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

1. 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.
2. Cardinals Sign Springer. I have no explanation for this. Maybe Russ Springer has a huge fan club?
3. MLB Draft 2007: Who’s Hot, Who’s Not. This one helped kick off our draft coverage, which as you’ll see from entries further down the list, turned out to be a favorite.
4. Nine Baseball Predictions for 2007. I nailed the last two, and almost got the bit about Gil Meche right. I’d said he would lead the Royals to 67 wins, but they actually won 69 games. Talk about overachieving.
5. 2007 NCAA Baseball Brackets Announced. Folks seemed to be pretty fired up about college baseball this year. I was, too, until my Toreros got spanked in the postseason. Sigh.
6. NL MVP Poll. We ran a bunch of polls at the end of the season to see who people thought would/should win awards. This one got way out of control (in a good way, of course), with nearly 1200 responses.
7. 2007 MLB Draft Roundtable at Baseball Analysts. More draftasticness. Hey, I just made a new word. Hooray for me.
8. BDD’s Top 100 Prospects for 2007. Baseball Digest Daily released their list of top 100 prospects, and there was much rejoicing.
9. Early Look at Free Agents for 2008. More free agent stuff. I’m noticing a theme here — people really like looking forward, whether it’s to potential free agents, the draft, postseason awards, or whatever.
10. MLB Draft Will Be Televised in 2007. This was one of my personal favorite news items of 2007. The coverage could be better, but you have to start somewhere and baseball finally did. Nowhere but up from here, or one would hope.

Shout Outs

And a big thanks to some folks “out there” who have been generous in linking to Knuckle Curve in 2007:

• Boston Sports Blog
• Boston Daily
• Yard Work
• Detroit Tigers Weblog
• The Big Lead

We’re huge in Boston. I was born there, but I have no memories of the place; I’m guessing it involved a lot of pooping in my pants and drooling on stuff.

Thanks again for hanging with me here at Knuckle Curve in 2007. Onward!

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Why I find this story interesting:

1. Warner Madrigal is a great name. If the kid doesn’t make it in baseball, perhaps he could try his hand at international espionage?
2. 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 innings, that gets my attention.
3. Madrigal is a converted outfielder. Unlike most of his ilk, he actually hit a little (.287/.323/.458 in over 900 PA), though probably not enough to have a significant career.
4. The Angels lost him due to a “procedural gaffe” on the part of new general manager Tony Reagins. Shades of the Wes Chamberlain snafu of 1990?

Nothing may come of Madrigal. He’s 24 years old and he hasn’t pitched above Low-A ball. Still, the kid has posted some intriguing numbers and could be worth watching. Or maybe one day he will be watching you.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• 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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• 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…

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The story so far:

• AL West
• AL Central
• AL East
• NL West

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

1. Cubs – Somebody had to win the division; it might as well be the team that spent $300 million on free agents.
2. 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.
3. 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 a team headed for a fall. Kip Wells avoided 20 losses, and Rick Ankiel is a nice story… maybe…
4. Brewers – I didn’t think they had the pitching, and in the end, I suppose they didn’t. If Ben Sheets could ever stay healthy… There’s a lot of good young talent on this team; suffice to say, I won’t be picking the Brewers to finish fourth again next year.
5. Reds – They and the Astros are battling for fourth place as I write this. What a horrendous bullpen.
6. Pirates – This is their fourth last-place finish in the last 10 years. Their best season during that stretch came in 1999, when they finished in third place with 78 wins. This franchise owes the city of Pittsburgh big time. Here’s hoping the new front office has a clue.

Not bad. I somehow mixed up Houston and Milwaukee, but otherwise did okay.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

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 agent name s, an angle often overlooked.

Why three sources? Well, because you always want to corroborate whenever possible. If three independent sources agree on something, you can feel a little more confident than if you only use one. And if there are discrepancies, then you know you need to dig deeper.

Okay, enough with the lecture. Happy hunting!

Update Nov. 1, 2007. Wondering who will be compensated for what? Elias rankings are now available at USA Today:

• AL Elias rankings
• NL Elias rankings

Update Nov. 3, 2007. The list of minor-league free agents is now available at Baseball America.

Update Nov. 6, 2007. MLB Trade Rumors has posted its top 50 free agent list, which also features predicted destinations for each.

Update Nov. 9, 2007. Jon Heyman at SI.com predicts how much the top free agents will sign for this winter.

Update Dec. 7, 2007. ESPN has its Free Agent Tracker up and running so you can see who signed where, and for how much.

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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 this year.

Zito has been terrible for a Giants team that is going nowhere fast. Mike Hampton taught us a valuable lesson about the wisdom of locking up finesse lefties to a long-term deal, but evidently some folks weren’t paying attention. If Hampton is any guide, Zito will be pitching for a contender in 2009 — I’ll say the Mets — with San Francisco picking up most of his salary.

Lee is having a solid season in Houston (.298/.352/.531) for a team that can’t compete in a weak division. The Astros are drawing about 200 fewer fans per game in ‘07 than they did last year, so he isn’t really helping at the gate either. The Astros have had just one losing season (72-90 in 2000) since 1992, but this year looks like another for them. With all due respect to Lee, who is a fine ballplayer, I think they probably don’t need his help to do that.

Finally, I have to mention Gil Meche. The $55 million man got off to a hot start with Kansas City but has come back to Earth since then. On the bright side, he does have his Royals on pace for their first 70-win season since 2003. If Matt Morris is Wayne Newton, then Meche must be Robert Goulet. Come to think of it, I always kind of liked Goulet…

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