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That's a reasonable request for Walker to make. And a reasonable response from Hendry is that his own job is on the line, and Walker has too much trade value to allow him to just walk.

Just curious, but how do we know that? I haven't heard anything one way or the other from my sources. OK, I don't have any sources, but it sounds so cool when everybody else says that.

What I don't get is I assume the longer the WS lasts the better it is for MLB. If Houston is down in the series 2-0 and Houston thinks they have an advantage with the roof closed, it would seem to be in the best interests of MLB to let them keep the roof closed. Unless the ratings are so bad it's better to have fewer games (hard to imagine), it sounds like Selig is following his traditional procedure of Load-Fire-Aim.

Last year the Rangers had 3 Young's start at the same time - Michael, Eric and Chris (the pitcher). Interestingly, they didn't put any extra identification on the uniforms - they weren't hard to tell apart.

My point also. I don't want to hear about his strategy, I want to hear results. Maybe his public statements or friendly leaks go in a different direction, but if his hirings and firings go in the right direction I'll be happy.

If you want to try your Spanish, this link is for a Venezuelan newspaper that provides good coverage Link The Caribes game yesterday was suspended, here's Adam's line:

And that's why it's awesome to have Bruce Miles on this board - speculative thread killer. Thanks Bruce :D Instead of "distingushed guest" under his name (which he is), I think it would be awesome to have "threadkiller." Either one is cool. Thanks, Bruce. Once again you set us straight. I'll be happy to share :)

To me that means no philosophical changes b/c it was bad fortune. Damn that fortune. I'm discouraged by the comment that "there's no sense looking back." That's how you learn. Why didn't you get the results you anticipated? What could have been done differently? Look at your competitors to see if you can identify best practices. The last several weeks should have been primarily focused on looking back, to update and improve the decision process going forward.

One other thought is the effect of mistakes - for the most part, batters can afford to make a lot more mistakes than a pitcher can. One mistake pitch can lose the game. A batter gets more opportunities to learn and recover from his mistakes. Put another way, if I'm hiring a salesman I want a batter, one that can make mistakes, learn from them and keep coming back. If I'm looking for a brain surgeon I want a pitcher (and preferably a real good one).

Which is better - mangement clearly indicates an intention to take advantage of the free agent market to fill specific needs, even identifies those needs as increased OBP, etc., and 4 months from now nothing material has changed, other than we're given explanations (excuses) that the market is overpaying, etc; or, management indicates nothing about their goals or strategies, and 4 months from now we find ourselves with Giles, Walker, Furcal on the roster (and no Macias, Perez or Burnitz). The first scenario would perhaps induce a short term sigh of relief on this board, but I think most of us would prefer the results of scenario 2 in the long run. So the question for me is, would a clear indication of the goals and strategies for this off-season expressed today help, hinder, or have no impact on the likelihood of ending up where we want to be in the spring? I can see some arguments for both directions, but honestly I don't think failure to keep the faithful supporters informed will have any difference one way or the other. I don't think publicly announcing a strategy for the off-season will increase the probability that the strategy will be successful. If they did announce their goals, I probably wouldn't believe them. Even if they signalled to us by non-tendering Perez, Macias and Burnitz, that really doesn't prove anything because replacements for those spares can be picked up as easily as they were let go. Last year we learned the results of sharing our strategy with the world when we basically had to give Sosa away. For all those who thought that Sammy was the devil incarnate, wouldn't it have been better for management to act as if he was the Second Coming and sing his praises up until the trade was announced? I understand the frustration, but since I'm not going to get encouraged until I see concrete results, I frankly don't care what they say, or indicate, or nod, nod, wink, wink until then.

Or you can pick up his option and trade him to a place where he wants to go. Or you can decline the option, tell him up front he's going to be a backup if he signs with the team (but would be welcome in that role), then offer arbitration and get draft picks. I'm pretty sure he'd be a type A compared to other second basemen. But wouldn't he still get arbitration money which would be a lot more than his option?

Ah, Giordano's. The last time I was in Chicago (probably 15 years ago) I brought home 2 pizzas to Dallas. Almost started a riot in 1st class when they could smell but not touch.

By the way, if you've got 30+ pages you need to get Premium! Best bargain on the 'net. :)

If the Yankees are not motivated sellers, then I don't think a deal gets done. I love ARod, I think Texas screwed up by letting him go so cheaply, but that doesn't mean you can't overpay for him. And I think either Prior or ARam plus a top prospect is all I would offer. If the Yankees want more they can keep him. If they get more then more power to them.

Calls being the key word. Again....the ball was rolled BEFORE the ump put his hand up. And again, if he hadn't put his hand up there would have been plenty of time for Escobar to throw the runner out.

And the choir responds, "AMEN" :hail: :hail: :hail:

I wear my seatbelt every time I get in the car, and I haven't been in an accident in over 20 years - I guess I'm unreasonable, too.

I've seen it, and that is definitely not the case. The ump called him out, paul rolled (and didn't sprint anywhere), then AJ ran, the ump froze, looked confused as hell, then panicked and didn't know what to do, then just stood around like an indignant idiot defending his ineptitude. You're right. I saw the fist pump while Paul was still in his crouch. If the Angels are at fault there, then everyone better tag every batter after every strike 3 call, everytime. The Angels definitely will. I wouldn't just tag them. If it's AJP, I slap him as hard as I can with the ball. The Angels also need to make a point of running to 1st base on every strikeout just in case the ump might think the ball was dropped.

If you have an oversize Cubs hat I'd like to see Kevin Mench.

Teams don't like front loaded contracts. For the most part, they want to hang on to cash as long as they can for interest purposes, etc. Even with other contracts coming up, they can always pay the money aside if they know they have it in the early years and will be tighter in later years. Players don't like back loaded contracts. For the most part, they want to get the cash as soon as they can for interest purposes, etc. The real negotiations will be over the present value of the contract. The only ones who really prefer the backloaded contract are the agents, because for a given present value, a backloaded contract sounds more impressive, since the total dollars and length of the contract are what are reported in the media.

What were Jeter & A-rod doing in Boston? :D Apparently drowning their sorrows while cross-dressing.

Someone may have more details, but I believe it surfaced after the draft that Tim had some arm troubles. He disclosed them prior to contract talks, and the result was a reduced bonus, but Tim could sleep soundly at night.

And it's the in the Cubs nature to go after the toothiest. Toothé

The problem with including Wood in a trade is that, with the no-trade clause, he is likely to demand a one or two year extension in order to waive the no-trade clause. So now the trading partner has to look at Wood as a guy with a 2 or 3 year contract. That means that a large part of the money savings from moving ARod will be absorbed by Wood's contract. Note that I did not say Wood can't be moved because of the no-trade, just that his value to an acquiring team is lowered by whatever they have to give him to waive the no-trade.

While i definitely agree that Abreu is probably worth more than the package proposed it appears to me Philly might not be in the drivers seat on this deal. If they are forced to dump payroll GM's aren't going to be offering the best package. Throw in the fact that very few teams have the leeway to take on 14m for one player for one season let alone at least 1 or 2 more at that price. PHilly seems to be at a disadvantage. Just when you think Hendry has problems, Wade seems be in more trouble. The fact that Philly needs to dump payroll is pretty much irrelevant if several teams are interested in Abreu. He's only going to wind up with one team, and I don't want to hear Hendry say he got outbid because he wasn't going to offer more to a team trying to dump salary.