Baseball in 2007 – Year in Review

Tom Singer, for MLB.com, has written an excellent article touching on memorable moments from the 2007 MLB season. Read the entire article, presented below. To get more nostalgia about this year in baseball, read this post.

Padres Sign Mark Prior; Hilarity Ensues

Mark Prior, banished from the Cubs less than a month ago, has found a new home. He is now going to be a San Diego Padre.

Prior receives a one-year major league deal with a $1 million base salary. The contract, which doesn’t include an option, contains incentive clauses that could take the total value of the deal to over $3 million. Prior, however, is not anticipating his season debut with the Padres until mid-to-late May.

“Mark Prior is a competitor and is working hard to regain the form that made him one of the great young pitchers in the game,” general manager Kevin Towers told The Associated Press. “We are confident he is going to help us in our rotation this season. It’s exciting that Mark is coming home to San Diego to pitch for the Padres.”

Prior, 27, last pitched in the majors in 2006, and he had shoulder surgery in April of 2007. Prior believes that he still has a career ahead of him, but he’s really just kidding himself.

“For unfortunate reasons, I just haven’t been healthy since the 2005 season,” he said. Prior went on to say, “2006 was not a good year, when I had shoulder problems. I feel I’ve got things taken care of. I’m on a good rehab program. I feel I’ve got a lot of great years left.” Nothing unfortunate here; he shouldn’t be talking about luck with the way his mechanics are for pitching.

The second overall pick in the 2001 draft, Prior went 18-6 for the Cubs in 2003 before experiencing a series of physical problems.

The only upside about this news is that Prior is returning to his home, in that he was born in San Diego and currently lives in San Diego County. Prior joins a rotation that includes Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Greg Maddux, and Randy Wolf.

Prior’s lifetime record in the big leagues is 42-29, with a 3.51 ERA. Coming to San Diego, he will benefit from the expansive confines of PETCO Park. The Padres didn’t spend much money on Prior and didn’t include an option for him, so this may prove to be a win-win situation for both parties. However, Padres fans shouldn’t be holding their breath.

Merry Christmas (Happy Holidays)!

If you celebrate Christmas, then I hope you have a happy Christmas! If you don’t celebrate it, have a great day nonetheless!

I’ve been taking a bit of a break from baseball these last few days. In light of the holiday spirit, I have enabled snow to fall on my blog (even though I wish there was real snow where I live).

Anyway, happy holidays!

Doggone it, Papelbon!

Jonathan Papelbon’s dog apparently has a taste for expensive rawhide. Papelbon’s dog has apparently ate the baseball that Papelbon used to strike out Colorado’s Seth Smith to close out the four-game sweep by the Red Sox in the World Series.

The lowly remains of the ball are in the living room of Papelbon’s Hattiesburg, Mississippi home.

“My dog ate it,” Papelbon said. “He plays with baseballs like they are his toys. His name is Boss. He jumped up one day on the counter and snatched it. He likes rawhide. He tore that thing to pieces. I’ll keep what’s left of it.”

For a few weeks at least, Papelbon played dumb and pretended to have no knowledge of where the ball was. But he was actually floating the story around in jest for about a month now. He even had an interview with NESN. Lucky for Papelbon, however, the Red Sox aren’t really interested in acquiring this “piece of history.”

“From the Red Sox standpoint, our only real comment is that from the ballclub’s perspective, the 2004 ball was very special because it was the first time we won in 86 years and everything,” said Red Sox spokesman John Blake. “This one, obviously, if Pap says the dog ate the ball or whatever, we have to believe him. It’s really kind of a non-issue with us.”

This news come to you on a light noter; we remember that just a week after the Mitchell Report was released. I am pretty sure the dog wasn’t on steroids.

The Mitchell Report – Thoughts from the Blogosphere (Part II)

It has been about 48 hours since the Mitchell Report has been released, and the ongoing fervor of blogging continues. Here are the latest blogs from around WordPress dealing with the Mitchell Report:

1. The Mitchell Report aftermath
2. The Mitchell Report: Misconceptions clarified
3. The Mitchell Report, How we process information in the world of Web 2.0
4. Relievers React to Mitchell Report
5. The Mitchell Report… Thought For The Day, With Malice
6. The Mitchell Blues
7. The Mitchell Report
8. More on the Mitchell Report
9. Substance Abuse in Sports
10. Roger and Barry: Poster Boys for the Steroid Era
11. How Baseball Failed America
12. Reading Jayson Stark-ly: Looking at Roger Clemens Through PED-Colored Glasses
13. Some Guys Used Steroids
14. ‘Roids, Records, and Racism…
15. Pettitte confesses: He used HGH
16. Steroids extends its vice-like grip
17. STERIODS linked to top BASEBALL Professionals…sports…baseball…drugs…
18. The Mitchell Files (The Truth is out there … somewhere)
19. Roger Clemens should still be in the Hall of Fame
20. Clemens’ Hall candidacy now in doubt
21. Not the Biggest Shocker in the Worl
22. We Talkin’ ‘Bout the Mitchell Report. . . the What
23. The Mitchell Report: Rocket Fue
24. (Not So) Juicy Reading: The Mitchell Repor
25. The Mitchell Report…
26. George Mitchell issues report on steroids in MLB
27. Does the Mitchell Report make the Yankees dynasty a sham?
28. What You Won’t Find On Baseball’s Mitchell Report
29. Say It Ain’t So
30. The Mitchell Report: Another reason to hate the Yankees
31. MLB Steroids, The Witch Hunt Part II
32. Mitchell Report Q & A with Seth Bondroff (Rainman)
33. The Dark Day
34. Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell
35. The Purity of Baseball: Told Through Two At Bats By Benito Santiago
36. Baseball’s Inquisition
37. You don’t see this in golf
38. Canseco “shocked” A-Rod not on report!
39. McCain Critical of Baseball Players Union
40. Mitchell Report Recap
41. I hope everyone enjoyed their Mitchell Report Day . . .
42. “Bitch”ell Report Reveals Mitches
43. Some Thoughts On the Mitchell Report
44. MLB: Give back what belongs to Maris!
45. Baseball Cheats
46. Mitchell Investigation Post-Mortem’s Post-Mortem
47. Steroids in Baseball: Symptom of a Larger Problem?
48. Vindication?
49. Sporting World Shocked: Baseball Players Willing To Cheat In Order To Earn Ridiculous Sums of Money
50. Baseball…sort it out !

The list now consists of fifty posts, just like Part I of the list. If you’ve written your thoughts and have been omitted, or would like to point out other interesting blogs that deal with the Mitchell Report, please leave a comment.

Pujols Speaks about Mitchell Report

Before the Mitchell Report officially came out at 2PM ET on December 13, 2007, there were many leaks in the media and on the internet about the players who were cited in the Mitchell Report. One of the media outlets that spread the rumors was WNBC-TV in New York.  The early rumor included a list of names of players who allegedly would be cited in the report, and one name in the initial list was Pujols’. Pujols, one of the best players in the game, came out with the following statement:

“It has come to my attention that several national and local news outlets have published false reports that associated my name with the Mitchell Report. I have never disrespected, nor cheated the game of baseball and knew without a doubt that my name would not be mentioned in the official investigation. I would like to express how upset and disappointed I am over the reckless reporting that took place this morning. It has caused me and my family a lot of senseless aggravation due to their inaccurate information.

“What concerns me, is the affect this has had on my family and that my character and values have now been questioned due to the media’s lack of accuracy in their reporting. I have never had a problem with the media when they do their job correctly, whether it is positive or negative — just as long as they report truthfully.

“I would like to thank my fans for their continued support and never doubting my integrity. God has blessed me and allowed me to play a game that I would never take for granted.”

I believe Albert Pujols is one of the best players in the game because he works out and has natural ability. He is a genuine player who has a great sense of morals.

It’s sad to see all these leaks occurring before the actual names were released. What was the point? It’s not a competition. It’s always better to get accurate information to the public, rather than hasty information. Yesterday, I tuned into ESPN coverage starting at around 1PM. For about one hour, Buster Olney and company speculated on the players’ names, what the report implicates, who should and shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame, etc. Most of the discussions were pretty drab and narrow-minded (not to mention speculative). ESPN reporters did discuss Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte being included in the report, but those names were validated one hour later.  But they could have just begun the coverage at 2PM; the world wouldn’t have stopped if the public received its information just an hour later.

