No arbitration for Pettitte, Abreu

The Yankees will not offer arbitration to free agents Andy Pettitte and Bobby Abreu, SI.com has learned. The Yankees did not want to chance taking either player to arbitration since both players made $16 million in 2008 and stood to make even more than that in arbitration. Both players can still re-sign with the Yankees though only Pettitte appears to have a good chance to do so.

This is not a surprise. Neither player was likely to get nearly as much on the free agent market as they would have in arbitration.

Bill Plaschke: Dodgers owners need a huge reality check

“If you bring somebody in to play and pay them, pick a number, $30 million, does that seem a little weird to you?” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. We’re really trying to see it through the eyes of our fans. We’re really trying to understand, would they rather have the 50 fields?”

Then, later in the conversation, she acted as if the Dodgers couldn’t afford to pay the big free-agent contracts that are always guaranteed.

“I think, oddly enough, if things weren’t guaranteed, then maybe we could pay for it,” she said.

Finally, she finished her Leno-worthy monologue by implying that high salaries were bad for the neighborhood.

“Whatever money they are guaranteed could be money that we could otherwise have given to the community,” she said.

Reaction? Where do I start?

No, No, No, No.

No, $30 million is not weird, it’s the price of competitive baseball.

No, fans should never be forced to choose between a charity and a championship, that’s absurd, is this a baseball team or a telethon? The fans want their money to go to one field only, the one occupied by the Dodgers, anything else is unethical and even immoral.

No, guaranteed contracts are not the deal of the devil, they are common baseball business.

No, fans should not have to worry that signing CC Sabathia means some poor child doesn’t eat that night, that’s beyond belief. Who runs this team, Charles Dickens?

Won’t anyone think of the children!?!?!

Red Reporter: Slyde: Top 25 Non-MVP seasons by Reds players

Woo-eee...somebody should start a blog on Friggin’ Joe Morgan.

2. Joe Morgan - 1973 - 22 WSAB - 26 HR, 82 RBI, 67/15 SB/CS - .290/.406/.493, 154 OPS+ - 4th MVP

3. Joe Morgan - 1972 - 21 WSAB - 16 HR, 73 RBI, 58/17 SB/CS - .292/.417/.435, 149 OPS+ - 4th in MVP

4. Joe Morgan - 1974 - 21 WSAB - 22 HR, 67 RBI, 58/12 SB/CS - .293/.427/.494, 159 OPS+ - 8th in MVP

We all know about Morgan’s back-to-back MVP seasons in 1975-1976, but did you realize that he led the NL in WSAB in each season from 1972 to 1976?  Morgan lost the MVP to teammates in 1972 (Bench) and 1973 (Rose), and then finished 8th in 1974 despite the Reds winning 98 games (though they did finish 2nd to the Dodgers).  I think of all of the players from the Big Red Machine, he’s the one that I wish I had gotten to see in person.

MLB: Noble: Cone looks to win over Hall of Fame voters

Hey voters! You’re all big babies. You’re not invited to showtime anymore!

Not the most accomplished pitcher of his time, Cone nonetheless developed a reputation for Bob Gibson resolve and the stamina of a marathoner that set him apart from most of those with totals greater than his. How his achievements, image as a Hessian and five World Series rings will resonate with those casting Hall of Fame ballots is yet to be determined. Cone is among 10 players new to the ballot this year. But he appears to be a candidate who will elicit support out of respect and not only for his statistical achievement.

Gaining the minimum support for election—inclusion on 75 percent of the ballots distributed to more than 575 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America—appears to be a long shot for Cone…

Report: Hampton, Astros agree to deal

Doubletree resorts to Hampton in!

Mike Hampton reportedly is returning to the Houston Astros.

Hampton and the Astros reached agreement Monday on a contract pending the free-agent pitcher passing a physical, KRIV-TV in Houston reported on its Web site. Terms were not available.

Astros GM Ed Wade declined to comment.

