the free agent market a year too late:

Remember that three-year, $34-million offer closer Francisco Rodriguez rejected from the Angels in 2007? It's looking pretty good now.

Rodriguez was hoping to cash in on his major league-record 62-save season with a five-year, $75-million deal, but the free-agent right-hander left the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas on Monday with only one firm offer, from the New York Mets, for a reported two years and $24 million.

It was just last year that Francisco Cordero pulled down a four-year, $46 million contract, and an old Mariano Rivera re-signed with the Yankees for three years, $45 million. K-Rod might have been off accepting arbitration and trying again next year.

In fact, a two-year contract might not be so bad. Rodriguez doesn't need to be a great closer the next couple of years, just a very good one. After all, he's still rather young. So, if after the 2010 season four or five teams are in need of a closer, he'll get his five-year deal. This is a moment in time where free agents may be better off with a short term deal so they can go for the really big money when the economy comes back.

Bill Shaikin wonders why the Dodgers haven't offered CC Sabathia a contract yet:

The Dodgers need an ace in the starting rotation, in the clubhouse and in the community. Sabathia dedicates himself to all three.

He wants to come home, to pitch in California, to play in the National League, although not so desperately that he'll sign a three-year contract when the Yankees have offered him six.

The Dodgers have been burned so often by Colletti's multiyear free-agent signings -- injuries to Jason Schmidt, Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra and Bill Mueller, poor performances by Andruw Jones and Brett Tomko and the superfluousness of Juan Pierre -- that McCourt understandably is wary of the kind of proposal Sabathia would take seriously.

If the Dodgers can land Sabathia with a home town discount, they should jump at the chance. Their pitching staff isn't looking all that solid right now. If CC will go for three-years, $80 million, or even $90 million, how can a team ignore that?

The Yankees and Mets are both looking for more money from New York City in terms of bonds. It never ends.

The Giants are lowering prices on a large number of tickets:

The Giants announced Monday they are dropping prices on a significant portion of their seats for 2009, an act that would have been unthinkable even two years ago and a sure sign they fear this economic downturn could take a significant toll on revenues.

They no longer have the draw of winning nor the draw of Barry Bonds. They need to do something to bring out the fans.

The Twins are looking to increase payroll in 2009:

"We have finalized the budget for 2009, and we believe that the budget allows us some flexibility to improve our baseball team," Twins President Dave St. Peter said.

The Twins had a payroll of roughly $56 million last season, down from $71 million in 2007. Using rough estimates for arbitration-eligible players and players with fewer than three years of major league experience, the Twins already are looking at a 2009 payroll over $60 million. Their interest in signing free agent Casey Blake shows a willingness to push the payroll toward what it was in 2007.

Good. The team came very close to the playoffs in 2008. They should spend some money to push themselves to the next level. After all, they're not paying Johan Santana $20 million a year.

The Nationals talk about trying to sign Teixeira, or other big free agents:

Speaking generally of the feedback the team has gotten from free agents, Bowden said, "Players recognize we have one of the finest ballparks in the game. They recognize we are located in the most powerful city in the world. They also know, if they come here, we may not be ready to win next year, but [ellipses] they also look at all the other pieces and the potential revenue and the young players coming, and say, 'This franchise is on the way up.'"

One Nationals official acknowledged the unlikelihood the team could land Teixeira--"I don't feel real good about our chances," he said--but added, "You can't win if you don't play."

I like the fact that the Nationals are at least in the game. Signing big name free agents is a great way to generate interest in the team, and Nationals really need that.

R.J. Anderson comments on the Dodgers possibly resigning Casey Blake:

The signing (or re-signing) is a bit surprising. For one, Blake is 35-years-old and the Dodgers at last check are still inthe National League, which to this point does not have the designated hitter. That means Blake will be 38 and a probable liability in the field come the end of this contract.

It seemed like last season the Dodgers were full of options at third base. Those disappeared rather quickly.

Even MLB.com is laying off workers.

Kat O'Brien sums up the Yankees news of the day. On Sabathia:

Interestingly, Cashman said he had never spoken to Sabathia before last night. Cashman called it an informative meeting, for Sabathia in particular.

Maybe Brian can convince Milliliter to play in the Big Apple.