The Mitchell Report – Thoughts from the Blogosphere

There are now hundreds of posts relating to the Mitchell Report from around the web. Here are the top hits from around WordPress, which I’ll update as more bloggers post their thoughts:

1. Mitchell Report – McCarthyism in baseball?
2. The Mitchell Report Was Long Overdue
3. Mitchell Report Reaction
4. Initial Thoughts on the Mitchell Report
5. Mitch Slapped
6. Mitchell Post-Mortem
7. MLB: Play Ball
8. Blah blah blah steroids blah Clemens blah blah
9. Steroid Era
10. It’s My Fault (Kind Of)
11. The Mitchell Report: Now What?
12. Where Were You At 2 O’Clock On December 13, 2007?
13. Saying It Ain’t So Won’t Make Mitchell Report Go Away
14. The Mitchell Report
15. Baseball Assterisks
16. They Busted the Rocket Maaaaaaaaaan!
17. The Mitchell Report
18. Reading the Mitchell Report: The first 8 names
19. Mitchell Report hits
20. Mitchell: “Are You Sure He Said MO Vaughn?”
21. And So It Begins
22. Baseball Controversy… College Bound?
23. MLB: Mitchell Report Slams All Star Players…but not the fans.
24. The Mitchell Report
25. Mitchell Report Released, Bob Wickman With Huge Sigh of Relief
26. Mitchell Report Fingers Players
27. The Mitchell Report – or, why I don’t care, I lost my faith in Baseball a long time ago
28. Who Cares About the Mitchell Report?
29. Steriods Mitchell report drops bombshell
30. Baseball… busted!
31. You Paid How Much for That?
32. Mitchell Investigation Abbreviated List
33. The Mitchell Report: Paul Byrd
34. Wait, there’s a steroid problem in baseball?
35. So what did we learn…
36. asterisk management.
37. MLB: The Mitchell Report
38. A Sexy Early Christmas Present: The Mitchell Report
39. Don’t believe the hype!
40. Mitchell Report
41. The Mitchell Report: Kevin Brown
42. What the average sports fan can take away from the Mitchell Report
43. Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Andy Pettitte Get Named in the Mitchell Report
44. Mitchell Report: 60 million for this?
45. The Mitchell Report: Miguel Tejada
46. The Babe was the Best, Bar None
47. Black Eye for baseball.
48. The Mitchell Report on Steroids in Baseball
49. Mitchell Report
50. The Day Baseball Died.

And the list keeps growing by the minute!

The Mitchell Report – Players Cited

The Mitchell Report, released earlier today, has created an intense fervor of activity in the blogosphere. As I was checking blogs today, I must have seen at least fifty posts from unique individuals dealing solely with the Mitchell Report. It’s quite fascinating. Biggest names on the list are probably Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Gary Mathews, Jr., and Roger Clemens; it remains to be seen how Bud Selig, major league baseball, and fans will react in the near future to this report. I’m going to be pretty boring and just reproduce all the players cited in the Mitchell Report. The following is taken from ESPN.com:

According to the Mitchell Commission report, here are players mentioned and how they are linked to performance enhancing substances:

Information Learned During this Investigation Concerning BALCO and Major League Baseball (8 players/ 3 active in MLB in 2007)
From the report: “I requested interviews of all the major league players who had been publicly implicated in the BALCO case.”

Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Randy Velarde

Information Regarding Purchases or Use of Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball (53 players/ 18 active in MLB in 2007)
From the report: “The following discussion is organized in roughly chronological order. Records do not exist to document every transaction described by witnesses. [Kirk] Radomski stated that, with one exception noted below, the payments he received from professional baseball players were for performance enhancing substances, as opposed to personal training or other services, and this assertion was confirmed by those players who agreed to speak with us about their dealings with him.”

Lenny Dykstra
David Segui
Larry Bigbie
Brian Roberts
Jack Cust
Tim Laker
Josias Manzanillo
Todd Hundley
Mark Carreon
Hal Morris
Matt Franco
Rondell White
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Chuck Knoblauch
Jason Grimsley
Gregg Zaun
David Justice
F.P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Ryan Franklin
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Adam Piatt
Miguel Tejada
Jason Christiansen
Mike Stanton
Stephen Randolph
Jerry Hairston, Jr.
Paul Lo Duca
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernando Vina
Kevin Brown
Eric Gagné
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett, Jr.
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark
Exavier “Nook” Logan

Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball (16 players, 8 active in MLB in 2007)
From the report: “Since the initial news reports of the raid by New York and Florida law enforcement officials on Signature Pharmacy and several rejuvenation centers, the names of several current and former major league players have appeared in the media as alleged purchasers of performance enhancing substances through these operations. These include:”

Rick Ankiel
Paul Byrd
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Gary Matthews, Jr.
Scott Schoeneweis
David Bell
Jose Canseco
Jason Grimsley
Darren Holmes
John Rocker
Ismael Valdez
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard

Yankees Finalize 10-Year Contract with Alex Rodriguez

The contract between the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez has been negotiated for a few weeks now, but today the 10-Year, $275 million contract was finalized. Read why A-Rod’s multi-year contract makes sense for the Yankees here. The New York Yankees website released the following press release:

The New York Yankees announced today they have signed third baseman Alex Rodriguez, three-time American League Most Valuable Player, to a 10-year contract.

Rodriguez, 32, established career-highs with 143 runs and 156 RBI in 2007 while hitting .314 (183-for-583) with 54 home runs and 24 stolen bases in 158 games with the Yankees. He became the first player in Major League history to record at least 140R, 50HR, 150RBI and 20SB in a single season, earning his second American League Most Valuable Player Award in four seasons with the Yankees, as well as Baseball America and The Sporting News “Player of the Year” honors.

In 2007, Rodriguez led the Majors in runs, home runs and RBI, joining Babe Ruth (1920-21, 1926), Ted Williams (1942) and Mickey Mantle (1956) as the only players to finish a season with the outright Major League lead in each of those three categories in a single season since RBI became an official statistic in 1920 (credit: Elias Sports Bureau). He also paced the A.L. in slugging percentage (.645) and total bases (376), ranked second with 85 extra-base, fourth with a .422 on-base percentage and tied for seventh with 95 walks.

The 11-time All-Star has hit 518 career home runs for sole possession of 17th place on baseball’s all-time list. He has hit at least 50HR in three separate seasons (54 in 2007; 57 in 2002; 52 in 2001), becoming the fourth player in Major League history to have three or more seasons with 50 home runs (Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa each did it four times). He is also one of only three players in Major League history, along with Willie Mays and Barry Bonds, to record at least 500 career home runs and 250 stolen bases.

Over his last four seasons — all with the Yankees — Rodriguez has led the club in runs (492), home runs (173), RBI (513), on-base percentage (.403), slugging percentage (.573) and games played (629). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only player to hit more home runs for the Yankees over a four-season span was Babe Ruth, whose highest four-year total was 209 from 1927-30. Over the last 10 seasons (1998-2007), no Major Leaguer has hit more home runs, recorded more RBI or scored more runs than Rodriguez (454, 1,275, 1,241). He is also the only player in Major League history to reach 35HR, 100 runs and 100 RBI in 10 consecutive seasons (1998-2007).

His 54HR in 2007 established the Yankees franchise record for most homers by a right-handed batter and were the most homers by any Yankees player since Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961. Rodriguez also established a Major League record with 52HR from the third-base position (two as DH), surpassing the mark of 48 shared by Mike Schmidt (1980 with Philadelphia) and Adrian Beltre (2004 with Los Angeles-NL). His 156 RBI in 2007 was the second-highest single-season total by a right-handed hitter in Yankees franchise history behind only Joe DiMaggio’s 167 in 1937 while his 143 runs scored was the highest single-season total in the A.L. since the Yankees’ Rickey Henderson scored 146 runs in 1985 and the second-highest single-season total by a Yankee in the last 70 years (since 1938).

Rodriguez was the #1 overall selection by the Seattle Mariners in the 1993 First-Year Player Draft. He was acquired by the Yankees from the Texas Rangers on February 16, 2004, in exchange for Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later (INF Joaquin Arias).

The Mitchell Report Coming Soon

The Mitchell Report is slated to be released in less than 12 hours. There is a lot of noise in the blogosphere about this report, and what this report will do to baseball and its players. Sources indicate that there will be between 60 and 80 names in the report.

One column that is pretty interesting is by Tim Brown, for Yahoo! Sports. In his piece, he asserts that “Life, as a fan, will go on. Four years in, the game’s steroids crisis has not cost the industry a single ticket.” Basically, the game will go on. Read the story on Yahoo! or just see the full-text article presented below.

Mitchell Report Won’t Cripple the Game – by Tim Brown

Presumably, George Mitchell stood in line at Kinko’s yesterday, quietly choosing between the black or blue report cover.

Black, for the solemnity of the occasion, the release of what Mitchell learned – or will reveal – of two decades of illicit drug deals, needle marks and deceit in baseball.

Blue, for the gaily indefatigable game that steps over the bodies of its fallen, and whistles into cloudless skies and soaring revenues.

Mitchell, the former Senator, the Boston Red Sox director on leave, the guy who brought peace to Northern Ireland but had a hard time getting a single middle infielder to rat out even one bloated teammate, will release his findings in a Midtown Manhattan ballroom today.

Major League Baseball officials (though apparently not MLB Players’ Assn. officials, who weren’t particularly gracious during the process) were given a couple days to review the report, sigh deeply and run their fingers over their temples before the public received its gawking privileges. A few who’d taken a peek revealed few details, but shrugged in a way that suggested the report wouldn’t go down with “The Boys of Summer” as one of the game’s inspiring non-fiction reads, but neither would it cast baseball into WWE territory.

After the four years baseball has just endured, since BALCO, Congress and Hammerin’ Hank Waxman, grand juries and dancin’ Barry Bonds, and the likes of Ken Caminiti, Rafael Palmeiro and Jason Grimsley, the thinking went, what’s a several dozen more names to a steroid-hardened public? Just, more.

So, only a few more hours to assume your favorite player didn’t become so on a regimen of Winstrol, greenies and masking compounds.

A few more hours before we’re reminded steroids aren’t just fuel to overtake Roger Maris, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, but to get off the island, climb out of A-ball, someday and somehow cash a big-league check, keep pace with the fraud one locker over.

