Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I know that most of us work without contracts and are by definition "employees at will" but I can't help but wonder what it would be like for most of us if we went on vacation, called a bunch of other employees saying that we weren't happy with our jobs and were looking at moving on. Then right before our vacation was up - we called our boss and said that we changed our mind and would be staying on after all. The boss would have to consider us one hell of an employee to put up with that crap. This is why I think the reality of our own situations sours most of us on superstar pouting like that from multi-millionaires like Miguel "B12 shots are the secret of my success" Tejada and Manny Ramirez... Byung-Hyun Kim signing with the Rockies for just $1.25 million may be the signing of the offseason (value-wise). The downside for the Rockies is that Kim doesn't have much trade value because teams will be frightened that Kim won't react well to new surroundings... Who is the most overpaid Yankee?... I really, really wish that Al Leiter would just retire and that Fox would replace the terrible Tim "state the obvious" McCarver with Leiter in the broadcast booth... I wasn't sure how I felt about the Corey Koskie trade to the Brewers but when I read that the Brewers will only be responsible for just $2 million per year for 2006 and 2007 - I became convinced that this was a great move for the Brewers. With Troy Glaus at third and Shea Hillenbrand at DH - Koskie wasn't needed and his salary would be a drag on future moves by the Jays but the Blue Jays only got $.36 on the dollar and a minor league pitcher not even on the Brewers 40-man roster. This move may take JP Riccardi out as the early front-runner for 2006 Executive of the Year. Why not just wait till spring training to see what team loses a 3rd baseman to injury and get a better return on the dollar? The Brewers, however, already had 26-year old Bill Hall set to take a full-time starting role at 3rd. Last season Hall hit 17 HR and had an OPS of .837 (including 12 HR a .310 BA and a .917 OPS at home). Koskie is 6-years older and his career OPS of .825 is 12 points less than what Hall posted last year. One way to look at this deal is to compare it to what Boston just did signing JT Snow to back-up 26-year old Kevin Youkilis at first. The Brewers get the added benefits of Koskie being able to play 1st and the fact that he's signed for 2007 as well. One has to wonder if this move was made because Hall needs someone pushing him to compete for playing time to succeed? One more question - how come it is OK to mention you were surprised to find out Lew Ford was white and not OK to mention your were surprised that Bill Hall was black?... Shea Hillenbrand must be one hell of a teammate and clubhouse presence. In Toronto, his manager stepped up and told Riccardi not to trade Hillenbrand (even though they had a glut of 3rd baseman) and in Boston, local legend Johnny Pesky almost broke ties with the team when he found out Hillenbrand had been traded to Arizona...