Hampton pitched for the Astros from 1994-99, with his best season coming in 1999, when he was 22-4 with a 2.90 ERA.

Hampton has spent the past four seasons with the Atlanta Braves but did not pitch in 2006 and ‘07 because of injuries. In 2008, he was 3-4 with a 4.85 ERA after missing the first four months of the season because of injury.

ESPN: Klapisch: Mets didn’t get their money’s worth with Pedro

Pedro the Lionized: The Fleecing?

It was four years ago that Pedro Martinez was lured to New York by the Mets, a $53 million check stuffed in his pocket. Pedro wasn’t just a free-agent prize; to the Mets he was The One.

Now, 32 wins and no world championships later, it’s fair to ask: Was Pedro really worth the money? Not if the Mets are honest with themselves. Despite the projected success, Martinez broke down just as the Red Sox predicted after 2005 and was unable to deliver a single pennant, let alone a Series ring.

...By the time his contract with the Mets was coming to an end, Martinez couldn’t win the big games anymore. He spent so much effort nibbling corners, changing speeds, it was almost painful to watch him pitch. It seemed like the future Hall of Famer couldn’t even get out of the first inning, as the NL batted .375 against him in the opening frame.

All this while the Mets lost Game 7 of the 2006 league championship series against the Cardinals, then blew first-place September leads in both 2007 and ‘08. You couldn’t blame the Wilpons for revisiting Pedro’s $53 million contract and asking themselves: Where did the money go?

David Schoenfield: Are Boras clients worth the money?

When Oakland A’s pitcher Barry Zito hit the free-agent market following the 2006 season, his agent, Scott Boras, proclaimed Zito, then 28, would become baseball’s best left-handed starter since Steve Carlton.

He even produced a glossy, 74-page portfolio to show this possibility.

“He will be baseball’s next great ace,” Boras told USA Today. “Barry could be one of the best left-handed pitchers of all time. Players like this are Maddux-esque.”

The San Francisco Giants apparently agreed. They signed Zito to a $126 million contract.

In 2007, Zito went 11-13 with a 4.53 ERA.

In 2008, Zito went 10-17 with a 5.15 ERA.

Maybe Boras meant Mike Maddux, not Greg Maddux.

As always, Boras is a major player in the free-agent market. He represents Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez, along with Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez and Jason Varitek, among others.

Zito’s contract has certainly proved disastrous for the Giants, but it’s just one Boras megadeal. Do teams get their money’s worth with Boras clients? We checked other big Boras signings and rated them on our Scott Boras scale: Five Boras heads mean the teams got a great deal; one Boras head means they got fleeced.

The Baseball Talmud: Megdal: Quiet Year in Jewish Free Agency

The latest study from Megdal…

So as many of you know, the biggest prizes in this year’s free agency sweepstakes aren’t Jewish. (No, despite his size, CC Sabathia didn’t have a Jewish mother urging him to eat.) But there are two major league Jewish free agents to watch with the Winter Meetings around the corner.

The first is Brad Ausmus, the veteran catcher, who has indicated that he doesn’t want to return for a 17th season if he isn’t on the west coast. That works for the San Diego Padres, who, according to the USA Today, are interested in Ausmus as a backup to Nick Hundley.

Ausmus hasn’t been a prolific offensive player, in the sense that Sarah Palin hasn’t been a whiz on foreign geography or turkey-killing optics. His OPS+ numbers since 2001: 57, 74, 55, 63, 80, 54, 68, 60. Even his raw totals aren’t greatly inflated by Houston’s home park: just .218/.303/.296 in 2008. But in San Diego? I shudder to think what those numbers would look like in 2009. Still, Ausmus is a terrific interview, and his grandfather was a rabbi. Let’s hope he catches on.

MLB: Bauman: Familiar trio deserve Hall admission

Da-Da---DA-DA! We have our first official partial HOF ballot! (As usual send any/all HOF ballot articles in to the home office...)

