the pinjockey

Well if Overbay is really the prospect that everyone thinks, then they didn't get nothing in return. But if he is just another overhyped prospect then yeah they got nothing. I can't believe in their effort to trim payroll they take on the contract of Junior Spivey?!? Arizona goes from having to tack him onto a Schilling deal to a Milwuakee team willing to take him. Genius. Pure genius.

So what are they going to do now? Are they keeping Soriano at 2B or moving him to CF, Williams to DH, leaving Nick Johnson out, and going to get a FA 2B?

Most improved I would have to go with Taker. Nobody overwhelmed me with their improvment this year, so I'll just go with Taker. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year, there would have been a good Taker/Angle match with more of it having to do with Taker I wouldn't have believed that. So in this weak field, one month gives Taker the MIW. Also, just want to throw my hat in the ring as one of those who wonder how Cena is a rookie. He was around for six months last year. That is a little too much to be considered a rookie again. Figure by this year, they had already been able to dump his ruthless agression rookie character, move him into the hip hop character, and give him his own posse. That is too much of a head start compared to other rookies like Haas and Benjamin who showed up in the last two weeks of the year.

Plus Polanco's head is one of the strangest things I have ever seen. His temples are huge. First time my sister ever saw him, she thought he had got hit the last AB and it swelled up. Ah...good times, good times.

Polanco's an average offensive player looking at his career. He's a solid hitter usually hitting a little above .280 or so. RBI's don't mean much as that largely depends on his teammates and how often they can get on base but as long as they have Thome, he should be a fair RBI producer(50-75 range per year). He doesn't strike out much however he doesn't walk as much as he possibly could. He set a career high of only 42 walks this past season(I'm aware it was only in 492 AB's) so his OBP isn't that great but if he improves his walks then that'll only improve the Phils. As far as the stealing goes, he's not much of a base threat since his previous high was only 12 SB's. He is solid in terms of not getting caught which means a fairly high & rate but the fact that he runs so little doesn't make it that impressive. As far as his career, he was 27 last year, so he is starting to get into his prime years. There is no reason to expect he won't be like most other players who succeed in those years. For his walks, he was never a big walker, but he was also hitting in the 2 hole much of the year. Once Marlon Byrd exploded in front of him, his role became to move him along, not to walk. You may agree or disagree with that style of ball, but he was just playing his role. Notice Pre-All Star Break he walked 16 more times than Post All-Star Break in only 100 more ABs. Also, when playing 2B, he hit .302 with a .373 OBP (which would rank 4th in the majors among 2B last year behind only Vidro, Giles, and Castillo). Once Bell got put on the DL and they moved him he ran into a slump. And his steals are impressive to me. Again, he is in the two hole. He shouldn't be stealing a lot, but he knows when to do it. If he wanted to rack up steals he probably could get around 30, but he knows better than to do it.

MVP of the year : Chris Jericho Singlehandedly carried Raw through most of the year. Match of the year : Angle/Benoit RR Raw wrestler of the year : Chris Jericho Smackdown wrestler of the year : Eddie Guerrero Rookie of the year : Shelton Benjamin I think him and Haas were brought in the last couple weeks of last year, but like in sports you can play a couple games while still being a rookie the next year. Tag team of the year : TWGTT Feud of the year : Jericho/HBK PPV of the year : WM19 Storyline of the year : Jericho/Trish It would have been Kane, if it wasn't for Shane completely undermining everything that happened with him. Announcer of the year : Tazz By process of elimination only.

I don't think there was much overspending involved here. The players they gave up weren't much. They couldn't afford to keep waiting on Fossum and hope he blossoms. And the contract extension for Schill is going to be in the 12-13 mil/year range, which is perfectly acceptable.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, since I doubt you saw more than a few Phillies games. But Placido Polanco certainly does not suck. With the pop he added this year, he is now a 2B capable of giving you: .300/20/65 with 20 steals, a solid number of walks, never strikes out, rarely gets caught stealing, and is a terrific fielder. And he is the guy who made it reasonable to talk trades for Chase Utley, one of their top hitting prospects.

NOFRIDGIDTHATSABADFRIGID! Fine. If you want Polanco, do a Nomar-Kim for Polanco-Rollins deal. Edit: Good lord, I didn't realize how bad Rollins was last year. He was number 132 out of 162 in OBP (.320) and number 140 in OPS (.707). Just for that I will throw a prospect in the deal. You can have Anderson Machado since your SS will be freed up.

Stay away from Placido. I don't want him going anywhere. I wonder what ended up happening with the Yankees and Phillies though. I saw in the Philadelphia Inquirer, that when Arizona made their ridiculous demands, the Phillies countered with names like Carlos Silva and Nick Punto. I would like to see if the Yankees did the same thing, offered shit to respond to ridiculous demands. Boston could have ended up making out like bandits, just by waiting and watching the Yankees and Phillies burn the bridge.

