Wheelimus

Not so fast. The L.A. Times is reporting he rejected it because $25 million of the money would have been deferred. He would have gotten $10 million this year, $10 million next, and then $10 mil in 2011, 2012, and $5 mil in 2013. As much as I like to roast rich athletes as much as the next guy...where do I sign? Make it $12.5 this, $12.5 next, and $10 deferred for the next two seasons. Impossible, but I guess I'm trying to say knowing the deferment it isn't that overwhelming of an offer.

Who cares if he's grouchy. Even at his worst he still put up terrific numbers. If he'd sign with the Cubs for 2/30 plus incentives he can do what he wants. Show up 5 minutes before the game. Be carried to his outfield position on a throne carried by now out of work former teammates. Punch Jim Hendry in the balls nightly. Whatever. Of course, I'd sign Satan if it would get us a World Series win...

I'd actually be pretty happy if they moved to Florida. It's a lot easier to talk family and friends into a trip if you can offer them stuff to do other than baseball. Thus far I've never been able to sell them on the non baseball attractions of Mesa. The fam' can go to Disney World. I'll be at the real amusement park. :D

He knows if they strip Bonds he'd have to be stripped of his #2 spot. Or maybe he just knows how stupid it is to get so bent out of shape about records pertaining to a children's game.... I'm as Cub-addicted as anyone, but even I have to believe things are being taken far too seriously. Firstly, you cannot be sure whatsoever as to who did not cheat. If we just start throwing people onto the fire based on suspicions, how long before we erase Ruth's records for some freshly unearthed antique-PED scandal? How long before the all time home run list doesn't even have someone with 500+? How about we just let the only people who should really care, that being true fans of baseball (and not just TV talking heads and seasonal bandwagon'ers), decide what is and isn't the record? For me, the all time home run hitter is Hank Aaron. For others who take a purist approach, maybe even his admitted greenie use is too much and your all time leader is Babe Ruth. Or maybe you're so into it that the only era you trust is the dead ball. And your leader is some dude who played before 1919 that I'm unwilling to look up. The point is, it should be left to baseball fans to decide what to make of the steroid era. Those years happened, and arbitrarily cutting up the record books won't change that. As sad as it is, none of us here may live to see another player make a run at Bonds (or as it may be, A-Rod) who we can really say was 100% clean. Hell, until there's a reliable HGH test we can't say much. If people are to be shamed, leave it to the Hall of Fame. So far Big Mac hasn't found much forgiveness. And it will sure be strange to explain to youngsters why the all time home run king fell off the HOF list on his first try.

I just find it hilarious that there is NOTHING on Sammy. It's really just him losing his English before Congress and stories of bags of money lost in the Dominican Republic. So either Sammy Sosa was the luckiest Steroid Era ballplayer in history, didn't juice, or DR drug runners know basic respect for their customers. Or a little of 2 or more of those, lol. Sorry, but until you have the smoking gun you have nothing on Sammy. No fair excuse to not put him in the Hall of Fame on Day 1. Assuming he's really done with MLB and his clock is ticking. And that smoking gun may never come. Well done Sammy for at least keeping your stuff on the down low. Ha.

They should have just given Phish the show. They at least make a point of asking their concert goers to pick up after themselves. Not that every hippie listens. I'd rather we think of something that people would sit down and listen to politely but still pay stupid amounts of money for. Can't we just get Obama to have a speech? \:D/

I'd ask him what the cost would be for a June 1st signing with a 2010 team option. And I'd ask him what that price will be **now**. Lets not be silly here. Sheets has to know that the cost of a draft pick will be factored into his deal one way or another. Lets just set ourselves up a little gamble on a handshake and sign the paperwork as soon as it doesn't cost a pick. Why not. We've gambled on much stupider.

If I were Griffey I'd just hang up the old cleats. He's an obvious 1st ballot Hall of Famer. He made a stupid amount of money and will continue to be paid a stupid amount of money (with interest!) for the next 15 freaking years. By the time the checks stop coming he'll be well on his way to his golden years and a cushy MLB pension. He has nothing to prove, and anything short of a miraculous comeback is just going to be a forgotten footnote of his career. The only good reason I could see him coming back for would be a ring. And in that case, he'd probably need to come to terms with being a 4th outfielder on a playoff bound team.

Personally, I'm through with making bold predictions about young players. I was damn sure that Ryan Theriot was going to put up a historically bad season and then he winds up hitting .300 with a .380+ OBP. I know nothing it appears. It's all a crapshoot. Olson was, so was Cedeno, and now so is Heilman. Just cross your fingers we win this round of prospect roulette.