Update: He'll have to, as CC wants to play in Los Angeles:

According to Los Angeles general manager Ned Colletti, he bumped into Sabathia on Sunday at the Bellagio Hotel, where baseball's Winter Meetings are being held, and he told him that he wants to be a Dodger.

Update: The Yankees also met with Ben Sheets.

Jack Curry talks with Jay Rood about the way sports books set World Series odds:

Rood said that two consulting services provided MGM Mirage with an endless flow of information and that he also received insight from his casino managers and supervisors in establishing odds. There are numerous factors that determine a baseball team's odds, including, of course, how it performed last season, how its players are expected to do in the new season and what kind of players it has added. Before Rood sets or revises a team's odds, he has digested details from about 50 associates.

In addition, Rood explained how the amount of money that was bet on a team also impacted the odds. The casino wants to make money, but it also does not want to lose too much money. So, if there is a lot of action on a particular team to win the World Series, Rood will lower its odds to balance the betting.

"Let the public bet the way they want to bet," Rood said. "I'll set our position on what's best for the company and scout the little percentage we want to operate on. If you go in wanting to hit home runs left and right, you might have a short career at this."

The Pirates are the long shots this year at 150-1.

The owner of the Cubs is bankrupt:

Tribune Co has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling under a heavy debt load, according to a court document filed with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware on Monday.

The privately held publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, which took on about $13 billion of debt when it went private last year under a deal led by real estate mogul Sam Zell, said in the filing that it had $7.6 billion in assets and $12.97 billion in debt as of December 8.

I wonder if this makes the Cubs cheaper to buy? Will the court control the sale process instead of the Tribune? Any bankruptcy lawyers care to chime in?

Maple bats will remain in use in Major League Baseball:

After a season in which jagged chunks of broken maple bats flew across the infield and into the stands in epidemic proportions, Major League Baseball will announce Tuesday that it will not ban the bats.

Instead, after consultation with foresters and bat manufacturers, baseball will adopt rules that enable players to use whatever grain of wood they like -- maple included -- but will provide specifications for bat design intended to minimize the number of bats that break.

That's good. I wonder if this will force players to use thicker handles?

Hat tip to 6-4-2.

The Tigers are making moves to suggest they're about to sign Adam Everett. This would give them a glove man at short for the first time in a while.

Greg Maddux announced his retirement today:

"I'm just here, really, to say thank you - thank you to everybody in baseball," Maddux said, after an introduction from agent Scott Boras. "I appreciate everything the game has given me. It's going to be hard to walk away, obviously, but it's time. I still think I can play this game, but not as well as I would like to. So it's time to say goodbye."

Maddux's success did not spawn many imitators. The closest today may be Roy Halladay, a pitcher who can keep his pitch count low, still get strikeouts, and go deep into the game. Greg owned the strike zone, especially the outside corners. He had the great gift of putting the ball where batters had to swing, but not where they could make great contact.

Maddux was unbelievable with the bases loaded. For his career, opponents hit .226/.227/.317. Maddux issued five walks with the bases loaded his entire career and allowed just three home runs (he also hit three batters). I remember one game (although I can't find it at the moment) when the Braves were in San Francisco. Maddux loaded the bases with no one out to start the inning. You could see he was disgusted with himself, but came back to get the next three batters without allowing a run. Given the era in which he pitched, and the parks he spent most of his career, Maddux may very well be the greatest pitcher of all time.

Joe Gordon makes the Hall of Fame, and the Baseball Zealot is not pleased:

The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee voted one new player into the Hall of Fame, Joe Gordon. Don't get me wrong, Gordon was a fine player, both defensively & offensively (hitting home runs when secondsackers didn't do such things), but the HOF? Joe was a ten time All Star, even was selected once as MVP, despite Ted Williams winning the Triple Crown that same year. Even though he was acknowledged the best keystone man of his day, his overall stats are somewhat less than impressive. I know anybody can lie, but if you wanna really lie, use statistics. But his lifetime batting average was .268. His stats compare almost identically with Bret (Prolly a Juicer) Boone.

Gordon did quite well in the MVP voting many years. He posted very good OBAs for a low BA player and did hit for power when there were few power hitters at second base. It's probably not the worst choice the veterans committee ever made.

Peter Schiller solicits the opinions of bloggers about interleague play.

