Boston Red Sox - ‘Contract year’ theory provides food for thought - The Boston Globe

Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP, Red Sox - We’ll have to get an explanation on this one, but a source told MLB.com reporter Maureen Mullen that Matsuzaka unexpectedly took a week off from Athletes’ Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz. Mullen wrote that the respite does not appear to be injury-related. Right now there’s no reason to believe Matsuzaka is abandoning his conditioning, but with Dice-K, who knows?

AP: Recession hits Negro Leagues Museum

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a unique window into a vital chapter of American history that the late Buck O’Neil helped open 20 years ago, could be in trouble.

Attendance and revenues are down, and a decision by new management to distance itself from O’Neil has splintered many of its most loyal supporters.

What’s more, the recession has cut deeply into donations. After posting its first loss two years ago of about $30,000, the museum is looking at what one staffer termed “a monster loss” that could approach a quarter of a million dollars when the final accounting for 2009 is complete. For a relatively small museum that has always depended on the kindness of others, $200,000 is seismic.

Much of the revenue loss is traceable to a drop in licensing revenue. No one is predicting the museum’s imminent demise, but everyone agrees the trend must be reversed.

“For museums all over the country, dollars are becoming hard to find,” said Greg Baker, who took over as executive director a little more than a year ago. “We are challenged by that. We’ve got to raise money to keep going and if we don’t, we’ll end up closing our doors.”

If it shuts down, the country will lose the only museum dedicated exclusively to black baseball’s unique contribution to American culture and the vital role those men played in the long and painful march toward equality.

“This place is cherished by too many people to let that happen,” historian and filmmaker Ken Burns said. “It would be a cultural tragedy.”

ESPNLA: Dodgers eyeing four for outfield spot

With almost every item on their offseason to-do list crossed off, the Dodgers appear to have little else on their agenda than finding a fourth outfielder to replace Juan Pierre, whom they traded to the Chicago White Sox last month. That search appears to have been narrowed to four veteran free agents.

Garret Anderson, Brian Giles, Gabe Gross and Reed Johnson are in the mix, according to a source close to the organization.

LeBRETON: In every measure, Michael Young excels as Texas Rangers’ leader

LeBreton measure, sure. LeBesgue measure, probably not.

He will be 33 this season, and Young feels he is entering the prime of his career.

“One of my favorite players of all time is Paul Molitor,” Young said, “just because he was a great player, a great competitor, and he was respected for the way he played the game. He had his best years in the mid-to-late part of his career, and I expect I’m going to do the same thing.

“I’ve been healthy. My body feels good. Mentally, I think I feed off the grind of the season. I don’t run away from that kind of thing. I feel like I play my best baseball when guys are starting to feel the effects of it.

“I’m looking forward to this stage of my career.”

...If he continues his present pace, Young will finish his current contract with around 2,500 hits, 200 homers, 1,100 RBI and a plus-.300 batting average.

Based on those numbers, Young carries a 97 score on a Hall of Fame probability scale created by stats guru Bill James. It’s not rocket science, but players who have a score of 100 are considered a “good possibility” of one day being in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

At baseball-reference.com, Young’s numbers at his age compare with Barry Larkin, Craig Biggio and Julio Franco. You could make Hall of Fame arguments for all.

NYT: “Willie Mays, at 78, Decides to Tell His Story”

On the night of April 29, 1961, at dinner in Milwaukee, Willie Mays ate some bad barbecue. He was up all night, sick to his stomach, and so wobbly the next afternoon he told Alvin Dark, the manager of the San Francisco Giants, to erase his name from the lineup. Lew Burdette was scheduled to pitch for the Braves.

“I didn’t know if I could even swing,” Mays said recently on a brief trip to New York. “But during batting practice, a kid named Joey Amalfitano, he come up to me and says, ‘Try this bat.’ And everything I hit was going out of the ballpark. So I said, ‘O.K., I can play.’ ”

Mays hit four home runs that day — “Two off Burdette, one off Seth Morehead, and one off a kid named Don McMahon,” he said — and he drove in eight runs, maybe the finest day at the plate in a career that has had few, if any, equals.

The story of Mays’s bellyache and Amalfitano’s lucky bat is one of many juicy baseball tales in ”Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend” by James S. Hirsch, to be published in February by Scribner. An exhaustive accounting of Mays’s life, it is the first time Mays has cooperated with a biographer, and its imminent appearance has sent Mays on the promotional trail, an occasion for him to reminisce about his exploits and buff them. That day in Milwaukee, he said, he was robbed by Hank Aaron, who was not even playing his regular position.

