Cheech Tremendous

I'm banking on less than 24 hours. I guess we'll see. By the way, I didn't really know Marney at all, but you never want to see someone die young. Seems like a lot of posters like her, so it's definitely a sad day for TSM.

I heard you ran him off.

Marlins shouldn't make any deal. First of all, they don't need to. He's under contract for a reasonable figure the next few years, not to mention that he is the face of the entire franchise. It would be too much to deal him now. However, if Theo is willing to give you the world, maybe you listen. If Ellsbury/Buchholz is suddenly sweetened with something out of the Masterson/Bowden/Lars/Lowrie group, it might behoove him to do something. Hanley is nice; a World Series ring is nicer.

Red Sox trying to re-acquire Hanley Ramirez Article indicates that they've offered Ellsbury and Buchholz, but Florida's not biting (I don't blame them). Speculation is that they'd move him to centerfield if a deal went through. That makes sense given his defensive shortcomings. Wonder if they can hash out any sort of deal here. I'm not one of those fans that thinks every great player should end up on the Sox, but I am glad that Theo's willing to be creative to upgrade this team.

Those blintzes were terrible.

I would have preferred John Smoltz, but I can live with Brad Penny. He was terrible last year and there are a lot of red flags, but I know the Sox have been doing their due diligence on him all offseason. He must be in okay shape to offer that sort of contract.

Josh Bard is reportedly on his way back to Boston, agreeing in principle to a one-year contract for $1.6 million. Bard, if you remember, had a cup of coffee with Boston in 2006 before being dumped unceremoniously for his inability to catch a knuckleball. That led to the infamous police escort that ushered in the second Doug Mirabelli era.

So... the answer is no?

Where did you get that number, CW? I have it at less than 62. Even if the number is greater than 62, I believe that the number you can sign has some relation to the number lost. You can sign N (where N is players lost) or 3, but not N+3... something like that. I honestly am not smart enough to explain it. Suffice to say, everything I read would indicate that the Yankees are done signing A/B free agents.

He was coming off the worst season of his career and he had a myriad of personal issues. The decision to let Lowe go in 2004 had more to do with his attitude and off-the-field stuff than his pitching. By all accounts, he's cleaned up his act considerably over the past four years.

What exactly is it about Lowe that would regress? The guy throws a heavy ball that ends up on the ground at a ridiculous rate. It's not like he requires much "stuff" to get by. This isn't necessarily directed at you, Pujoljunkie, but it seems like the TSM group-think suggests that he won't be that great going forward. The guy just reeled off four straight 200 inning years with an ERA well above league average. And that was with a bad Dodgers defense. Worst case you get an innings-eater over the next few years. Upside is a guy who can potentially pitch like an ace. If Lowe hooks up with the Red Sox or Mets, he's going to have some very good seasons during his next deal. I think he'll be one of the few guys to earn his next contract.

The Yankees signed Kevin Cash? Kevin Cash! "Hey Boston, sorry we just stole the one impact free agent on the market out from under your nose, but we'd also like to extend a big fuck you by signing a completely worthless piece of shit player who has value to your team and your team only because he can catch a knuckler. Maybe later we'll come by and fart in your soup." Fucking Yankees.

Damon hasn't had a full season in center since 2006 when he was -7.4 runs defensively. He was -5.6 runs last year in just 30 games. I can't imagine injuries and age have made him any better. Nady was about average last year, but has posted some horrendous numbers in the past. He's somewhere between really bad and passable. Swisher's numbers are all over the place due to small sample sizes. He was bad last year, but that was mostly in center. Scouting reports indicate that he is a below average defender. At best, I'd call it below average. But getting Teixeira was the right move. That makes them marginally better in the infield. Really, the defense is this team's only weakness right now.

Abreu's not a lazy fielder; he's just afraid of walls. Unless MLB decides to change the collective bargaining agreement before next season to allow a team to sign more than three Type As, then yes, you can count them out. Woof... that's one bad outfield defense. I'd give that until about April 15th until we heard complaints about the pitching. It might not matter with the team they've assembled, but they are going to be so bad on defense.

Taking draft picks away from the Yankees is hardly a penalty. They'll just redistribute the money to go way over slot and sign first round talent in later rounds that fell over signability concerns. The MLB draft is a bigger farce than the free agent system. It's all about money, not number of picks or placement of picks.

Kevin Youkilis will be three years older than Teixeira when he reaches free agency, with exactly one year of comparable production to Teixeira's career average (or two, in your hypothetical scenario). Add in his old player skills and body type and I wouldn't even offer him a long-term deal, let alone anything approaching $20 million a year. There are a lot of other factors that come into player valuation than just slg%.

As much as I hate the Yankees, I don't begrudge them for overspending for free agents. They have the money to spend and they owe it to the fans to do so. The players want the money, the fans want the players and the owners are willing to make it happen. Would it be better to have a cap that keeps salaries artificially low so that the owners can tack on an extra 0 to their net worth? I don't see how that benefits anyone. Don't ask for a salary cap... you might end up with the NBA. No matter how much the gap grows between rich and poor, you don't want a system as arcane, outmoded and flat-out ridiculous as the one the NBA employs.

I've been trying find the right words for the Teixeira news. This is what I've come up with:

The Washington Times is reporting that Teixeira will make his announcement today. Indications are that he'll end up with the Red Sox, but the Nats and Yankees are still lurking. The source is a little shaky, but this would jive with Teixeira's hope of getting a contract before Christmas.

Way to use your head, Urlacher.

Re: Lowell I think it kind of works out like this: If he's healthy, you can just move him during Spring Training. If he's not healthy, you need a corner infielder to replace him. Either way, acquiring Teixeira doesn't change what you have to do with Lowell going forward.

For those of you who have some extra time this week check out baseballprojection.com. The site is put together by the guy who does the CHONE project system. Probably not as accurate as PECOTA, but still very good. The expanded page for each player gives their 2009 projection, 2009 percentiles and 6-year projections. At the bottom of the page you can see how much their performance is worth based on their projection plus your defensive evaluation (ranging from Putrid to Excellent). Here's Carlos Pena's page for an example: http://www.baseballprojection.com/pena-ca0260.htm

As a youngster I was very confused by Dr. Dre and Doctor Dre. Luckily, one of them eventually disappeared off the face of the earth.

The Pacific Northwest is a fucking mess right now. Us west coasters aren't used to this sort of weather.

It doesn't make sense. I am a huge Sox fan and I love the thought of Teixeira on the team, but I can't really put the pieces together. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that the Sox realize that their team is good, but not great offensively and Teixeira is the only thing coming onto the market in the next couple of years that could make a big difference. Or it could be that they don't see Lowell or Ortiz recovering to peak form from their injuries last year and want to be proactive about it. If they can sign Teix, Lowell will be moved and Youks will go to third. That upgrades the offense and defense and keeps payroll close to last year, even if they have to eat Lowell's contract. That sets them up at the corners and then Lars takes over at DH in '10 or '11. Still don't think it's a necessary move, but I'm guessing that's how they see the pieces fitting.