The first baseman on today's Birthday Team might be throwing games, but the good news is that they aren't likely to matter anyway.

C: Fritz Buelow
1B: Hal Chase
2B: Eddie Foster
3B: Sal Bando
SS: Kevin Stocker
LF: Jerry Browne
CF: Guy Zinn
RF: Emmett Seery

SP: Harry Kelley
SP: Dick Hughes
SP: George Gill
SP: Brian Rose
SP: Mike Mimbs
RP: Donnie Moore

Other Fun Names: Herb Hash, Crazy Schmit, Oad Swigart, Biff Sheehan
Not that one: Bill Bradley, Billy Martin
Quarterback: Drew Henson

I said this last year, but it's worth mentioning again: Herb Hash had a son named Happy Hash.

Minor league deals:

3B Brandon Inge to the Pirates
1B Jason Giambi and P Dice-K Matsuzaka to the Indians
P Jon Garland and P Kameron Loe to the Mariners
IF Chone Figgins to the Marlins
IF Mike Tolbert to the Phillies
P Clay Hensley to the Reds
P Hideki Okajima to the A's
P Will Ohman to the Nats
C Rod Barajas to the D'Backs
P Kevin Gregg and P Mark Lowe to the Dodgers

Royals acquire IF Elliot Johnson from the Rays as the PTBNL in the James Shields trade

Phils and P Juan Cruz mutually agree to rescind their deal, making him a free agent

Jon Garland: 9 straight seasons with 32 or 33 starts and an ERA under 5. Then last year he had shoulder surgery and was out. Now he says he's back.

If he is ... a minor league deal? Really?

Jon Garland: 9 straight seasons with 32 or 33 starts and an ERA under 5. Then last year he had shoulder surgery and was out. Now he says he's back.

He was also out much of 2011.

Oh, you're right.

Well, Goodluck Jonathan!

Also Garland never got much "contract respect" when he was healthy. Lots of 1 or 2-year deals, usually for $5 M a year when similar pitchers (e.g. Jake Westbrook) were getting 3/$27.

AG#1F: I was shocked to discover Johnson got 331 PAs on the 90-win Tampa Bay team of 2012. For a time it looked like he wasn't even going to come close to a Bloomquist level career. If Maddon liked him that much, his new manager will surely fall in love with him.

Page 13, same paper from TFA, contains a squib that has nothing to do with baseball but reminds me of a member of the Primate community.

MAY ABOLISH ALL FRATS

WOOSTER, Feb. 13 -- (Special.) -- It is expected that at the meetings of the trustees of Wooster university on Thursday the nine sororities and fraternities of the university will be ordered to disband. L. II. Severance, Cleveland oil magnate, has offered the university millions if the secret societies are abolished.

I knew I liked the College of Wooster.

Birthday League update:

2013 February 6 206          61  30  .670 ---- 
2013 February 5 205          62  34  .646  1.5       
2013 January 31 131          55  41  .573  8.5  
2013 February 18 218         53  41  .564  9.5  
2013 February 22 222         53  43  .552 10.5

News and notes:
* February 6 has won ten games in a row. They're 27-9 since the beginning of June.
* Bill Kay (February 14) leads the league with a .404 batting average. This is a frustrating limitation of this format, in which guys who hit .333 with a 137 OPS+ in 60 real-life career PA end up playing regularly because there's nobody else available.
* Babe Ruth (February 6) still leads the league in runs (100), home runs (34), walks (88), intentional walks (14), strikeouts (79), longest hitting streak (20), SLG (.793), OBP (.498), RC/27 (16.5), total bases (260), HR vs LHP (10), HR vs RHP (24), wins (15), winning percentage (1.000), complete games (10). He's hitting .363, which is the best non-Bill Kay freakazoid batting average.
* Billy Hamilton (February 15) is having a great season in the shadows of Ruth. Sliding Billy is hitting .362, leading the league in SB (44), fourth in runs scored (66), third in walks (61), second in OBP (.464), and second in RC/27 (9.3).
* George Mogridge (February 18) is the pitcher whose great season is lost in Ruth's shadow. Mogridge leads the league in ERA (1.60) and shutouts (5).

Stats, standings, league leaders, and box scores here.

shawn kelley dealt to nyy for abe almonte

* Bill Kay (February 14) leads the league with a .404 batting average. This is a frustrating limitation of this format, in which guys who hit .333 with a 137 OPS+ in 60 real-life career PA end up playing regularly because there's nobody else available

You mean like Babe Ruth on pace for 60 HR and 27 wins?

Angels sign P Chad Cordero to a minor league deal. Completely forgot about him. He's still only 30.

Chad Cordero, once the top choice for "last Expo standing".

You mean like Babe Ruth on pace for 60 HR and 27 wins?

Sure, but at least that's a case of a guy who's a legitimately great batter and a legitimately great pitcher having a bonkers season.

Chad Cordero, once the top choice for "last Expo standing".

brian schneider retired this offseason. so did nick johnson.

jamey carroll is still around and pretty decent-ish. juan rivera is still around, but pretty terrible. endy chavez is around and fully terrible.

is livan hernandez still active? jon rauch is still getting jobs, and so is scott downs.


but my money is on maicer izturis. he only had 100 ABs as an expo with a 54 OPS+, but he was 23 at the time, whereas carroll was 30, and since downs and rauch are both RPs, he seems like the smart bet.