Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I was surprised that both catcher Johnny Estrada and 2nd baseman Orlando Hudson are 28-years old. For some reason I thought both players were younger than that... The Red Sox front office has been taking a lot of heat but I think they acted correctly in their dealing with Johnny Damon and not signing Kevin Millwood. However, I think the biggest failing of the Red Sox front office was in not trading David Wells to the Diamondbacks for Javier Vazquez who wanted to be traded to an East Coast team but ended up in Chicago instead. Wells is every bit the equal to Orlando Hernandez and their contracts are also comparable. Chicago wound up sending outfielder flotsam Chris Young and reliever Luis Vizcaino but Arizona had to kick in $4 million to even off the trade. With the Red Sox the Diamondbacks could have kept the $4 million and the Red Sox could have included a jetsam prospect equal to Young. I know Wells has a history with Arizona but what gets me is the fact that so much has been leaked this offseason - why couldn't someone leak whether Wells was offered to Arizona? That would have satisfied me and allowed me more comfort in thinking the front office is on the ball and not in disarray as has been reported... Tossing a trade idea out there - how about Wells to the Padres (where he wants to go) in exchange for Dave Roberts and 1st base prospect Adrian Gonzalez. The Red Sox then flip Gonzalez to the A's for lefty Joe Kennedy. The Sox would get the CF/4th OF and 4/5th starter they need, the Padres would get a 15 game winner and the A's would get a top prospect at 1st and save $2 million in payroll. Kennedy is too good to be a late innings lefty and right now the A's have Nick Swisher at 1st when he should be in the outfield (is Mark Kotsay on the block?). Dan Johnson seems more of a DH than a slick fielding 1st baseman so Gonzalez would be a welcome addition to the A's... Supposedly the Orioles are close to signing Jeromy (not Jeremy) Burnitz. If the numbers I've heard (2-years $12 million) are correct then this is a move that makes me laugh and will make Orioles fans cry. I've always been partial to Burnitz (I don't know why - but I'm not so sure if I'd still be partial to him if he played for the Red Sox). I'm glad he's getting a big payday and I'm glad he's signing with the Orioles because this should shut down the Manny for Tejada trade rumors. The Orioles aren't going to pay Burnitz $6 million and Manny $17 million. Plus Burnitz at 37 is past patrolling CF - so a Manny for Tejada trade makes no sense. Why would the Orioles make this move? Why do the Orioles do anything? The smart move would have been arbitration with Eric Byrnes instead but hey - that's the Orioles for you...