Obviously no one on this blog is going to dispute that ol' Larry is an unquestionable HOFer. But apparently in the broader scope of the conversation he's considered borderline. This is a fairly simple argument (and based on everyone's favorite counting stats!), but it's pretty hard to ignore the conclusion once the evidence is considered. Chipper Jones is a deserving first-ballot HOFer, end of discussion.

No, seriously. They weren't content with Frenchy in the outfield all by his lonesome, so they signed MVP for good measure. You can't write this stuff, folks.

First the not-so-loveable losers steal Mad Dog for their front office, now they're after Fredi for their dugout.

Hat tip to Mr. Griffey on an excellent career. Also props for riding off into the sunset with his head held up rather than causing an ugly incident with the Mariners.

Poor Mark Buerhle- he only throws a no-hitter last summer, and how do they repay him? By putting him through this bollocks. If the video wasn't enough to convey the absurdity of the whole thing, you could always read Big League Stew's write-up of the incident. I'm going to go cuss and punch a wall now.

Hat tip MLBTR.

Link is for the MLBTR write-up of a Jeff Passan article over on Yahoo, where Orlando Hudson says-without-saying-it that there is racism in the market, and that's why people like Jermaine Dye remain unemployed. I balked at that assertion, and the MLBTR thread does a good job of analyzing the situation and pointing out legitimate reasons a guy like Dye is still unemployed (including Dye trying to be both a beggar and a chooser). I know we Braves fans have seen our FO accused of this malarkey before, and I don't think there was any substance to that either, but if you're at all interested in these goings-on this is a good write-up that tries to cover all the angles.

UPDATE: Our old friend K-Ros has weighed in on the matter, and comes to the same conclusion as Dierkes and most of us- O-Dog's comments don't hold water.

League info: Yahoo ID #565887, Password: hofheyward

We still need a manager, draft is tomorrow night at 6 Central Time. Standard 5x5 league with a starting field, 2 Util, 2 SP, 2 RP, 4 P, and 5 Bench.

Nuff sed, I guess. You know you're career is going in the wrong direction when a Japanese team says to themselves "he may suck enough that we could get him..."

Me and a couple buds from school just bought tickets to travel down for Opening Day, and I was wondering if any nosebleed regulars can help me out with a little quandary- our tickets say they are for section 415L, not just 415. The difference is not identified on the handy little seating chart linked above. Does anyone know what the difference is, or if there even is one? I guess it could also be ticketbastard messing with my head...

He has a solid two innings in his first appearance and heaves a huge sigh of relief that the adjustments he made in the offseason worked. His next appearance is disastrous, puts him in a foul mood and has him declaring he's glad it's still spring training so he can work out the kinks. His most recent start was great and he's now ready to seemingly take on the world. What's this next stop on this fun little emotional ride?

Dude is drinking some serious Kool-Aid this time around, pegging the Angels as the top rotation in baseball. Really? Never-done-a-thing-without-Dave-Duncan Pineiro, failed ace Kazmir, and Weaver coming off a career year is the best out there? I don't want to be a homer and declare our rotation is tops necessarily, but you'd have to think that us, Boston, and Seattle would at least be in the conversation more than LAA. Can we just lock this guy in a closet until Christmas?

Hallelujah, praise the Lord, Damon is going to Detroit! Finally we can stop the speculation, grant Diaz job security, and hopefully start discussing things that matter. w00t!

This is the link to the MLBTR page, as the actual article is in Spanish. You bilingual studs can click MLBTR's link for details, but I'm a lowly Gringo who can't read much more than the words for dinner, bathroom, or car. Evidently it is a 7 year contract, though MLBTR failed to mention what position the guy plays.

I'm mildly surprised he isn't higher. I know the list is supposed to be not just in order of talent but also in likelihood of seeing the player in the Bigs this season, but 21st still seems low for a guy of Heyward's caliber who is very likely to win a starting job. I mean, Pedro Alvarez is 7th, and he is just as likely as Heyward to win a starting role while not having any MLB experience yet.

The key thing I see here is a blatant overvaluing of Melky and his ability to block Heyward. I don't know how of much of this is just Bowman's speculation and how much he got from the horse's mouth, but he seems to think if Melky has a good spring that the team may keep Heyward in AAA and use Melky in right, at least for a couple of months. I think most of us would agree that whether Heyward is our new right fielder is entirely upon Heyward's shoulders, not Melky's. If he hits this spring, he's in. If he doesn't have a good ST for whatever reason, then we reluctantly send him to AAA and use Melky in the short term until we deem he's ready. There is no way Melky is valuable enough as a starter to beat out Heyward in principle just by having a good spring; if there is a just God in the universe then Bobby and company know he doesn't have the stuff to be leaned on as a starter and this is really just Bowman talking out of his ass.

This admittedly has nothing to do with baseball, but I thought it was blog-related enough to warrant a mention. I know the issue has come up before that there ought to be a way to signify sarcasm over the net, and now it seems we will soon have a punctuation mark to do just that.

No word on whether the interest is mutual. Don't you do it, John! Nobody wants to see ANOTHER future Braves HOFer become a Mutt. The Great Glavine Betrayal was bad enough, let's not add to it.

Thought number 1- Phew. Now we can't grab the second coming of GMJ.

Thought number 2- How many mistakes can the poor cubbies make? First they goof with Bradley last year, now they're overpaying for a 4th OF coming off a career year in Texas. Shame shame.

Farewell Kelly, you'll be missed.

Another potential option off the board. We're getting down to the scrap heap unless Wren's next move is a trade.

I'm very pleasantly surprised by the BBWAA's voting this year- they resisted the urge to crown Sabathia and Teixeira the kings of the world- undeservedly- because of the Yankees' run, and instead rewarded both Greinke and Mauer for their respective break-away-from-the-crowd performances. I'm a little less jaded about offseason awards now- you're on notice BBWAA, kudos for this year, don't let us down in '10...