the pinjockey

Only because the Eagles are sucking the meat missile this year. Otherwise UTSU would be putting you all to shame.

Tejada wants out? Here you go, Miggy wants out of Baltimore, Boston needs a SS. Trade Manny for Miggy and by done with the Manny being Manny show. Best offseason: 1.) Blue Jays - Might they regret the FA deals in the future? Sure. But hard to argue that they have improved the team. Throw in picking up Overbay and they have done well. 2.) Boston - Like the Beckett and Loretta deals, love the Marte deal. 3.) Florida - It is hard to believe they were able to get so much talent back for some mediocre, expensive players when everyone knew they were having a fire sale. I was impressed. Worst offseason: 1.) Braves - Essentially gave up Andy Marte for the right to downgrade from Furcal to Renteria. Losing Estrada is nothing to worry about as he was pretty terrible. They'll still likely to win the division so I'll take my shot at them now. 2.) Washington - Obtained arguably the worst player in MLB for their ballpark, gave up cheaper talent to do so, and are going to blow 20% of their payroll in the process.

Am I wrong in thinking it looks more and more like they aren't going to find a SP and want to move Madson from the pen. They've now added Santana, Booker, Gordon, have interest in Looper, and already have the other 5-6 players coming back from last year. Seems like they are overloading on RP unless they plan to lose another one in Madson.

I like Marte a lot and don't like Renteria at all, so to me it seems like a great deal. At this point, Renteria's 2003 is so far removed from his career that I can't see it as any more than a fluke (.874 OPS, next highest .803, career .744). They can write off last season all they want on ESPN, but Renteria was not a perennial great player before the Sox got him.

Kind of surprised he got that much, considering there had been no talk about him going anywhere. I figured his problems had pretty much killed the market for him. That said, it's not really that bad of a deal. There isn't much out there this season, so get someone for the short term that doesn't become an albatross if something better becomes available. And in that ballpark, Rogers might only allow 10 HRs all year. If he keeps the walks under control, which should be no problem, combining that with the HRs allowed he should be at worst a solid pitcher.

That seems incredibly short sighted for an organization like that. Orioles agree to 4 yr/$27.25 mil deal with Ramon Hernandez

Baseball America's Rule V review Phillies then picked up Booker from Detroit for cash. I like what I see from Booker. Great K rate this year in AAA (91 in 65 IP) and kept the ball in the yard with only 1 HR allowed (of course a .45 GB/FB ratio speaks to some luck involved there). Granted he was 28 this year, but it couldn't hurt to take a shot and see if they come up with a Turnbow at little risk.

It features a team trying to win a division vs. a semi-pro team at this point.

It features a team trying to win a division vs. a semi-pro team at this point.

The NYG/Eagles game has been switched to 1pm. The nation is spared from seeing this disaster.

The Phils website has a story up concerning interest in Looper, also says that the Cardinals have shown interest. It also has a comment about how his health affected him this year

Unconfirmed: Ray King to Colorado for Larry Bigbie and Aaron Miles I just saw this on another board, no confirmation link yet

The Phillies didn't offer arbitration to any of their UFAs. Brilliant move there, if Urbina is cleared of charges he'll only cost about $7mil/yr. in this market as a FA as opposed to the $4.5/mil he'd get in arb.

It's also nice of Bowden to blow around 20% of the team's budget while he is at it (reports have them at a $50 mil payroll, Gammons stated Soriano will get around $10mil in arb). Let's give Bowden a little credit though. At least he didn't go after Mench, otherwise he probably would have given away Zimmerman and Cordero.

Reading on another board they were saying the Nats intend to play Soriano in LF, which would negate any value he brings by having a power bat at 2B. Don't know where they got it so there is no source for this, but it's something to consider. Edit: here is the ESPN link mentioning the move http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2251887

Reading on another board they were saying the Nats intend to play Soriano in LF, which would negate any value he brings by having a power bat at 2B. Don't know where they got it so there is no source for this, but it's something to consider.

I'm just glad Wilkerson is out of the division, he murders the Phils. And in that park, Wilkerson is going to put up some hefty numbers that should rival/better Soriano's. He slugged .498 w/ 32 HRs in the last year in Montreal and his career OBP is 45 points higher than Soriano.

Soriano to the Nats for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmell Sledge and a PTBNL

There have been a few rumored iterations of the deal: 1.) Three team deal: Atlanta gets Renteria, Boston gets Lugo, Tampa gets Marte 2.) Straight up deal: Atlanta gets Lugo, Tampa gets Marte 3.) Straight up deal (gammons rumbling): Boston says fuck Tampa and gets Marte, Atlanta gets Renteria, Boston puts Cora at SS And Marte is a 3B, not a C. Al, supposing the Red Sox get Marte. Does Marte plus Clement or Arroyo get you to pull the trigger on an Abreu deal. I'd have reservations, but an IF of Howard, Utley, Rollins, and Marte is a core that I can see bringing in a title over the next few years IMO.

People don't seem to realize that Lugo has turned into a pretty good player since arriving in Tampa Bay. He's also a proven commodity. 41 and 36 doubles the last two years, 21 and 39 steals, .765 ops last year. That's good production for a middle infielder. Marte gets a ton of hype, but who knows if that will translate into success in the bigs. There is no doubt that Lugo has turned out to be fine and if I were the Braves, assuming this deal eventually goes through, I don't think I would do the other part of the deal (Renteria/Lugo). But he also turned 30 last month, so it is hard to see him getting much better at this point and he isn't good enough that I can imagine giving away a prospect of Marte's caliber (especially considering they probably shouldn't have to, is the market on Lugo really that high?). Putting up a .275/.372/.506/.878 as a 21 year old in AAA is pretty damn good, showing he can both draw walks and hit for power at a higher level. Picturing a core of Delmon Young, BJ Upton, and Andy Marte for years to come would be enough to make me want to see more Devil Rays games.

I can't believe they are saying, on ESPN, that the Devil Rays put a halt on the Lugo deal because they want more than Marte for him. IMO, if you get offered Marte for Lugo, you take it and run before the Braves realize how drunk you must have gotten them to make the deal.

So prospects = scrubs? Padres send Sean Burroghs to Tampa for Dewon Brazelton http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2251229

Nice, the asking price from the Yankees for JMike just went up. Pinto and Nolasco put up some nice numbers in AA this season. With all the arms they've stockpiled this offseason, I don't see how Florida ends up without at least one or two of these guys becoming a solid 2 and 3 behind Dontrelle. One more trade to go for Fla. in Villone.

Aren't they rumored to move Kent to 1st if they get a 2B or is that not the case?

Last year's (2004) road split: .244/.291/.444/.735. I don't see how 700 PAs over the past two years are going to be an aberration. He has to hit .290-.300 for his OBP to be even respectable. Maybe the Yankees got his best years, maybe he changed his swing when he got to a bandbox like Arlington, but the fact is he has been mediocre at best on the road for two years now and many people still see him a big time game changer. And he is about to get very expensive to boot.