Some tasty stuff on there.

Catalanotto is an average LF bat which the A's need. I'd much rather see him in the starting lineup than Piatt, Grabowski, or Byrnes. That said, the A's are already LHB heavy.

I'd love to see the Giants go after Cruz, especially if they can get him cheaply.

There must have been nothing to the Ortiz for Cruz rumors. I bet that Sabean insisted on the Jays taking Benard or Livan.

The Pirates should sign Ritchie to a Minor League contract just as a big FU to the White Sox.

Kenny Williams has said that he wants to bring Ritchie back, but he'll come back cheaper if non-tendered first.

In other Sox news, Sandy Alomar is back. Ugh. Is there a problem with Tom Lampkin that I'm not seeing?

Letting Daubach go could be a minor set-back; neither Ortiz nor Fick gets on base as well. Picking up Fullmer would be a coup, though. The Sox should also look into Ligtenberg or Levine, depending on the price.

Wanna rebuild the 2000 KC Royals staff? Dan Reichert, Chad Durbin, Jeff Suppan, Jason Rakers, and Jay Witasick are all free agents. There may be others (Mac Suzuki?) too; this is just off the top of my head.

I hope the Padres fans ignorant enough to want Eric Owens back are also ignorant of the fact he's available.

I love all of the non-tenders by the Giants. Hopefully this means they are clearing payroll room for Cruz, Jr. Although Colletti says that signing Neifi is their priority.

As long as the non-tender team is being idly speculated on, why not play Brad Fullmer there? He only made like 55 errors in his final year there in AA Harrisburg.

That said, I can't believe some of the non-tenders including Fullmer, Witasick, and Cruz Jr. The Grissom signing looks really bad right now cause Cruz could be had for only a little more than Grissom is going to make.

What an interesting off-season. It looks like there is cost-benefit analysis going on in MLB. Whadda concept! Cubs excluded, of course. The players are looking like independent contractors -- set your price too high and guess what -- no work. That said, still not a bad gig even if you get a rock bottom deal.

I'm puzzled as to why Rushford got non-tendered. How much money could he possibly have made?

Enough to buy me a new toupee.

Are the Braves interested in resigning Lightenberg?

They'd better be...

I assume you guys are talking about Relaford? The word here in Seattle is that the Mariners were right at their official ownership induced payroll ceiling, the 92 mil mark, and they wanted to add a few more people (importantly, Colbrunn to pinch hit, and a lefty pitcher of some variety). The rightly figured out that Mclemore and Relaford duplicate each other, and I'm sure they had a difficult time moving the ancient Mclemore and his three mil.

While the better solution to this cash crunch was obvious (DON'T SIGN DAN WILSON), I can see where they are going with this. Relaford made 1.275, and would probably have moved up closer to 2 mil. If Colbrunn can be had for the same price, he fits the team a lot better. Relaford had that one great year, and was close to a league average hitter last year, but for a utility guy, he is wildly unpredictable and his defensive numbers look bad (at least, his career RF--I don't know how he does with more advanced defensive metrics).

Folks I'd be chatting with if I were inhabiting Pat Gillick's body:

Fick

Jim Rushford was a 28-year-old rookie who got a cup of coffee with the Brewers last year. He's an Indy league vet who looks like a decent fourth outfielder, leading the entire minors in BA in 2001. He's pretty much restricted to first or an outfield corner, but he's not a bad fielder, and he's got enough power, walks, and contact ability to make his lefty stick valuable. He's one of my faves, in case you didn't notice, and I thought he'd look pretty good on the Brewers' bench next year.

Desi Relaford, on the other hand, is a less surprising N-T. He's a good utility man, but the M's were making noises about having an empty wallet last week, and I sort of expected him to go. He shouldn't have trouble finding work, though he might have to wait for Martinez to sign somewhere first.

Very scary. From the SF Chronicle: "The Giants also declined arbitration to switch-hitting infielder Neifi Perez, making him a free agent, but both the Giants and Perez's agent expressed confidence the two sides will agree to a multiyear contract."

A multiyear contract for Neifi? They have a gaping hole in the outfield and in the #5 spot in the batting order and their priority is to sign Neifi Perez to a multiyear contract?

Say what you will about Robert Fick as a baseball player -- his last name's still fun to conjugate.

If anybody knows what it's like to forget which team he's playing for, it's got to be Dave Martinez.

According to Rotoworld, the A's picked up Chris Singleton on a 1-year deal with a club option for 2004....

It's a trap!

(To keep other GMs from totally devaluing the likes of Timlin, Bordick, and Singleton, all of whom are special in their own way.)