Might Francisco Rodriguez agree to a two-year contract with the Mets to make more money in the future? Given this climate, I actually believe that's a good idea for many of the younger free agents.

Joe Posnanski looks at the all-time leaders in terms of the 20-year rule, but has this to say about the all-time wins leader:

Impressiveness quotient: Unimaginable. Of course, Cy Young was simply playing a different game than baseball now. Look:

- He 72 games before the pitcher's mound was moved back to 60 feet, 6 inches.
- He won 267 games when when home plate was still a square.
- He won 351 games before foul balls were considered strikes.
- And, of course, he won all 511 games before the spitball was abolished, and most of those games when scuffing the ball was pretty common practice.

Frankly, it's pretty ridiculous, considering all the changes, that Young's record is considered the official one. It would probably be more realistic to consider Walter Johnson's 417 wins (21 wins ever year for 20 years) as the official record, and that record, while it would be unthinkable to break to it now, would at least be POSSIBLE to break. Greg Maddux announces his retirement today with 355 victories -- 62 victories short.

There are a number of records, especially those in the National League, that are listed as all-time and since 1900. Maybe we should do this for wins also.

Rays Index explores the possibility of the Rays getting involved in the Jake Peavy deal with the goal of landing Brian Giles. One of the problems facing the Padres is both Peavy and Giles, two of their most valuable trading chips, hold strong no-trade options. Peavy's is built into his contract, while Giles is a 10-5 player. Unless the Padres can identify places these players want to play, or pay them off, they'll have a difficult time completing a deal.

Infield chatter makes the case against the Red Sox signing Mark Teixeira.

Cardboard Gods remembers Frank White:

All I know for sure is that Frank White was, as this 1980 baseball card reports, an All-Star. In my mind he was as constant a presence in that annual game as anyone from his era, and since he was not a magnetic superstar such as Pete Rose or Reggie Jackson there was something even more solid about his presence in the midsummer classic than other more well-known perennial all-stars.

One of my favorite All-Star games was the 1986 contest at the Astrodome. Roger Clemens pitched three perfect innings and the American League picked up a win, 3-2. The three AL runs came on two home runs, one by starting second baseman Lou Whitaker and one by substitute second baseman Frank White. Both were good power hitters for their positions, and I thought it cool that the only long balls in the game, in a park known for knocking down home runs, came off the bats of second basemen.

Via The Hardball Times, the Rangers moved one of their catchers:

The Tigers acquired catcher Gerald Laird from the Texas Rangers late Sunday night, fulfilling one of their major off-season needs on the eve of baseball's winter meetings.

Detroit parted with two pitching prospects in the deal, right-handers Guillermo Moscoso and Carlos Melo.

Melo certainly impressed in Rookie League ball. He was seasonal age 17 and struck out 61 in 49 innings, mostly as a starter. Depsite allowing two home runs, however, his ERA was over 5.00. Still, this should be someone Nolan Ryan could develop into a pitch-count resistant hurler. He's young enough that he's the perfect test subject for Ryan's plans.

Moscoso suffered a shoulder injury at one point, but overall put up great minor league numbers. His low walk rate is most impressive, under 2.0 per nine innings. He's also old enough to step into the majors now. It's a very nice trade for the Rangers, getting good potential for an extra player. It also takes a team out of the market for a starting free-agent catcher, which should depress the market for Pudge and Varitek a bit.

Update: Billfer likes the trade.

Dan Turkenkopf runs correlations of UZR and PMR and I find them surprisingly low, given the two systems use the same data.

Both PMR and UZR were calculated using the Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) data set this season. I wonder if David or MGL might be able to give some ideas as to where the differences might come from.

I don't know enough about the UZR calculations to speculate. I base my models mostly on visiting players in parks, however. UZR might use all the data. I also don't know if UZR, like +/-, doesn't penalize players for outs made by others. In PMR. If the right fielder catches a ball that the centerfielder might be able to catch, the centerfielder is penalized. In +/-, the centerfielder is not. Given the low correlation with centerfielders, I suspect that's the case.

Only two players accepted arbitration, David Weathers and Darren Oliver. The other 22 are now up for grabs, including Manny Ramirez. Now that all the teams know where each free agent stands, maybe the market will heat up.

