The Man in Blak

Greene got killed by playing in Petco Park: road stats: .301/.353/.543, 12 HR home stats: .241/.345/.338, 3 HR A 200+ drop in OPS. That's like dropping from Alex Rodriguez to Neifi Perez. If he had played in a different ballpark, there's a good shot that he would have put up Bay-esque numbers as well.

You've got to go with McGahee, as the offense actually appears to have a pulse when his number is called. This is just speculation, but it seems that the offensive line seems to ramp up their game with McGahee, while they were perfectly content to watch Drew get the stuffing kicked out of him for the first half of the year.

No matter how many posts you have, the Doors still suck.

I don't get how anybody can stop laughing long enough to get pissed.

Sounds like it. If they don't stay on the hook for his salary or at least compensate him for their administrative incompetence, this becomes a total scumbag move on Arizona's part.

Patterson got robbed - here's a pretty good article on it: http://www.all-baseball.com/cubreporter/archives/016260.html

The Dolphins are desperate, but they're not stupid.

I suppose that, if we could resign him on the cheap, that bringing Woody back would be a good deal.

I'm just curious - what's the basis behind the negative calls?

Yeah, that'd be my call too (the Mets are an disaster), though having a manager that can handle the pressures of New York and the wild temperaments of the clubhouse (just imagine how charming everybody will be if they pull off Sosa) will likely have just as much of an impact on the Mets' success in 2005.

I know it's not official yet, but where do you think J.T. Snow would rank on this list if the Giants declined his $2M 2005 option?

The other bonus for the Yankees, were they to sign Walker, would be getting another lefty bat to stack next to Matsui and Giambi next year; the 2004 lineup was very righty-heavy.

Oh, okay. Thanks for the correction on that, then.

Not to take the thread off course, but what would you consider to be a "good" OBP? How would you rank OBP scores? (i.e. most people would consider .260 to be an mediocre batting average, whereas .300 is considered good)

Like I said in the free agency thread, I think the Cardinals would be very wise to take a small flier on Travis Lee and bring him on as a left-handed bat off the bench. I don't think he hits well enough to be an everyday contributor, but you could do a lot worse than him as a PH or "sixth man" off the bench. Also, on MLB.com's Free Agent Tracker, they have Todd Zeile listed as "retired." Anybody heard any news about that?

John Franco?

Okay, I've seen three mentions (two on here): What the fuck are these "John Smoltz as a Cub" rumors?

Given how they burned the farm last year, the only trade bait that they really have is Jose Reyes, whose development may have been stunted or even damaged from an early promotion and an inexplicable position move for Kaz Matsui.

Hypothetical situation: Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty pulls a sign-and-trade with Mike Matheny, sending him to the Jays for Orlando Hudson to fill the upcoming 2B slot.

The key isn't necessarily that he took steroids (though that's certainly important in itself), but when he took them. If he took them to speed up the healing process after his knee surgery in 1999, then you can connect the dots and say that steroids dramatically enhanced his performance for 2000 (career-highs in home runs and slugging percentage) and, perhaps, even 2001 (new all-time home run record).

Interesting decision, with Kevin Youkilis waiting in the wings. At $2.1 million, though, it's not a bad insurance payment - perhaps they could do a platoon between the two, as Mueller absolutely torches righties (.298/.395/.466) and Youkilis has a slight split advantage towards lefties (.250/.386/.431).

The only reason that Eric Milton brings in at least 15 wins a season is because he gets a tremendous amount of run support. 2004: 6.54 runs per game (10th in MLB) 2003: -injured- 2002: 5.18 runs per game (39th in MLB) He occasionally flashes some decent stuff (he flirted with a no-hitter this year), but he's not the ace that many would perceive him to be from looking at their record and he's certainly not a good option for the Yankees, who shouldn't be looking for a left-hander that gave up 43 home runs in 2004 when they have a short porch in right field.

The Marlins revised their deal with Mike Lowell so that he'd stay for the remaing three years on the contract.

We'll see how you feel when the Red Sox get their World Series rings in front of the Yankees in their home opener.

Holy shit. That could be the worst free agent signing of the year, if it goes down.