I have persistently voted for Rice, Dawson and Blyleven, and I will again. This is always, in the end—even with all of the data on either side of any given argument—a subjective judgment. There are essentially at least two tiers of Hall of Famers; those who are no-doubters, first-ballot picks, the greatest of the great, and then there are those players whose overall worth is widely acknowledged, but whose worthiness for this honor can be debated. By definition, by receiving substantial support for many years, but never winning this election, these three players are in that second category.

...This annual vote represents another opportunity for the voters to revisit their choices and renew the attendant debates. The fact that these debates go on is a tribute to the standards for baseball’s Hall of Fame, and the importance of what this process signifies.

MLB: Jay Bell’s determination leads to Hall of Fame ballot

Szymborski is now writing under the name Gilbert? How’d he manage that?

Jay Bell never thought he would play 18 seasons in the big leagues.

“I made the Indians out of Spring Training in 1988 and I finished with a career high to that point of .218,” Bell said. “I remember thinking at that point that I didn’t know if I was going to be a good Major League player, but potentially I could be a good coach.”

Instead, he finds himself on the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time.

..."I really believe the reason that I have my name on the ballot is because I was a good support player,” the ever-modest Bell said. “I wasn’t ‘the guy.’ I was thrust in that position a couple of times in my career, but I was at my best when I had great players around me. I’m in the position I’m in today because of those guys and what they did for me.”

MLB: Jim Rice hopes final try equals immortality

Let’s hear it for Lee Ving’s favorite ballplayer...one more time!

Down to his 15th and final at-bat for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Jim Rice hopes the vote will at last swing him right into Cooperstown, N.Y.

A year ago, Rice, the slugger who played his entire career (1974-89) with the Boston Red Sox, came agonizingly close to gaining enshrinement. A player needs to be named on 75 percent of the ballots by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

By being named on 392 ballots, Rice finished at 72.2 percent, leaving him 16 votes shy. If history is any indication, Rice could well make up the difference this time. No player has ever received as high a percentage as Rice did last year without eventually becoming a Hall of Famer.

The wrinkle with Rice, however, is that this is the last year that he is eligible to make it to the Hall of Fame by traditional means.

Should the right-handed-hitting masher fall short again, Rice’s only possible entry going forward would be the Veterans Committee ballot.

Peter Gammons checks in with Fire Brand

Evan interviews long time Floyd Dakil fan, Peter Gammons.

What can Dustin Pedroia possibly do next to top what he’s done in his first two seasons?

I’m not sure Pedroia can top his offensive stats, but he will continue to improve every minute phase of his game. I do think if they get more power behind him, he will concentrate more on pitch selection. I talked to friends at Athletes Performance Institute in Tempe that say he’s more obsessed than ever. I want to see some of those marathon ping pong matches between Pedroia and Brian Roberts, whose tennis/eye/hand coordination skills and off every chart.

How do you feel blogs, both as a tool for grassroots media like MVN, as a part of mainstream media like Extra Bases, or as an athlete’s direct to fan communication device have changed the media landscape? Do you think media is better now in total because of it, less collectively informed (given Bob Costas’ arguments), or just different? How do you think media and coverage of the game will continue to evolve?

The media world has dramatically changed, and I feel the blogs are part of our landscape. Are there instances when there is little accountability? Yes. Do I think we need reporters who understand players as people? Yes. Do I agree with everything? No. Look, I always read every word that Sean McAdam writes, because he is a giant. But the fact remains that if you line up the seriousness of good bloggers vs. the angry white minority shock jocks on radio--not Michael Holley, for instance, but those whose worlds exist to spread agenda--are superior to listening to talk radio. My car has Sirius, so I listen to Rivals Radio (I love college football), Little Stephen’s underground and the BB King blues station.

Scout: Walton: Marty Marion at 91: Still Waiting for the Hall

And so are all the INRange Telepharmacy Fulfillment System toting members of SABR!

Simply put, Marty Marion deserves to be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2009. It has been a long time coming for the shortstop, now 91 years of age as of Monday, December 1, but sadly, he is assured of missing out once again this year.

