Over at Beyond the Boxscore, RJ Anderson (who runs the SBN Rays blog) has a statistical summary of the Rule 5 draft, saying that the Rays are likely going to take Brian Barton with the first pick. Any chances of the Rangers trading for him (a la Fabio Castro)? I don't know, but it seems like it wouldn't hurt to run Brian Barton out in a COF spot or Jamie D'Antona at first in a non-contending year.
Jeff Sullivan laments the Mariners' decision not to offer arbitration to Guillen. What he says makes sense, and reminds me of the Rangers' decision not to offer arbitration to Kenny Rogers. Me, personally, I would love to build a team entirely made of castoffs with attitude and makeup problems. It would be the dinosaur-disbelieving-est, wife-beating-est, rap-label-starting-est, camera-man-punching-est, steroid-use-denying-est team on the planet. And I would call it "The Assless Chaps."
Or maybe I would call it "The Washington Nationals." Speaking of makeup problems, Federal Baseball has some reactions on the Dukes and Milledge trades, speculating that the surplus of outfielders will allow the Nats to trade for starting pitching help. The two pitchers they have supposedly been targeting are Mike Pelfrey (Mets) and Kevin Stowey (Twins).
The Mets blog opines that the Mets traded away Milledge's upside and price certainty for a similar hitter in Church (yeah, but can Church rap?) and Schneider.
Those silly Red Sox fans are salivating at the idea of not having to give up Ellsbury or Buchholz in a trade for Santana. They also mention that Epstein is kicking the tires on Ben Sheets.
The funereal gloom and gallows humor that defines Rangers fandom... the Yankees don't understand that. Yet. That geriatric lineup and rotation can't last forever.