Not much out there today outside of Gerald Laird stuff...
Ben Shpigel's article in the Old Gray Lady about the Mets' deal with Yorvit Torrealba falling apart includes some discussion about the Mets being interested in Gerald Laird.
Ken Davidoff says the BoSox are interested in a Gerald Laird for Coco Crisp deal, but aren't going to move Crisp until they figure out their third base situation, since they might need Crisp to acquire a third baseman if they don't re-sign Mike Lowell.
Ramon Hernandez, Miguel Olivo, and Ronny Paulino are the other catchers out there on the trade market that are available, and besides Torrealba, the top free agent options are Paul LoDuca, Rod Barajas, Michael Barrett and Jason Kendall. In case you are wondering why there is so much interest in Laird...
The Boston Herald talks about Hank Blalock as a possible trade target, should the BoSox be unable to bring Lowell back.
I still think Blalock will be dealt, but it will be this summer, after he's established that he's healthy and can handle third base again.
Larry Dobrow has an amusing item on the Yanks/ARod negotiations up at CBS Sportsline, making light of the "the Yankees really put ARod in his place" meme that the MSM has seized...
"It's really disturbing," Maddon said Friday. "I can see him not winning the award, but leaving him off eight ballots is just a sign of personal prejudice."
Voting was done by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, with two in each AL city voting the top three rookies on a 5-3-1 point basis before the start of the postseason.
"I think it's wrong," Maddon said. "At that point, it has nothing to do with the player's performance. The award is not a popularity race. I don't think there was any way he wasn't one of the top three rookies in the league. ... And how many other rookies in the history of the game played 162 games like he did?"
Maddon is throwing a tantrum because Young finished 2nd, but didn't appear on every ballot.
Young posted a .288/.316/.408 line, with a 91 OPS+.
Brian Bannister, who finished behind Young, had a 3.87 ERA with 165 innings, and a 121 ERA+.
Jeremy Guthrie, who didn't appear on any ballot (including mine with SBNation, which was probably a mistake on my part)? 3.70 ERA, 125 ERA+.
Dice-K cracked the 200 inning mark, with a 4.40 ERA and a 108 ERA+.
Hell, Delmon Young wasn't even the best rookie on his team. Shortstop Brendan Harris posted a .286 .343.434 line for the D-Rays.
How could Young be so much more deserving than Harris when Harris had a better OBP, a better slugging percentage, and played a more important defensive position (albeit pretty badly)?