As Mitchell’s 21-month investigation – sponsored by baseball’s 30 owners, enforced by Bud Selig, fluffed by former Mets clubbie Kirk Radomski – comes to a close, maybe it is important to remind ourselves there will be no single truth. If there are 100 more names to catalog, there also will be 100 man-made decisions, reached separately. These men will be greedy, lazy, afraid, weak, corrupt and insecure.

In that, they’ll be together. It will be theirs to bear.

And if they are anywhere near the primes of their careers, they’ll also be rich, famous, cheered and pampered, for as long as they can square up a fastball, life, as a ballplayer, will go on. Life, as a fan, will go on. Four years in, the game’s steroids crisis has not cost the industry a single ticket.

So, the players will get over any moments of personal gloom. The burden on one’s reputation is only as heavy as one’s next at-bat with a man at second base, unless, it appears, one happens to be named Bonds.

Remember, too, the villains will not be the old guys in the suits. They do not ride solo here. Jason Giambi alone is responsible for what Jason Giambi injects into the fatty part of his own rear end. Sandy Alderson was no more responsible for Giambi’s ass than Selig was.

And if the game’s authorities indeed tacitly enabled the steroid army with its self-serving ignorance and gluttony in the Save-Our-Sport late 1990s, how exactly does that explain Mike Cameron popping amphetamines like they were sunflower seeds a decade later? What’s the statute of limitations on personal accountability?

Pre- or post-steroids policy, by online prescription or clubhouse connection, not a single player ordered, bought or used performance-enhancing drugs without knowing – positively knowing – he was cheating.

So, we’ll get more names to bat around. We might come to understand where steroids came from before select anti-aging clinics became semi-licensed drug dealers. Selig, if we’ve learned anything from the suspensions of Jay Gibbons and Jose Guillen, will have plenty of new stuff to sort through by opening day, the players’ union will run low on appeals forms, and poor Shyam Das, the arbitrator, will have to cancel his spring-break trip to Daytona Beach.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Dr. Don Catlin works to devise a method to trace human growth hormone through urine, most of it on baseball’s dime. Turns out, the job is quite a bit larger. On Catlin’s Anti-Doping Research Institute’s website, the home-page slogan reads, “Fighting to save the soul of sport.”

We’re pretty sure baseball still has one of those, so it’s good to have Catlin out there. The game is still good and fun and worthwhile, even as its all-time home-run leader gets photographed – right, left, front – and fingerprinted.

It is also flawed and low on character, as George Mitchell undoubtedly knew going in, and will tell us more about today. And the report that Selig hoped almost two years ago would close the book on steroids, simply gets us – weary and squeamish – to the next chapter.

Miguel Tejada Traded to Houston Astros

Yet another busy day in baseball: Tejada was traded from the Baltimore Orioles to the Houston Astros for five players (the Orioles got outfielder Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate, and third baseman Michael Costanzo) on Wednesday.

Miguel Tejada finally gets his wish to get traded, although that wish has occurred about two years after he made his declaration that he was unhappy with the Orioles. The Orioles, who play in the AL East, can never live up to the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

Said Tejada, “I feel very happy with this trade, because it’s something that I’ve been really looking forward to.” Houston general manager Ed Wade said the Astros couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add Tejada, “The reality is when you are talking about a player of this magnitude, you have to go in with every expectation that the asking price is going to be very high and if you want to participate, it’s going to be tough.”

Tejada is coming off his worst season in the majors. In 2007, he had a 0.296 batting average, dinging just 18 homers and producing 81 RBIs in a span of 514 at-bats in 133 games. In June of 2007, Miguel Tejada was placed on a 15-day disabled list (when Tejada was hit by a pitch by Doug Brocail, whom, incidentally, the Astros signed as a free agent on November 27; talk about building-up trust in the clubhouse, huh?), thus ending his streak of consecutive games played at 1,152, the fifth-longest in MLB history.

For his career in 11 seasons, Tejada has hit 0.287 with 258 home runs and 1,033 RBIs. His home run total ranks him fourth all-time among shortstops.

Tejada is 31, and the Orioles were worried about his range at shortstop. He had resisted their efforts to move him over to third base. So he got traded instead. Actually, this trade shouldn’t be too surprising. According to Astros president of baseball operations, “We’ve talked to Baltimore off and on for two years about Tejada…Certainly in 2006. It’s sort of ongoing. Baltimore’s had a change in their administration with Andy MacPhail, and I think Baltimore has wanted to change the composition of their club. We had a lot of conversations [before]. I don’t know how you quantify close. Baltimore just elected at that time not to move him.”

Wade said while Tejada may not cover quite as much ground as he once did, the Astros are confident he’ll be solid at shortstop. Adam Everett, Houston’s shortstop this season, will become an unrestricted free agent by Thursday.

Tejada said he figures he’ll adjust easily to the National League, and that the cozy ballpark dimensions in Houston will benefit him. Expect Tejada to produce in hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park. Tejada himself was confident: “I was in Houston last week and I’ve played in Minute Maid Park in the All-Star game, so I think I’ll do great in that city.”

Tejada is not only good on offense, but he’s a solid defender as well. If you take a look at the ESPN Zone ratings for shortstops, you will find that Tejada ranked second in the AL in 2007 (ahead of Orlanda Cabrera, a 2007 Gold Glove Award winner) and fourth in the AL in 2006. Tejada has consistently been a better defender than, for instance, Derek Jeter.

It seems like the Astros are following in the footsteps of the Detroit Tigers, who earlier this month acquired Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins in an eight-player trade. The Astros’ focus seems to be the immediate future. The Astros ballclub has a wealth of talent in Roy Oswalt, Carlos Lee, and Lance Berkman. However, their farm system is pretty weak.

Where will Miguel Tejada bat in the lineup? Well, earlier this month, the Astros finalized their $16.5 million, three-year contract with free-agent second baseman Kaz Matsui, who’s expected to bat second behind new leadoff man Michael Bourn, acquired in November as part of a trade that sent reliever Brad Lidge to Philadelphia. Batting third will be Miguel Tejada, followed by clean-up hitter Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee batting fifth, followed by rookie-phenom Hunter Pence batting sixth. Finishing the lineup would be Ty Wigginton at third base and J.R. Towles behind the plate. It’s interesting to note that Berkman and Lee are the only two players in that projected lineup who started Opening Day 2007 for the Astros.

Wade had a bit more to say about his new Astros team. Wade went on to talk about rebuilding and addressing the critics about going “backward” and “rebuilding.” Said Wade, “From the first interview I went through here it was never portrayed that I was inheriting a rebuilding structure. This isn’t a club to me that was in position to have to rebuild. You’ve got a No. 1 starter [Oswalt], a middle of the lineup with Berkman and Lee, young players like Pence and Towles…I know there’s been talk that his [Tejada’s] range has gone backward. I had a chance to see Miguel play in my role as a Padres scout the last two years. His range wasn’t what it was four or five years ago. But he’s got great hands, a good arm, turns the double play well and with he and Matsui around the bag at second base, I believe we’ve got a good double-play combination.”

What of the players that the Orioles got in the trade? Scott, 29, hit 0.255 with 18 homers and 64 RBIs as Houston’s regular right fielder. Albers, a 24-year-old righty, went 4-11 with a 5.86 ERA. Patton, a 22-year-old lefty, made his major league debut this season. Sarfate, a 26-year-old righty, was 1-0 in seven relief appearances. Costanzo, 24, was acquired from Philadelphia in the deal that also brought Bourn. He hit 27 home runs in Double-A this season. The Orioles will assign him to the minors.

You can look at both positives and negatives of this trade. The Astros want to improve tomorrow, while the Orioles are playing the numbers game for the future. “That’s one of the concepts behind, in this position, obtaining five players in exchange for one,” Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said. “Nobody knows for certain how these young players are going to evolve, but if you get five you start playing the percentages, quite honestly.”

At least Wade was honest in his assessment of this trade. Said Wade, “Obviously, the price of the deal is high, a little painful. We gave up some significant pitching in this deal. If you’re going to bring in a player of this caliber, you’ve got to pay the price for it.” It remains to be seen whether the Astros will be contenders in the NL Central (or playoff contenders) in 2008.

San Francisco Giants Sign Aaron Rowand

Another day, and another big free agent is off the market. Today, Aaron Rowand agreed to a $60 million, five-year contract with the San Francisco Giants. And the Giants didn’t even have to trade either of its pitching prospects (Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum).

The 30-year-old Rowand is expected to bat fifth in the lineup for San Francisco. Rowand spent spent the past two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. Prior to the Phillies, Rowand was with the Chicago White Sox who won the 2005 World Series. The Phillies, Rangers, White Sox, and the Dodgers (before signing Andruw Jones) all were looking into signing Rowand.

“Bottom line, I wanted to get in a spot where I would be long term,” said Rowand, who noted he considered four or five similar multi-year offers. “In this day of free agency, that’s not common-place. That’s really the thing I was looking forward to most.”

Rowand is coming off his best season yet, earning his first Gold Glove award and All-Star selection while helping the Phillies to the NL East title. Rowand batted 0.309 with 27 home runs and career bests of 89 RBIs, 105 runs, 189 hits, and 45 doubles in 161 games.

“With this move, we will no longer listen to any offers for Cain and Lincecum,” General Manager of the San Francisco Giants, Brian Sabean said. “We know the value of both individuals, believe me, maybe more so now that we’ve gone through this exercise. They might be the hottest two names in baseball.” I am not sure about hottest names in baseball (can you say Santana?), but I do give Sabean due credit.

