Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous MLB thoughts and observations.

The Rangers signed shortstop Michael Young to a contract extension that will pay him an average of $16 million a year between 2009 and 2013. This means that the Rangers will actually be paying $24 million for the shortstop position in 2009 and $23 million in 2010 since in those years they will also be paying $8 million and $7 million of Alex Rodriguez's contract as well. When the Rangers traded A-Rod to the Yankees - they picked up $67 million of the remaining $179 million on A-Rod's contract (with $24 million of that $67 million to be deferred money). Seeing that now all the Rangers have to show for trading A-Rod (besides their large bill to help pay for his contract) is Brad Wilkerson (who they got by trading Alphonso Soriano to the Nationals) - you have to wonder if the Rangers would have been much better off in the long run if they had just kept A-Rod instead of trying to dump his salary... Today the Blue Jays unveiled a new - edgier mascot... If you are into fantasy baseball - it must be tough to gauge how to value Red Sox pitchers. You have Curt Schilling who is over 40-years old but who last year went 15-7 with a 3.97 ERA. Just as important statistically last year he had over 200-IP and 183 strikeouts. If you are in a league that counts IP and K's - then Schilling is still a top gun and this year he'll be pitching for a new contract! Then you have Daisuke Matsuzaka who if you believe the hype is the second coming of Pedro Martinez. I wish Dice-K all the luck in the world but how do you value him for fanatsy purposes? I won't even talk about the enigma that is Josh Beckett... I still say that Randy Wolf will have a very good season. In fact - I still say he finishes in the top five for the NL Cy Young Award... Today would have been Moe Berg's 105th birthday. If you want an interesting read - pick up the biography of Berg - The Catcher Was a Spy.