Don't worry, if Bradley breaks down Bonds will be waiting. And we'll see how badly our "CF-RF" Kosuke Fukudome wants his starting gig. :-))

I'd imagine the only people impatient about any of this are news starved message board baseball fans. Marquis certainly has no say in the matter. He'll show up somewhere in March to throw a baseball. Whether that's the Cubs spring training facility or the Rockies, won't make a lot of difference to him I'd imagine. His crap from Chicago will be boxed up and mailed somewhere. Anything he didn't already see enough writing on the wall to grab before he left at the end of '08. It's really still the holiday period or just getting past it. If Milton Bradley has agreed to a deal in principle, he isn't sweating a thing. We'll find out soon, just not soon enough for most of us ;o)

I'm pretty excited, all things considered. We're getting Milton Bradley. For once we have a new Outfield component who just might not be less than we expect. All bets will be with health, of course, but he has the potential to be huge. DeRosa was in his walk year. We'd heard zero talk about any contract talk. We just saw how right we were with draft picks for Woddy, ugh. Sometimes you sell high. Getting rid of the contract gets us Milton Bradley. Jason Marquis will be gone. These seem like exciting times. I'm excited to see what Little Mike Fontenot can do.

Wrong, it's done but they don't want to take away from the media coverage of Obama's inauguration. :-))

Would be one hell of a 4th outfielder and bench bat. :P

Well, I meant one year deals with 2010 options. I wouldn't think that they'd all be in the 3 million range like Cesar got. Russel Branyan was signed for $1.4. John Bale $1.2. We signed Gathright for .8. That right there is just a bit more than Cesar gets in 2009. I would think they would have been much better off signing those 3, making them everyday players, and hoping that one (or more) of them have a little trade value come the deadline. Hell, who is the teams crappiest left handed pitcher? We'd probably take him for Ronny Cedeno. Who would probably outperform Cesar, with fewer highlight reels admittedly.

Which begs a bigger question. Not only "why aren't more teams trying to turn busts into knuckleballers". But "why aren't they also trying to turn every catcher bust into a knuckleball catcher" too. Some kid might not be able to hit worth a damn, but if he could master catching the knuckleball it just might be his ticket to the show. Especially if some small market team ever pulled off the unthinkable and brought up 2 or 3 knuckleballers at once. Can you imagine that kind of crazy jive? One year a team just says "bleep it", trades their rotation for prospects, and put 5 knuckleballing rookies in their rotation. Lol

I can understand a desire for stability, but the O's are going nowhere fast. Who really cares how stable shortstop is when you're coasting to a 90+ loss season. For the long term growth of the organization, they would have been better off spending the $6 million on a handful of various non-tenders with 2010 options. Then at least they might luck into some trade bait at the deadline. Who could bring prospects who might help when the O's will next be competitive. Which will be long after Cesar finishes his two year contract. Stupid.

At least the Astros are just taking low dollar gambles. I couldn't imagine being an Orioles fan and trying to deal with Cesar for 2 years at top dollar. You never know, stranger things have happened. Maybe Pettite gets annoyed with the Yankees and decides to help out his old club. lol

Well, it's silly to say you wouldn't trade Vitters for anything but a perennial All-Star. But it's also silly to call him overrated. Like any talent you trade them if the deal makes you better now without mortgaging later. I'd really like to see Vitters stick around and find out what he becomes, though.

I wonder if they don't because players might become more adapt at hitting it if every minor league team suddenly had 2 or 3 in their rotation. Still, worth a shot I'd say.

You say this as if it would be really easy. You can't just get rid of guaranteed contracts. Peavy is the guy who costs the most and could most easily be traded without needing to eat money. He might decide to take his lumps, but he doesn't sound like the type of guy who would be happy losing millions. I'm not saying it would be easy to do, but it would probably be as easy to do as accepting a low-end return for Jake Peavy. It all depends on what the magic dollar number is. And how close to it dumping Greene's contract got them. Towers has been pretty brazen here. Asking for the moon from the Cubs and grandstanding at the winter meetings was pretty much "all cards on the table". He's made it pretty clear that if he's giving up Jake Peavy he's getting a ton in return. So to a guy like that it might be easier to eat $3 million and deal Giles if that gets him under budget. Especially should Giles find San Diego not as welcoming post wife-beating and all. And wifebeater or no, business is business. Some team will be interested in Giles output at $6 million with no future commitment. The Padres are going nowhere in 2009 no matter what. Whether they have their biggest asset or not. Peavy knows this and he's locked in long term. Towers likely has the power to do whatever he wants, including keeping Jake Peavy and seeing what's out there when starting pitchers inevitably start dropping like flies when the season starts. I'm not arguing it's sound logic, just stating the likely realistic case.

Nevermind that the Padres made life a little easier on themselves by dealing Greene without taking any big contracts back. It isn't like Jake Peavy is the only guy on the Padres roster. If money becomes the problem in the end, trade Brian "Wifebeater" Giles for a bag of balls. Get rid of Chris Young. Etc. And if a new owner is on the horizon, Peavy might just be content to wait it out and take his lumps for one year. Especially since a mid season trade will always be an option.

Not much he can do though, if the Padres want to hold him hostage in San Diego they can. Perhaps the crapification of the Padres will lead him to expand his list of suitors, though.

Good thing he's signed for quite some time then. :P

Well, they sold the film "The Rookie" as the "greatest comeback story of all time" and the situation was fairly similar. Hell, Niekro at least had a couple hundred MLB at bats under his belt. I've never bet against a knuckleballing Niekro and I'm not about to start now. Stranger things have happened...