While manager Bruce Bochy had said Rajai Davis would get a chance to earn the center-field job in spring training, Rowand was brought in to provide consistency at center field. That means Dave Roberts likely will shift from center to left, replacing the cheater, err, Barry Bonds. Winn will probably stay in right field while Davis and some of the other young outfielders share time in a reserve role. Of course, they may still be dealt, a move which Sabean is contemplating.

“I said I wanted to change the culture of the clubhouse and get back to the warrior mentality and play the game hard for nine innings,” Bochy said. “Aaron’s the type of player who can do that. He’s the type of player who can hold everyone accountable.”

The Giants have been coasting through a pathetic existence in the last few years. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2003. In 2007, the Giants had twenty more losses (91) than wins (71). The Giants haven’t reached the playoffs since 2003. The Giants are still working on completing their team, as they still have holes to fill at third base and also at first. Sabean also mentioned that he’s seeking help in the bullpen.

“We still have to address what to do at third base,” Sabean said. “We’ll wade through what the possibilities are. We’re not shutting it off.”

Rowand said he believes the Giants will contend in the much-improved division. “Boch’s goals, as far as the way he wants to play the game, the kind of persona he wants this team to have, really lends itself to the way I’ve gone about doing my business throughout my career. For me, it’s about bringing everything I have to the table every day and laying it all out there.” Rowand is a good player, playing hard. We all remember that fateful play in 2006 when he made a daring catch and hit the center-field fence at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, which fractured his nose and bones around his left eye. With that play, he has cemented himself as a passionate, determined, gritty, and respectable baseball player.

“For me, it’s probably the greatest compliment that I could get, not only from people who watch me play, but [also] from my peers,” Rowand said. “It’s one thing if you say, ‘That guy’s a great hitter’ or, ‘That guy’s a great outfielder,’ but it’s another thing to say, ‘That guy … would do whatever it takes to win every day.’ … If that’s the only thing I’m remembered for, I’d be completely content with that the rest of my days.”

Rowand, you have my respect for playing hard. But when you said that “I really, deep down, feel [that I am joining a team that] is going to be contending and reach the ultimate goal, and that’s winning a World Series,” you have lost a few points in my book. First of all, have you seen what the Padres did in the NL West? Second, the Dodgers are going to come back to solid form with Joe Torre as manager and Andruw Jones in center field. I forgive Rowand, however, as I think Rowand made the mistake that contention in the land of the Giants means not finishing last in the NL West.

Cubs Part Ways with Mark Prior

A decision that has been long overdue: the Cubs and Mark Prior have finally parted ways.

The Cubs opted not to tender a contract to the right-handed pitcher by Wednesday’s 11 p.m. CT deadline, and Prior is now a free agent.

The Cubs would have preferred to non-tender Prior and re-sign him for less than last season’s $3.575 million and include a club option for 2009. However, the Cubs hit a stalemate as negotiations on a possible 2008 contract for the arbitration-eligible Prior  were unsuccessful. Now, Prior is looking for a new team.

Prior is everything that is wrong with baseball. Well, not everything, but a lot. This is a guy who made his debut in 2002, but has only compiled 42 wins since 2002. He has been selected to the 2003 All-Star Game, but he missed it due to injuries.

Prior’s name should be (if it isn’t already) synonymous with injuries. In 2007, he didn’t pitch at all because of shoulder ailments. When he was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on March 28, he even had the guts to joke about it: “I’ll go down and help that team win, and try to make the Triple-A All-Star team and maybe I’ll get invited to the Futures Game or something.” I don’t think the Cub nation was giddy, however.

For some reason, Prior is optimistic about making a return. Said Prior, “The goal is, obviously, to come back. I expect to come back. This day and age playing, we’re fortunate to have medicine and technology that gives us a second chance.”

Again, injuries define Prior. He’s possibly even worse than Mike Hampton. Let’s quickly go over Prior’s injuries since 2004. In 2004, Prior was forced to miss the first two months of the 2004 season due to an achilles tendon injury. After coming off the disabled list Prior did not pitch up to expectations. In 2005, prior to the beginning of the season, Prior had an elbow strain that sidelined him for a few weeks. Then on May 27, 2005 he was sidelined when a comeback line drive from Brad Hawpe hit Prior on the elbow. In 2006, Prior was sidelined due to a strained shoulder; he came back, but then on July 14, 2006 missed two days due to a strained left oblique that he somehow attained in batting practice. He was sidelined the rest of 2006 season after being diagnosed with shoulder tendinitis on August 14, 2006.

John Boggs, Prior’s agent, expects Prior to be ready for the Major Leagues in mid- to late May, but told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that “if you want to be conservative, tack a few months onto that.” I think the proper (truthful) claim would have been “tack a few years to that.”

Any team that is seriously considering Prior is seriously considering investing into fool’s gold.

Peavy Signs Extenstion with Padres

Updating the previous story, it looks like Jake Peavy will be a Padre for a long time to come. On Wednesday, the Padres announced that the 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner will be getting a $51.9 million contract extension through the 2012 season, including a club option for the 2013 season.

The Padres and Peavy’s agent, Barry Axelrod, agreed to the deal a week ago in Nashville, Tennessee, where the Winter Meetings took place.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Peavy had an MRI exam on his right shoulder Tuesday as part of the physical, which he passed.

Peavy’s contract extension, which will run through the 2012 season and will include a club option for the 2013 season, is the largest in franchise history, by far greater than the four-year, $34 million contract Phil Nevin signed in 2001.

Because Peavy won the Cy Young Award, Peavy’s 2009 club option jumped from $8 million to $11 million. He will make $15 million in 2010, $16 million in 2011, and $17 million in 2012. If the Padres decline his $22 million option for 2013, Peavy will get a $4 million buyout. Peavy is slated to make big bucks, that’s for sure. His salary of $17 million in 2012 will be one of the highest in MLB, and certainly one of the highest for a pitcher. And a $22 million option in 2013 is pretty crazy; a $4 million buyout is pretty nice, too. Not to mention that in the upcoming years, Peavy has a full no-trade clause for 2010, may block trades to 14 clubs in 2011, and 8 clubs in 2012.

Peavy is currently in a four-year, $14.5 million contract with the Padres. This is a player who made just $750,000 in 2005 and only $2.5 million in 2006. In 2008, Peavy is slated to make $6 million.

“I think it sends a great message to everybody in San Diego, and I think it’s a great indicator of Jake’s willingness to stay, of the Padres’ commitment to keeping our core players,” manager Bud Black said during the Winter Meetings.

I think this is great news for Peavy and the city of San Diego. Peavy is a phenomenal player, and he is one of the best pitchers in the game. If you’ve never had the chance to watch Peavy in person, I think it should be on your to-do list. If you’re ever in San Diego during the baseball season, certainly check out PETCO Park; I think it is one of the most gorgeous stadiums in the country.

Land of the Rising Prospects – Japanese Players

Jeff Pasan, for Yahoo! Sports, in his latest piece explains the frenzy behind MLB teams trying to acquire Japanese players. Mentioned names include Trey Hillman (who has coached in Japan but returns to America in 2008; read a great conversation with Trey Hillman here), Hiroki Kuroda, Kosuke Fukudome, Masahide Kobayashi, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Yasuhiko Yabuta, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Okajima,  Takashi Saito, Kei Igawa, and Kazuo Fukumori. Read the article on Yahoo! Sports, or just see the full article presented below without any advertisements to distract you.

 Land of the Rising Prospects by Jeff Passan

During his five years managing in Japan, only once did Trey Hillman meander over to his opponents during their stretching exercises. He needed to chat with Hiroki Kuroda.

“I got the interpreter and said, ‘I want to meet yesterday’s starter.’ He said, ‘What’d he do?’ He’s immediately nervous,” said Hillman, the new Kansas City Royals skipper. “Gaijin manager, and they put you up on that pedestal. I wanted to tell him how good he was after he had shoved the bats up our rear ends.”

Such an impression Kuroda made, in fact, that Hillman plans on flying around the world to court him if need be. Kuroda, the right-handed pitcher, intends on choosing his major-league destination this week, and much like the rest of his Japanese brethren, he isn’t short on choices.

The frenzy for Japanese players, in previous seasons limited to one big name every few years, has gone wackier than cannabis sativa. Never mind that outfielder Kosuke Fukudome’s exposure to major-league pitching is limited to the World Baseball Classic and that he’s coming off elbow surgery. The Chicago Cubs lavished him late Tuesday with a four-year contract worth around $50 million. Forget that relief pitchers Masahide Kobayashi (Cleveland) and Yasuhiko Yabuta (Kansas City) haven’t thrown a ball outside of Japan. Each snagged $6 million for two-year deals with an option, and reliever Kazuo Fukumori could get the same.

And then there’s Kuroda, who turns 33 in February and posted a 1.85 ERA two years ago. Like Fukudome, he represents the new breed in Japanese players benefiting from baseball’s incredible growth as a business – and cashing in on the gargantuan dollars paid last season for Daisuke Matsuzaka ($103 million, including posting fee) and Kei Igawa ($46 million).

No longer are the top-end Japanese players the blue-plate specials of years past, not when the bidding on Kuroda will exceed $12 million per season and could push toward $50 million, too, if he seeks a four-year contract.