“I should’ve had five,” Mays said. “Aaron caught one ball that was going over the center-field fence.”

NYT: Coaching Baseball Rookies for the Limelight

LEESBURG, Va. — Many of the 104 teenagers and young men who gathered at a resort here this month will soon be very rich, and some may be larger than life: household names, tabloid celebrities, possibly even worldwide brands.

The world’s top baseball prospects, they came to attend an annual three-day session called rookie camp, meant to prepare them for life under the lights: how to live with the attention, how to make it last, how to enjoy it.

...

This year for the first time, it included a presentation dedicated to nutritional supplements (which can contain banned substances) and a stronger emphasis than ever on the power of video and social-networking sites to follow athletes almost anywhere.

PB Post: Forgive McGwire? Some old-timers won’t — but others admit steroids might have tempted them

An Eyeball-Poppin’ Load of Excitement and Action! This Stuff’ll Kill Ya...or Maybe it Won’t!

Rico Carty played with Hank Aaron for eight seasons in Milwaukee and Atlanta.

“Hank Aaron will always be the home run king,” Carty said. “Nobody can take that away from him. I don’t think (players who used steroids) should be in the Hall of Fame. We deserve to be in the Hall of Fame because we were clean.”

...Former Yankees Mickey Rivers and Jay Johnstone also won’t condemn players from that era.

“It don’t bother me,” Rivers said. “When I was playing, if some guy said, ‘Any advantage I can get,’ I’d use. I’d use anything that would help me.”

Johnstone called Mc-Gwire a “legitimate” home-run hitter, citing the 49 homers he hit as a rookie.

“I don’t condone it but I can’t hold it against them,” he said. “Had it been available when I played, would I have been attempted to do that when (other guys) were doing it and putting up numbers that I’m not? I don’t know.”

Cincinnati.com/Fay: Lincoln in the 5th Spot? Alonso at Catcher?

Gotta love Dusty:

These come from the sometimes-managers-say-the-darnedest-things file. Dusty Baker was asked about the fifth spot in the rotation Saturday at the Select-A-Seat event at Great American Ball Park.

Mike Lincoln hasn’t started in the majors in 10 years, and has been battling injuries for the last few years. Yonder Alonso may be built like a catcher, but the odds that he can actually hold together long enough to learn how to BE one given his recent injury history aren’t exactly good.

There are times when I really wonder if Jocketty and Baker have a clue.

Project Prospect: Top 25 Prospect List

Here they be, afoster.

1 Jason Heyward
2 Desmond Jennings
3 Jesus Montero
4 Stephen Strasburg
5 Carlos Santana
6 Dustin Ackley
7 Brian Matusz
8 Buster Posey
9 Justin Smoak
10 Fernando Martinez
11 Alcides Escobar
12 Pedro Alvarez
13 Michael Taylor
14 Neftali Feliz
15 Michael Stanton
16 Josh Bell
17 Yonder Alonso
18 Jaff Decker
19 Logan Morrison
20 Mike Leake
21 Jhoulys Chacin
22 James Darnell
23 Madison Bumgarner
24 Domonic Brown
25 Chris Carter

Lemieux, Penguins co-owner offer to buy Pirates

Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, co-owners of the Penguins, recently made an unsolicited offer to buy the Pirates in a face-to-face meeting with that team’s owner, Bob Nutting, but the offer did not receive a response.

Sources on the Penguins’ side last night described the offer made by Mr. Lemieux and Mr. Burkle as “very serious,” without divulging a dollar figure, and said they remain interested in following up.

The Pirates characterized the matter far differently.

Mr. Nutting, the only person in the meeting to comment on it, was adamant that no serious discussion about a sale had taken place. And he firmly reiterated that the Pirates are not for sale.

“Honestly, I’m not sure there’s a situation to describe,” Mr. Nutting said last night when asked about the meeting. “I like Ron. He’s an extremely competent businessman and deal-maker, and we’ve talked about a wide range of topics. But I think the simplest way to say this is that there never has been a substantive or formal offer for the team. The team is not for sale.”

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10030/1032299-63.stm#ixzz0e7Mt2klH

Yellow and Black Unite! NUT!

Bryce Harper shows flair in CSN debut

Coyote Gold Mine!