...For whatever reason, being a defensive stalwart seems to have closed off the most important career recognition possible – selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1970, Marion received approval from 40% of the writers, his high-water mark in 11 different regular votes held from 1960 through 1973. Once he fell off the regular ballot, Marion often continued to be singled out as one of the primary candidates under consideration by the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee.

Yet, the anticipated call never came.

...It is past time for the Veterans Committee to send Marion to Cooperstown where he rightly belongs alongside The Man, Billy the Kid and his old double-play partner Red, but alas, again in 2009 it just isn’t going to happen.

Korea Times: Prelim Roster for WBC Unveiled

Manager Kim In-sik, who led South Korea to the semifinals in the inaugural contest in 2006 after beating the big leaguer-studded United States and eventual champion Japan, selected 45 players including seven playing overseas _ Park Chan-ho, Lee Seung-yeop, Lim Chang-yong, Lee Hye-chun, Choo Shin-soo, Baek Cha-seung and Lee Byung-kyu.

Free agent Kim Byung-hyun, who did not pitch in the 2008 season, was also included.

``Lee Seung-yeop said he would not play at the WBC to focus on his next season in Japan, but the technical committee have included him just in case he changes his mind,’’ Kim said.

Remember kids, in Asia, the last name comes first.

Donovan: Cot’s is one-stop shopping for baseball contract info

And so, back in 2005, Cot’s Baseball Contracts was officially hatched. Cot’s has become, in the ensuing three years, nothing less than the unofficial clearinghouse for MLB contracts, a finely detailed listing of every current big-league deal, from Alex Rodriguez’s $275 million monster with the Yankees (Did you know that the Rangers are still shelling out millions in deferred payments?) to Barry Zito’s $126 million heist from the Giants (which includes a clause that guarantees him hotel suites on road trips).

Want to see who’s a free agent this winter and what kind of contracts they’ve signed recently? Cot’s has it, from Rich Aurilia to Greg Zaun. The highest-paid player on the Twins? Cot’s has that, too. (Justin Morneau has an $80 million deal, but Joe Nathan is going to get paid a team-high $11.25 million in 2009.) The blog has become a regular reference point for worked-up fans, needy members of the media and even big-league front-office types, at least one of whom has told Euston that he’d rather stop by Cot’s than take the time to fire up Major League Baseball’s internal site.

“I was worried, at the beginning, for a couple of reasons. I wasn’t sure that Major League Baseball would be real happy about it,” Euston says. “But once I began hearing from people in the game and working with the clubs, everyone has been very positive. More than a few have told me they have [the site] bookmarked, which I think is very funny.”

Always nice to see a non-MSM site get props from the MSM.

BBTiA: Blake Beavan Interview

Q: Are you cocky, confident, or a combination of the two?

Beavan: Every professional athlete is cocky in his or her own way. That’s what makes you good. Whether it’s cocky as far as showing people in body language, or the quiet cocky, I think everybody is some sort of cocky. I’d say I’m more confident than anything. Back in high school I’d tell you that I was definitely cocky, but now I’ve been through a year and a half of professional baseball, with instructs and stuff, and it brings you back down to earth and humbles you and makes you realize that you aren’t the only good athlete out there—that you are going to have to work just as hard, if not double the effort of the other guys, if you want to be on that stage.

McNary: George Steinbrenner a Hall of Famer? Puh-lease!

“This is such a joke and makes a mochary or the sport!”

Now, the Hall of Fame. Cooperstown is a special place to baseball fans. Only the best of the best belong there, and even some of those (Pete Rose) don’t get in for various reasons. The case for Steinbrenner would include six World’s Championships, and turning a $10 million investment into a billion-dollar empire.

The case against includes Steinbrenner making a mockery of baseball budgets, a mockery of loyalty to the people he hired, and a mockery of the beauty and fairness of farm systems.