“The difference now,” agent Alan Nero said, “is the clubs realize there is value, and they’re out there chasing talent as opposed to looking for a bargain. No one really knew. There wasn’t genuine respect that a Japanese player could come in and have instantaneous impact.”

Thirteen years ago, during the major-league strike, Nero acquainted himself with the Asian market, just in case his players wanted to pursue employment there.

“And I found more than I ever dreamed of,” he said.

Since then, Nero has been among the trailblazers in opening up the Asian market. He brokered a deal to allow American players in the Korean league. He brought Chien-Ming Wang from Taiwan to the New York Yankees. And he watched as the Japanese market evolved, from Hideo Nomo’s signing in 1995 to Ichiro Suzuki’s in 2001 to Matsuzaka’s last year

“Every single player that comes over is breaking new ground in a sense,” Nero said. “When Nomo came over, it was evident that pitchers might be good enough but hitters weren’t. Then when Ichiro came over, all of a sudden the hitters could make it.

“This last year, with (Hideki) Okajima and (Takashi) Saito’s success, there’s this realization that the relievers may have value in a very thin market where American relievers are in great demand. Not to mention when Ichiro Suzuki came over, no one thought a Japanese catcher could succeed, and now he’s one of the best in the game.”

And on and on and on. Japan has become a boutique feeder league for MLB, and a presence there is integral for the Boston Red Sox, with their giant international budget, as well as the Arizona Diamondbacks, who hired Mack Hayashi, a former colleague of Nero’s, to run their Pacific Rim operations.

“I used to be alone at games,” said one scout who travels to Asia every year. “Now I’ve got drinking buddies.”

Scouting the Japanese leagues is different than traditional assessments, as the transatlantic translation of a player’s game varies. In Japan, Okajima and Saito were middling relief pitchers. Major-league hitters still can’t figure either out. On the other hand, Hideki Irabu and Igawa, both so successful in Japan, flamed out in New York, the former nicknamed by George Steinbrenner “the Fat Toad,” the other deserving a sobriquet like “the Worthless Load.”

Matsuzaka acquitted himself well enough during his rookie season, though not $100 million-plus well. With the salaries climbing like Edmund Hillary, that could be of some concern to the next generation of Japanese players.

The success must match the money. Matsuzaka needs to be a No. 1-quality starter, not a No. 3 or 4. Fukudome must get on base at a 40-percent clip, play solid right field and do nothing that might cause the Bleacher Bums to have a little too much Old Style-addled fun with his surname. Kuroda must justify the long-term deal for someone who will be closer to 40 than 30 by its conclusion.

Because just as quickly as baseball has leapt on Japan as its duct tape, disappointments will lead it to look elsewhere.

“It’s going to go in stages,” Hillman said. “No. 1, in a want stage. No. 2, in a need stage. And No. 3, in an available-money stage.”

Right now, there happens to be a surfeit of each. And so the offers for Kuroda will pour in, from the Dodgers and the Mariners and the Diamondbacks and, yes, even the Royals, millions upon millions for a pitcher who may love the major leagues or may hate the food here and struggle with homesickness. He may be Nomo, a marvel in his first season, and he may be Igawa, an embarrassment in his.

The important part is that he’s from Japan. And that, more than anything, is worth a lot these days.

Cubs Sign Kosuke Fukudome

The Cubs have acquired outfielder Kosuke Fukudome in a four-year deal worth $48 million. The highly-sought outfielder who had earlier announced his intention to play in America now has a home. Say hello to the Friendly Confines.

Cue the chant “Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win!” Well, no World Series titles yet, but maybe this is a player who will help steer the Cubs into the playoffs (only to promptly be eliminated in the first round, like they did in 2007?). Let’s wait and find out, but I am not holding my breath.

Fukudome, 30, had considered multi-year deals from the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Giants and his former team, the Chunichi Dragons.

Fukudome was pursued by the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants, and the Texas Rangers. In the end, it’s the Cubs that take home the prize, who happens to be a mix between Hideki Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki (Hichiro? Mazuki? Hisuzu?), according to some scouts.

Economic Principles Guide Free Agent Market

Vince Gennaro has written another great article, this time explaining the economics behind free agency and different MLB teams’ ability and willingness to pay top dollar for talent. I have linked to two previous entries by Vince Gennaro, so if you have some spare time on your hands, read the entry about A-Rod’s ten year contract and the economics of making the World Series. Gennaro’s latest article, published at Yahoo! Sports, is very interesting as well. One key point raised in the article is the fact that NL and AL teams have different probability distribution curves of making the playoffs, and thus the contracts used to attract free agents in NL vs. AL teams are disproportionate; a 90-win season in the AL translates to around 30% of making the postseason, while a 90-win season in the NL translates to around 65% chance of making the postseason. Gennaro concludes that “free agency isn’t hard science. It’s not abstract art, either. It’s the melding of baseball-operations and financial departments and the decision of where the two intersect.” Read the article, presented in full-text, below.

Economic Principles Guide Free-Agent Contracts by Vince Gennaro

Signing Alex Rodriguez meant more to the New York Yankees than it would have the Kansas City Royals.

Well, yeah. And?

And it makes sense for reasons that go far beyond the obvious, reasons that drive Major League Baseball’s free-agent market and often assign to it sound logic.

Right. Free agency and logic. Aren’t the two mutually exclusive?

They’re not supposed to be, even after the Chan Ho Parks and Darren Dreiforts of the world. In actuality, the savviest teams assign value to a free agent based on two criteria: his future on-field performance and the translation of that performance into financial impact on the franchise. With so much of that dependent on a team’s ability to contend for the playoffs, the urge to overspend in free agency increases, causing a dozen or more teams to fawn over top players, which fuels the feeding frenzies and warps the sense of proper valuation.

What makes sense to one team might not to another, and the key factor is the number of wins a new player is projected to add.

Assessing future performance is an inexact science, one that each franchise does differently with a mixture of scouting and statistics-based analysis. Who has lost a few miles per hour off his fastball? Whose swing looks slower? Who is an injury risk, particularly with guaranteed contracts and huge premiums to insure them? Since free agents are often veterans, many past their peak, estimating the rate of attrition is integral. A 31-year-old who may add six wins to a team today could be worth only two wins in four years.

Though perhaps those six wins early on justify the contract, because they can make the difference between a good team and a great one. Adding a six-win player – each win is determined not by single-game performance but a player’s overall impact throughout a season – is worth far more to an 86-win team than to a 76-win team. The payoff for getting to 92 wins is a possible playoff berth and the financial spoils that accompany it, while an 82-win team does little more than put a few more people in the stands.

Consequently, the typical bidders for high-impact free agents are on the cusp of contention and need that extra boost or want to maintain their playoff status. Both Los Angeles teams fit that bill this offseason, the Angels signing Torii Hunter to stay ahead in the American League West and the Dodgers bringing on Andruw Jones to keep themselves relevant in the National League West. When a team stands to gain a potential $30 or $40 million windfall by reaching the postseason, it’s no surprise they would spend aggressively.

A team’s competitiveness is only one translation of performance into dollars. The size of the market, the player’s position, the length of contracts and the pursuit from a division rival matter too, all of them working into a team’s win-curve.

In my book, “Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball,” I wrote about the concept of the win-curve – my attempt at estimating the change in a team’s revenues that correspond to each win total – derived using statistical tools, such as regression analysis, on a team’s attendance and financial data. Over the last several years, the dominance of the AL over the NL, along with the distribution of wins within each league, has had an impact on the number of wins necessary to reach the postseason and, hence, free-agent values. In each of the last three seasons, an 82-, 83- and 85-win team made the NL playoffs, while in the AL, 90-, 91- and 93-win teams fell short. Using statistical techniques and recent history, we can estimate the probability of reaching the postseason in each league, which is shown in Figure 1. In the AL, a 92-win season yields a probability of 53 percent, while the same win total in the NL translates into a 79 percent chance of playing October baseball.

Figure 1.

This [distribution] has implications both for who bids and how much is bid in the free-agent market. In the AL, it usually means that only 86-plus-win teams can justify competing for the priciest free agents, while in the NL, an 83- or 84-win team can often validate jumping into the fray. The highest-value wins in the AL – the wins that are likely to bring the most incremental revenue – are 88 through 95, while the NL range is three or four wins lower.

Granted, this only matters when teams are realistic about their win projections. Two years ago, Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi, empowered with an influx of cash, signed starter A.J. Burnett and closer B.J. Ryan to five-year contracts totaling $102 million. This would have made financial sense had it truly vaulted the Blue Jays into contention – were they, say, an 86-win team before they added the pair. In 2006, Toronto finished with only 87 wins, falling far short in the highly competitive AL wild-card race. Last season, Ryan blew out his elbow and missed the whole season, and Burnett missed nine starts because of injury.

It’s essential for teams to understand the sweet spot of the win-curve. Although it’s difficult to criticize a team for trying to improve through free agency, franchises must understand the size of their market and how they stand to gain financially. The win-curve is a team’s DNA, unique and vital, and in many cases it leads to radically different valuing of a player.

Figure 2 shows my estimates of the win-curves of the Yankees and the Royals. A free-agent signing who improves the Yankees from 89 to 94 wins is worth an estimated $20 million, while the same hypothetical improvement in Kansas City is valued at about $13 million. In reality, the dollars are not even that close because the Royals generally operate on the flat part of the win-curve – near the 70-win portion – where adding a few wins hardly moves the revenue needle.

