Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If President Trump really wanted to prank Dr. Ford and make the Left go crazy - he should put her on the Federal "No-Fly" list and say it was for her own good (because of supposed fear of flying)... One of my deepest fears is of fire-breathing koalas. Wheh! Feels great to get that off my chest. Now let the healing begin... Interesting opinion that Jeff Bezos' decision to raise the minimum wage at Amazon to $15 per hour is basically a Machiavellian maneuver. Got to say that I agree...   "Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke." Hermann Hesse... Gratitude is a superpower. From Tim Ferris' Tribe of Mentors... When you think about it it's pretty amazing that a full-blown cult of George Washington never really came to be in the early US. I wonder what the country would look like today if one did develop... Interesting look back on the top 11 free-agent signings (by contract dollar amount) of last offseason. JD Martinez was by far the best signing but I have to wonder if the Cubs would still be playing if Yu Darvish remained healthy this season...

Free Agent Signings

OK - its far enough into the baseball season to figure out in most cases whether money was well spent on a free agent player or whether the money would have been better spent on ivory back scratchers. I'm only looking at players who changed teams - so don't be looking for A-Rod on either list. Also don't look for every player or any middle-relievers for that matter.

Money Well Spent:
- Aaron Boone - $1 mil / 1 YR Washington (5 HR and .529 SLG% in limited role)
- Milton Bradley - $5 mil / 1 YR Texas (.327 BA / 8 HR / 31 RBI / 0 tantrums)
- Sean Casey - $800,000 / 1 YR Boston (the mayor has been a good fit)
- Bartolo Colon - Minor League Deal Boston (no matter what else happens - his performance in his first 2 starts makes his signing perhaps the biggest bargain of the offseason)
- Mark Hendrickson - $1.5 mil / 1 YR Florida (off to a 7-2 start)
- Livan Hernandez - $5 mil / 1 YR (off to 6-2 start)
- Eric Hinske - Minor League Deal Tampa Bay (10 HR already - another huge bargain)
- Troy Percival - $8 mil / 2 YR Tampa Bay (great story - I hope his recent injury isn't anything serious)
- Aaron Rowand - $60 mil / 5 YR San Francisco (he's been great so far)

Wasted Bucks:
- Eric Gagne - $10 mil / 1 YR (suckity, suck, sucks)
- Jose Guillen - $36 mil / 3 YR (way overpaid - bad move and clubhouse distraction)
- LaTroy Hawkins - $3.75 mil / 1 YR Yankees (as a Red Sox fan all I can say is Ha Ha)
- Jason Jennings - $5 mil / 1 YR Houston (I could go 0-5 with an ERA of 8.56)
- Andruw Jones - $36 mil / 2 YR Dodgers (completely fallen off a cliff)
- Carlos Silva - $48 mil / 4 YR Seattle (for $12 mil a year your ERA should be under 5.00)
- Brad Wilkerson - $3 mil / 1 YR Seattle (already been cut from the team)

Jury Still Out:
- Mike Cameron - $7 mil / 1 YR Milwaukee
- Luis Castillo - $25 mil / 4 YR Mets (I didn't like the signing at the time and I don't like it now but I'm willing to give it a benefit of a doubt)
- Francisco Cordero - $46 mil / 4 YR Cincinatti
- David Eckstein - $4.5 mil / 1 YR Toronto
- Keith Foulke - $7 mil / 1 YR Oakland
- Pedro Feliz - $8.5 mil / 2 YR Philadelphia
- Torii Hunter - $90 mil / 5 YR Angels
- Kaz Matsui - $16.5 mil / 3 YR Houston

Top 5 - Potential 2008 MLB Free Agents

Here are who I consider the top 5 "names" that could be available after this season.

1. Alex Rodriguez - you may have heard how he can opt out of his contract at the end of the season.
2. Ichiro - on track for his seventh straight 200 hit / .300+ batting average season.
3. Carlos Zambrano - the Cubs may be missing their opportunity to sign their stud pitcher
4. Andruw Jones - I easily could have put Jones at the top of the list
5. (tie) Torii Hunter - don't forget about Hunter who is having an all-star type start for the Twins (tie) Mark Teixeira - off to a slow start this season but a huge contract awaits him in Baltimore