LorfTVP

This is their third uniform and second change in their ten years as a major league ballclub, but to tell you the truth, they have a good point. We're entering a new era of Devil Rays baseball where hopefully their top pitching prospects will soon pop up as all their young hitters have another year to refine their stuff. Nobody's arguing that this is going to be a good team...but I guess they just want to separate themselves from the lowly Devil Rays.

Along with changing their logo and uniforms, of course.

Oh, you're absolutely right! People were arguing that baseball players were overpaid ages decades ago and now we've entered an era where A-rod could get 30 million and Miguel Cabrera could get even more in two years if he loses some weight and shrugs off his reputation. That's without mentioning Johan fucking Santana who is only the best pitcher alive becoming a free agent after next season. I'm sure that we'll eventually enter an era where teams sign all their young talent and the free agent market just grows weaker until salaries go down. There's no way it's going any higher than now with 30 million, that's just insane. We'll see how this winter plays out.

That's only because he's being shopped around. Did you hear? 11 current free agents are going to be named in the probe. There are only a few big names out there...but I'd hate to be the GM to sign someone right before this news comes out. Haha, Bonds is a free agent.

It's difficult with poor knowledge of other teams...that's why most sportswriters suck, because they try to talk about the MLB with no knowledge of all 30 teams and their needs. Hey, want Miguel Cabrera?

That doesn't make any sense because then we'd have a hole at first that we'd need to trade to fill, especially with the weak first basemen on the market. But yah, we resigned Schilling for 8 million base with 2 million in weight clauses and 3 million in something else. This probably means that Buchholz will start in the minors or that Wakefield will pitch from the pen.

Hmm, but Blalock would be a nice little addition if he performed up to those lofty expectations he set in his first couple of years. I'm also hearing that the Padres want Crisp to replace Cameron in CF in spacious Petco. Pretty much every single team looking for one of the billions of center fielders will take a good long look at Crisp and his cheap salary and weigh whether giving up a prospect is worth the money saved.

Hey, VG, since you don't have a Gold Glove center fielder anymore, want Crisp? He has salaries of $4.75 million in 2008 and $5.75 million in 2009. The deal contains an $8 million team option for 2010 with a $500,000 buyout and contains salary escalator provisions. I don't know about the price of Hunter or Rowand, but they'll both be more expensive, obviously. I wanted a Molina...but I doubt he can catch a knuckleball. I still see Cash being resigned just because he CAN catch it and is younger than Mirabelli.

