Precious Roy

Because they're in the market for a fulltime right handed 1B and Sexson is better than Shea Hillenbrand. He's an above average defensive player who puts up an OPS around .900 every year. He'd be a a nice addition for the Yankees, but I don't think there's much to the rumour, which seems to be Pavano + a prospect going to Seattle. I think it's more likely we bring in someone like Hillenbrand or go into the season with a Phillips/scrap heap veteran platoon.

The Royals finally decide to spend big money and they use it on Gil Meche?!!? Unbelievable...

Jon Garland is an average starter, besides his 2005 year he's been consistently in the 4.5 era 1.35 whip range. I think he's the least desirable of the Sox starters. Buehrle is the one I'd want. Seems like a lot to give up for Garland, the Sox would have been fleecing the 'Stros in that deal, Jason Hirsh might be better than Garland within the next year or two. I don't see how Tavares makes sense for the White Sox either unless they have a bigger deal in play for someone like Crawford or Baldelli. Putting Tavares and Podsednik at the top of the lineup gives them the same problem they had last year. I also don't understand why the team has soured on Brian Anderson so quickly. For years all anyone could talk about was how he was going to take over centerfield for them, and after one year struggling at the plate they already want to get rid of the guy?

Whoa! Nice trade for the Phillies. Don't entirely understand it from the White Sox pov. Gio Gonzalez is a good prospect but he's a couple years away and they had traded him to the Phillies just a year ago, and Floyd has struggled to live up to his hype so far. I thought they could fetch more of an impact player for Garcia. One other thing from that article... Supposedly it's Joe Blanton

You can thank the Mets organization for giving Kris Benson that horrible contract which started the latest trend on shitty starting pitchers. No. Thank the Cubs for giving Soriano the most absurd contract since A-Rod's for allowing scrubs like GMJ to get 5 @ 55 and shitty pitchers to get $8-10 million this season, marginal guys to get 10-12, and top of the line starters 15+. It's like Kevin Brown all over again. Boras will want at least $16 million per for Matsuzaka now that Schmidt's gonna get 15.7 over 3 years, and well over $100 million over 6 years for Zito which may price him out of the Mets' range. There's no connection between the Soriano deal and the money that pitchers are getting. Everyone knew going into the off-season that pitching would be in high demand, baseball is awash in cash at the moment, and once teams start bidding against each other the prices go up. The only way Soriano could have affected the pitching market was if it took the Cubs out of it, which it obviously didn't. I actually don't think the Schmidt deal is that bad when you look at what guys like Padilla, Lilly and (soon enough) Meche are getting. If you remove an injury plagued 2005 season from the equation he's been one of the better pitchers in baseball the last 5-6 years, with a couple of Cy Young award caliber seasons. And Dodger Stadium can only help the guy. And at only 3 years the risk is minimized should he break down. It's going to drive Zito's price through the roof though. If the Mets are serious about not paying more than Oswalt money for him (which I think they'll move on, but not a ton) it might leave Texas as the top suitor, and that's a recipe for disaster. I still think he'll end up with the Mets though. The Piazza signing was solid. He won't match Thomas' numbers, but 30 hr and an .850 OPS from the DH spot seems quite possible. Great move by the Braves to get Rafael Soriano for Horacio Ramirez. Is that really the best Seattle could do?!?! There's also a rumour that they're close to getting Mike Gonzalez from the Pirates for Adam Laroche, which is a pretty fair deal. I'm hoping the Yankees throw something like $15-16 million for one year at Pettite. I could see him staying with Houston for less though, especially if Clemens is going to come back. Probably a longshot that he comes back to NY. Last thing, Matsuzaka's contract isn't going to be in Schmidt/Zito range. I'm expecting something like $12-13 mil per.

the current 'SportsNation' poll on ESPN.com is 'Would you want Barry Bonds on your favorite team?' Only one state is saying yes, North F'n Dakota...

What was more impressive tonight was the 15 rebounds. Good to see him produce consistently. David Lee also with a double double (20 and 11). And Memphis will still be ahead of New York in the next power rankings...

