Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh heh

- Interesting article on Vegas "sharps"

- Reminder that free agency isn't always a solution in baseball and is sometimes the root of new and worse problems

- Nice Elmore Leonard primer

- Awesome

- Who knew? Donald Rumsfeld is a Washington Capitals fan.

- Heh heh

Team of Misfit Players

With the signing of Jason Bay with the Mets - I got to wondering if you could put together a competitive team using just the remaining free agents. At the same time keep the salary total at below $100 million (my estimated signing costs are next to the names). Here's what I cam up with:

C - Yorvit Torrealba ($4 mil)
1st - Adam LaRoche ($8 mil)
2nd - Kelly Johnson ($3.5 mil)
SS - Orlando Cabrera ($3 mil)
3rd - Adrian Beltre ($8 mil)
LF - Johnny Damon ($9 mil)
RF - Matt Holliday ($16 mil)
CF - Rick Ankiel ($5 mil)

SP1 - Joel Pineiro ($10.5 mil)
SP2 - Erik Bedard ($8 mil)
SP3 - Jon Garland ($5 mil)
SP4 - Pedro Martinez ($8 mil)
SP5 - Braden Looper ($4 mil)

Closer - Danys Baez ($3 mil)

Notes: That's a payroll of $95 mil (fill out the other 11 roster spots at minimums and you have a $100 mil payroll). You could argue Orlando Hudson over Kelly Johnson but my thinking is that they are about the same but Johnson would come at a lower cost. I have Pedro down as the 4th starter but when healthy he could easily be the number 3 or 4. Baez is a crap shoot at closer but he's got the experience.

I think this team would be better than 50% of the current rosters easily. And I'm pretty sure this team could outperform the Mets.