I thought this was an interesting little note and potentially wise investment for the savvy buyer. Does this fellow Dave Newsom have a decent shot at breaking into the bigs?  25 years old already and doesn't seem to be breaking down any doors thus far, but for $20, why not right?  link below

http://shakedownsports.com/2008/01/25/an-easier-way-to-get-an-mlb-salary/

has received a 4 year 48 (forty-eight!!) (For-tee ate!!!!) million dollar deal with the Mariners.  i don't know if these are enough characters to qualify for a diary but i'll just say that bill bavasi is dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb, and that these are the kind of deals that throw entire free agent classes on their heads and make other bums like silva believe that they should get that kind of money and makes studs like CC think they should be getting 25 mil. wow.

in the arrested development sense...

the Yankees have decided NOT to carry any left handed relievers, at least for this series. Villone was not on the final roster.

as if i couldn't feel any more optimistic about this series, as uncomfortable as that feeling can be, being from cleveland and all, it's nice to know that they won't be able to match up the splits against the likes of sizemore, hafner and lofton.

from the indians website

<<<When the Indians designated Cabrera, they placed him on trade waivers -- the same waivers they used to acquire Gomez. An unidentified team made a claim on him, and the Indians were under the gun to work out a deal with that club. They had no leeway to talk to other clubs about Cabrera, because the non-waiver trade deadline passed on July 31. <p> "We were unable to work out a deal with the eligible club," Antonetti said. "So we elected to give him his release." >>>>

this i just don't understand. while they don't identify the claiming club, i don't understand why the tribe wouldn't take SOMETHING, anything, a fringe A ball prospect, some cash, etc., rather than just release him and get nothing in return.
who can speculate the best as to why this goes on?

i was at the game last night and quite literally heard music to my ears.  the indians have begun playing a familiar tune at the end of home wins, the same song that was played during the mid-90's/hargrove years.  it sounds like john mellencamp but i have never been able to get an answer as to the name or artist. i thought it was the dance by garth brooks, but on my youtube research i found that to be a slow and depressing song. anyone know the title and singer? the song gives me goosebumps every time pretty much because of the great memories it gives me.  
and oh yeah, this season sure as hell feels like 95 doesn't it?

Betancourt
Miller
Cabrera
Davis
Perez
Mastny
Mujica
Carmona

I think it's going to be tough to pick just 3 of these guys to fill in the remaining bullpen spots. what if fultz turns out to have an awful spring training? the FO should not be afraid to let him go if a perez or lara show great stuff.

what with betancourts few years of established non-sucktitude when he's going well, miller's inability to stay healthy, and cabrera and davis being out of options, I see them taking the easy way out and having a pretty formidable pen which will dominate the international league.

i really hope we do not regret roberto hernandez. most especially i hope we don't make him guillermo mota, wasting a roster spot and money on him, and overburdening others with his innings.

so, just 2 weeks left in the season, and I'm thinking (and seeing) that jason michaels outperformed coco crisp, at least for this season.  if he stayed here would he have been the reliable sparkplug or has he reached his peak? or was this team destined to be the obscure 4th team in a 3 team division?

only recently have i caught on to the phenomenon of youtube, and I think we all need a good chuckle now that we're over the excitement of the injected youth movement as they now struggle with the bats.  so I believe this may be the funniest single minute of life ever recorded from beginning to end.

Janice, it ain't funny!

and no, i don't know how to to do the thing where it can be anything but a transplanted link, but seriously worth it. enjoy

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2vj0AbWu-Zw

Carlos Lee, that is.  Vernon Wells would be nice here but we'd need to give up a lot.  Apparently Lee wants 5 years says Hammy after he turned down 4 from milwaukee, and probably 12-15 per. I say give it to him.  Just this morning Dolan promised a "significant" increase in payroll.  I think if you just gave every bit of your free agency cashmoney to him, the team would be set.
Do it, and you have to be (or at least I am) loving the lineup of

Sizemore CF
Choo/Michaels RF
Hafner DH
Lee LF
Martinez C
Garko/Kouz 1B
Marte/Kouz 3B
Peralta  SS
Inglett 2B

power protection for pronk instead of let's walk hafner so we can double up v-mart or at least hold him to a long single.  you can do this and still keep the payroll from being astronomical, since you're paying minimum wage total of about 1 million at 1st 2nd and 3rd instead of the approx 10 mil broussard, boone, belliard, and perez made to man those positions this year.

The bullpen I believe is fine, because the young guys are getting some innings up here and because it can't possible be as bad as this year.  Of course it haunted us through most of the season but now with Mastny at the anchor it has stabalized.  No Graves, no Saurbeck, no Mota, no Jason Johnson making us stretch the pen.
but a pen of

Mastny
Brown
Betancourt
Cabrera
Perez
Mujica
Sikorski/Miller/JD/fill in the blank

doesn't make me too uncomfortable.

without giving up on 2006, 2007 looks promising (on paper of course, but then again so did 2006), but when you add the seasoning a lot of the young guys will/should get, it could be beneficial for a hot start that is maintained

Rotation:
CC, Lee, Byrd, Sowers, Westbrook/FA signing

Pen:
Carmona, Cabrera, Betancourt, Mujica, Brown, Perez, Guthrie

OF:
Sizemore, Gutierrez, (Francisco/Dubois/FA)

IF:
Marte, Peralta, 2bTBD, Garko/Martinez, Shoppach/Martinez, Hafner