Washington Nationals scout Jeff Zona was happy to talk baseball during top-ranked College of Southern Nevada’s season opener against Arizona Western on Friday—so long as the discussion wasn’t about Bryce Harper.

Harper, a 17-year-old CSN freshman who is the top-rated baseball prospect in the country, started at third base and went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk in his college debut, an 11-4 CSN victory at Morse Stadium in Henderson.

Harper is projected to be taken by Washington with the first pick in June’s first-year player draft. But Zona wasn’t about to tip the Nationals’ hand four months before draft day.

“I can’t say anything about Bryce Harper,” said Zona, one of five members of the Nationals organization on hand to scout Harper and others in the Coyote Border Battle tournament.

Washington assistant general managers Bob Boone and Roy Clark and scouting director Kris Kline also attended CSN’s opener, witnessed by the largest crowd in the program’s 11-year history, about 1,300. Kline also declined comment about Harper.

S.I.: Marchman: Hot Stove Report: Garland is a better signing than Sheets

Garland pounds Billy, boy.

Over his last four seasons (2004-08), Sheets has averaged about 120 innings with a 3.45 ERA. If he does that for the A’s, he’ll be worth about what he’s paid. If he does more than that, he’ll be paid more. For him to create any real extra value he’ll have to pitch like a true ace, and there’s little reason to think he’s physically capable of doing so. It’s not a bad signing, just an uninspired one. As a broke team in a tough division, the A’s need to do better than that.

Down in San Diego, the Padres made a far sharper signing this week. Unlike Sheets, Jon Garland will never start an All Star Game or have a season where he strikes out 10 men for every one he walks. He’s pitched at least 190 innings eight years in a row, though, and run up a below-average ERA in just one of them. He’s also just 30 and signed for about half what Sheets is guaranteed. As a nearly mortal lock to be worth about twice his $5.3 million salary, Garland is a steal. Given how durable he is and that Petco Park is the most extreme pitcher’s park in the majors, he may even have more trade value than Sheets this summer.

Beane made his reputation exploiting market inefficiencies, an unfortunate bit of jargon that just means he had an eye for players who were worth more than they cost. He used statistics to find them, something you can’t really do anymore. Aside from the real paste eaters, every team understands that it’s better to have hitters who get on base than those who don’t, and that there is some benefit to be had from evaluating defense with math.

There are still inefficiencies out there, though, and taken together these two signings hint at a big one, the hardwired human desire to hit a jackpot. Teams are more willing than they should be to bet a lot on the small chance that a player will be really great, and curiously uninterested in paying for a sure thing. That the A’s are on the wrong side of this might seem a bit odd given their reputation, but then that always had less to do with how sharp they were than how dull some of their rivals were.

Road to the Caribbean World Series: 1-30-2010

The Caribbean World Series starts on February 2nd, and like last year games will be on MLB Network. Let’s check to see who has already advanced:

NOTE: The CaribWS is weird in that often times the teams that win the League Championships will be bolstered by other players from that country for the CaribWS, so just because a Player is on a team now doesn’t mean they will be during the WS itself.

Venezuela: The Leones Del Caracas defeated Navegantes del Magallanes in game 7 of the Venezuelan championship on Friday to win the series. Pablo Sandoval arrived from the Bay Area to play in the game for Magallanes in order to “defend their honor”, and went 1-4 in the defeat. MLB-related Players on the victorious Caracas Leones, which came back from a 3-2 deficit to win the series, include Gregor Blanco, Jose Lopez, Luis Maza, Gregorio Petit and Juan Gutierrez.

Dominican Republic: The Escogido Leones defeated Cibao Gigantes 5-3 in the deciding game 9 (!) to win the DRWL title. Francisco Liriano struck out 10 in the game Thursday. Other MLB-related players on Escogido include Fernando Martinez (who went 1-4), Carlos Gomez, Wladimir Balentien, Brayan Pena, Nelson Figueroa, Jose Veras and Santiago Castilla. The great Victor Zambrano took the loss for Cibao, which also had Alexi Casilla, Wilson Betemit, Nelson Cruz and Ramon Santiago.

Puerto Rico: Mayaguez won the series 4-1 by beating Caguas 8-6 in 11 innings. Players for Mayaguez include Bernie Castro, Andres Torres, Jesus Feliciano, Randy Ruiz, Twins prospect Danny Valencia and Boston Minor Leaguer Angel Sanchez.