So, before we're suffocated by billions of Hot Stove rumors and offseason predictions, let's take a stab at what's going to happen. * Players are able to file for Free Agency up to Nov. 13. Starting Pitchers Tony Armas 29 Pittsburgh Matt Clement 33 Boston Bartolo Colon 34 LA Angels Elmer Dessens 36 Colorado Freddy Garcia 31 Philadelphia Tom Glavine 41 NY Mets Livan Hernandez 32 Arizona Jason Jennings 29 Houston Joe Kennedy 28 Toronto Byung-Hyun Kim 28 Florida Jon Lieber 37 Philadelphia Kyle Lohse 29 Philadelphia Rodrigo Lopez 31 Colorado Eric Milton 32 Cincinnati Russ Ortiz 33 San Francisco Odalis Perez 30 Kansas City Kenny Rogers 42 Detroit Curt Schilling 40 Boston Carlos Silva 28 Minnesota Steve Trachsel 37 Baltimore Jeff Weaver 31 Seattle David Wells 44 LA Dodgers Kip Wells 30 St. Louis Relief Pitchers Jeremy Affeldt 28 Colorado Antonio Alfonseca 35 Philadelphia Armando Benitez 34 Florida Doug Brocail 40 San Diego Shawn Chacon 29 Pittsburgh Francisco Cordero 32 Milwaukee Eric Gagne 31 Boston Todd Jones 39 Detroit Jorge Julio 28 Colorado Ray King 33 Milwaukee Scott Linebrink 31 Milwaukee Ron Mahay 36 Atlanta Jose Mesa 41 Philadelphia Trever Miller 34 Houston Brian Moehler 35 Houston Mike Myers 38 Chicago Sox Troy Percival 38 St. Louis Arthur Rhodes 38 Seattle David Riske 31 Kansas City Mariano Rivera 37 NY Yankees J.C. Romero 31 Philadelphia Rudy Seanez 39 LA Dodgers Aaron Sele 37 NY Mets Ron Villone 37 NY Yankees Luis Vizcaino 33 NY Yankees Bob Wickman 38 Arizona Kerry Wood 30 Chicago Cubs Catchers Sandy Alomar Jr. 41 NY Mets Paul Bako 35 Baltimore Rod Barajas 32 Philadelphia Michael Barrett 31 San Diego Kevin Cash 30 Boston Ramon Castro 31 NY Mets Mike DiFelice 38 NY Mets Sal Fasano 36 Toronto Jason Kendall 33 Chicago Cubs Jason LaRue 33 Kansas City Mike Lieberthal 35 LA Dodgers Paul Lo Duca 35 NY Mets Damian Miller 38 Milwaukee Jose Molina 32 NY Yankees Josh Paul 32 Tampa Bay Jorge Posada 36 NY Yankees Yorvit Torrealba 29 Colorado Doug Mirabelli 37 Boston First Basemen Player Age Status Old Team New Team Years Dollars Rank Tony Batista 33 Washington Aaron Boone 34 Florida Miguel Cairo 33 St. Louis Sean Casey 33 Detroit Tony Clark 35 Arizona Robert Fick 33 Washington Julio Franco 49 Atlanta Eric Hinske 30 Boston Doug Mientkiewicz 33 NY Yankees Mark Sweeney 38 LA Dodgers Brad Wilkerson 30 Texas Second Basemen Geoff Blum 34 San Diego Luis Castillo 32 NY Mets Tony Graffanino 35 Milwaukee D'Angelo Jimenez 29 Washington Ramon Martinez 35 LA Dodgers Shortstops David Eckstein 32 St. Louis Mark Loretta 36 Houston Neifi Perez 34 Detroit Third Basemen Russell Branyan 31 St. Louis Jeff Cirillo 38 Arizona Pedro Feliz 32 San Francisco Chris Gomez 36 Cleveland Corey Koskie 34 Milwaukee Mike Lamb 32 Houston Abraham Nunez 31 Philadelphia Alex Rodriguez 32 NY Yankees Chris Woodward 31 Atlanta Left Fielders Marlon Anderson 33 NY Mets Barry Bonds 43 San Francisco Milton Bradley 29 San Diego Luis Gonzalez 40 LA Dodgers Geoff Jenkins 33 Milwaukee Orlando Palmeiro 38 Houston Matt Stairs 39 Toronto Shannon Stewart 33 Oakland Rondell White 35 Minnesota Center Fielders Mike Cameron 34 San Diego Jeff DaVanon 33 Oakland Darin Erstad 33 Chicago Sox Jerry Hairston Jr. 31 Texas Torii Hunter 32 Minnesota Andruw Jones 30 Atlanta Kenny Lofton 40 Cleveland Corey Patterson 28 Baltimore Aaron Rowand 30 Philadelphia Right Fielders Cliff Floyd 34 Chicago Cubs Shawn Green 34 NY Mets Bobby Kielty 31 Boston Trot Nixon 33 Cleveland Reggie Sanders 39 Kansas City Designated Hitters Mike Piazza 39 Oakland Sammy Sosa 38 Texas Mike Sweeney 34 Kansas City A couple of players have yet to file but that's pretty much your 2007 FA crop...minus Mike Lowell who will probably want to test the waters. The Red Sox set their value on a player and stick to it, the most recent examples being Johnny Damon and Pedro Martinez. I'd hate to see him go, not only because of his bat, but because of his leadership which has got to outweigh the presence of Pedro or Damon. Other than that, these are my guesses: Trade Crisp (1b, 3b, RP?) and put Ellsbury in center field Ellsbury is a lot cheaper and can easily match Crisp's contribution. Crisp is a pretty good trading chip so we'll see if the Sox attempt to plug a hole at first or third (Youkils can play either but he was errorless at first this year) or get another RP or bench guy. Let Schilling go and put Lester and Buchholz in the starting rotation Considering the weak starting pitcher crop, it seems silly to overpay for anybody out there when you already have two young starters in the wings. The Sox could have a rotation of Beckett-Matsuzaka-Wakefield-Lester-Buchholz but they're likely to at least pursue a starting pitcher to say they tried. Other than that there are only some cosmetic moves such as improving the bench by nixing Hinske and replacing Mirabelli with Cash and taking a flier on a real lefty specialist and maybe a long relief guy...but then again we have internal options like Corey or Hansack for the time being. Either way, the core of this team is safe for some time and this offseason shouldn't be too insane save for a Japanese player causing chaos again. Edit: Cash filed for FA. So now expect the Sox to pursue a defensive minded catcher who won't suck up the joint when he's forced to hit. Tavarez's option is picked up so he'll most likely take the long relief role. He was absent most of September and on the playoff roster because he pitched significantly more innings than in 2006.

