damnit!

the rangers can have kenny lofton. this will be his eleventh team! i will always like keny, but i rather have grady sizemore anyday, past or present. and if he can cut down on his strikeouts, LOOK OUT!

but the rangers took away gagne! if he passes his physical, eric gagne will (supposedly) be a texas ranger. for $6 mil, with a potential $5 mil in performance incentives.

why? why couldn't the tribe have given him the same deal? i need details! none were given. not on espn's website, not on the tribe's website.

suddenly, the dellucci signing is bothering me again.

the baseball winter meetings, part II have just ended. not a lot of transactions were made. most of what did go down involved pitchers signing or being traded. the biggest name would be jason schmidt switching teams in his own division, going from san fran to LA. philly obtained freddy garcia in a trade from the second most hated team in the world, the white sox. personally, i liked freddy. we usually beat up on him. but this is significant. the white sox rode the success of four starting pitchers in 2005 to a world series title. now that foursome is being broken up.

on the offensive side of things, the red sox continue to become as there enemy, the yankees. spend till you can't spend anymore. they gave j.d. drew a ridiculous 5 year contract. the same j.d. drew who held out for mega bucks out of college, and played in an independent league instead. the same j.d drew who opted out of his contract with the dodgers after one year to take advantage of this year's crazy free agency spending. no, i will not condone his actions. i work my arse off to make a living. how many 10's of millions has j.d. made in his career? lots and lots and lots, would be the answer. i would think with this newest contract he is approaching $200 mil for his career. i bet most people on this planet do not make one million in their entire working life. you would think the red sox would learn from the yankees. the highest priced players do NOT guarantee a championship! chemistry DOES matter. mega bucks breeds complacency. there is such a thing as karma. pitching and defense are key. this guy opted out of his contract for money and money alone. and the red sox satiated his needs. i hope this backfires for the red sox. the red sox are now just a bunch of high priced jerks, just like the yankees. i hope neither team makes the playoffs this year.

ok, so, as for the good guys. we have made three 'nice' signings. all three are bullpen guys. all three bring much needed experience to our young staff. two of the three used to be closers, and could be if so necessary. the other is a good but not great left handed pitcher. the trio is joe borowski, roberto hernandez, and aaron fultz.

roberto used to continually antagonize the tribe as the white sox closer. he is old, but he has been consistent throughout his career. he most often is now used as a late innings set up guy, which is just what the tribe needs. they had a great one in bob howry in 2005, but they foolishly let him go. we have apparently learned from that mistake.

because not only did we sign roberto, but we also added borowski. joe was a closer last year for the marlins, saving 36 games. he also was a very successful closer for the cubs, saving 33 games back in 2003. theses were primarily his only two years he served as a closer in his 10 year career, as he has 69 of his 80 career saves in these two years. but he does have health concerns. he has throughout his career. the phillies had signed him to a two year contract earlier, but backed away due to health concerns. i do like this signing, if he is another set up guy. he is good insurance to have.

but i still do hope we can sign a closer, like eric gagne. or make a trade. gagne would be SO awesome! i try not to get too excited about this possibility, even when i hear reports that he is seriously talking with the tribe both from ESPN and shapiro himself. eric, if you are out there, you would be perfect for cleveland! i am serial. i would seriously contemplate moving back to OH if you would sign long term to be our closer. that thought is always in the back of my mind anyway, your signing with us would just be the clincher. that is assuming you are indeed healthy, and would assist with my re-reloacting cost.

then there is aaron fultz. once we canned scott suerbeck midway thru last season, we had no lefty to do the match up thing with late in games. we brought some rooks up later (namely rafael perez and juan lara), with mixed results. but one can never count on rookies to do a job year long. his lifetime ERA is 4.37. his best year was in 2005, when he posted a 2.24 ERA in 72-1/3 innings in 62 games for the phillies. most of his success came in the NL though. he pitched a combined 119 games with texas and minnesota in 2003 and 2004. his ERA those two years: 5.21 and 5.04. hopefully, that is something he has gotten out of his system.

the nice thing about all three: they were signed to modest one year contracts with options for a second year. all three have experience, and even though all three came from the NL, they have pitched in the american league before. therefore there should not be an adjustment period to get acclimated to a new league.

i am feeling a little better about dellucci also. now, if can can get that closer, i think the indians would be ready to play ball.