Mexico has yet to be decided, with Game 7 to be played tonight between Hermosillo and Mazatlan. I’ll bring a recap of that tomorrow.

Jim Stoeckel new Head Coach of Dutch National Team

New leader for the Honkballers.

The Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation has appointed Jim Stoeckel as new head coach for the national team according to Rogier van Zon of Honkbalsite.com. The 57-year-old American was the bullpen and pitching coach of the Netherlands last year on the staff of Rod Delmonico.

In November he originally had stated not to come back for the 2010 season due to his duties as scout for the Cincinnati Reds organization. But after consultations with technical director Robert Eenhoorn he decided otherwise.

It is going to be the third stint as head coach of the Dutch national team for Stoeckel. He was the manager between 1981 and 1983, and from 1989 to 1991. He won the European Championship in 1981 and to their first World Port Tournament title in Rotterdam in 1989.

Stoeckel grew up in Miami and attended Harvard University. He was recruited by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but decided to play football in the Canadian Football League instead. He returned to Baseball becoming a coach for several colleges and summer leagues.

Rod Delmonico, the coach last year including during the WBC, has left to be closer to his family in the states.

Walkoff Walk: PECOTA Officially Loses Its Marbles

And CASTIGLIONE has very similar numbers.

The PECOTA projections for the 2010 season arrived this week, as the god of the nerds, Nate Silver, unleashed a mighty flow of predictions upon his cult followers. I think PECOTA does a fine job of predicting individual players, but, if you think about it, the team records are based on the performance of these same projected players, which would be nice if the PECOOTERS functioned in a vacuum. Nevertheless, wacky managerial decisions (as just one example) have an undoubted effect on the actual outcomes of a game, meaning that the real baseball world is not a vacuum at all. As such, these projections can readily be thrown off by cold, hard reality. Therefore, I don’t really give much weight to these things; however, I do think they can be fun to look at in and of themselves. This year especially is proof positive of the sheer insanity that can happen when Silver starts poking around with numbers, and it begs the question of whether or not he is just messing with diehard baseball stats guys now.

You can view the complete projected records at Baseball Prospectus, where they are presented by division. Let’s just take a gander at a few of the things that make this year’s dose of fortune telling more ridiculous than Robert Downey Jr.’s career arc:

* There are only three teams expected to eclipse 90 wins next season. Last season, PECOTA projected six. All three in 2010 (Rays, Red Sox and Yankees) are from the AL East.

* By PECOTA’s estimation, the Royals are going to have the lowest win total (66) next season. Unfortunately, this will be a year too late to grab Bryce Harper, which is just so fitting for this terrible, terrible franchise.

* Speaking of terrible teams, the Nationals are going to win 82 games. I will wager anybody that this doesn’t happen.

Gardenhire optimistic Twins will get a deal with Mauer

Mauer and the Twins have been steadfastly quiet about any negotiations, but manager Ron Gardenhire expressed optimism a deal will get done this spring.

“I’m just letting it happen. I don’t sit and fret about it,” Gardenhire said earlier in the day at Target Field, where the Twins are moving this year. “I think the right thing is going to happen. I think we all know. I think we all know the ramifications if something were not to happen and it would go the other way. That wouldn’t be a good thing for anybody. I don’t see who, other than maybe some clubs out east.”

Mauer is making $12.5 million this season, the last year of his current contract. He’ll be eligible for free agency in the fall if no new deal is in place, a scenario that wouldn’t bode well for the Twins given the interest the soon-to-be-27-year-old would attract on the open market. But Gardenhire, though removed from the process, wasn’t worried.

“I’ll be happy when he does sign. He can buy me a beer. Probably two. Maybe three,” he said, chuckling.

With Target Field blanketed in snow and the temperature near zero, TwinsFest was held at the usual Metrodome spot. Mauer was, of course, the center of attention wherever he wandered.

About the contract?

“I feel like a broken record,” he said. “People, they want to know what’s going on and try to find out things when they can, but I keep saying—I’m sounding like a broken record right now—it’ll all happen when it needs to happen and you’ve just got to try to let it all happen. That’s what we’re doing.”

As Mauer took questions from a small group of reporters in a basement hallway, teammate and close friend Justin Morneau walked by and shouted, “14-year extension, 20 a year!”

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/01/29/twins.mauer.ap/index.html#ixzz0e6c4dRu8
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In which Ron Gardenhire sees the true upside if Mauer signs: He’ll have more money to buy Gardy beer.