Figure 2.

 

Take the Royals’ signing of Gil Meche in 2006 for $55 million over five seasons and Jose Guillen this year to a three-year, $36 million deal. The Royals are trying to assert themselves with a foray into the free-agent market, confident that the arrival of Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Zack Greinke, Joakim Soria and other young players is enough to supplement the expensive talent. If not, Kansas City will have handicapped itself, as the revenues will not grow nearly enough to support a payroll bogged down by the fat checks. Low-revenue franchises cannot afford mistakes, particularly in free agency, and are better-served developing cheap talent internally through superior scouting and development, jumping toward the higher end of the win-curve and then diving into the free agent market for the last couple of pieces of the puzzle.

Kansas City did sign a No. 1 starter (Meche) and power-hitting corner outfielder (Guillen), the latest proof that a team will overpay to fill specific needs. Free-agent shortstops have been unlucky in recent years as the Yankees and New York Mets – teams with steep win-curves – have not been in the bidding because Derek Jeter and Jose Reyes have been mainstays. Designated hitters are appropriately penalized by having less than half the teams in the mix for their services, as any GM will tell you that David Ortiz and Travis Hafner are AL-only players.

The opposite is true with pitching. With room for five starting pitchers on every staff, the primary difference between an ace and No. 5 starter is quality. Even a middle-of-the-rotation free-agent starter can be considered a replacement for a team’s fifth starter, creating bidding wars among the teams with the strongest win-curves – those with the most to gain financially – and leading to the current market for pitchers.

To date, 12 of the top 15 free agent relievers on Yahoo! Sports’ free-agent rankings have signed with 10 different teams – and only Matt Herges for less than $3 million a year. Relief pitchers’ role in critical late-inning situations has caused their value to spike far beyond what seems appropriate for those who pitch only 60 or 70 innings.

When the Diamondbacks can compensate for an NL-low batting average of .250 by riding a stellar bullpen to the NLCS, teams recognize that relief pitching can be a quick fix to get them to October, as in $19 million worth of quickness in the case of Scott Linebrink and the Chicago White Sox.

Some teams are better at evaluating talent and prospective free agents’ expected performance, while other teams have better insights into the relationship between their on-field performance and revenues. Teams generally fall short in properly valuing contract length, as bad deals handcuff teams with burdensome salaries long after a player’s contribution has deteriorated. One example: Jason Giambi’s seven-year, $120 million deal with the Yankees, set to expire after the 2008 season. In hindsight, the Yankees might have wished they paid $100 million for a five-year deal – $3 million average annual value – but $20 million less in total cost, allowing them to cut off Giambi before his 36th birthday.

Intradivisional competition is a somewhat subtler and less-talked-about component of a free agent’s value. Johnny Damon hit the free-agent market two years ago. The Yankees needed a center fielder and felt Damon could supplant Bernie Williams and add to their win total. The hidden value in this signing – at the time, at least – came from stealing Damon from their archrival and chief competition for the AL East crown, the Boston Red Sox, whose center-field play from Coco Crisp proved inferior to Damon’s.

Snagging Damon had the double effect of helping the Yankees and hurting the Red Sox, and since the postseason comes with its pot of gold, it enhanced Damon’s dollar value.

For a year. Damon aged rapidly, moved to left field and, with half of his four-year, $52 million contract remaining, could go down as another free-agent blunder by the Yankees.

Remember, free agency isn’t hard science. It’s not abstract art, either. It’s the melding of baseball-operations and financial departments and the decision of where the two intersect. Sometimes it even makes sense.

Sometimes.

The Michael Vick Fallout – Current and Future Impact

Today’s biggest news in sports is that Michael Vick has been sentenced to 23 months in prison for running a dogfighting operation. Although there is no parole in the federal system, with time off for good behaviour Vick could be released in the summer of 2009 at the earliest.

The impact of this news doesn’t just revolve around the NFL. The fallout is enough to impact not only sports in Atlanta, but throughout the United States, and even the world.

Vick said he accepted responsibility for his actions, but U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson said he wasn’t so sure. “I’m not convinced you’ve fully accepted responsibility,” Hudson told Vick.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has estimated that Vick has incurred financial losses of $142 million, including $71 million in Falcons salary, $50 million in endorsement income, and approximately $20 million in previously paid bonuses. Let’s go over the endorsements for a second. Vick’s endorsement contracts have included Nike, EA Sports, Coca-Cola, Powerade, Kraft, Rawlings, Hasbro, and AirTran. Over the last two years, his endorsement deals with at least six companies (Coca-Cola, EA Sports, Kraft Foods, Hasbro and AirTran) have expired, and the rest of the endorsements are now pretty much dead as well (with the exception of Nike, which hasn’t terminated the contract in entirety). All these companies did the proper thing by dropping Vick.

Prior to the dogfighting allegations, Vick was dropped by AirTran Airways. However, I don’t blame him for that move. ESPN reported on May 31, 2007 that “AirTran said Vick had ample opportunities to get to his destination on AirTran but chose not to.” I don’t blame Vick for not flying AirTran Airways. Their planes are dirty, the seats are cramped, and customer service is horrible, at best. So a personal disclaimer on my part: don’t fly AirTran Airways. Choose Delta instead.

When the federal indictment was announced in July of 2007, Vick immediately lost his biggest sponsor – Nike. Nike imediately suspended the release of its latest product line named after him, telling retailers it will not release a fifth signature shoe, the Air Zoom Vick V. Many stores, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods and Sports Authority, have also stopped selling Vick-related goods across the nation.

But back to the fallout. After their 34-14 loss tonight to the New Orleans Saints, the Falcons are 3-10 in the 2007 season. They aren’t as bad as the Miami Dolphins (who have yet to win a game in 2007), but they aren’t that much worse, either. At least the Miami Dolphins have something to play for – winning a game in 2007. What do the Falcons have to play for? A better pick in the NFL Draft? Come on, this is a team that hasn’t recovered. It is a team that has gone through three quarterbacks in the 2007 season, none of whom has been able to deliver. And it’s not that the fans are frustrated. It’s more like they are becoming indifferent.

Checking the attendance figures at Georgia Dome this year, it looks like they are down by about 25% from last year. According to a latest survey at SI.com, Georgia Dome is now the fourth-worst stadium experience behind the 49ers’ Monster Park, the Vikings’ HHH Metrodome, and the Jets’ Giants Stadium. Sure, there are still die-hard Falcons fans out there, but the focus in Atlanta isn’t even on the Falcons anymore. For a long time, the words “Falcons” and “Michael Vick” were associated so tightly with one another; it is a sad but inevitable truth that these words are still associated together, but in a darker vibe. The other week, Warrick Dunn surpassed 10,000 yards rushing for his career. But do you think that was the lead story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution? You’re right if you said no. The focus was about Vick’s upcoming sentencing.

For the moment, the Falcons are hopeless. The fan base has shrunk. Instead of the Sunday night chatter about the latest Falcons game, people are shifting focus to the offseason discussions of the Atlanta Braves or the current season of the Atlanta Thrashers. It’s happening in a lot of homes across Atlanta, and it is something that should happen.

What about other cities across the country? The impact there is/will be less pronounced, but you can bet that all athletes are aware of Michael Vick. Right now, this given second, there is an athlete that is doing something illegal. Maybe not something as heinous as being involved in dogfighting, but something illegal nonetheless. But by looking at the cold hard facts regarding Vick’s case – that lying (to the public, to his family, to federal prosecutors) and doing something illegal is eventually going to catch up with you – rest assured that there are athletes who are now looking themselves in the mirror and ascertaining whether to drop whatever it is they can get in trouble for in the future. This has been a great year for sports, but this same sports world has also been upheaved by cheating and illegal activity (Marion Jones, Barry Bonds, Michael Vick are the big names).

Said Hank Aaron of Vick’s fall from grace, “I’ve never seen someone who had so much ability and has fallen so far. It’s not what is going to happen as far as his football career is concerned. It’s just him as a man … being able to get his life back.”

In the end, it’s not even about Michael Vick. It’s how we act and react as human beings. Football, baseball, hockey – they will still remain games in the grand scheme of things. But how – and if – people (including athletes) will interpret, judge, order, structure, and change their lives around Michael Vick’s despicable acts and other cataclysmic events in sports is what will be truly important.

Yankees Sign LaTroy Hawkins

The Yankees reached a preliminary agreement with LaTroy Hawkins on a one-year, $3.75 million contract.

In 2007, the-soon-to-be 35-year old Hawkins posted a 3.42 ERA and a 2-5 record in 55 1/3 innings with the NL champion Colorado Rockies. The primary use of Hawkins would be to fill the role of right-hander Luis Vizcaino, who declined the Yankees’ offer of salary arbitration last week. Vizcaino, who is seeking a multiyear contract, is expected to sign elsewhere.

There is nothing terribly exciting about this move. Hawkins is now joining his fifth MLB team, having played for the Twins (having spent the majority of his career in Minnesota, from 1995 to 2003), the Cubs, the Giants, the Orioles, and most recently, the Colorado Rockies. While 2007 was a decent year for Hawkins, he has previously struggled in the Majors. Most notably, he lost his role as closer with the Chicago Cubs in the 2004-2005 season.

