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Looks like we are getting Izturis and Derosa next year up the middle. 2007 is over before it even had a chance to begin. It's certainly not the end-we need upgrades elsewhere, but Izturis and Derosa are at least as good as most team's catcher/and either their 2b or SS, whichever is worse. We just happen to have our offense at catcher and our defense at SS and to a lesser extent second (lesser extent because Derosa is not as offensively deficient), while most teams have one good offensive middle infielder and the other one is deficient, along with most catchers. Upgrade some of the other positions, and this offense can still be good.

All of that fee goes to the Lions-Matsuzaka now has to go negotiate his own contract with the Red Sox in 30 days.

If I'm Boston, I refuse to sign him to anything but a long-term deal of 5 or 6 years. If Boras refuses, then Boston isn't out anything. You cannot cave in to his demands for a 3 year deal though-like you said, that's just way too much money.

Sorry to tell you, he was a B. It does mean now that Derosa doesn't lose us our draft pick as some of the other second basemen would (players like Durham and probably a couple others were type A's and would have lost us a pick), but I understand what you mean that it brings us closer to the quota as well.

What does this have to do with anything? Just because the Cubs may have been foolish enough to think about having this guy play 3B next year does not mean others were. And that fact, well, it's not really a fact, does not all of a sudden mean this is a good signing. Other teams were looking to make Derosa a starting third baseman though. The Phillies were one that I know of.

I don't know how you can say that. DeRosa averages what, 10 homers and 50 RBI's a season? Soriano can triple his HR totals and he can double DeRosa's RBIs. Average and OBP wise, he matches up with Soriano, but that's about it. You missed the point. DeRosa was crappy for two years then good for one, and now he's getting paid like a good player. Soriano was good for two years and great for one, and people are clamoring for him to get paid like a great player. Not to nitpick TT, but he is not getting paid like a great player. $4.3MM is not chump change, but it will hardly be a huge drag on the payroll in future years. Also, is there any indication that DeRosa did something different last year that helped him turn the corner? His numbers last year are pretty significant improvements and while his last 100abs were pretty bad, he sustained pretty good numbers for the majority of the year. The bolded was talking about Soriano. DeRosa had a career year, his struggles at the end of the year point towards it as does his astronomically abnormal BABIP. My hope is that Jaramillo helped him with something to get an increase in power, and that it sticks with Jackson's tutelage. That combined with a slightly lucky BABIP season could possibly get a .270/.330/.430 out of DeRosa. I would be happy with that season out of DeRosa. That would still put him among the top half of 2nd basemen in OPS, and his contract would be comparable to those around that number also. We will just have to see if he can get there or better or not.

If he puts up numbers like last year his contract for a second baseman will be very, very good. Of course, like you said he is not likely going to match his numbers. How far can he drop and still be market value? 40-50 points maybe? From looking around most of the 2nd basemen in the league in their contracts, that seems about right-let's hope he can reach there at least.

5th and 6th were by far his two primary spots.

Then I'd live with missing out on him. He made $675k last year. He would have taken $2m, because I cannot imagine another team giving him more per. I think the Phillies would have easily paid him more than 2 per. They were looking at him to fill a starting spot and had already expressed great iinterest in him. Then good for the Phillies. Let them overpay for a utility IF. Let's be clear: We didn't overpay for JD Drew or Barry Zito or someone who's actually good. We overpaid for a player who's somewhere between Mark Grudzielanek and Neifi Perez. I would agree that the contract is over what I would have paid him-but really all the contracts together so far, we're still under what we were projecting budget-wise going into getting out impact SP and bats. Let's see if we actually get those-that will tell the tale or not if this is a good offseason, not this signing.

Unless Lou asked Hendry to beef up the bench big time due to the day games and this might put a couple of young guys on the bench to save some dough.. Ding ding ding ding! I think you hit the nail on the head. But you still didn't have to run out and pay him 3x what he deserved. We way overpaid. If we paid him about $2m, I wouldn't care. If that extra $2m per is the difference between a crappy OF and JD Drew, I'm going to be bloody ticked. If we paid him 2 million, we wouldn't have gotten him. I'm not sure if that's what we would have wanted at that point, but he wasn't coming here for 2 million dollars. Then I'd live with missing out on him. He made $675k last year. He would have taken $2m, because I cannot imagine another team giving him more per. I think the Phillies would have easily paid him more than 2 per. They were looking at him to fill a starting spot and had already expressed great iinterest in him.

Unless Lou asked Hendry to beef up the bench big time due to the day games and this might put a couple of young guys on the bench to save some dough.. Ding ding ding ding! I think you hit the nail on the head. But you still didn't have to run out and pay him 3x what he deserved. We way overpaid. If we paid him about $2m, I wouldn't care. If that extra $2m per is the difference between a crappy OF and JD Drew, I'm going to be bloody ticked. If we paid him 2 million, we wouldn't have gotten him. I'm not sure if that's what we would have wanted at that point, but he wasn't coming here for 2 million dollars.