You can thank the god awful Detroit offense, which had no idea how to get in the end zone, for Hanson's 5 FGs.

Results from today's games heading into this insane weekend of action. Important Games: Ultimo Guerreros (Mare, R.Williams, 8 remain) - 20.45 vs. Cartmans Pats (Chatman, 9 remain) - 0.167 Team 2000 (Hambrick, Witten, Hanson, 7 remain) - 24.35 vs. Crimson Storm (Glenn, Swinton, 8 remain) - 6.85 Marvins Madness (Ricks, 9 remain) - 3.8 vs. Field of Honor (noone, 9 remain [not a typo, missing one slot]) - 0 HHH (Green, 9 remain) - 7.95 vs. Boston Rattlesnakes (Thompson, Davenport, 8 remain) - 7.9 Texas Wolverines (Galloway, 8 remain [slot missing]) - 3.15 vs. Seoul Emerald Tigers (Longwell, 9 remain) - 2 Maui Mercenaries (noone, 10 remain) - 0 vs. Berzerker Vikings (Green Bay, 9 remain) - 4 Funjaculators (Franks, Cundiff, 8 remain) - 12.65 vs. The A Team (Bryant, Gary, Detroit, 7 remain) - 28.55 The Toilet Ducks (Walker, Hakim, 8 remain) - 18.95 vs. Dothan Jaguars (Miami, 9 remain) - 22 Other games off to themselves: The Wraiths (Griese, Chambers, Cason, 7 remain) - 29.2 vs. Laffayette Ephedras (noone, 10 remain) - 0 Whalers on the Moon (Favre, 9 remain) - 17.94 vs. Pogo the Monkey (noone, 10 remain) - 0

Yes, I realize things were discussed yesterday. But this quote implies that something more should be read into TODAY, instead of just realizing Epstein was out there, so invite him over.

According to an ESPN.com article, they didn't discuss anything today contract wise. It just seems like common courtesy, if Epstein flew out there the day before Thanksgiving, to invite him to dinner.

I would be Cecil Fielder minus the HR hitting ability. Big fat guy who can't run, then proceeds to be a big fay guy after his playing days are over.

I just think, in terms of risk/reward, that going one year on Millwood is the better option. I don't see Millwood as an ace, he hasn't shown he can be an ace, but they are about to pay him like he is an ace in a multi-year deal. I think it is worth the risk, to hope that a Vazquez makes it to FA next year. And I am not too worried about losing a draft pick. Their system is stocked right now, and I think they could afford to lose a first rounder to get those guys.

I am not really too fond of the idea of resigning Millwood to a multi-year deal. I understand, if Vazquez isn't available, that there aren't many other options. Comparing Millwood to Bartolo Colon (the apparent top FA SP) Millwood had a lower opposing OPS, the BB, K, BB/K stats were all almost identical, and Millwood allowed about 2/3 of the HR that Colon did. So I don't mind (if Vazquez is not available) having Millwood.... for one year. The Phillies can offer him arbitration. I would be shocked if he didn't take it. He could get up to 13 mil for one year next year. And this would also let the Phillies be free to dive into the huge bumper crop of FA starting pitching next year. I forget exactly, but I think Wood, Matt Morris, Javier Vazquez, and at least one other stud are FA next year. Why the need to commit long term to Millwood if those guys are going to be available?

:eagerly awaits Jagr's reaction to the New York media:

For Looney Tunes they did a bit on Confidential, but picture this: :Goldberg comes limping to the ring: JR: Goldberg is gutting it out, look at our champion. He is tough with all the odds against him. Oh and by the way he is going to star in the new Looney Tunes movie. And did I say that the strategy of getting a wrester would do wonders for a shitty action movie? A second tier wrestler is not going to bring in a huge audience, but they will probably do more that a shitty B movie star will.

From the cast list Trish Stratus .... Sonya And the shitty action movies probably want these wrestlers because they are - cheaper - probably do their own stunts, saving more money - do bring some name value - they will likely get free pub on WWF programming.

:Pulls up chair, grabs bag of popcorn: Time to kick back and watch the madness.

Well according to the interview Curt gave last night, on Daily News Live, it is because Francona never had the talent to succeed. I have a feeling that Epstein just wanted to get a guy in there who would be willing to do what he tells him to. I can't imagine Francona coming in and going against what the organization is trying to do, because he really doesn't have the credentials to be doing that. This is just the next step in getting the sabremetrics into the manager spot, IMO. That interview was great. Curt sounded pissed that the Phillies didn't go after him harder.

That's why I got a chuckle when all the Francona to Boston talk started.

Green Bay (Thanksgiving Game) Miami(Thanksgiving Game) Chicago Houston N.Y. Giants Cincinnati Minnesota Indianapolis Philadelphia Baltimore New Orleans Seattle Denver Kansas City Tampa Bay N.Y. Jets (Monday Night)

Because Francona was a pushover who would let Schilling decide when he wanted to come out of games.