The Yankees have reiterated that it is their goal to bolster their bullpen. Yankees GM Brian Cashman has said he is not intrigued by repeated offers from other clubs to obtain setup man Kyle Farnsworth, who could slot back into his eighth-inning role that was filled in the season’s final two months by rookie Joba Chamberlain.

Personally, I don’t see Latroy Hawkins “bolstering” the Yankees. If anything, he will continue being mediocre. When I think of Hawkins, I think of a used-to-be closer who blew too many saves and a recent middle reliever who hasn’t turned too many heads. Hawkins might become the set-up man for Mariano Rivera (now that Hank Steinbrenner announced that Joba Chamberlain will begin the 2008 season as a starter), but the Yankees will probably have open auditions for bullpen roles in Spring Training to finalize the bullpen priorities.

Andruw Jones Signs with Dodgers

This news is a bit dated, but the Los Angeles Dodgers have signed free-agent center fielder Andruw Jones in a two-year guaranteed contract worth $36.2 million. Jones’ average annual salary of $18.1 million is the highest ever awarded by the Dodgers and is fifth-highest in major league history. Only Roger Clemens (a 2007 pro-rated one year deal worth $28,000,022), Alex Rodriguez ($25.2 million), Manny Ramirez ($20 million), and Derek Jeter ($18.9 million) have been paid more per season.

The 30-year old Jones is coming off his worst season in the majors, during which he batted 0.222 (41 points below his career average). The two year deal gives Jones to re-establish his value and re-enter the free agent market at age 32.

Jones’ contract is a win for the Dodgers (it’s not really a win for Andruw Jones). Before the start of the season, Andruw Jones’ agent, Scott Boras, was seeking a contract on the order of $100 million for five years. But no team was even going to entertain such an offer after his terrible season in 2007. The Dodgers bit the bullet and signed him for just two years. If Jones does well, they can possibly offer him a contract extension. If he continues in his decline, then the Dodgers avoid a long-term loss as they have him signed for just two years.

As a result of signing Andruw, the Dodgers are expected to move weak-armed Juan Pierre to left field, leaving Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier for right field.  Jones is believed to like the idea of hitting behind the speedy Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre, which could allow Jones to drive in more runs.

The surplus of outfielders could make either Kemp or Ethier expendable and the Dodgers are believed to have been asked for Kemp in trade discussions for several available pitchers.

Andruw Jones is a great player, especially on defense. He won his tenth consecutive Gold Glove Award in 2007. When he does well – such as hitting 25 or more home runs in 10 consecutive seasons – the team he plays for will benefit immensely. The only worry that remains is his batting average and strikeouts. But by coming to a competitive market like Los Angeles, where attendance is only second to the New York Yankees, he has an incredible opportunity to redeem himself in 2008 (and/or 2009). It will be interesting to see if and how Joe Torre will be able to get along.

Fukudome Coming to America

His name isn’t Eddie Murphy, but he is coming to America. Kosuke Fukudome, the unrestricted free-agent outfielder from Japan, has made his decision to come to the Major Leagues.

The 30-year old left hander now has to decide where he will go. Major interest is coming from the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs, who will be playing this out like the Yankees and the Red Sox were battling for Johan Santana. The San Diego Padres are also interested; there’s even a report that they have already made him an offer to make him the club’s highest-priced free-agent import ever.

Fukudome is supposedly favouring a west coast team so that he may take direct flights to Japan in a more convenient fashion. So going to San Diego is a viable option for Fukudome. He is, however, still weighing his options. One thing seems clear: the offer to attract Fukudome will be greater than the one Fukudome has already rejected by the Yomiuri Giants – a four year, $30 million deal.

The Chicago Cubs, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, “are prepared to offer a mega-package similar to the eye-popping deal they presented last offseason to free-agent left fielder Alfonso Soriano, who bagged an eight-year, $136 million contract.”

Fukudome has a career on-base percentage of nearly 0.400. The Padres are especially interested in him because he could potentially replace Mike Cameron in center, even if Fukudome is natural in right field.

As with the rest of hot stove reports, we’ll just have to wait and see where Fukudome winds up.

State of this Blog: 100th Post

This is a special post because it is the 100th entry on this blog. Originally, my intention was to profile the 2007 MLB playoffs, but as you might have noticed, I have been blogging about the 2007-2008 MLB offseason as well.

In order to commemorate this special event, I am going to list my top ten (both my favourite and the visiters’ favourite) posts, in the order in which they have appeared on this blog:

1. The Invasion – the New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians game in which Joba Chamberlain of the Yankees was infiltrated by hundreds of insects.
2. Live Blogging of ALCS Game 3 – this was one of the two live blogs that I did. It is very long, but it pretty much follows ALCS Game 3 on a play-by-play basis. Read the post for some ridiculous things that FOX announcers said during the game.
3. Manny Being Manny – a short post on why Manny continues being Manny.
4. Live Blogging of ALCS Game 7 – the second game which I live-blogged. It’s long, but there are a few quotable gems in there.
5. Vegas Odds for World Series – this is, to date, my most popular entry. Right before and around the World Series this entry received the most hits, and continued to get daily hits well into November. The post’s popularity has since waned, but during one day in October, it received about 150 hits in a single day. If you do a google search relevant to this post, you’ll see this blog entry come up on the front page.
6. Buy Rockies World Series Tickets If You Can – another interesting post about the fiasco that the Colorado Rockies were having with regard to their ticket sales on their website. Read the short post, and you’ll even find a joke at the end of it.
7. A-Rod, A-Hole – my sardonic entry about Alex Rodriguez and his agent, Scott Boras, stealing the limelight away from World Series Game 4 with their announcement that A-Rod is opting out of his contract.
8. Photoshopping the Red Sox! – celebrating the Red Sox World Series Championship through the use of Photoshop.
9. Bonds Indicted, or How Flax Seed Oil Doesn’t Fly – do I think Barry Bonds is guilty of knowingly taking steroids and lying to federal prosecutors? Certainly so. But if you still have doubts, read the entry.
10. The Mike Hampton Hangover – my less than optimistic analysis of Mike Hampton’s latest injury and his ability to pitch for the Braves in the 2008 season.

To date, this blog has received well over 2,000 unique page views. If I am understanding wordpress stats, these are individual page views (i.e. the total views when the user lands on a particular page, such as this one or this one or this one). In other words, the homepage views of https://mlb2007playoffs.wordpress.com are much greater than 2,000.

I am still going to blog about offseason transactions occurring in baseball, although I think the frequency of my posts will decrease. Thanks to everyone who has come back to my blog to check out the new material.

The Six Marlins Prospects – Overview

Today, the Detroit Tigers and the Florida Marlins finalized their mega-blockbuster trade. The Tigers receive Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins, while the Marlins receive six prospects in Burke Badenhop (RHP), Eulugio de la Cruz (RHP), Dallas Trahern (RHP), Andrew Miller (LHP), Mike Rabelo (C), and Cameron Maybin (OF) from the Tigers. Clearly, the Tigers are now major contenders not only in the AL Central but in all of MLB. But what about the Marlins? Who are these prospects that they acquired? Jonathan Mayo for MLB.com offers a good description of the six players, which is reprinted below.

Burke Badenhop, RHP
Taken in the 19th round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft out of Bowling Green, Badenhop had a strong first full season in 2006, throwing 171 innings for Class A West Michigan in the Midwest League. He continued to be a workhorse this past season, throwing 154 innings before pitching well in the Arizona Fall League. In his career, Badenhop has a 2.89 ERA. Pitching for advanced Class A Lakeland, he finished fifth in the Florida State League this past season with a 3.13 ERA, a year after placing ninth in the Midwest League with a 2.84 mark. MiLB.com’s Tigers Organizational Pitcher of the Year, Badenhop got a promotion to Double-A Erie when the since-traded Jair Jurrjens got called up to the big leagues. At 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, he features a heavy sinking fastball that induces a ton of ground balls. He also throws a slider and a changeup. He’s got excellent command, yielding just 94 walks in 402 innings.

Eulugio de la Cruz, RHP
De la Cruz signed with the Tigers out of the Dominican Republic in 2001. He’s always thrown hard, but he hasn’t always known where it was going. Cranking a fastball that has hit triple digits in the past, he’s struck out 397 in 429 2/3 career Minor League innings, with a 3.62 ERA. He’s also walked 198. Throughout his career, he has both started and relieved. De la Cruz performed both roles in 2007, starting for Double-A Erie then moving into Triple-A Toledo’s bullpen. He got six games of big league relief work when he was called up to Detroit in the middle of June. The stocky right-hander has two secondary pitches — an outstanding curve and a changeup — that could mean he could start, but many look at his power arsenal and his command issues and see short reliever in the future.

Cameron Maybin, OF
One of the elite prospects in the game, Maybin ranked No. 3 overall on MLB.com’s Top 50 prospects rankings that were released recently. The center fielder truly is a five-tool talent who is just beginning to scratch the surface in reaching his potential. The No. 10 overall pick in the 2005 Draft, Maybin made it to the big leagues at age 20 this past season after just 192 Minor League games. Beginning with his 2006 season in the Midwest League and continuing at every stop he’s made, Maybin has stood out as one of the best players on the field. He can flat out get the ball in center field, has plus speed that helps him defensively and on the bases. If there is one knock on Maybin, and it’s not a big one, it’s that he’s had some trouble staying healthy. He played in 101 games in that debut season of 2006, then just a combined 115 this past season. His time in the Arizona Fall League was cut short by a shoulder issue that bothered him for most of the season. That being said, Maybin is one of the most exciting all-around talents to knock on the big league door in a long time, and he has almost limitless potential to become one of the game’s true superstars.

