THIS IS THE WORLD SERIES THAT GETS RESULTS

Ok, I'll apologize for not doing this more often. A combination of school and my laptop going down left me as impotent as a Nevada boxing commissioner (recycled Simpsons jokes: the stuff good blogs are made of). Still having a difficult time believing the Cardinals are the World Series Champs, still laughing at the poor AL fans who shoved it in the NL's face all year only to have their champion's pitchers anger the ghost of Fred McGriff.

Anyway, thoughts on who has signed so far:



Matsuzaka goes to the Red Sox, generation of Sox fans with inferiority complex immediately begin wondering how he is "worth" 51 million-Granted, if the Mets had won him I'd have to read about 20 articles about Kaz Matsui; Matsuzaka, in case you haven't been following this blog, is the real deal. I fully expect him to put up a sub 3.5 ERA in Fenway, and at only 26 coming into this year, I'm not really all that surprised by the bid. Finally, the Red Sox get it. They let Pedro Martinez go in 2004 (granted the injuries did pop up this year), so they could sign Matt Clement. When you are a big market club, you are better off overspending for top-tier talent than you are trying to get good deals. Getting good deals doesn't win baseball games, great players win baseball games.


El Duque gets 12 mil/2, Valentin gets 3.8/1 with a vesting option in PA's

I fully expect the Valentin option to not come into play, because the Mets are still making noise about signing another second baseman; Valentin essentially becomes insurance, and when a guy who had a .820 OPS and played terrific defense at second base is your backup plan, I think you're doing a pretty good job. The El Duque contract I'm not as wild about, but I can see how this market would lead to things like El Duque getting 6 mil a year at 41 if Jeff Suppan is going to break the bank. The second year is what bothers me about that more than anything. Also, thanks for getting hurt in September and making Steve Trachsel start 2 postseason games.

(Note: I know that Steve Trachsel would've started in the NLCS anyway. However, with another day to tune up the run machine, it might've been a competitive game. Never underestimate The Run Machine's magic. Don't point the Run Machine at police officers. Please do not marry The Run Machine)

Rays reportedly win Iwamura - The year was 2004, BJ Upton was the best prospect in baseball, getting all sorts of hot press, and looked like the next big thing for the Devil Rays. Upton's fielding, however, wouldn't cooperate at shortstop. Now, he has become just the latest in a long line of US products that have lost to gaining Japanese pres-

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Sorry, where was I? Oh right, Iwamura. Reportedly the Devil Rays have made this move to put him at second base. If this is the case, then I suppose they're going to put Cantu at first and ruin his value to the team (although not his value to the Blogosphere). Iwamura projects about the same as they were saying Johjima would, .292/.348/.446 is nothing to sneeze at. Whither Upton? Expect the Devil Rays to have a short leash on them, but for the Devil Rays, this is the first time they've run into that good problem called "depth". Kudos, Devil Rays. Don't forget to send Melvin Mora my regards as you get those 73 wins you need for fourth place next year.

Mark DeRosa extorts 13 million from the Tribune Company, as with most corporate crimes is not caught - A haiku about Mark DeRosa:
Unconvinced TEX fans
Starting QB at UPenn
Two years too many, Jim

Hendry was off to such a good start too, with the Ramirez (good) and Wood (solid gamble) moves. Fortunately for Cubs fans, the Bears will play deep into January and nobody will realize that any of these moves have happened until 2008.

We could get into the award picks too, but those kind of columns are picked to death every year. Just for the record, I'd take Beltran as NL MVP (defense counts), Jeter in the AL, and have liked most of what the voters have done (asides from narrowly avoiding giving Trevor Hoffman the Cy).