Recognizing that some will view this as a non sequitur, the fact that such baseball stars as Andre Dawson, Ron Santo, Graig Nettles, Bert Blyleven and Double Duty Radcliffe are not in the Hall of Fame, makes the notion of Steinbrenner one day having his bust next to those of Ruth, Gehrig, Mays and Aaron absurd.

A Hall of Fame self-promoting businessman?  Yes!

A baseball Hall of Famer? Puh-lease!

Primer Dugout 12-1-08

Happy Birthday to Walter Alston.

FanGraphs: Seidman: Valuing Meche

Meche, with a 4.18 FIP in 199 innings, would be responsible for 92 runs. Conveniently enough, this cancels out with the 92 runs surrendered by the replacement starter, meaning Meche’s value above replacement level is +25 runs. Converted to wins, Meche would be worth 2.5 wins.

Last year, the average dollar figure per win was around 4.5-4.75 million dollars. With inflation, I’ll call this year’s amount a firm 5 million per win. 2.5 wins multiplied by 5 million dollars per win amounts to 12.5 million dollars. That is, if Meche were a free agent right now and signed a 1-yr deal, 12.5 million dollars would be an appropriate fee. For multi-year deals, we usually factor in a 10% discount rate, since players tend to sacrifice a bit of their monetary value for some security. With that in mind, a 3-yr deal for Meche would come out to 33.75 million dollars. A 5-yr deal would be valued at 56.25 million dollars.

Meche may not have seemed worth the money back in 2006, but as of right now, his average annual value would be somewhere around 11.25 million dollars, just slightly above the 11 mil in his actual contract.

And, uhh Barnald...it’s Herman “Hesh” Rabkin not Meche. Nice try.

TSN: Justice: Yanks sure could use their other closer in Sabathia derby

It’s about time Jack Aker got some credit!

Maybe Joe Torre could have closed the deal with CC Sabathia. After all, he has a great reputation with players.

Perhaps he could have convinced Sabathia that pitching for the Yankees would be a wonderful experience. If Torre could change Mike Mussina’s mind about the Yankees, he might be able to change Sabathia’s.

...Now, as the Yankees nervously await an answer from Sabathia, as they debate whether to throw still more money at him, it’s one of those times where Hank Steinbrenner’s decision to show Torre the door looks more foolish than ever.

The Yankees have millions to throw at free agents this winter, but so far no player has jumped at the money. There’s a sense among some agents that a lot of players don’t want to play for the Yankees.

That gossip could be a bargaining tool, or it could reflect how much less appealing the Yankees have become in the post-Torre era.

NPB: Darvish Signs for 2009

That’s a lot of ￥u’s.

Yu Darvish has renewed his contract for ￥270m ($2.7m), a ￥70m ($700k) increase over 2008. Although Darvish was expected to hit the ￥300m ($3m) mark, he still set a record high for 5th-year players. “The didn’t win and I didn’t earn any personal titles,” explained Darvish.

NPB players are under team control for a minimum of eight years, and pre-free agent players sign get multi-year contracts (not that I’ve heard of anyway). So each offseason players and teams negotiate salaries for the upcoming season. It’s a little like the arbitration process in MLB, but players’ salaries will decrease after a bad year, and there’s never a third party mediator involved. Players who hold out sometimes pay their own way to spring training.

The Columnists: Allen: Saluting two men who changed baseball history: Robinson & Maris

No player, except maybe Robinson for different reasons, faced the pressures Maris did over that long summer and early fall. He accomplished so much. He pulled the country along with him.

He was an introverted, surly, brutally honest guy so the fans and most of his teammates favored Mantle in that challenge. He won five pennants with the Yankees and two more with the Cardinals before retiring after the 1968 season. He died in 1985. He was 51 years old.

The electees of Baseball’s Hall of Fame have ignored him ever since. Shame on them.

Barack Obama will change the nation starting January 20, 2008.

Jackie Robinson changed it on April 15, 1947 and Roger Maris changed the game of baseball on October 1, 1961.

