I'm not sure exactly when the Winter Baseball Solstice falls on the calendar, but we have to be getting pretty close. Hall of Fame voting is starting to monopolize headlines. Irrelevant signings are becoming a source of wonderment. Dreaming of the winter meetings 11 months from now feels perfectly
reasonable. It's beginning to feel a lot like January...
News: The Astros deepened their bench by signing Darin Erstad to a one-year, $1-million deal. According to Baseball Prospectus' fielding stats, he was consistently an above-average center fielder until last year. He amassed 38 Fielding Runs Above Average in 2002. Unfortunately, his highest OPS+ this millennium is the 97 he posted in 2004. He has hit .283/.334/.382 against righties the past three years.
Editorial: The Jays were prepared to trade Alex Rios for Tim Lincecum. The Jays were uncharacteristically forthright about having made that offer, so they are clearly very enamored of Lincecum.
I wonder if the offer will be on the table again next year if Rios improves in 2008.
Rios is 27, and I think it's unreasonable not to forecast higher numbers than he's had the last two years. Suppose, for the sake of argument, Rios takes a significant step forward. He hits .303/.357/.542 with 32 homers, 106 RBI, 17 stolen bases and excellent defense, and Lincecum stays healthy with a 3.85 ERA and slightly fewer walks than he had last year.
Would the Giants be more likely to give up Lincecum next winter as a result? Rios' unsurprising "breakthrough" season "establishes" him as a star "entering" his "prime," and Lincecum isn't looking like an ace yet. The irony of it all is that the Giants would be worse off doing the deal after 2008 than they would be now, since they get two years of Rios for five of Lincecum instead of 3 for 6 and they missed out on Rios' age 27 year for a development year from Lincecum. And the Jays would probably be less likely to do it then than they were now, too. I dunno. Something to think about on December 29, I guess.
Comics: Roger Clemens sings sweetly.
Sports: The Mets are still interested in Johan, and they've offered Gomez, two of Pelfrey, Humber and Mulvey, and someone else. No thanks, say the Twins. As the Johan saga drags on longer, it becomes less likely that both Johan and Hughes will land in the AL East, which is a good thing.
Gosh, this is slow. Go Raptors! What else is going on?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20071228145220214