http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8922020/Wednesday-MLB-winter-meetings-blog

There's enough bad contracts in the world for everyone to wallow in misery.

All is better with the world.

As for the Vizquel rumor, I wouldn't get blood pressure boiling based on what someone heard someone say based on someone else bumping into Vizquel's agent's brother in the lobby after an In N' Out run.

462 in the previous thread - If someone is breaking down every year, it seems to me that a long term injury is more likelier than not.

Seconded. Is there any pitcher, anywhere, who has ever had a string of injuries like Sheets and got better? Based on Sheets' Rotoworld news history, here's some of the things that have afflicted him lately:

+ Tight/strained groin
+ Tight forearm
+ Triceps tightness
+ Blister*
+ A tear in the tissue adjacent to his right index finger tendon*
+ Pectoral muscle soreness
+ Right shoulder tendinitis (x2)*
+ Upper back muscle tear† ...
+ ... contemporaneous with a strained lower back
+ Viral infection*
+ Back surgery (herniated disc repair)
+ Inner ear infection (missed one start)
+ Sheets reported a sore back in spring training that lingered through the first half of 2003.

* = 15-day DL stint
† = 60-day DL stint

From what I know, you read more about baseball online than I do. Have you read this article?

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/all-about-ben-sheets/

Again, Sheets is a good pitcher, but it's hard to get excited about a signing that you feel will get injured at some point every season.

Not counting the people who read the comments who ARE BBWAA members.

The print version of Baseball America has been around for several years and their writers publish there, on their website and in their annual publications.

13
I don't dislike Will, I just consider him vanilla compared to other excellent baseball internet writers.

I implore you to help her find a permanant fix to the acid reflux problem - not just pills.

My sister in law is on a lung transplant list because she ignored this problem.

Just trying to help.

For instance, I would expect that they probably also admitted Dylan Hernandez today, but there is no particular reason that would be newsworthy.

At least between the two of us.

http://tinyurl.com/6yunc7

With CC gone, what is the best option for our pitching rotation.

17% Randy Johnson 18 votes

7% Oliver Perez 8 votes

14% Ben Sheets 15 votes

7% Stay with Chad/Kuroda/Clayton/McDonald/Schmidt
8 votes

8% D Lowe 9 votes

25% Randy Johnson and Ben Sheets
26 votes

16% Randy Johnson and Oliver Perez
17 votes

Randy and Sheets getting lot of support individually and collectively.

5 internet sites were approved by BBWAA last year, ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline, Yahoo! Sports, FoxSports.com and Sports Illustrated.com. Those sites recommended 18 writers for membership, the above 16 got in.

This year, Baseball Prospectus was approved and two of their senior writers, Will Carroll and Christina Karhl were accepted into the BBWAA.

Perhaps next year, maybe it will be another internet publication that joins in, maybe even a blogger.

Boras is going to ride that Golden C as hard as he can.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2008/12/boras_speaks_so.html

http://hotstove.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/12/dbacks_sign_augie_ojeda.html

By the way, I got bad info earlier. The Dodgers are NOT interested in Omar Vizquel.

Refreshing when a journalist is that candid...

You listening Mr. Rosenthal?

And according to www.topchefrumors.com, that the winner of Season 5 is Richard from Season 4, who makes a surprise appearance in Episode 11 and goes on to run away with the whole competition. That comes from a source close to Salman Rushdie.

Saito might pick FA over the Dodgers incentive laced 1 year offer.

Takashi Saito's days a a Dodger might be over if things don't change soon with negotiations, as indicated the two sides were far apart. "It's a staredown right now," Colletti said. The Dodgers have offered Saito an incentive-laden one-year contract, but Saito could very well choose to become a free agent.

Sheinin (re Tex): "From Jim Bowden: 'We've made a very significant, concrete offer. He's our No. 1 priority.' . . . . The Nationals are keeping the details of their offer very quiet, and I've been told by three team officials now that the rumors being floated on the Internet are almost uniformly wrong."

http://tinyurl.com/5hgb5p

By the way, re-watching Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer for the first time in 20 or so years has reminded me that the North Pole was chock full of intolerance!

Very nice. I suppose Filet of Sole would have also ensured hilarity.

How the Nationals go from widely believed and considered too frugal to sign any players of consequence to tossing around an offer like that I have no idea.

Unless they are certain it won't be accepted and are doing this now to set themselves up for the press wars when they sign no one and lose 100 games again.

Exactly what types of free agents are we looking for? We have signed exactly one long term deal (Pierre) and numerous short term deals (Mueller, Tomko, Schmidt, Jones, Nomar). There isn't a single player on the second list that even performed up to expectations.

Why are we so obsessed with short term deals for free agent detritus?

Um, no, he couldn't.

http://www.delawareonline.com/blogs/2008/12/dec-10-heres-deal-phils-acquire-catcher.html

Oops.

Hilarious.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3761236

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/12/tigers-to-acqui.html

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/31161-mets-could-land-putz-in-3-team-mega-deal

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-furcalroyals121008&prov=yhoo&type=lgns