HOT STOVE, COOL SAND

i'm still hoping the o's flip rodrigo lopez for someone useful and i think church fits the bill. i can't imagine church getting cut loose for nothing now that frank robinson is gone.

Steven Goldman: Because they were in the position of having to give a dead man a raise. They'll try to get him back more cheaply and see if they can salvage something... But compare this to the possibility that the Yankees might not move Pavano. Minaya has no personal investment in Zambrano so he can dump him.

Nah, it was probably "Cowboys From Hell".

Actually, I completely think so. The dude is a great hitter AND he plays center field. He gets on base, hits for power, hits for good average. He's definitely one of the 10 best players in the league, and he's pretty young.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2698288

I'd say Wells' deal looks pretty good amongs the company on that list. There are a few major duds on that list, particularly for the money involved (Hampton, probably Helton and Giambi). Wells vs Soriano? Fairly close offensively, but only one of them can play defense. Jeter has been vastly overpaid for most of his contract.

Wells' deal looks bad next to those of Beltran and Pujols (who never became a free agent), but I think that's about it.

Wild.

Which is a million degrees of fucking retarded.

Whoa, that's an understatement:

Pre-AS: .330 / .383 / .585
Post-AS: .261 / .297 / .411

Did he get hurt? (I'm guessing him playing all of 3 games in July means "yes," tho I'm willing to bet Shea Hillenbrand has something to do w/ it.)

That said, he'll only be 26 @ the start of the season, and it might behoove the Jays to see if his first half was the sign of better things to come. Unless the trade's a whopper (for a solid #3 starter type, or better), I'd hold off. And given that most folks probably see AR the same way we do, I think trading him now would be selling him & the Jays short. (Ha - maybe JR can trade AR to the Royals for Meche!)

And even doomsday-scenario-Cruz Jr. at 25 yrs old and $400,000 would've been a steal.

The Rangers now are shopping Otsuka to the Mets and D-Backs. I have a feeling this comes back to bite them hard.

His K rate has declined each year, and his hit rate has increased (mitigated last year by cutting his walks down by 66%). These are minor fluctuations, but given how Otsuka's mojo works, and the wack-ass market, and their (misplaced) faith in Goggles McGee, and what happened to Francisco Cordero last year, it might behoove the Rangers to at least test the waters & see what schwag Otsuka can get them. But given how many pitchers up & die in Arlington, and the sad-ass state of their rotation, you'd think holding onto one pitcher that stood firm (& establishing the semi-solid foundation of a functional bullpen) would be the prudent move.

How weird of an announcement is this? "We know our starter won't go nine and we know we won't blow them out so you can expect to see Gagne opening day."

ZiPS absolutely loves the Giants.

Of the 33 Giant hitters I've projected:

1 player with OPS above .800 (Bonds)
1 player with OBP above .350 (Bonds)
3 players with SLG above .450 (Bonds, Niekro, Durham)
1 player with more than 20 homers (Bonds)
15 players with OBP below .300 (Schierholz, Feliz, Ortmeier, Finley, Alfonzo, Hansen, Knoedler, Velez, Matheny, Ishikawa, Sanders, Santos, Requena, Guillermo Rodriguez, Jennings).

The brighest spot found by ZiPS is that all 5 of the Giant projected starters (Cain, Lowry, Morris, Sanchez, Hennessey) have ERAs below 5!

Finley is no longer a Giant and Matheny's career looks to be over based on the recurring concussion tests.

Wow. I mean wow. Hey, I guess Giants fans get to look forward to the All-Star Game!!!

i am completely perplexed by the "strategies" hatched in the warehouse.