And on December 1, 2008...will somebody please change Maury Allen’s meds!

Boston Globe: Tazawa agrees to 3-year Red Sox contract

Hmm, I wonder if he has the will to learn the gyroball…

According to a baseball source, the 22-year-old Tazawa will arrive in Boston this week after reaching agreement with the Sox on a three-year contract worth roughly $3 million. Tazawa is expected to undergo a physical in the next few days that will allow the sides to clear the final hurdle in negotiations. The Sox hope to officially announce his acquisition by the end of the week.

Though Tazawa was courted by several teams and offered more money by at least one - the Texas Rangers - the pitcher reportedly was interested in pitching for the Sox. Team officials have been scouting Tazawa for more than a year after having made major inroads in the Japan talent pool with the signings of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima during the 2006-07 offseason.

Despite his having no professional experience in Japan, Tazawa’s deal is a major league contract, meaning he will occupy a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster. Nonetheless, Tazawa is expected to begin his career in the minor leagues, though his ascension to the majors could come rapidly.

Red and Black: Smoltz offers basketball insight

Hey, if Cincinnatus Powell can make the pros...why not Atlantus Smoltz?

The Georgia men’s basketball team got a visit from an Atlanta sports legend after practice Sunday - a baseball legend.

Pitcher John Smoltz visited Athens Sunday to speak with the team and to display his skills, as the Atlanta Braves legend then went shot-for-shot with head coach Dennis Felton in a game of H-O-R-S-E.

Smoltz was hitting NBA range 3-pointers while warming up and remained mostly silent throughout the contest, while Felton was more vocal, calling out, “Money” after shots and also jabbing Smoltz on occasion by saying, “You traveled a long way to get beat, John.”

Felton outlasted the strong shooting of Smoltz, putting the pitcher out on a 3-point shot from the right wing.

“I shook a little when I saw John’s stroke,” Felton said. “I expected him to be good because our mutual friends had been telling me how good of a basketball player, but when I saw his stroke and his range, I wasn’t ready to shoot quite that deep. But I am clutch, that’s all I can say.”

Conlin: Time to say bye, bye to McNabb and Burrell after decade in Philly

Not since the tearful breakup of Goreaphobia has Philadelphia seen such loss.

Burrell was never what we wanted him to be - or what he wanted himself to be. But the body of his work will not be easy to replace. He never made an All-Star team or won a home run, RBI or batting title even though the scouting reports gave him a puncher’s chance at all of those. Pat just was not athletic enough or healthy enough to hide the lack of foot speed that limited his outfield range and made him a liability on the bases. Pat is an American League DH trapped within the broader parameters of the National League game.

At 32, Burrell probably has a half-dozen productive slugging years ahead of him. He wound up earning nearly as much salary per year as Drew so far and when you measure their power numbers and games played, it really is no contest. Pat has played nearly two fewer seasons than Drew yet has appeared in 97 more games, hit 59 more homers and driven in 190 more runs. In a lineup tilted toward lefthanded power hitters, Burrell has been the one righthanded bat in the middle of the lineup who pitchers had to get past.

...From this late-autumn vantage point, it is hard to see him coming back unless he makes Ruben Amaro an offer the new GM can’t refuse. Will Pat be offered arbitration by today’s deadline? Somebody out there in DH land will offer him 3 years with an option and $35 million or so. Hey, 25-30 homers and 90-100 RBI just aren’t that easy to come by.

Looking back, the Phillies could have picked Little League World Series hero Sean Burroughs, the 9th pick in ‘98, who played four big-league seasons for the Padres and hit a total of 11 homers.

Rosenthal: Ibanez more intense than most about training

Storing all those wonderful tools in the right way will keep them playable for decades!

Did you hear the one about Raul Ibanez and the hyperbaric chamber?

“The first thing people say is, ‘Oh, you mean like Michael Jackson?’” Ibanez says, chuckling. “I’m not afraid of that stigma.”

