Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

If you added the salaries of all of the projected starting pitchers for the Pirates with the exception of Matt Morris and multiplied that number by 6 - you still would not have what the Pirates are paying Matt Morris all by himself. In fact you'd still have over $1 million left over. How sick is that?... I'm not sure if there is any truth to the rumor that Thoracic Outlet Syndrome will be renamed Ranger's Disease. Pitcher John Rheinecker has been diagnosed with the ailment which also sidelined Hank Blalock last season. That's just strange... The most interesting thing about the Pirates is the debate over who will be traded first - Jason Bay or Jack Wilson.... Many people are saying that this is the year that Tampa Bay doesn't finish last in the AL East and I agree with that. In fact I think the talent level on the team is such that if they were in the NL Central that they just could be the favorites for that division... Just saying but I think Ryan Church will put up better numbers this year for the Mets than Jason Bay will post for the Pirates. Just a gut feel... Tampa Bay may have changed their name officially from the Devil Rays to just the Rays but their Single A minor league team still retains the old name - the Vero Beach Devil Rays. Strange...