Lone Star Ball links to a story that Jason Varitek will reject arbitration. I'm a bit surprised at that, as I thought Jason would do better with the arbitrator than on the market. Maybe more teams need veteran leadership than I thought.

The defensive charts for 2008 are now available here. These provide a nice visualization of the probabilistic model of range. Chase Utley's charts, for example, shows how well he does on ground balls toward first base.

Hal McCoy reports that the Reds are trading Homer Bailey to the White Sox for Jermaine Dye:

A major-league source close to the situation told The Dayton Daily News on Sunday, Dec. 7, "The deal is done and will be announced this week."

The Reds are in the market for an outfielder and moving Bailey makes sense. The 22-year-old righthander, the team's No. 1 draft pick in 2004, has not lived up to high expectations and some club officials believe a change of venue would be best for him.

Bailey was 0-6 with a 7.93 ERA in eight starts with the Reds last year and was only 4-7 with a 4.77 ERA at Class AAA Louisville.

Bailey's seasonal age in 2009 will be 23, so he's still very young. His minor league strikeout and walk rates are still very good. If this deal happens, Bailey might turn out to be the next Edinson Volquez.

Dye's been up and down the last four seasons, but he's still an above average hitter. Both the White Sox and Reds home parks are good for long ball hitters, so Dye should be as comfortable in Cincinnati as on the south side.

Update: The Chicago Tribune has a source that says the deal is not going to happen. I love dueling sources.

Via Bleeding Blue and Teal, Raul Ibanez will decline arbitration today. Blue and Teal is looking forward to the draft picks:

It would greatly benefit Seattle if the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins and/or Toronto Blue Jays would throw their names back into the Ibanez hat. All three have been connected to Raul this offseason, and represent the 17th, 18th and 20th picks in the draft, which is as good as Seattle could get considering the first 16 picks are protected.

Peter Gammons posts an excellent column comparing players more concerned with their inner scorecards than their outer scorecards:

Someday another Shakespeare will come along and pierce through the insecurities that caused Barry Bonds to need to be more than Barry Bonds, Clemens to need to be more than Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez to need to be more than one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived. Someone will paint their human conflicts between their inner and outer scorecards.

Which leads to an interesting thought; will the tragic players live in history, while the good guys like Sizemore and Mauer survive mostly in the memories of baseball researchers?

Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) is now available on FanGraphs.com. The version on FanGraphs uses BIS data, not STATS, Inc. data, so it will be interesting to see how it compares to the Probabilistic Model of Range, which also uses BIS. Taking a quick look at shortstop, Jeter finishes in the middle of the pack, just like in PMR.

The Rangers may be in a payroll squeeze. The team that once signed Alex Rodriguez to a record setting contract now may be moving players to save money.

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said the club has not been given a directive to significantly cut payroll, but he acknowledged the team could make a deal or two that would look that way.

"I wouldn't say we're in cost-cutting mode, but we're certainly conscious of all our expenditures," Daniels said. "We're going to look at all the ways to improve our club. For the most part, we've been focused on trying to add players who fit with our long-term plan. Those are younger players."

Frankly, that's not a bad strategy. The question for the Rangers as always is pitching, however. If they want to compete now, they need to add pitching now, and this may not be the best strategy for that.

The Twins broke off talks with Casey Blake. La Velle E. Neal explores the possibilities on the left side for Minnesota.

I'm not a big Casey Blake fan, so I see this as a positive for the Twins.

Baseball Digest Daily is back online.

Via BBTF, the Athletics are no long interested in Rafael Furcal:

The A's abruptly pulled out of the Rafael Furcal sweepstakes Friday after the free-agent shortstop rejected their four-year contract offer.

A frustrated Furcal could not be reached for comment. :-)

The A's now appear to be focusing on a big bat. However, they would be open to Furcal if he comes back and asks for a smaller contract.

Tim Sullivan analyzes Khalil Greene:

Keenly intelligent, diligent and detailed, yet flagrantly flawed, Khalil Greene does not play baseball so much as he labors at it, sharpening his reflexes through draining repetition, practicing plays he might never encounter, preparing himself for every contingency except failure.

For a second there I thought I was reading another A-Rod story.

Ian Kennedy received some House work from a former pitching coach.

The former USC star went home and worked with pitching guru Tom House, who has been the Trojans' pitching coach the past two years.