Ibanez isn’t afraid of anything that will make him a better baseball player, which is one reason he is a coveted free agent six months shy of his 37th birthday.

The hyperbaric chamber, he says, oxygenates his red-blood cells, aiding him in recovery. But the chamber is just one aspect of his training, and not a very large aspect at that.

You name it, Ibanez is doing it — joint alignment, muscle activation, active-release techniques, even Brazilian jiujitsu. He speaks with conviction about trying to reach his “genetic threshold,” or physical peak. He even keeps three hitting advisors — former major leaguers Edgar Martinez, Chili Davis and Kevin Seitzer — on speed dial.

Angels Mailbag: Spencer: Where will Garret Anderson land?

Dunno...but Spencer’s definitely landed on Anderson’s Christmas gift list.

Is there any word on what’s going to happen with Garret Anderson? He has always been my favorite Angels player. He has one of the sweetest swings in all of baseball. Losing his bat and leadership would be a large blow to the Angels. I just can’t envision him finishing his career out with another team. It’s just heartbreaking.

Spencer:....Because of his easy manner and graceful style, Anderson’s full complement of skills never have been fully appreciated, it seems to me. Critics might be surprised to learn that he consistently grades highly defensively, among the top five in left field, and that he is known as a smart, effective baserunner. Along with his remarkable offensive consistency, he has been clutch throughout his career. His 3-for-19 performance in the 2008 American League Division Series—he lined out once and had two drives caught at the wall—was an aberration. Only two hitters—Boston’s Mike Lowell and Texas’ Milton Bradley—surpassed Anderson’s .371 average in close- and late-game situations.

According to the Bill James Handbook, Anderson enjoyed in 2008 his most productive overall season since 2003 in the win shares category. I don’t know if his Angels days are over, and neither does he at this point. But if he doesn’t return, I have a feeling it will be another case of how we don’t fully appreciate somebody until he (or she) is gone.

Baseball-Intellect: San Diego Padres Top-15 Prospects of 2009, No’s 1 - 5

1. Kellen Kulbacki | OF | Age - 23 | Grade - B+

2. Mat Latos | RHP | Age - 21 | Grade - B+

3. Kyle Blanks | 1b | Age - 22 | Grade - B+/B

4. Cedric Hunter | CF | Age - 21 | Grade - B

5. Jaff Decker | CF | Age - 19 | Grade - B-

Murray Chass on Baseball: Padres Wallow in Divorces

Not since the great Judge Voltaire Perkins spouted..."Tears are the silent language of Bill Grief.” have I seen such a mess!

This was the worst year of John Moores’ 14-year ownership of the San Diego Padres. It began with Moores’ wife of 44 years, Becky, filing for divorce and went downhill the rest of the year until the Padres finished in last place with 99 losses, their worst season under Moores.

The divorce, which a baseball official described as “a messy divorce,” will eventually be settled, most likely in court, but there’s no guarantee what will happen to the Padres. They are headed for more perilous times. The divorce, for which Becky Moores filed claiming irreconcilable differences, is a major part of the reason.

“It’s having some impact,” said Sandy Alderson, the chief executive officer. “Four or five months ago I wouldn’t have expected it to have any impact.” Could the divorce affect the ownership of the team? “I think it could affect ownership. It could lead to a partial sale. We’ll have to wait and see. As a result of what’s happening, it could.”

YFSF: Biology is Destiny

Will genetic testing lead scouts into the nursery schools? A humorous musing from YFSF:

The more progressive baseball organizations are closely monitoring these tests, sending baseball scouts to observe the children whose gene scores suggest they will become elite baseball players. Scouts from Oakland, Boston and the New York teams were in attendance for four year-old Jimmy Willard’s snack time. One scout was particularly impressed with the toddler’s competitive spirit and make up. “The kid wanted his apple sauce and he wanted it now!” Another thought he lacked command. “He missed his mark a number of times. The carrots he threw ended up all over the place.”