Birthday team is pretty awful, though it does have an ace pitcher who can match up with anybody in history in a one-game situation.

The battery will undoubtedly make Larry King and Jack Keefe smile.

C: A.J. Pierzynski
1B: Frank Torre
2B: Bob Schroder
3B: Jim Viox
SS: Ed Caskin
LF: 1970s Jose Morales
CF: LaRue Kirby
RF: Twitchy Dick Porter

SP: Sandy Koufax
SP: Tom Murphy
SP: Clarence Currie
SP: Ray Prim
SP: Sean Gallagher
RP: Grant Balfour

Pete Rose wasn't a real baseball fan?

Bill Phelon has essayed the difficult task of picking the 20 greatest lemons in history. As Bill sees them, they are: Jim Jeffries, Gaby Delsys, the battle of Bull Run, George Hackenschmidt, Meringue, the Ohio state championship series, Carl Morris, the St. Louis Browns, Bill Squires, the Mona Lisa, battle of Waterloo, Russia, the racing game, Sherbet, Dr. Cook, last season's umpiring, Actor Donlin, Stanislaus Zybszko, the wrestling game, and one other concealed by friendship.

I could spend all day on the internet trying to decipher this one....

The mind boggles at the thought of the conversations Mack and Cobb had when Ty was an Athletic.

Not sure what "boggles" means there, but per Charles Alexander, Cobb had come to "revere" Mack.

I thought Hackenschmidt and Zybszko were anything but lemons.

Oh, but what I really came here to say was that it looks like Baseball Prospectus has hired Jeff Euston/bought Cot's Contracts.

Andruw Jones back to the Yanks for 1 yr/$2 mill. Thought he'd be a good fit for Boston.

Not sure what "boggles" means there, but per Charles Alexander, Cobb had come to "revere" Mack.

I guess I was getting at their personality traits implied by the excerpt above. Mack was reserved, generally seems to have expected/demanded that his players act the 'right' way, and never had a bad thing to say about anybody. Cobb was brash, in your face, and didn't hold back with criticism, even criticism of his own teammates.

I'd have loved to see how they interacted in private - did Mack accept "Ty being Ty" because Cobb was such an amazing ballplayer, did Cobb hold back and defer to Mack because his manager was a living legend, did they meet somewhere in the middle...that sort of thing.

In public, the relationship seems to have been fine. (Did Mack ever feud with anyone?) It's the private, behind closed doors, one-on-one interactions between Cobb and Mack that fascinate me. The dynamics of their interpersonal relationship, stuff that we'll never know.

Carlos Quentin traded to Padres for two pitching prospects, Simon Castro and Pedro Hernandez.

Some minor signings might have slipped through the cracks:

Nationals sign Jason Michaels, Andres Blanco, Jarrett "Micah" Hoffpauir
Pirates sign Ryota Igarashi
Twins sign Steve "WHY DON'T THE PIRATES GIVE HIM PLAYING TIME" Pearce, J.R. "Future Astros Legend" Towles, Aaron Thompson, Sean Burroughs, P.J. Walters
Royals sign Max Ramirez, Greg "Gregg Olson" Golson, Juan Gutierrez
Dodgers sign Matt Chico, Jose Ascanio, Cory Sullivan, Josh Bard, Alberto Castillo, Aaron Harang
Marlins sign Aaron "Nails 'n' Grits" Rowand
Indians sign Félix Pié
Dbacks sign Jonathan Abadabadango

double post

6/jwb: I thought they did that awhile back - recent interface change notwithstanding.

9: Bit of a weird deal - Sox got less for him than I think he's worth (upcoming arb raise or not), surprised SD would take on that salary. Am I mistaken?

To be clear, Jarrett is the 2b. Micah (not signed by DC) is the 1b.

Micah was in Japan last year. I doubt he's coming back yet.

9: Bit of a weird deal - Sox got less for him than I think he's worth (upcoming arb raise or not), surprised SD would take on that salary. Am I mistaken?

Quentin will be a free agent after next year. I don't know if he'll be a Type A or not but I think the new CBA stipulates a team has to have the upcoming FA for the entire year to get the draft pick. I actually think this is a slick move for the Padres (assuming Quentin will be a Type A), and that we'll be seeing more off-season trades for quality guys that will be free agents after the next season.

Would that also explain the Padres' trade for Huston Street?

I forgot about the Street deal! But I think closers/relievers are going to be exempt from Type A in the future; they removed the designations this year for non-Papelbon guys. The Red Sox get the Phillies' pick because that agreement was made after Papelbon had already signed.