The San Francisco Giants have signed outfielder Aaron Rowand, previously with the Phillies, to a 5-year, $60 million deal. He’ll take over in center field for Dave Roberts, whom the Giants inked to a long-term contract last winter to play the position despite the fact that he wasn’t really a center fielder.
Rowand isn’t a bad ballplayer, but it seems to me that San Francisco is buying high. Rowand hit .309/.374/.515 in ‘07 while playing half his games in a bandbox. (His line was a brilliant .319/.380/.557 at home, and a merely respectable .299/.368/.475 on the road.)
The main problem I have …read more

While we’re waiting for some actual news to come out of the Winter Meetings, rather than just rumors, here’s something of interest: Joe Hamrahi at Baseball Digest Daily has posted an interview with Los Angeles Dodgers GM Ned Colletti. Cause for hope if you’re a Dodgers fan (or concern if you’re not):
One thing I know I wouldn’t have done differently. I’m glad I didn’t trade 3 or 4 kids at the deadline. I think that decision will prove to be valuable for a very long time. People ask about the young players all the time. Teams need young players.
Yeah, trust …read more

Joe Girardi has been named manager of the New York Yankees. It’s a 3-year deal worth an estimated $7.5 million. That’s a little more than the slap in the face offered to the departed Joe Torre. On the bright side, Girardi is less entrenched than Torre was, which should make him a little easier for the Steinbrenner kids to push around.
Girardi probably deserves better. As he was in Florida, he’s being set up to fail. With the Marlins, his problem was that he couldn’t drive that franchise into the ground and force the team to move elsewhere. Now he gets …read more

{democracy:26}

You thought I forgot. Go ahead, admit it. You noticed that we didn’t run a poll yesterday, and you thought that I’d forgotten about NL Manager of the Year.
Now, why would I do that?
Right, I wouldn’t. I also wouldn’t vote for anyone other than Clint Hurdle or Bob Melvin for this award. I suppose you could make a case for Charlie Manuel or Ned Yost, maybe Bud Black.
I kinda liked Willie Randolph before The Collapse (TM). Lou Piniella? Not so much for me. His bosses went out and bought the best team money could buy, and he barely managed to …read more

Congratulations to the Diamondbacks and Rockies for completing their series sweeps on Saturday. The NL West is now 6-0 in the postseason, if you’re scoring at home.
Meanwhile, we’ve got two AL teams looking for the sweep on Sunday:

Red Sox at Angels, noon PT — The situation is looking bleak for the team that slaps “Anaheim” at the end of its awkward name. Jered Weaver and Curt Schilling hook up in this one. The Angels desperately need to find a way to contain David Ortiz. Yeah, good luck with that. Also, they need to start hitting. Did I mention it’s looking …read more

Friday belonged to the American League (and the bugs). Today it’s the Senior Circuit’s chance to shine. Two mid-market NL West teams look to complete sweeps against big spenders from the east.

Diamondbacks at Cubs, 3:00 p.m. PT — The good news, if you’re a Cubs fan, is that this one’s in Chicago. The bad news is that Livan Hernandez gets the start for Arizona. Yeah, he’s got an ERA near 5.00 and his peripherals are nauseating, but the guy has been lights-out in the playoffs throughout his career (the World Series is a different story, but we’re not there yet). …read more

Preseason Picks Revisited
The story so far:

AL West
AL Central
AL East
NL West
NL Central

And now for our latest installment…

Mets – Only a historic collapse kept me from getting this one right. They were supposed to be the strongest team in the National League, and I had them losing to the Angels in the World Series.
Braves – You wonder what might have been if they hadn’t traded away Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez and if Andruw Jones had shown up to play.
Phillies – At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think they had enough pitching. I still don’t, but it appears not to …read more

This is it. The final day of the regular season. Four teams are fighting for the final two playoff spots in the National League. Baseball Prospectus is tracking the odds as each game finishes this weekend, while David Pinto keeps us posted on his massive tie scenario.
Meanwhile, here are the games that matter:

Marlins at Mets, 10:10 a.m. PT — Dontrelle Willis vs Tom Glavine. I can’t think of a better pitcher to make this start for New York than Glavine. To say the guy is well prepared for this situation is to make a colossal understatement. He’ll face a tough …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

Preseason Picks Revisited
The story so far:

AL West
AL Central
AL East

First off, I’d like to thank all the spammers for their excellent suggestions. Some pretty imaginative stuff, although much of it I fear is not physically possible. But really, what are we without ambition?
To the topic at hand. Here are my preseason predictions for the NL West, annotated for your amusement:

Diamondbacks – I expected them to be on top, but I figured it would be on the strength of their talented young hitters. Instead, pitching has carried the day in Phoenix. What a bullpen…
Padres – Not a bad showing from a team …read more