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A quick look at what’s making news around the country and then a mall rant…

• It seems that Carlos Silva has found a landing spot in Seattle. According to various websites (mlb.com being chief among them), Silva’s deal is done pending the obligatory physical. The word on the street is that it is a 4 year, 44 million dollar contract. I never complain about the dollars as if the team is offering it, they obviously can afford it. The length of the contract is puzzling to me. Yes, Silva is only 28 years old, but he does not have the history of success (much like former teammate and fellow free agent Kyle Lohse) to warrant such an investment. Additionally, he does not have the stuff that could justify the length like the Gil Meche’s deal. Meche at least when healthy, has the potential to be a front of the rotation starter. Moving to Seattle will not help Silva as much as one would think as he is a groundball pitcher. It seems that the Mariners looked at his career numbers at Safeco (3-1, 3.18, 28.1 innings, 31 hits), his age, and the fact that he could be a dependable fourth or fifth starter for 2008 and overpaid for him. It does give the M’s a guy who will throw 180-200 innings, pitch to a 4.00 ERA, give up a ton of hits, and will not walk many hitters. Four years is an awfully big investment for a back of the rotation pitcher. For the record, Silva is a much better option than Lohse or Livan Hernandez.

• Speaking of Lohse…The Philly newspapers are discussing his four year contract proposal from the Phillies. The paper also cites a rumor of a similar offer from the Mets. Unlike Silva, Lohse really has zero history of success, having never had an ERA under 4.18 in seven major league seasons. Three times he has had an ERA above 5.00. Although he pitched somewhat competently for the Phils down the stretch in 2007, his history does not indicate a pitcher who can be consistent. If he comes to New York on a four year contract, he will quickly become public enemy number one. The fans will flood the talk radio airwaves yelling how they can’t believe Minaya gave this guy that deal.  

• Mark Prior’s name is all over the place with the Yankees, Mets, Astros, Rangers, and practically every other team interested. As I’ve said about Bartolo Colon, I like the high risk, high reward guys on a one year contract. Prior is a player, if healthy and a chip on his shoulder, who could be real useful to a contender. My guess is Prior wants a one year deal to establish some sort of value again, but if I were a GM, I would sign him to a 2 year, heavily incentive laden contract based on innings pitched, time on roster, and games started. He’d be a great signing for the Yankees as he would get extra time to rehab. The Mets, Astros, and Rangers would be desperate and might rush him back too quickly. I still think Colon is a better risk, but Prior is a close second.

• The Mets did take a nice gamble on Brewer castoff, Matt Wise. Wise gets a one year deal (with a buyout clause if he gets cut during the spring) and a shot to play a prominent role in the Met’s pen. Wise is a 32 year old right handed reliever who has posted a great 2005 season, but has struggled a bit the past two seasons. If healthy, Wise can serve as a bridge to the 7th or 8th inning guy. If he makes the team, he will be an immediate upgrade over Guillermo Mota.

• The Padres signed second baseman Tadihito Iguchi to a one year, four million dollar contract. It’s a nice signing by the Padres as they get a cheap starting second baseman who should be an upgrade over the production they received from Marcus Giles in 2007. It’s a curious deal for Iguchi as he supposedly had multi-year offers from other clubs. He also picked the worst park to put up offensive numbers.

• Why Rays, why? Cliff Floyd? It’s just a one year contract, but the Rays were having a great off-season until this. Floyd is a guy who is injury prone and has a history of complaining. Why surround your young clubhouse with a potential problem? Floyd should be platooned a bit and will mostly DH for the Rays. This, unfortunately, does take away some at bats from Johnny Gomes. Gomes is a kid who they should just give 500 at bats to and see where he ends up. He’s tremendously streaky, but he does have the power/speed combination that could make him valuable. The one positive from this signing is that Floyd, if he remains healthy, will be attractive trade bait around the deadline as a left handed bat.

• There’s a lot of Roger Clemens stuff in all sorts of papers. Even Curt Schilling weighed in on the whole situation on his blog (38pitches.com) stating that if the reports were true, Clemens should lose his last four CY Young awards. As I promised when I started this site, I would give thoughtful commentary. I’m still in thought on this. I will probably write something up at the end of this week (Friday or Saturday) or next week. Unlike most of the journalists around the country who are just spouting off various witty remarks, I really want to put something intelligent down…whether I succeed or not is a totally different issue.

• There’s an excellent article in the Milwaukee paper regarding the Mitchell Report players’ performance after their P.E.D. usage. Check it out here.  

That’s all in baseball news for today. Enjoy the day. Fire back with any thoughts. If you’d like to stick around for the non-baseball rant, check it out below and of course feel free to comment.

Extra Round: The Shopping Mall Rant

So, I am not a big “go to the mall” guy. It’s not something I relish, but when you are married to a woman who likes to shop, get her eyebrows done at Anastasia once a month, there is really little option. Of course, with the holiday season around, I’ve spent a bit too much time in the mall recently. Now, I’m generally a positive, cheerful person; I’m the guy that will hold the door open for five minutes to let people leave the mall. But, there is a recent phenomenon that is completely changing me into a crazy person. It has started at my local, small shopping mall. However, this new development has totally taken over two very big malls that I frequent. Last night, I was in the mall waiting for my wife to finish with her eyebrows. My usual routine is to check out the sports store, look in the game store, gawk at the Cinnabons, and pretend to be interested in buying a new pair of brown shoes that my wife says I need. The walk is a straight run down the hallway of the first floor. But, just walking in the mall is no longer permitted. In that short stroll down the corridor, I was offered the following:

1. To have lotion rubbed on my hands.

2. To have a cream clean my wedding band.

3. To have some dirty heated pillow change the way I feel about my life.

4. To have cream rubbed on a part of my body which I refuse to state on this site.

5. To have my back rubbed.

6. To have a look at my own personalized hair extensions. I kid you not on this one…By the way, I am a bald man.

7. Minerals for Zimbabwe that would put my chi in balance and take care of a foot odor.

What ever happened to being able to walk in a mall without getting stalked by these people with a crazy look in their eye? Literally, I could not walk ten steps without someone popping out in front of me offering me the key to happiness, or the key to improving my miserable life. I felt like I was in that scene in Airplane  when the flower guys are just repeating the same speech over and over to the passing people while passing out their flowers. I’m all for people trying to make a living, but hasn’t this just gotten out of hand? I thought the idea of shopping was to actually choose the products you are interested in and not having someone person in ill-fitting clothes force things upon me. 

I usually can give the old, “No thank you” response and move on, but last night was something else. I actually had a woman follow me hallway down the hall as she was explaining the value of these minerals and how they could improve my feet smell, love life, happiness, and aching bones. When I just ignored her, she quickly turned and tackled some poor 80 year old woman to sell her this miracle product.  

Soon afterwards, this man with a dirty, heated pillow, practically refused to get out of my way. He gave me the “uh, oh” feeling when he kept saying things like, “come on, touch it” or “let me put it on you”. I kept trying to say excuse me, but he refused. Finally, I told him that after I bought a pair of plastic gloves, I would take that disease ridden pillow and shove it in the same spot that the lotion guy offered to rub just minutes early (you do get that I would be shoving the pillow up the guy’s part, not mine, right?).

I don’t know when, why, or how this new form of selling started. I do know that I want it to end quickly. If I am interested in the magical hand cream, I will come to the kiosk and inquire. If I want a massage, I probably won’t be getting it in the middle of the mall. Please stop physically assaulting me.

 Ok, I’m done now. I’m sorry for the non-baseball rant, but I figured I would share this during the last week of Christmas shopping. Happy Holidays everyone.