EVIL~! alkeiper

I've run the simulation three times, and gotten three different orders. The Phillies finish anywhere from first to fourth. The only common thread is that the Washington Nationals finish last every time.

We have a separate thread going.

Given that Hudson will reach free agency after this season, I think the Braves come out well in this trade. In 350 minor league innings, Dan Meyer has racked up 381 strikeouts compared to just 87 walks, and 24 strikeouts. Cruz gives the Athletics some needed bullpen depth.

$12.8 Mil for 5 years. Good be a good deal, but it could be a disaster. I've given up trying to guess the market this offseason.

I think the Dodgers get the best of this deal, actually.

Boone had a disappointing year, but there are quite a few teams putting worse second basemen on the field.

For what it's worth, Win Shares rates Lowe 90th among pitchers in the American League alone. That is a very fair criticism. Renteria was an average shortstop last season. His good years come and go. I guess his defense makes him a valuable shortstop, and this year's market has blown whatever visions of fiscal sanity baseball once held. Which is surprising when it comes to the Red Sox.

Nope. Kline is still very much available.

Las Vegas has a 9,000 seat stadium for minor league AAA Baseball. In fact, they use it for the Home Run Challenge that seems to air every year around Spring Training.

The Diamondbacks re-enforced their standing as the dumbest organization in baseball, inking Royce Clayton and Craig Counsell to contracts. Royce Clayton hit 279/338/397 this season, in Colorado. The two previous seasons, playing outside of Colorado, he hit 251/295/365, and 228/301/333. Alex Cintron hit 262/301/363 last year, in his worst season. He's very likely to rebound. Clayton on the other hand has set a standard for sucktitude. The difference? Clayton costs a few million, while Cintron costs the league minimum. Remember deals like this when the owners start whining about the costs of baseball players in 2006.

I doubt it. The Mets still don't have a right fielder or first baseman. Their second baseman, catcher, and left fielder are injury prone. Quite frankly, their offense sucks. The Pedro signing gives them the best rotation in the division, but I'd still give them the fourth spot in the race. Not that they WILL finish there, but that's as far as I'd comfortably predict.

I can buy the first few arguments, but I don't think over-expansion is a major problem. Surely, the entrance of Eastern Europeans into the NHL more than compensates for the extra roster slots. As an aside, since we do have more Eastern Europeans in the game, perhaps the NHL should consider marketing towards that area more often. I think a problem with the NHL is a lack of recognizable faces. It would benefit the NHL to market where the population recognizes the players.

Garabito's a second baseman. I watched him play in Scranton in August.

I don't recall them ever pitching Vazquez on three days' rest. Four days is normal. It is worth noting, however, that Vazquez's ERA stood below 4 as late as July 16, when he was torched by Detroit. Fatigue/arm troubles are quite likely given his struggles of the season's final two months.

It's high time Bud and his cronies learned that taxpayers are no longer easily swindled. D.C. is willing to pay half the cost of a new stadium. Terrific. If I were MLB, I would take the deal.

Not always. Look at Vazquez last year. It's still a different league to pitch in, and Clement is too much of an underachiever to be trusted. I've always thought the league changing phenomenon was more hype than fact. Pitchers' ERAs will increase for two reasons. One, free agents who find new teams have usually had career years, and would regress anyway. Two, the league ERA is higher in the American League. A twenty point increase in ERA does not mean the pitcher has decreased in ability. It just means the pitcher has moved to a new run scoring environment.

Aren't writers as a whole generally nerds?

I could see the Dodgers or the White Sox taking a flyer on Pierzynski.

For all of Matsui's faults with the stick, he was a good defensive shortstop last season. I think the Mets' defense is as good as Pedro will find anywhere else.

Agreed. Pinnacle, there's no reason for that.

From Precious Roy... When you look at the Championship postseasons of 1998-2000, and compare them to 2001-04, I think there is one critical difference. In the championship years, Rivera posted an ungodly run of saves. No team could beat the Yankees in the late innings. Now, in 2001 and 2004, the Yankees lost series directly as a result of Rivera's blown saves. Not blaming Rivera here, this stuff happens. It just seems to me that the Yankees' run was the result of great teams combined with great luck. That luck ran out recently. Just how I see it. From Some Guy.... Fenway Park certainly isn't an excuse for Pedro's HR rate. It increased because of Martinez. Fenway does allow less home runs than the average park. But Shea Stadium allows even less home runs than Fenway. The point is that Martinez's home run rate should decrease in Shea Stadium.

The Phillies pulled off an interesting move, claiming Chris Gomez in the minor league phase of the rule V draft. Gomez was just signed by Baltimore to a minor league contract a few weeks ago.

Hanley Ramirez is projected to be close to A-Rod in terms of skill. If he goes anywhere it will be to Milwaukee for Ben Sheets. Even if the Sox sign Renteria they can look at Hanley as a future third baseman. Marlins would probably get Doug Mienk and Kevin Youkilis for Burnett if there was a trade. Gives them a first baseman and allows them to move Mike Lowell if needed since they aren't getting that new ballpark anytime soon. I wouldn't go that far. A-Rod hit .358 in the majors when he was Ramirez's age. Ramirez is still a nice prospect though.

Doug Glanville

Actually Verne, the offensive explosion in baseball occured in 1994, before the Strike.