I liked the Tampa Bay comment at 29th of 30:

"The Rays are making moves, but not at the level of their division rivals. The definition of a doormat."

Ouch.

Overrated - Astros, Dodgers, Seattle.
Underrated - Expos, Cardinals, Cubs, A's, Yankees.
One man's nitpicking.
I said the Astros because I think Billy Wagner is the most amazing player in baseball (I tried to say so in a related thread but my comment was lost in greymatter if I remember correctly).
The Dodgers and Mariners aren't rated highly in the list, but I sitll think they deserved worse.
I think the Expos did very well with what they could, signing a productive OF and acquiring OBP Jesus in a salary dump.
The Cardinals signings ahve been underrated, IMO, fromt he beginning and I really like Derrek Lee and LaTroy Hawkins for the Cubbies.
And as for the Yankees, I hate them too, but Brown and Sheffield and Gordon and Quantrill...I mean, that looks pretty good.

I think the Royals have done pretty well. Another starter would be nice, but Baird seems to finished his copy of Moneyball, and finally understands why he was a laughing stock. He's upgraded the bullpen considerably, and paying Stairs $1M rather than competing with the Mariners for Ibanez or resigning Tucker shows he's got his wits about him. With Chicago's and Minnesota's losses, I think they can win the division if the kids can anchor the rotation.

Even though the Yankees lost Nick Johnson, I think they had a great offseason. How you gain Vazquez, Sheffield, Brown, Quantrill, and Gordon and somehow downgrade is beyond me. They're a 110+ win team if everyone is healthy; they're still good for 90 wins if half of the roster dies. I'd probably rank the top three: New York, Boston, Philadelphia. Rouding out the top ten: Toronto fourth, Royals fifth, Cubs sixth, Anaheim seventh, Oakland eighth, Mets ninth, Orioles tenth.

Mariners would be close to last in my books. They've downgraded considerably (Ibanez over Cameron? Guardado over Rhodes?) and are paying about as much to do it.

The comments are innane:

Orioles: ...pitching on the way? When, in 2010?

Boston: ... overall loss of offense makes them vulnerable during the regular season? So Peter Gammons was wrong. Turns out Todd Walker was the real MVP.

Seattle: Ibanez one of the offseaon sleepers...? And such a great deal considering Matt Stairs, Jose Cruz, Jose Guillen, Reggie Sanders all signed for less.

I just wonder about Baltimore...the Jays have better pitching on paper, but, as you all know, the game is won on the field, not on paper.

I like what Mr. Beane has done in signing Redman, particularly because it could afford him the option of dealing one of the big 3. Seeing as their value is probably as high as it's gonna get, why not now?

Oakland has the depth to trade, for example, either Zito or Mulder to a team desperate for starting pitching - how bout the Mets? Since they've inked Matsui, perhaps Reyes (as part of a package) would be available.

If healthy, NY has the sticks to score some runs in '04 and Glavine will bounce back. Adding another bona fide starter to solidify the rotation, such as one of Oaktown's lefties, may allow them to, at the very least, contend for a wild card spot.

I like what Mr. Beane has done in signing Redman, particularly because it could afford him the option of dealing one of the big 3.

We'll see how just how brash Mr. Beane is. His 3-headed safety blanket may be an indulgence at this point given the team's numerous weaknesses. Will he really disassemble the troika? I'm all for it, though not just for the sake of doing it.

Zito, he of the declining K rate, is likeliest the one with the greatest gap between actual and perceived value. As such, he'd be the one to move.

Who could they get? Would the Braves move Giles? Who could the White Sox or Mets offer? These are all teams that would be interested.

While Zito's K rate has been in decline, I don't think it's a slam dunk that he is in decline. It may be premature to start having Steve Avery nightmares.

Tom Glavine's K/9 rates from ages 25 to 27 (3 straight 20-win seasons) were 7.0, 5.2, 4.5. At age 28 it shot up to 7.6, the highest of his career. It then bounced around in the 5's and 6's before it would drop below 5 again, some 8 years later.

