EVIL~! alkeiper

Nope. Pocono Poison

I guess Scott Boras was lying about that five year offer. Still, good to see Millwood back. Worrell is 35, but he's been quite good for 5 years running, so he looks like a fine addition to the bullpen. 3.03 ERA on the road the last three years, so leaving Pac Bell shouldn't hurt him much.

Since 1997, the SB has alternated between good and shit every year. This year should be a good one Well, except for that 2000 snoozefest with St. Louis winning. I don't care what people say about the first three quarters, but that last quarter with the Tennessee comeback and the Longest Yard play elevated that game to a good game, IMO That WAS a good quarter. But I can't call any game that I turned off midway through a good game. How many games don't become classics until the last quarter/half/innings? Its a silly standard to work with.

There's a rumor that the Phillies will sign Tim Worrell today. I'm looking around for some comformation.

Well, as the season goes on, the East teams will play each other more often, inflating their records somewhat.

The problem is that the BCS and various playoff ideas try too much. The reason people wanted the BCS was so that when two teams went undefeated (i.e. Nebraska-Penn State in '94) they would face each other. I propose a system where if two teams are undefeated, they compete against one another. Simple as that. If not, then revert to the old system of bowls.

So if he helped the Marlins, then obviously he should've had the same effect on the Texas Rangers. Catchers' influence on pitchers is overrated, and its certainly not worth overpaying for. I could certainly come out with something, but it might take me a bit, at least until finals week is over. If and when I do, I'd be glad to share it.

Opening day is April 5th.

Because Pudge is on the wrong side of 30, and wanted too many years on his contract. Vlad meanwhile is in his prime, and is a monster hitter. His .588 Slugging percentage is 10th all time, and his most comparable player at his age is Willie Mays. Vlad is a special player.

He's keeping the payroll intact. Let's give him a freakin' medal. Jeffrey Loria rolled into Montreal with a lot of promises, did shit with the team, couldn't negotiate a goddamned simple tv package, and when attendance went South, he bolted for a new team. In the meantime, he completely cleaned out the Expos offices and took EVERYTHING with him to Florida. And he left Montreal to rot. Why does this concern me, a non-Expos fan? Because its downright embarassing to the sport of baseball. Its not far to the Expos, or their remaining loyal fans. As well, its a severe conflict of interest that a team is effectively owned by the other 29. Fuck Jeff Loria. Fuck Bud Selig for facilitating this nonsense.

I would like to think any Montreal player would beat the living hell out of Loria and Samson thanks to those ownership ties.

Good article from Rob Neyer today, pointing out that Michael Tucker's road stats have been abysmal (.225/.294/.372 the last three years) and he's moving into one of the worst hitters' parks in the National League.

I doubt it. The Angels owe Erstad $24 Million over the next three years.

Yes, but they'd have to give up Garret Anderson to do it.

I second those who mentioned the Marx Brothers. Its a damned shame no one is printing their movies right now.

I'm surprised by the Angels' aggressiveness this offseason. First Escobar, and now Colon. This gives them a rotation of Colon, Escobar, Washburn, Ramon Ortiz, and John Lackey. Combine that with Troy Percival, K-Rod, and Brendan Donnelly, and that pitching staff is absolutely killer. They'll still need to upgrade their offense however.

Its hard to look at league records the last few years, because with the advent of the unbalanced schedule, teams play drastically different schedules. And the same goes for the MLB rank. How do you compare an AL team with an NL team?

I agree. In a sport where the very best teams lose 1/3 of their games, upsets are very common.

I'm taking a look at The Spirit Of St. Louis, a team biography of the Cardinals. As you might expect, the author is apologetic, saying the Cards never planned to strike, and the spiking incident was minor. Slaughter did spike white players as well, so the Robinson spiking might not have been race related. Not the best defense I know. Still, I think Slaughter was a good guy with a fault or two. His playing ability certainly can't be denied.

I don't think a study on playoff wins produces much. Far too little sample size. Why not include regular season games?

Vernon Wells is one good season from stardom. Interesting to look up his most similar players at his age and see.....Enos Slaughter. Also, Toronto with Halladay on the mound might be as good as any other team in baseball.

Not offering to Arthur Rhodes surprises me.

Jim Gaffigan?

Looking over Yahoo's ranking of players so far, Michael Redd has got to be the steal of the draft. 7th in the NBA, and a 4th round pick!

The Phillies offered arbitration to Kevin Millwood, which comes as a minor surprise. Free agents offered arbitration have until Dec. 19 to accept or reject the offers.