Andrew at Defensive Indifference lists the 10 sports figures he blogged about most in 2007, as requested by the incomparable Jamie Mottram. As I did last year, I’m again participating in this project (thanks, Jamie!). Following Andrew’s lead, here is my list, in alphabetical order:

Barry Bonds. His stories pretty much write themselves.
Miguel Cabrera. Anyone who gets scolded by Ozzie Guillen for being too fat is okay in my book.
Fausto Carmona. One of the biggest surprises of 2007.
Daisuke Matsuzaka. Not as good as the hype, but still pretty good.
Gil Meche. Irresponsible spending almost got the Royals out of last place.
Jake Peavy. …read more

Yesterday we looked at my preseason picks for the AL West. Today we move to the AL Central:

Tigers – They enjoyed a solid season and stayed in the wild card race for a long time, but no repeat in Detroit. Despite some tremendous individual offensive performances, there just wasn’t enough pitching to carry them back to the playoffs.
White Sox – Geez, I picked them to win the wild card? They might not finish ahead of Kansas City.
Twins – Hey, look, I got one right. Minnesota should get extra credit for remaining somewhat competitive despite the continued presence of Nick Punto …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

I managed to watch parts of five games yesterday. Not sure what that says about me, but there it is. Some quick impressions:

Brett Myers and John Smoltz both were in mid-season form yesterday. Smoltz in particular was making guys look silly with off-speed stuff. He seems like another one of those pitchers that could keep going strong well into his 40s.
Adam Dunn is a very strong man. That second home run he hit to dead center on the first pitch from Carlos Zambrano was a jaw-dropper. It must be fun to get a hold of one like that.
Johan Santana looked …read more

I’ve ridiculed his signing on more than one occasion, but for one day, Gil Meche is looking like an ace. He does have a real nice curve; I’ll give him that. Now he just needs to give the Royals about 20 more quality starts. Stranger things have happened. Soft-serve ice cream, for example…

Really. That is a terrible headline, and I do apologize. I’m still in spring training. Time to put that behind me and get serious.
Okay, then. Lots of games to watch today. When you’ve been waiting this long, I’d venture to say they’re all worth checking out, but here are a few in particular that have piqued my interest:
National League

Braves at Phillies, 10:05 a.m. PT – Take the day off, slap together some breakfast, and watch John Smoltz battle Brett Myers. Sounds like a good plan to me. Smoltz needs just 7 more wins to reach 200 for his career. What …read more