Cheech Tremendous

Well, I don't know how you turned OBP-guy into roided slugger, but whatever. It's pointless to invest so much money at the heart of the order (Dye, Konerko and Thome) if there is no one getting on base in front of them. That's a dangerous middle of the lineup and it's probably not reaching its full potential. The White Sox are in a precarious position this offseason because a couple of good moves could win them the division again next year but a couple more poor moves and they could wind up fourth.

But he's just another defense-first CF who doesn't really add any OBP to the top of the lineup. He'd be a marginal upgrade over Anderson. For what it's worth, a reporter out of Chicago is saying that the Garland deal is not happening. Kenny Williams made the story up to see who the leak was in his organization. Other outlets say that they are just crossing the t's and dotting i's, so who knows what's going on.

Just read on espn.com that the Royals signed Gil Meche for 4 years/$45 million! This is insane, by far the worst deal of the offseason. Meche is the sort of pitcher you give a spring training invite to. He should be fighting for a rotation spot, not be getting Santana, Beckett, etc. money.

But this hasn't addressed their left/center field needs. I've been under the impression that Kenny would use his pitching stockpile to replace Podsednik or Anderson/Mackowiak, and make room for Brandon McCarthy in the rotation. Instead, he kept Podsednik in left, and effectively kept McCarthy in the bullpen. Now I know Kenny Williams is a genius, heaven knows nobody could "just get lucky" by taking a catcher nobody wanted, but this is a head-scratcher. Fun time with numbers: Of the 1,030 positional players that played in a major league baseball game last year, Scott Podsednik and Brian Anderson ranked 1005 and 1015 respectively in VORP.

Soriano... $136 million Carlos Lee... $106 million Gary Matthews... $55 million Juan Pierre... $45 million What was the point you were trying to make again? There are legitimate questions concerning JD Drew's ability to stay healthy and the possibility that he declines over the five year contract period, but he certainly wasn't overpaid relative to other signings. He was still the best FA outfielder on the market. The Sox had to get a RFer this offseason and got caught in an inflationary market. Dollar for dollar, they probably got the best deal. Doesn't make it a great deal in general, but you certainly can't single it out with the dozen other ridiculous contracts handed out.

There's the Kenny Williams I know! And to think, he was almost slipping into the category of good GMs. Only he could take a stockpile of the most overvalued, highly sought after commodity in this market and get almost nothing in return for it.

Has anyone figured out what the hell Ned Colletti is up to down in Dodgerland? Not that I'm ready to throw out the bad GM moniker yet or anything, it's just that I don't understand the benefit of the moves he makes. Usually I can understand the thought process behind most signings, but with Colletti it seems like he just picks names out of a hat to sign or trade for. Nomar, Kent, Pierre, Furcal, Schmidt, Lugo, Maddux, Mueller...

-Hogan-Russo at BATB '00. -Shawn's back injury and hiatus after WMXIV

He kicks the fuck out of a multiplication table though.

I heard a rumor that they were asking for Pelfrey/Heilman, two pitchers who could both be better going forward than Harden when injury concerns are factored in. Can't see the Mets giving up that much though. Maybe a ploy in negotiations with Zito?

Really, I wonder how that could be true? When the Mariners were talking about acquiring Manny earlier this week, they said that Soriano was completely off limits. Now they are trading him for Horacio Ramirez? And does going to KC make everyone stupid? The Royals traded Ambiorix Burgos to the Mets for Brian Bannister. I can't even begin to defend that one. That new GM shine may be off Dayton Moore now.

Couple of tidbits on the latest deals: -Jason Schmidt is now the highest paid pitcher in all of baseball -JD Drew's contract is the largest that has been given out by the current Red Sox ownership, both in years and AAV

You can thank the Mets organization for giving Kris Benson that horrible contract which started the latest trend on shitty starting pitchers. I don't think Matsuzaka will get anything close to $14 million. The Sox first offer was $8 million a year, and Boras supposedly countered with $12 million (this really is all speculation though). They'll probably sette near the middle, say $10-12 million a year for 4 years.