Baseball Picture of the Day: Roy Campanella

19 days until Pitchers and Catchers.

I was watching Hot Stove last night, and during it they had a retrospective on Roy Campanella and the aftermath of his tragic car accident, including the famous in-season exhibition the then-LA Dodgers ran to raise money for his care (for years, it was the largest crowd in US Baseball history).

I decided today’s image should be connected to that, so here is a 1958 cover of LIFE Magazine of Campy in recovery. He would never walk again, but he is still smiling.

The LIFE Archive has, I believe, been released into fair use via Google. This particular image is from coverbrowser.com .

Tomorrow: Yet Another Day, Yet Another Image

Harper: Aging core and injuries rank as biggest concerns for New York Yankees moving forward

Who gives a Solaita-sized clumpus...so long as they have karma, chemistry, and bulletproof bravado!

Mariano Rivera turned 40 in November. He had another brilliant season in ‘09, but he can’t go on like this forever, can he? He’s been so great for so long that any significant decline could have a devastating effect on the ballclub.

Jorge Posada turns 39 in August. His defense, always something of an issue, became a major story when he clashed with A.J. Burnett, leading Joe Girardi to sit him in the righthander’s postseason starts. With Johnson signed as a full-time DH, Posada’s health and performance behind the plate are critical.

Andy Pettitte turns 38 in June and has a history of elbow and shoulder problems. What if it all catches up with him this year?

Derek Jeter turns 36 in June, and while he enjoyed something of a renaissance season in 2009, there’s no denying he’s old for a shortstop.

Alex Rodriguez turns 35 in July, and his hip surely will continue to be a concern, if not an issue.

The point here is that, although they lost Chien-Ming Wang for the season and A-Rod for a month due to hip surgery, the Yankees were very lucky with injuries last season. Even Burnett, forever an arm injury waiting to happen, survived his first year as a Yankee without missing a start.

Even MORE Oriole FanFest Fashion Fabulosity

Somebody forgot to tell Matt Wieters that FanFest is fun. The catcher wore some kind of button-down oxford-type shirt over a white undershirt. (Hey! It’s Fred McMurray from My Three Sons!) He did leave it untucked and open, giving him that “just-left-the-office” look.

and

Brad Bergeson, on the other hand, is new enough that he wore a navy blazer. Taking to heart the words your mom uttered before your family left for mass, ("Would it kill you to put on a jacket?") Bergeson proved he understood the most versatile garment in his closet.

Of course, Matt Wieters invented the blue blazer.

Kernan: Gregg Jefferies leaves embattled Mets past far behind

No young ballplayer ever came to New York with the weight of expectations like Gregg Jefferies did when he first arrived with the Mets in 1987.

“Being compared to Mickey Mantle, one of the greatest players ever, when I heard that comparison, I just laughed to myself,” Jefferies said from his home in California. “The only thing Mickey and I had in common is that we both were switch-hitters and we both were male.”

...He’s had offers to return to the big leagues as a coach but for now, he is staying home. He has four children, the two oldest are from a previous marriage. His oldest, Jake, is a sophomore on the team. Jefferies was watching TV with him one day several years ago when the names of steroid-linked players’ rolled across the screen.

“My son turned to me and said, ‘Dad, your name wasn’t on there,’” Jefferies recalled. “I can’t tell you the pride that I felt right there. He knew it was hard work for me, what I did, what I accomplished.”

...Much was made of Jefferies extensive training routine, including a drill where he stood in his pool and swung a bat under water.

“To me it just seemed harmless,” said Jefferies, who starred at legendary Serra High in San Mateo, Calif. “Other guys have strange drills, too. I didn’t know it was going to be like it was in Sports Illustrated. It was like, ‘Holy Moly, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.’ I was very na*ve.

“Holy Moly”? I haven’t heard Holy Moly used since the last Steve Franken Film Fest!

NYT: Jane Jarvis, Player of Jazz and Mets Music, Dies at 94

The drawbar is now closed. RIP Jane Jarvis.

Jane Jarvis, who brought a jazz sensibility to unlikely places as an organist for the New York Mets and a programmer for Muzak, died on Monday at the Lillian Booth Actors’ Home in Englewood, N.J. She was 94.

Her death was confirmed by her son, Brian. She had lived at the actors’ home since shortly after being forced out of her Upper East Side apartment, the result of an adjacent building’s destruction in a crane collapse in 2008.

