Apparently the Yankees offered him a one year contract for $5 million dollars with performance bonuses pushing the contract to two years and (I'm assuming) $16 million dollars, but he turned it down. As a Yankee fan, I'm happy that Torre said no for his sake mentally, but I'm sorry to see him go, overall. It'll be interesting if the Yankees go Mattingly, Girardi, or with some other option. I'm hoping Girardi myself.

Your thoughts?

I hope I'm not going too far out on a limb here, but with the demise of the Tigers, I feel pretty safe looking at this, and interested in your thoughts.

The rotation (assuming four starters) will have Pettitte and Wang in it (I'd put them in that order) and Clemens is pretty much a certainty as well. That leaves a fourth starter, and Kennedy  and Hughes are not likely to take Mussina's place given Torre's previous inclination toward veterans over starters. Hughes definitely will make the postseason roster and Kennedy should based upon performance. Joba, Vizcaino, Farnsworth, and Mariano are no-brainers (ok, Farnsworth isn't a no-brainer, but he'll make the postseason roster). They don't really have a LOOGY, so Bruney and Enwar Ramirez are candidates for the bullpen as is Villone. I'll assume that Villone makes the squad and they carry 11 pitchers (they could carry 12).

That makes the list of pitchers (11):
Pettitte
Wang
Clemens
Mussina
Villone
Hughes
Kennedy
Farnsworth
Chamberlain
Vizcaino
Rivera

For hitters, Posada, Molina, Giambi, Mientkiewicz, Cano, Jeter, Rodriguez, Betemit, Damon, Matsui, Cabrera, and Abreu are pretty much locks. This is 12 hitters and 11 pitchers so far so there are 2 spots left available.

This leaves Shelley Duncan, Alberto Gonzalez, or another pitcher (or two if Kennedy doesn't make the post-season roster). I assume Torre brings Duncan as the team mascot (he's well liked and has an energy for the game and is a power bat off the bench), but who else would he bring? Your thoughts?

Hello all of you Phillie fans and those who follow the minors very closely. I'm in the new fantasy league posted earlier (WARNING: KIND OF A FANTASY LEAGUE QUESTION). I drafted the Phillies partly because I love their cheap young core at the major league level, and partly because I could only name about three prospects in their system and want to learn more about another team. So I'm asking for your help. I get their entire system, but at some point of time I'm sure I'll have to limit it to 100 guys or so. Please help me identify those that I need to watch closely (I own John's book and the BA prospect handbook, so I can look some of these guys up, but some of you MUST have inside knowledge). Thanks in advance.

I thought some of you might be interested in these.

Pictures include Miguel Montero, Danny Richar, Wes Bankston, Jerry Gil, Andy Sonnanstine, Stephen Jackson, Jamie D'Antona, etc. The seats were very good, although my flash was not working so pictures from later in the game were not quite as good.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jmenicucci/TennesseeSmokiesMontgomeryBiscuitsJuly2006