The Mariners signed Jose Guillen. 1 year, 5.5 million, 3 million in incentives. I'm not sure if that means he only has 2.5 million guaranteed, or 3 million available on top of the 5.5. Probably the latter. There's also a 9 million team option for 2008. Either way, great low risk signing for the Mariners.

And Odom sinks a ridiculous 3 to end the 3rd quarter! FUCK A JAZZ!

Kobe is blowing the fuck up. He's got 52, 30 in the 3rd!!!!!

I never knew that Bryant took #8 as an homage to D'Antoni, that's funny... And Monta Ellis is nasty

To vaguely expand on this point a bit.... I'm on the fence about the Ramirez trade. I absolutely think it's the right move for Boston longterm, if they can get a package of top prospects for a 35 yr old it makes sense, but shorterm I'm not so sure. Manny Ramirez is one of the best hitters the game has ever seen, so up front it weakens the lineup, but I can see the logic behind it. Yes, Ortiz will be pitched around, but worst case scenario he's still getting on base like crazy. And he probably gets moved the 4 spot, so with Drew and Youk ahead of him the Sox are getting a lot of guys on base. Willy Mo becomes the clean up guy, and honestly I think it's a decent bet to take that he can knock those guys home enough for them to win games. I don't think a trade makes Boston better in the next year or two unless Willy Mo blows up, but it's not as bad a risk as some people are making it out to be, and really, the Sox will win or lose with their pitching. If Schilling, Beckett, Pabelbon and Matsuzaka pitch as well as they are capable of, and they put together a reliable 7-9 pen, that's a scary team...

No it isn't. Our farm system is in the best shape it's been in 10 years.

Ben Wallace is an asshole. It doesn't matter if it's a stupid rule. When you have an employer paying you $60 million, you do what you are told. Wallace isn't an asshole, but he's an idiot for signing with the Bulls without assurances that he could keep his rituals intact. And the Bulls were idiots to not get all that out on the table up front. It's a fucking headband and an Ipod in the lockeroom! Why is this simple, trivial shit an issue that comes up during the first month of the regular season, when they had an entire off-season and pre-season to compromise on it! Knicks beat the Cavs in Cleveland tonight. The march towards .500 continues!

Here's my take on Igawa: - The bid is more than anyone expected, but it's not outrageous after you take into consideration both the Red Sox bid for Matsuzaka and the contracts being given out to mediocre pitchers. I do think the Yankees felt pressure to win the posting and probably overbid to make sure they got him, but it's not like they went way overboard to do it. The bidding for Igawa was competitive with reportedly around 10 teams throwing down, and the Mets bidding between 15 and 16 million according to an anonymous MLB source. I didn't rag on the Sox for spending what they felt was necessary to get Matsuzaka, and I won't criticize Yankee brass for doing the same thing now. - The Yankees have been scouting Igawa for several years, with favorable reviews. He's put up very good numbers in Japan, seasons with sub-3 ERAs, led his league in strikeouts 3 times, and it probably translates into him being a solid #3 or #4 starter. He may not be #1 or #2 material but they obviously believe he can be a solid presence in the rotation. And he's only 27. - The "LOL YANKEE IDIOTS BLOWING MONEY!!" shit is retarded. His annual salary will be far less than that of Matsuzaka, rumoured between $4 and $6 million. Cashman has a good relationship with Igawa's agent Arn Tellum, who also represents Mike Mussina, Hideki Matsui and Jason Giambi. The Yankees will be getting Igawa for less than it would cost to sign pretty much every veteran FA out there. IMO Boras will be asking for no less than $11-12 mil per from the Sox and we know he'll strongarm them to get what he wants. 4 years at 5 or 6 million plus the $26 million for Igawa would be less than just the posting fee for Daisuke.

Fuck ESPN

David Lee is like the bastard son of Phil Jackson and Dave Debusschere

Yeah, well Kenny Lofton and Phil Nevin could just as easily be Gabe Kapler and Kevin Millar. The Pirates' usual strategy is to fill their lineup with kids and plug holes by overpaying slightly for 3rd or 4th tier veteran free agents (see: Sean Casey, Jeremy Burnitz, Joe Randa, Matt Lawton etc.), but with the market what it is right now even guys like Lofton and Nevin might be out of their price range.