Ms. Jarvis’s career was bracketed by jazz, which she considered her first love: she formed a jazz band in her native Indiana as a teenager, and she worked steadily as a jazz pianist, mostly in New York, from her mid-60s into her 90s. But for more than two decades she was best known as a ballpark organist.

After eight years playing for the Braves at County Stadium in Milwaukee, she was a fixture at Shea Stadium from 1964 to 1979, performing a repertory that mixed jazz staples like Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple From the Apple” with more conventional fare like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and “Meet the Mets.”

Damon Remains Open to Possible Return to Yanks

“Whenever it is, whether I start the season with them, or whether they trade for me at the deadline, or if they sign me next year, or what not — I love New York,” Damon told the radio station.

Speaking in the interview about Derek Jeter, whose 10-year, $189 million contract expires after this season, Damon said, “I hope he is not offered a 45 percent pay cut.” The Yankees have no plans to negotiate with Jeter until after this season.

Shaw: Kenny Lofton was exciting, but he will have tough time getting into baseball Hall of Fame

The impact sound of Kenny and the kasual glance…

Unfortunately for Kenny Lofton, there’s no “Most Exciting” category for entry into Cooperstown.

If there were, he might have slid across home plate in Seattle in Game 6 of the 1995 American League Championship Series and right through the door of the Hall of Fame.

Admission to the Hall, as Tim Raines was reminded yet again in the most recent vote when he pulled in 30 percent of the affection, is a far more tedious process for all but an elite few. Seventy-five percent of the vote is needed for induction.

The problem for Lofton isn’t that he was no Rickey Henderson. Nobody was. The pressing issue for Lofton is that as good as he was, he wasn’t Raines.

...A brief comparison: Lofton had 2,428 hits, an on-base percentage of .372 and drove in 781 runs.

Raines had 2,605 hits and an on-base percentage of .385. Raines not only drove in nearly 200 more runs and stole nearly 200 more bases but had nearly 400 more walks. He had 1,330 walks to 966 strikeouts. Lofton finished his career with more strikeouts than walks.

Raines played six more seasons, so that skews the numbers. But the point is if Raines is having trouble moving the Hall of Fame needle, even more difficulty awaits Lofton.

wezen-ball: Baseball’s Past - In the Future

seaQuest DSV

Maybe this is a bad idea because this exercise is bound to show just how much of a geek I am. This is the first and best example. In 1993, the show “seaQuest” debuted as a sort of “Star Trek of the sea”. It followed a submarine crew 25 years in the future - all the way to the year 2018 - as they explored “the last unexplored region on Earth.” You might remember it for the teenie-bopper status that it levied on Jonathan Brandis, the teenage genius on board.

Anyhow, in various episodes of the series, Brandis is seen wearing a Florida Marlins jersey. That’s kind of neat in and of itself, since the Marlins debuted that same year. But Brandis’s jersey is unique because written across the back are the words “World Series 2010”. I remember watching this as a young kid and making some kind of smart remark to my older brother. Somehow, that’s stay with me for 15 years.

MASN: Wood: A Dunn extension and a man of letters

Not play bat-ista...but then I decided against it and included him.

I was told on Monday - off-the-record - that the Nationals were interested in signing Adam Dunn to a contract extension.

Now that it’s out there, I’ll quote someone who’s pretty close to Adam who told me that Dunn’s preference is to play baseball, not play bat.

“Adam really doesn’t want to DH in the American League. He wants to play the field, and believes his first base defense has reached the adequate level. He knows he’s no Gold Glover, but believes that he’ll get better, and is anxious to improve that aspect of his game.”

If you’ve been through the Nats’ clubhouse, it’s pretty clear that Dunn’s a one-for-all, all-for-one kind of guy. His teammates love him. If he’s determined to play in the field - and he’s still in his prime - then he’s got to play in the National League. In another story he described the extension talks as being at the zero stage, and inasmuch as they’ve just started, that’s a fair assessment.

The other bit of interesting news is the signing of Miguel Batista to a minor league contract. Batista is no kid - he’ll turn 39 in 3 weeks - but he’s coming off of an effective year in the Seattle bullpen. He’s below .500 for his career, both starting and relieving, and has been in the organization before, originally signing wth the Expos in 1988, and pitching in Montreal 1998-2000. He made $9.5 million with the M’s last year, so a minor league deal is quite a step down. He pitched for Jim Riggleman in Seattle in 2008, and knows Mike Rizzo from his time with Arizona, so perhaps those connections played some role in today’s signing.