"I got some tips and started applying those and it made the break of my curveball better and the command of it extremely better," Kennedy said from Puerto Rico. "Now I know what I have to do. Before I was just throwing it to throw it and try to throw it for a strike and not have any idea."

Essentially, Kennedy is holding onto the baseball longer, and that makes a difference in break and command. As a result, he can make in-game adjustments to get the results he needs.

Good for Kennedy. He's getting good results in winter ball, but he also looked like a star in AAA in 2008. Whenever I read stories like this, I wonder why the major league coaches don't pick up on these things.

The latest rumor to emerge has the Tigers interested in signing Kerry Wood to a two-year contract.

And after not offering Edgar Renteria arbitration (and watching him with the Giants), apparently figuring out that they're better off pursuing Adam Everett in free agency rather than haggling over Jack Wilson's salary, while possibly closing in on a deal for Gerald Laird - all of which could save some Detroit some money - maybe the Tigers now know they can throw some money at a ninth-inning stud.

Of course, if this happens, Kerry becomes the favorite to win the Masters. :-)

Peter Schmuck weighs in on the suspension of bargaining between the Orioles and Nick Markakis:

Both sides say they'll wait until they're closer to arbitration to resume bargaining. I think, in this uncertain economy, that's risky for both the player and the team. If you've read me over the years, you know I generally side with the player on this type of thing, and I think I am in this case, too. I just think Nick is playing a game of chicken with way more downside than up.

It looks like at the moment the Orioles are offering Markakis between $60 million and $65 million for six years. That buys out his first three years of free agency. Nick is a very good hitter and is just about to enter his prime, so we should see some improvement. I'd take $40 million for four years, then hit the free agent market at age 29 instead of 31. Nick should pull in a pretty good price tag at that point.

The only real downside for Markakis is arbitration. I suspect he'll do very well there, and if he has to take the Orioles that route three seasons in a row, he'll hit free agency right at 28, in the middle of his peak years. I bet the economy is a lot better then, and the long term contract he signs at that point make the current Orioles offer look weak. The only downside for Nick, in that case, is a career impacting injury.

Greg Maddux announces his retirement on Monday. Make your reservations for Cooperstown in 2014. There's a chance that with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz potentially through, the three enter the Hall of Fame together.

There's no doubt Maddux is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Glavine gets in based on his 300 wins. Smoltz gets in for being Eckersley like, a dominant starter and closer. Smoltz also has his post-season record going for him. In isolation, however, I don't think the latter two make it on the first ballot. However, it might just be too tempting for the voters to put all three in at the same time.

The voters did something like this with Mantle and Ford. Whitey ended his career after the 1967 season, Mantle after the 1968 season. Ford received 67% of the vote his first time on the ballot. At the time, he was the winningest pitcher in post-season history. I wouldn't be surprised if some voters held back so he could go in with Mantle. Maybe Maddux's retirement moves Glavine and Smoltz up a year.

Frank Wren nearly makes JC Bradbury crash his car!

Gaslamp Ball sums up a Kevin Tower interview on the Khalil Greene trade. The most interesting tidbit:

It's not a secret that they needed to reduce our payroll from $50 million and get closer to $40 million. The way the Padres looked at it, if they moved Khalil they would have a better chance to keep Peavy.

It seems obvious to me that if your choice is to keep Peavy or keep Greene, Khalil gets traded.

Peter Abraham discusses why the Yankees should concentrate on pitching. It's based on presentations by students of Vince Gennaro, a wise business analyst.

I don't necessarily buy it. Teams that are extreme at one end of the offense/defense scale only need to be okay at the other to make the playoffs. The years the Red Sox won in the late 1980s early 1990s, they posted the best offense in the AL with a team ERA in the middle of the league. Is it really that difficult to trot out a rotation with a 4.50 ERA? If a team scores 6 runs per game and allows 4.7 runs per game, that should work out to around 100 wins. If New York signs Mark and Manny, brings Pettitte back, and gets Hughes and Kennedy to post ERAs under 5.00, I think it's a pretty good team.

Only Baseball Matters disagrees with Keith Law over the Renteria signing.

Matt Cerrone posts high resolution photos of Bailout Field at Metsblog.com. I have to say, I miss the brightly colored seats of Shea.