New Peter Gammons

Peter Gammons has a new column up at ESPN.com. Some thoughts:

1. Terry Ryan doesn't get half the credit he deserves for the job he's done with the Twins.

2. Gammons threw this out when talking about some of the moves Ryan has made for the Twins: "A-ball first baseman David Arias (who became David Ortiz) for Dave Hollins." Is he saying that Ortiz changed his name from Arias? That was news to me. (In fact as soon as I read it - I heard Johnny Carson in my head saying, "I did not know that.").

3. At the time that Nathan for Pierzynski deal was made - I thought that the Giants had gotten the best of that deal by a wide margin. Just shows you how little I know and how good a job Ryan does as GM.

4. I never thought the supposed Garcia / Damon / Beltran deal had any sence of reality about it.

5. With all those teams interested in Aaron Boone - what are the chances that he gets a signing bonus that is equal to the pay he lost when he was cut by the Yankees?