Andrew Miller, LHP
Miller has pitched a total of 16 games in the Minors, and it’s doubtful he’ll spend any more time there now. The 6-foot-6 southpaw was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2006 Draft, sliding a few spots when the consensus top arm in that class had high bonus demands. He made just three appearances in Lakeland before getting rushed to the big leagues as a lefty reliever to help the Tigers in their playoff push. He returned to a Minor League rotation in 2007, beginning with seven starts in Lakeland. He made four absolutely dominant starts for Double-A Erie (0.59 ERA). Miller made his first big league start in the middle of May, firing six shutout innings. He had other moments like that in his 13 big league starts, though his performance was understandably uneven. When he’s on, Miller features a fastball that he can get up into the mid- to upper-90s and a plus, plus slider that made him a bullpen option in the big leagues so quickly after being drafted. Throw in an improving changeup, and Miller’s future definitely lies in a big league rotation.

Mike Rabelo, C
Rabelo was taken by the Tigers in the fourth round of the 2001 Draft out of Division II power University of Tampa. He’s never been much of a hitter, with a .263 career average and .673 OPS throughout his Minor League career. It’s been the switch-hitter’s work behind the plate, not at it, that’s enabled him to work his way up through the Tigers system and into the big leagues in 2007. He threw out 39 percent of would-be base stealers in 2006. He played in just 51 games, supporting the durable Ivan Rodriguez, this past year, but it’s clear Rabelo’s future role will be as a defensive-minded backup.

Dallas Trahern, RHP
During this fall, Trahern worked closely with Team USA pitching coach Marcel Lachemann on his tempo on the mound and maintaining consistent mechanics on his delivery. That could help him improve on a career that already has seen him post a 3.40 ERA in just over 500 innings. He was a 34th-round pick in the 2004 Draft, as he appeared headed to the University of Oklahoma. The Tigers were able to get him signed, and he’s made steady progress up the system’s ladder, reaching Triple-A this past season at age 21. Trahern is an extreme ground-ball pitcher, with a 3.58 GO/AO ratio in 2006 and 2.64 mark this past year. He gets hitters to beat a hard, heavy sinking fastball into the dirt, mixing in a slider and changeup along the way. He’s been extremely durable, throwing at least 145 innings in each of his three full seasons.

Tigers and Marlins Involved in Blockbuster Trade

Santana, step aside. The first major deal of the Winter Meetings doesn’t revolve around pinstripes or any kind of Sox. Instead, it’s the Detroit Tigers and Florida Marlins making a huge eight player trade. The Tigers have acquired Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins in exchange for six prospects (Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Mike Rabelo and Minor Leaguers Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De La Cruz, and Burke Badenhop).

The Tigers are clearly giving up a lot of future talent. But this is now going to be a freakishly loaded Tigers team. Red Sox and Yankees beware of 2008.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman was trying to be calm, but you can sense the panic in his voice: “The Tigers are a very aggressive organization and they’re very astute. Dave Dombrowski is as good as they come. They’re going to put forth a great team, which they’ve done since they’ve gotten there. He’s put them in championship caliber form and they’ve become a team that sets the tone.” Now it’s up to the Yankees to do something big. And early indications are that the Yankees are done with trying to acquire Santana.

Red Sox Manager Terry Francona was a bit more blunt: “I’ll tell you what. There are a lot of American League pitchers getting real nervous — and we’re one of them.”

But back to the deal. All that remains now is for the Tigers and the Marlins to review medical records and finalize the minute details on the swap. No contract extensions are expected to be included on Willis and Cabrera, both of whom have two more seasons remaining before they become eligible for free agency.

Let’s explore this trade for a minute. Sure, the Tigers are giving up a lot of prospects. But this is a team that wants to do something in the very near future. Not ten years from now. Through this trade, they are going to be major competitors in the AL Central in 2008, if not the AL and all of MLB.

Willis and Cabrera and both young, at 25 and 24, respectively. They can certainly steer the Tigers to the World Series. The Tigers will now have an absolutely loaded lineup, and it’s projected to look like so:

CF Curtis Granderson
2B Placido Polanco
3B Miguel Cabrera
RF Magglio Ordonez
DH Gary Sheffield
C Ivan Rodriguez
1B Carlos Guillen
SS Edgar Renteria
LF Jacque Jones/Marcus Thames

The center of this trade is, of course, Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera batted 0.320 in 2007, with career highs of 34 home runs and 119 RBIs in a Marlins lineup that didn’t have a whole lot of support around him. Cabrera has batted 0.328 over his last three seasons.

Cabrera now joins a Detroit lineup that already boasts All-Stars Placido Polanco, Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen and Edgar Renteria around the middle of the order, as well as flourishing hitter Curtis Granderson at the top. This is a lineup that can collectively bat above 0.300 for the season, which – if you play fantasy baseball – is absolutely ridiculous. This is a lineup that will put up huge numbers in all major statistical categories – home runs, runs scored, RBIs, and batting average. Pretty scary. This is a Detroit lineup that scored almost 900 runs in 2007 with Sheffield injured for some time. Imagine what their 2008 lineup will do.

Now let’s talk about Dontrelle Willis. He is a two-time All-Star who has won 68 games over five years in the big leagues, including 22 in 2005. He struggled in 2007 with a 10-15 record and 5.17 ERA, including a 3-8 record and 5.74 ERA after the All-Star Game.

The Tigers believe that Willis’ numbers in 2007 were the exception rather than an emerging trend. In 2006, Willis was 12-12, but his ERA that year was a reasonable 3.87. Willis certainly had the right attitude about the trade, saying, “Like I said the whole time it’s all a business. I mean, I have been on the trading block for kind of a world record for the last three years. They found a deal suitable for both sides, so I’m happy to go over there and try to do my thing.”

Coming to Detroit, Willis also doesn’t have the added pressure of being considered the ace. He joins a rotation that consists of Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman, and Nate Robertson. Not sure where Willis will start in the rotation; no matter, because these pitchers are going to get a hell of a lot of run support from a stacked lineup.

What about Detroit? Did they give up a lot? It depends on how you look at it. Sure, Cameron Maybin has been rated as a #3 in ESPN’s prospect list, and he is considered to be the number one prospect by some analysts/insiders. He reached the majors in August 2007 at a ripe age of 20 after batting 0.316 with 14 home runs, 53 RBIs, and 25 SB at three minor league levels. But the Tigers have every intention of winning today (all right, starting in 2008), and not some time in the future. So putting this in perspective, I think Detroit fans should be pretty giddy right about now.

Other players that the Tigers are giving up include Andrew Miller and Eulogio De La Cruz. Miller was the Tigers’ first-round selection in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft; he was expected to compete for the final spot in the rotation in just his second full pro season. Miller finished the 2007 season with a 5-5 record and a 5.63 ERA. As far as De La Cruz goes, he had a brief callup last summer to help Detroit’s depleted bullpen, but most of his success came at Erie and Triple-A Toledo, where he went 7-5 between the two levels with an ERA under 3.50 while being able to throw a fastball near the 100 mph range.

It’s also interesting to note about the Marlins’ payroll in 2008. “What’s their payroll going to be?” one baseball man wondered Tuesday night. “Six million bucks? Eight million?” According to ESPN, the Marlins’ highest-paid player next season is going to be closer Kevin Gregg. He made $575,000 this year (less than the Yankees paid A-Rod every four days, which is insane). One thing is certain: the average salary of a Marlin next year will be less than $500,000.

By giving up Cabrera and Willis, one is hard pressed to pick out a franchise name from that team. I can think of two: Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez. That’s pretty much it. And what are the Marlins going to do now in terms of trying to get a new stadium for their team? For what players?

Clearly, the Tigers are now roaring more loudly than ever. On the other hand, it’s only fitting that the Marlins play in the southernmost MLB city in the majors, as this “blockbuster” deal further sends the Marlins into major league oblivion.

Angels Also Interested in Santana

Santana is now a triple threat on the market.The latest news from the Winter Meetings is that the Los Angels Angels, according to multiple sources, have decided to jump the Johan Santana bandwagon. The Angels have scheduled a meeting with the Twins on Tuesday, thereby making the Red Sox and the Yankees not the only potential suitors for Santana’s services.

Again, Santana is seeking a deal for as many as six years and upwards of $100 million on the open market after the 2008 season.

The Angels, after having signed Torii Hunter to a five-year, $90 million free-agent contract, are currently sitting at a $123 million payroll.

The Angels’ interest in Santana could be an indication that the Angels are no longer interested (or as interested) in acquiring Miguel Cabrera of the Florida Marlins. The Angels and Marlins have had ongoing discussions about the 24-year-old slugger, with Florida apparently asking for way more than the Angels are prepared to give up in young talent.

From the Angles, the Twins are likely to demand a package of players featuring starter Jered Weaver and shortstop/third baseman Brandon Wood. Additionally, the Twins would probably also want either Ervin Santana or Joe Saunders included in the deal for Santana.

The Angels have a lot of pitchers, so they are way more than capable of disposing of one pitcher. With Garland, they now have six starters, so the Angels could give up two starters and another prospect for Santana.