Two years ago, I had a look at some first basemen who potentially might be Hall of Fame candidates- Rafael Palmeiro, Fred McGriff, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Carlos Delgado, and Jim Thome. What I did not discuss in the articles was the implications of the steroid issue on their chances. Palmeiro and Bagwell (along with McGwire and Giambi) have been implicated in the steroid mess.

According to bluejays.com, the Jays have declined Bengie Molina's seven and a half million dollar option for next season and bought him out for half a million dollars.

Gregg Zaun filed for free agency two days ago as well -- the team has an exclusive window to negotiate with its free agents until November 12th, after which they're fair game, however there's no deadline for a player to re-sign with their former team.


Will the Jays end up with an entirely new catching crew for next year?

And who's out there to be had this off-season?

The Elias Sports Bureau player rankings for 2006 have been released. These rankings used to determine the compensation that will be awarded to a team who loses a player through free agency.

And now the pitchers.

Wildrose, with some thoughts on the home field advantage.

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Part II, focusing on the fielders.

When we bring the discussion round to career wins by pitchers, we encounter a very serious question.

Where to set the bar?

The first of a multi-part series this week.

Todd Helton had an off-year in 2006, hitting half the homers that he hit (please forgive the alliteration) 2 or 3 years ago. Even at that, he is still a good hitter and a fine fielder. He is now 32, and at a career crossroads.

The season is done, and so for the long, cold winter you'll only be seeing a new photograph once a week.  It's not because I don't love you -- I sure do -- but because I don't have enough material to put up something daily all winter.  Plus, you know, I need to spend some time with my family.

Today we're featuring Kelly Shoppach, who did something in the batter's box that surprised me:

I'll admit that I was rooting for the Tigers, but there are not really any sour grapes involved here -- I found the World Series between Detroit and St. Louis to be downright boring.

What do they say about desperate times?  That they call for desperate measures or something like that.  So here's Tigers hitting coach Don Slaught, in the hopes that the Photo of the Day Mojo will then spread to all of those hitters that he coaches.

Yeah, I'm rootin' for the Tigers.

...not coffee, but left-field choice for the Tigers in Game 4 against Jeff Suppan.  So suggests Nate Silver.  According to the plan, a struggling Curtis Granderson would sit and Craig Monroe would move to centerfield.  For the second time this season, you get to step into Jim Leyland's shoes.  Which way would you go?

I promised to look at Alfonso Soriano's career next, but after sober second thought, it seemed to me that his mark will be made as a power-hitting #3 hitter rather than as a leadoff hitter. We really need another year or two to see how he does at it, before examining his Hall chances.

So, instead, I thought that I would take a look back at my Hall Watch series of 2 years ago to see how the players are doing. We will start with the catchers- Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Jorge Posada, and Javy Lopez.

So yesterday's photo-mojo experiment failed badly when the game was rained out.  Will Alexis Gomez fare better in his Photo of the Day debut?