Britt: Tim Lincecum’s look not such a curveball

So he looks like a face-wasted extra from a Beardo video. Big deal, McNeal.

Why, then, the astounding amount of consternation over the fashion foibles of our very own bona fide superstar pitcher, Tim Lincecum? Is it the boyish smile beneath the long, dark hair? The black ski cap at press conferences? The “Twilight"-like pallor? The fact that he looks as if he’s late for band practice?

If any week in recent memory has inflamed the stuffed shirts against Lincecum’s off-field dress, it’s this one.

Not only did Tiny Tim ask for $13 million in arbitration (pay him!), he went tieless in what very well may have been his father’s drab suit for a court date on Jan. 19. Days later, he suited up in a sleek tux, white pocket square and black necktie (he and Alex Rodriguez, also in a necktie with tie clip, made the other big-leaguers look like country rubes) for the Baseball Writers Association of America dinner to formally collect his second Cy Young Award.

...As are the Giants. Team spokeswoman Shana Daum says, “We love how Tim dresses and looks as long as he’s our pitcher and keeps on winning.” In fact, the team is so enthralled that it’s planning to sell a Tim Lincecum hairpiece to be worn under a ball cap so that all fans can sport a set of Lincecum locks.

But the outcry persists, with comments like: “Cut his hair,” “Dress like a man” and “Make him over.” Ah, the trials of fame.

mlbtraderumors.com:  Mariners Sign Eric Byrnes

The Mariners have signed outfielder Eric Byrnes to a one-year deal according to a team press release.

BTiA: Matschulat: Tom Hicks On Alex Rodriguez

Hicks: The Amazing Charlatan.

Hicks: “I think [the Alex Rodriguez signing] was a big mistake,” Hicks said. “We had just signed a big TV contract and were really stepping up in revenues. I thought Alex was going to be a big foundation of what could be a championship team for many years. I thought he was going to be the best player in baseball. He probably will end up being the best player in baseball history statistically, but he didn’t help us win.”

Yes, you can certainly argue that the A-Rod signing—particularly at its final value, which was significantly above and beyond the value of the second-highest offer—was misguided, that it likely precipitated the onset of Hicks Sports Group’s financial woes, that A-Rod wasn’t necessarily a good influence in the clubhouse ... on and on it goes. There were problems. I get that. And I get that the Rangers during the A-Rod era were not remotely good, and that this was at least partially because he occupied so much payroll space.

But when Hicks says that A-Rod “didn’t help us win” ... well, I understand that Hicks is referencing the big picture and the Rangers’ non-competitiveness during that era, but when you take that statement literally, it’s patently false. On a seasonal basis, A-Rod was a 9-10 WAR player and inordinately valuable in every on-the-field aspect. A-Rod was good enough to take a league-average team to the doorstep of 90 wins all by himself. He was ridiculously good on his own merits.

A-Rod helped the Rangers win games; the fact that it wasn’t enough games to reach the playoffs is largely attributable to bad pitching, inefficient spending and poor organizational planning/decision-making, all three of which are intermingled to some extent and all three of which really had nothing to do with A-Rod. You can dislike the hell out of A-Rod for all that I care, but let’s not conflate the A-Rod signing with the failure of the early-00s Rangers.

MASN: A Dunn extension and a man of letters

I was told on Monday - off-the-record - that the Nationals were interested in signing Adam Dunn to a contract extension.

Now that it’s out there, I’ll quote someone who’s pretty close to Adam who told me that Dunn’s preference is to play baseball, not play bat.

“Adam really doesn’t want to DH in the American League. He wants to play the field, and believes his first base defense has reached the adequate level. He knows he’s no Gold Glover, but believes that he’ll get better, and is anxious to improve that aspect of his game.”

If you’ve been through the Nats’ clubhouse, it’s pretty clear that Dunn’s a one-for-all, all-for-one kind of guy. His teammates love him. If he’s determined to play in the field - and he’s still in his prime - then he’s got to play in the National League. In another story he described the extension talks as being at the zero stage, and inasmuch as they’ve just started, that’s a fair assessment.

BaseballTwit: Beyond WAR: Using WAR per PA and Wins Above Excellence to Rank Catchers

1-2-3-4, I declare a catcher WAR!