The Phillies have signed catcher Rod Barajas to a one year deal for $2.5 million with a team option for a second year.

A notable signing yesterday, but not of a free agent - the Rockies signed Jeff Francis to a four year deal for $13.25 million.  

There's been roughly 22 signings so far. The market for hitters has become a little more established. The market for starting pitching is still hazy as El Duque and Mussina are the only ones to have signed contracts at this point.

Back in June, I went wandering through the history of all 30 active franchises. I was interested in each team's all-time record - were they winners overall or were they losers? What was each team's highest mark above .500, what was the lowest? If they have a losing record, when did they fall below .500? Stuff like that.

I've been a little burnt out lately, and I probably need to take a long rest. But I do have some thoughts on the 2006 American League champions.

In the immortal words of Butch Cassidy, "who are those guys?"

Julio Lugo is interested in joining the Blue Jays according to a Blair article in the Globe.

A's 5 - Twins 2 (A's lead series 2 - 0)

Mets 6 - Dodgers 5 (Mets lead series 1 - 0)

The Tigers in the playoffs? The Red Sox in third place? The Royals losing 100 games? (Okay, ignore the last one.) It appears there is a new order in this league, or at least two isolated events that allow me to come up with some sort of introduction to this, the last day of the season.

Jays lose, and Curt Schilling beats Tampa. Back in third place...

Jays stroll into second

The Jays pummelled the Pawtucket pitching staff yesterday, and took advantage of some... unorthodox outfield play courtesy of Kevin Youkilis and Wily Mo Pena. They now stand just half a game out of second place...

For those who don't remember 2004 (and why should you?) it was the year that saw the introduction of the First Annual Robert Goulet Memorial Trophy. Naturally, it was awarded to Baltimore that year before Toronto took it back with their third-place finish in 2005.

And a Kevin Youkilis-Wily Mo Pena-Eric Hinske outfield would have been quite amusing, but Trot Nixon took RF while Hinske played first base in the bottom of the first for the first time ever in Toronto.

Jays win, but Yankees clinch.

Bleah.

Bleah.