Potential 07 Pittsburgh Pirates lineup CF - Kenny Lofton SS - Jack Wilson 3B - Freddy Sanchez LF - Jason Bay 1B - Phil Nevin RF - Xavier Nady C - Ryan Doumit 2B - Jose Castillo

A couple points on the Jeter v. Morneau debate... - Yes, Jeter had a much better lineup around him. And Morneau's team had far better pitching than the Yankees. What's the difference? - I've seen many people point to Morneau's performance down the stretch as giving him an edge. Look up the stats. Jeter's Sept. was just as good, if not better. And to people who say that that doesn't matter as much because the Yanks had essentially clinched, well Jeter was a huge reason they did clinch the way they did.

I'm speechless over Morneau winning the MVP. It's not even that Jeter didn't get it. Don't get me wrong, I'm pissed about that, but Justin F'n Morneau?1??!?! The fact that he beat out a stronger candidate (or two if you support giving the MVP award to a pitcher) from his own team just boggles my mind. I thought Howard over Pujols was bad, but at least it was understandable. I can't figure out what the fuck the voters were thinking on this one. Justin Morneau: MVP Meh

Three players in baseball history accumulated 150 Home Runs, stolen bases and doubles between the ages of 26-30. Soriano, Barry Bonds...and Howard Johnson. Johnson had a great season at the age of 30, and proceeded to hit .219 over 352 games before retiring. I doubt Soriano will do that bad, but that should indicate something. Yeah, that Howard Johnson was a product of steroids and amphetamines who's body broke down on him. Soriano, like Bonds at that age, is naturally gifted.

The Dodgers should have gone after a relatively cheaper OF with pop like Trot Nixon, David Dellucci, Jose Guillen or Cliff Floyd. On the upside Pierre and Furcal gives them a ton of speed at the top of the lineup, but 9 million is a lot to spend on a one dimensional player, who as noted above doesn't steal as effectively as the leadoff guy you signed last offseason.

Lets not get crazy here.... Soriano's averages over the past 5 years: .280 BA (approx) 40.6 doubles 37.4 home runs 96.6 runs batted in .331 OBP (approx) .525 SLG (approx) 165 sbs in 210 attempts (average of 33 a year) for a percentage of .785 5 year averages of 37/33 and 40 doubles. Anyone else in baseball that can lay claim to that? The only guy who comes close is Carlos Beltran at 30/30/33. So to say he had just one amazing year is silly. His numbers last year were almost identical to his 5 year averages save for a higher OBP (which some people think is a statistical outlier, but I think it's just as likely that he's learning to be more patient as he gets older). And for reference on the base stealing that's the exact same percentage as Rafael Furcal over the last 5 years. Juan Pierre is at .745. Dave Roberts steals at a .81% clip. One of the big criticisms of Soriano is that he gets thrown out too much, yet his rate is comparable to that of the annual stolen base leaders. The other big knock on him is that his on base percentage isn't high enough. .331 average over 5 years isn't great, but it isn't terrible. Just ask Mr. Cub Ernie Banks, he of the .330 career OBP. And like I said I think there's a decent chance his OBP settles into the .350 range over the next couple of years. As far as him having a shitty attitude....why? Because he balked over moving to the outfield? One dispute after a trade to a new team and he gets branded for life? Have you ever heard anything else negative about the guy??! And plus he showed great promise in the field last year, leading baseball in outfield assists, and he's happy to play out there for the Cubs. If I'm a Cubs fans I'm thinking it's stupid to go 8 years on the guy (I've still yet to see it confirmed if the last 2 years are options), but don't act like you overpaid for him in this market, or start making up shit about how he's not an impact player. The guy is about as dynamic as it gets, and the same people bitching about this now will be loving him when he's flirting with 40/40 again and gunning guys down at home plate.

Howard won the MVP. Pujols 2nd place, Berkman 3rd.