That's an interesting point-what if this opens up some options? I mean, what happens if they now feel they can sign Durham or Drew, knowing that they will be covered if they go down? There are many ways they can go with this signing, and I have no idea which one they will choose.

I'm not convinced he's going to be the full-time second baseman either. He could be the platoon partner, he could be a utility guy, he could get some time at second. It's possible he is the full-time starter at second, but there are several other possibilites as well. I expect Hendry to come out and say that he will be given a chance at second regardless though-no reason to shut that down at this point, and plus if he really is a platoon partner for Jacque this will slide by the radar and not cause a PR problem with him right now.

Now, that's an idea I would like. If Derosa played second against right handers with Jacque in right, then Derosa could play right against left handers with Theriot at second-that would give better production out of the two positions.

Spending millions for such a lack of production can very well impact other positions, negatively. I agree, but I think Derosa is good enough to not be a drag on the offense either-he's just going to be an average to a little below average second baseman. If he repeats last year, he'll be a little above average, but I doubt he does that.

Probably a bit over-paid, but not dramatically so. If he's only ok, we can turn him into an extemely expensive utility player (where he'll definitely be too expensive, but other then that he is very valuable in that respect). If he can continue to play pretty well like last year, then he is worth it. It's certainly not an impact signing, but if the impact comes at other positions, then this will turn into a fine signing.

The difference is that ARod costs more than the money-he also costs the players that it would take, and then the extra money that it would take to replace those players. Even if we got a good deal (Hill+Erye+ good prospect), we'd still have to replace Hill with one of the pitchers on the FA market, say Padilla for 9 per. Would you want ARod+Padilla for 25 mil or Soriano+Hill for 18 mil, not to mention that Erye and the good prospect are gone also? That's also one of the best case scenarios-if Arod costs more then that, then it becomes harder and harder to replace the talent we'd have to give up.

How does that help Philly's salary situation other then taking on an extra guy? Wouldn't they be receiving about as much salary as they would be giving away in that scenario?

All I know is that if that officiating crew ever officiated a Big 10 game, they would have fouled everybody out by halftime. I've never seen a game called tighter then that-every time somebody went to post up, it was immediate offensive foul. I knew Wilmont was going to be like that (although he is not going to shoot that well every night), Calloway was what I hoped for, Stemler and M. White looked good. Overall, a solid game-tomorrow's game is very important, because IU could really use the extra 2 games that going to New York gets.

Does Izturis have a degenerative knee condition? I had heard that his elbow problems were degenerative, but I hadn't heard about his knee. Egads. I think the elbow is degenerative, and not the knee. The only thing I've heard with his leg is his hamstring issues (a little bit in 2005, and of course it flared up with the Cubs). I don't think he actually has an actual condition in his legs though. Yeah, you're right. I had a minor brain fart. I knew he had a degenerative condition, and all I could remember were the leg injuries from the last 2 years. But yeah, it's his elbow. Either way, it adversely affects his fielding, so my point stands. From the small amount we got to see, that elbow was fine with the Cubs-he was showing great range and a strong arm from deep in the hole. If he is healthy, his defense will be fine-it will be the offense that is the huge question mark at best.

Does Izturis have a degenerative knee condition? I had heard that his elbow problems were degenerative, but I hadn't heard about his knee. Egads. I think the elbow is degenerative, and not the knee. The only thing I've heard with his leg is his hamstring issues (a little bit in 2005, and of course it flared up with the Cubs). I don't think he actually has an actual condition in his legs though.

He's one of those anti-Sorianos though-he absolutely hates leading off. He is willing to do it for the good of the team, but he has said multiple times how much he hates it, and his bad numbers at the leadoff spot might be at least partially the effect of that. Ok...still get him and bat him 2nd. I'd be fine with that.

I'd try for both. Drew at 3/37.5, Soriano at 3/46.5. Sign 1 pitcher, trade for another. IMO, I see no way that both of those guys will take that short of a deal-that would put them in free agency at the wrong time, and I think at least Soriano is looking to get a long-term deal. Drew might also, but we haven't heard much about his demands-but I doubt 3/37.5 will do it, considering he just opted out of 3/33, and many teams would love to have his bat.

He's one of those anti-Sorianos though-he absolutely hates leading off. He is willing to do it for the good of the team, but he has said multiple times how much he hates it, and his bad numbers at the leadoff spot might be at least partially the effect of that.

So IU is likely to play Butler tomorrow night? That should be an interesting game-did Butler do like usual and throw up 3's all game long? They have had some great shooters over the year. Indiana playing Butler is a lose-lose though-either Indiana loses (which helps Butler immensely but obviously doesn't help Indiana) or IU beats Butler, which means Butler can't get a statement win to help their resume and they are seen as terrible. Oh well-if IU can win the next two nights they'll get a chance or two to make a statement in the Garden next week-work hard, and get it done Hoosiers!