But it's not only when Tulowitzki is up at the plate...they just chant this rhythmic Rooooooockiiiiiiiies or something like that...it freaks me out. I guess that has something to do with a ballpark full of military men and families from Colorado's numerous bases?

Red Sox 2007 $ 143,123,714 2006 $ 120,099,824 2005 $ 123,505,125 2004 $ 127,298,500 Total $ 514,027,163 Yankees 2007 $ 195,229,045 2006 $ 194,663,079 2005 $ 208,306,817 2004 $ 184,193,950 Total $ 782,392,891 **coughcough** These Stats from CBS Sports seem to think differently. And excuse me, 250 million added this offseason? I believe that you're mistaking us for those lovable Chicago Cubs. Even if you add Matsuzaka's 51.1 million dollar posting fee, the Red Sox would still be flyin' significantly lower than the Yankees at 565 million in four years. How much do you think Torre's absence with your attempts to resign Rivera, Pettite, and Posada? Is an extra two million worth losing some key players who loved that prune faced man? I guess it depends on if the Yankees are fully committed to this youth movement, but it's always hard to bring players to New York who can play and those are some high demand positions. And Dub, where the hell did Francona come in? Of course he's gonna get flack, every manager does...how does this relate to your argument over Torre? Managers get judged on how well they're playing with usually a hint of past experience tossed in. When Francona was getting said flack, he probably deserved it, just as he deserves praise now for bringing the Red Sox back to the World Series.

For the time being, at least, it's still great seeing that kind of love and adoration for JD Drew. This does give him a mulligan going into next season though.

Yah, I forgot about that, just had one of those shocked reactions right there. But hey, if it makes you feel better, you can pile a lot of shit on the Patriots. And KSP is right, Beckett is amazing. Wow, it's amazing how dramatically the public opinion of that deal has changed. The Sox needed an ace and did they get one or what?

Ahh, that was absolutely necessary for Manny. I dunno, somehow I felt that the fans' patience was wearing a bit thin with him again...but then wham, bam, BOOM, walkoff. Can't beat the bash brothers. <---Ortiz Manny--->

That makes no sense, everyone's tested.

I have a sort of vested interest in Colorado and I know, without a doubt, that every single Rockies fan had that "Oh Shit" moment as soon as Jorge Julio entered the game.

I was in doubt a bit earlier this year but I guess hitting in the two spot gives you a significant amount of ABs. Let's make it 6...though I'm probably drafting someone different,

:worshippy: Michael Young :worshippy:

This is why I hate watching nationally televised Yankees games! Maybe Joba's dad will be sitting with Jeter's parents so they can remark on a white woman, black man, and Native American all sitting together and coincidentally being the parents of Yankees players.

I'm not gonna lie, I seriously thought he was going to put on more of a power display after last year's disappointing output. A lot of his hits are singles now too, he's 15th in SS SLG. All in all though, I apologize for some of my complaints earlier because Michael Young is still giving me decent production...I think I spent too early on him in the fifth round for 8th best SS in an 8 team league.

He's really picked it up, man, don't know why I ever doubted you. Oh yeah, the lack of steady contributions otherwise...but still, look at his month by month splits. April .215/.236/.346 May .296/.352/.443 June .361/.426/.407 July .327/.365/.388 August .330/.398/.472 September .366/.416/.439

Well, a lot of this is based on people who see Ichiro hit bombs during batting practice. I definitely believe it...I gotta support my fellow Asians.

When all is said and done, I'm more confident in our bullpen than almost any other in the game. Our playoff pen will have Papelbon, Okajima, Gagne, Delcarmen, Timlin, and then possibly Buchholz and Wake or Tavarez as the long man.

Delcarmen has given up four earned runs in his last eleven outings, nothing to be worried about. Delcarmen seamlessly tosses scoreless innings in obscure middle relief and people tend not to notice that. Mike Timlin has actually been amazing in the bullpen. The four runs he allowed during his 1000th appearance were his first since August 3rd (Aug 31st), a span of 13 innings.

That just shatters everything I believe in. I hate FOX Sports Broadcasting with such a passion. Harold. Go grab a boob there and come back to Baseball Tonight.