This is interesting. I had a long argument with a friend over the summer on this very topic. I was arguing that Oakland should consider a deal roughly resembling Zito for Teixeira. I figure Texas would do it in a heartbeat, since they have Gonzalez (Urbina deal) and Blalock to play at Teixeira's most valuable positions (1B and 3B), and they have some guys in the OF as well (and OF is an easier hole to fill). Texas gets a starter they need who is young and cheap and has won a Cy Young.

For Oakland, they get a young slugger who is cheap and who they could control for a while. Also, this guy can take a walk - he looks like he could be the real deal - a statistical monster. I figure Zito may be the most dealable of the 3 starters. Although he's the furthest away from free agency, his numbers are the worst. Actually, Neyer wrote an article on this just the other day.

Still, given Texas' need for SP and Zito's prior success I think Beane could ask for a bit more - but it seemed to me (my friend disagreed) that it would be a good deal for both teams.

They were smart to ignore Griffin - what the f... does he know - that MEDIOT!!

I think Zito is closer to Glavine than Avery. Avery's arm got abused a lot at a young age - he had around 20 major league starts at the age of 20, and had thrown a ton of innings by the time he was 25. Zito throws a lot of pitches too, but at least he's only out for 100 pitches at a time, every 5th day. If I remember correctly, the Braves used a 4 man rotation for parts of 91-93.

The rumor in Atlanta is Smoltz and Horacio Ramirez for Zito, but that doesn't make a lot of sense for the A's - Smoltz makes over 10 million this year, and Horacio had a nice rookie year but has much worse peripherals than Zito does. Giles sounds more realistic, but I hope the Braves wouldn't do that. I think Zito will be a nice pitcher for years to come, but a great offensive second baseman is very rare, and Giles isn't too shabby with the glove, either.

Richard Griffin is an idiot. I wish he would step in batter's box and have Halladay throw one high and tight so he'll shut his constantly negative mouth.

We know that many readers have negative feelings about Richard Griffin, but we ask them not to post thoughts to that effect unless they are providing constructive criticism. Thank you.

Brown, Vasquez, Quantrill, Gordon, Sheffield...someone hold me.

Brown, Vasquez, Quantrill, Gordon, Sheffield...someone hold me.

Oakland would never trade Zito for Reyes because they have Bobby Crosby. They've already got a great glove at 2nd with Ellis, albeit he can't touch Giles offensively.

If this wasn't Oakland we were talking about, I'd say a Zito-Magglio Ordonez, or a Zito-Helton trade would work; but the A's could never pay that kind of $$.

I think that the Texiera-Zito trade would work for both teams, but I don't think that they would trade Zito in their own division.

I could see the A's trying to do something like a trade for an up and coming slugger like Jeremy Reed or Grady Sizemore, but with their financial situation they won't trade for anyone who either a)makes a lot of money; or b)will make a lot of money in the near future. Otherwise I'd think a Zito-Carlos Beltran trade would make perfect sense.

I can only assume the Boston-loses-offense comment is based on Nomar leaving town even if A-Rod doesn't head out to the Cape.

Texas would love to have Zito, but having punted him as a third-round choice when they wouldn't give him an extra $50K, I'm not sure Hicks would like the media hit of giving up Teixeira.

I think the Devil Rays may be the most improved team in baseball and still finish 40 games out of first.

When is Oakland ever going to be able to get enough money together to sign a big young player coming out of their ever-productive organization? They missed out on Giambi and Tejada, are Chavez and the big three to follow? One wonders whether the A's are coming up with players too good for the good of the team and if they would be better off producing second tier stars and signing them for less money.

Uh, Ben, you do realize that both Giambi and Tejada played six full seasons for the A's, right? As will Zito, Mulder, Hudson, Chavez, and any other stars they're able to produce, unless they choose to trade them away early.

I can only assume the Boston-loses-offense comment is based on Nomar leaving town even if A-Rod doesn't head out to the Cape.

It might also be in reference to several other factors:

* the anticipated decline of Mueller, Ortiz, Nixon and Varitek, all of whom had career years

* the replacement of Walker with Reese at 2B (unless Bellhorn v2002 gets resurrected)

* the probable, modest age-based declines of Ramirez and Garciappara