After last night's signings, the true payroll amount was either $116 or $125 (depending on the Clement insurance payout), but the taxable value was $136 million. Factor in Matsuzaka ($10 million), a back-up catcher ($3 million) and whatever they spend on relief pitching ($5 million-$10 million?) and you do get close to that number. I think they will make a couple more moves, including dumping Mike Lowell onto whoever wants him. The luxury tax threshold is $148 million, and the team is determined to stay under that mark. Once again, I like Lugo and Drew, but I don't care for the years. Both contracts are very reasonable in this market and I guess if you want to upgrade, you have to pay the price. I think there were more reasonable alternatives out there, but I guess the front office disagrees. And NYankees, you know better than to cite runs scored and RBI numbers on this board. Lugo and Drew are HUGE upgrades over Trot and A-Gon, who were just black holes of offense last year. 2007 should be a strong year, but I wonder how the cash resources are going to look 3 or 4 years from now.

I'm a huge Red Sox homer, but I'm even questioning these moves a little bit. Not because I have anything against Lugo or Drew, who are two of the best at their positions, but I worry about the money and the years. I need to think about these signings some before I comment.

As am I. I guess I should forget screwing my gf when she gets home and start concentrating on finding man ass.

Not very. These newest contracts are going to change things up again, but the last I heard they had actually been passed for #2 by the Cubs and the Mets. Matsuzaka, Drew and SS/2 relievers are probably going to cost $30-40 million in AAV. By my estimates they'd enter next year somewhere around $135 million, or roughly $70 million short of the Yankees expected payroll. Again.

But that's probably more of a reflection of a weak shortstop class right now than a justification of Lugo's ability. He's been a solid, but not spectacular hitter for several years but he's entering his age 31 season and the likelihood of a decline is fairly high. He's passable on defense, but not elite. I would jump on a 3 yr/$24 million deal, but 4/$40 just seems extreme to me.

I didn't know jeans and a sweater with a collared shirt under it is now considered gay.

1- Tom Brady 2- Peyton Manning 3- Carson Palmer 4- Matt Hasselbeck 5- Drew Brees McNabb would probably be 4th if I was sure he'd recover from this surgery, and Philip Rivers would be in the equation as well if I had a larger sample size to work with.

SI.com is reporting that the JD Drew to the Red Sox deal is done at 5 years/$70 million. If it's true, I don't really like this that much. All week, reports were that the deal was four years/$56 million with a fifth year vesting option. The hold up in signing the deal was working out the language for the fifth year option, but that all seems to be out the window now. Manny Ramirez trade talks are dead, according to SI as well. This doesn't surprise me. The further we got into trade talks, it became apparent that the Sox didn't really want to move Manny, but since everyone seemed to think they were they played that out to see what might be available. When nothing suited their needs, they pulled him back. The Red Sox are Julio Lugo's first choice. He was offered a contract to play second for the Mets, or CF for the Cubs. The Sox are offering less money, but Lugo wants to play shortstop. Lugo is okay if you ask me, but this definitely strikes me as a reflection of the team not having any other SS options. Losing the first round pick is a poison pill I don't want to swallow. Eric Gagne seems to be down to the Indians and Red Sox as choices. Both teams are willing to hand him the closer role immediately, which is something he covets.

Well, he's no Tony Romo.

What's everyone's take on the lack of interest in Barry Bonds as a free agent? Are GMs worried about a potential fan and PR backlash if they sign him? Are they worried about the legitimate chance that he ends up in jail before the season's out? A collective stance to keep him out of the game and away from the home run record? It just strikes me as odd that all these teams would be looking for impact hitters but yet no one has even approached him.

I think they just renewed for another five years, which would make it 2011.

Nate Silver mentioned today that next year's PECOTA projections will include adjustments for the differences in difficulty between the American and National leagues. As an example he cited Ted Lilly, who projects as a 4.90 with Toronto, and 4.08 for San Francisco (some of that is park/DH adjustment).