Photo by Mayr, some rights reserved
Well, that was quick. Another year gone by already? Hey, I still can’t believe it’s not the ’90s.
Anywho, thanks to everyone who stopped by and participated here at Knuckle Curve during 2007. As a way of wrapping things up, so to speak, here’s a quick look at the most popular items of the year:
Top Stories

2008 Baseball Free Agents. Far and away the most popular post of the year. All I did was put together a little list to help folks find stuff.
Cardinals Sign Springer. I have no explanation for this. Maybe Russ Springer has a …read more

I don’t always point out minor-league transactions, but in this case I’ll make an exception because, well, it fascinates me. The Texas Rangers have signed right-hander Warner Madrigal, formerly with the Angels.
Why I find this story interesting:

Warner Madrigal is a great name. If the kid doesn’t make it in baseball, perhaps he could try his hand at international espionage?
When I was rummaging through the list of minor-league free agents a while back, Madrigal’s 2007 stats jumped out at me. I don’t care if a guy is in the Midwest League, if he’s striking out more than 11 batters per 9 …read more

The 2008 CHONE projections for hitters are available. Here are a few key free agents lines:

Barry Bonds: .272/.446/.558
Alex Rodriguez: .303/.420/.588
Kosuke Fukudome: .283/.373/.465
Torii Hunter: .282/.345/.491
Andruw Jones: .246/.339/.472
Mike Lowell: .283/.346/.455
Aaron Rowand: .277/.343/.443
Mike Cameron: .246/.331/.435
Mike Piazza: .260/.321/.430
Sammy Sosa: .234/.303/.418
Julio Franco: .231/.307/.324

I hope Franco keeps playing till he’s 50. Anyway, download the whole dealio and entertain yourself for hours…
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Baseball-Reference’s Play Index tool now provides the option to search only for current free agents. This is handy for determining things like how totally hosed you are if you’re trying to fill a void at third base via free agency and can’t afford Alex Rodriguez.
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Yep, that goofy system MLB employs to determine compensatory picks for loss of free agents is back with the sort of rankings we’ve come to expect. USA Today has made the entire lists available:

AL Elias rankings
NL Elias rankings

Quick show of hands: Who thinks Chuck James is worth more than Matt Cain?
Right.
Anyway, if you’re trying to figure out which free agents might be appealing to your favorite team, just cross reference the rankings above with the lists of available players we previously identified, and voila — instant armchair GM.
Enjoy…
Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss …read more

Preseason Picks Revisited
The story so far:

AL West
AL Central
AL East
NL West

Ladies and gentlemen, the least interesting division in Major League Baseball:

Cubs – Somebody had to win the division; it might as well be the team that spent $300 million on free agents.
Astros – Why did I like this team so much? Perhaps their recent track record fooled me? I’d expected more out of Morgan Ensberg and Jason Jennings. Instead, everyone got fired.
Cardinals – Hey, I got one right. Everything about their 2006 season seemed like a fluke to me. The Cards deserve credit for winning the World Series, but this was …read more

Ballhype – 2008 Baseball Free Agents
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Happy Monday, folks! I was just rummaging through my server stats and noticed that a lot of people are looking for information on the 2008 free agent class (perhaps they wanted this post?). I won’t reinvent the wheel, but I’m more than happy to point y’all in the right direction:

2008 MLB Free Agents (MLB Trade Rumors). Originally posted March 17, 2007, updated August 23.
2007-08 Free Agents (Cot’s Baseball Contracts). For those of you who just can’t plan far enough ahead, they’ve also got the 2008-09 list.
Potential free agents following the 2008 season (MLB4U). Includes player …read more

Three free agents were signed for $100 million or more this past winter. Presumably if they’re worth that much money, they must be helping their new teams in a big way, right?

Six-Figure Free Agents, Class of 2007

Player
Team
2006
2007
Diff

Statistics courtesy of ESPN and Baseball-Reference.

Alfonso Soriano
Cubs
66-96
.407
58-52
.527
+.120

Barry Zito
Giants
76-85
.472
47-62
.431
-.041

Carlos Lee
Astros
82-80
.506
48-63
.432
-.074

Soriano has done a nice job (.297/.336/.511) so far, although he’s now out 2-4 weeks with a strained right quadriceps. Of course, the Cubs signed a few other high-profile free agents (Aramis Ramirez, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis) to the tune of nearly $300 million, so it’s not like Soriano is solely responsible for the Cubs’ improvement …read more