Baseball Winter Meetings

It is that time again.

The time when all baseball fans wonder and dream about moves that their favorite baseball team will make in the offseason. So many expectations all filled with hope.

Who will they sign? Who will be traded? What rumors will come true?

Johan Santana is on the trading block and the AL East rivals, Boston and New York, and fighting for his arm. But will a wild card team pick him up? Does he want to stay on the East Coast versus the West Coast? What about his no-trade clause?

Boston or New York will pay the money to give Santana the extension he is seeking if he is traded. There is no better way to stick it to your rival than to sign the best pitcher in the majors. Like I said in the past, Boston is the new evil empire. Ultimately I think that Boston has the upper hand on a deal over the Yankees. They have the young, talented center fielder in Jacoby Ellsbury to roam around in place of Torii Hunter.

And how about Miguel "Jabba the Hutt" Cabrera?

I think he ends up with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by the end of this week. Arte Moreno has said that they had a deal in place and was frustrated over the talks.

"I've felt we had a deal with them twice," Moreno said of the Marlins, who apparently cut bait and decided they needed more in exchange for the 24-year-old slugger.

Do not mess with a frustrated Mexican. This deal will get done. They have plenty of young talent for the Marlins and have multiple players that play the same position that will not hurt the Angels too badly.

Andruw Jones? Word around the block is that the Dodgers are hot on Jones, with the outfielder seeking the money that Hunter got from the Angels.

Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada are said to be on the trading block as well. Both will help any team, especially Bedard and his strong arm.

There will be some happy fans and some disappointed fans no matter what, and lots of hope will be lost.

Have fun at the bar arguing with your buddies about why your team will be making the best moves. I know I will.

Evil Empire - Veteran's Day Edition

In honor of Veteran's Day being observed today, I would like to bring to your attention that the new "evil empire" (aka Boston teams, in this case the New England Patriots), stiffed Iraq War veterans yesterday.

From the Boston Herald:

Hundreds of hopeful Iraq War veterans and their families had their hearts broken on Veterans Day when their heroes, the New England Patriots, were MIA at a Gillette Stadium luncheon billed as a Patriots tribute to the National Guardsmen’s bravery and sacrifice.

“We were told that the Patriots were going to be there - that’s why we brought our families,” said Sgt. Sean Morrison, who returned from his second year-long tour in Iraq in September. “All the soldiers showed up in uniform and their families were in Patriots gear waiting for the Pats to show up.”

To the Patriots defense it was a miscommunication between the front office and the team. They were not told they were expected to attend the event.

But do not let them off so easy. At your workplace don't you know everything that is going on in the office? Like knowing when you are expecting visitors from another company, customer, etc.?

So why wouldn't the Pats know about the event and that it originally said that some players would be there to meet and greet the veterans.

Sgt. First Class Daniel Saulnier drove to the Foxboro luncheon from North Reading.

“I brought my wife, her sister and my brother,” he said. “It was basically a waste of time to even go there. The whole reason to go was to see the Patriots. Yeah, there was a free meal and two cheerleaders and one Super Bowl ring instead of three rings but there was absolutely no Patriots.”

Saulnier said the crowd was upset.

“A lot of us brought stuff to be signed by the Patriots,” he said. “Kids brought hats, jerseys, and footballs. They lugged all that stuff in for nothing. It was real depressing. It was just a disappointment all across the board.”

Yes. Yes. Hate the Patriots more. Wait, not such a good idea.

Those guys are really going to put the pounding on some teams if people are aware of this story and it comes out into the national media in a negative way.

Forget that you read this, it never happened. Do not tell a veteran, friend, family member, anyone.

The Pats will probably read the story in the Herald and dedicate the rest of the season to the soldiers, meaning they have another reason to kill everyone in the NFL.

You sly little dogs, Boston Herald. Creating more motivation for Bill Belichick and Co. in your local media.

Joe Torre Out

Joe Torre will officially be out of a Yankees uniform, as he turned down a one-year $5 million contract that included a possible $3 million in bonuses, and a $8 million option in 2009 if the Yankees won the AL pennant.

This has to be a pride thing for Torre. At $5 million, he still would have been the highest paid manager in the bigs, and probably would have made it $6 million since the Yankees have reached the playoffs for 12 straight years. Not only that, I think the Yankees wanted to save face by offering Torre a contract he would not accept.

The contract negotiations could have gone on for a couple of days but instead, they offered, he declined, thank you for the great years. Who would want to be in Torre's situation anyway?

He led the Yankees to 12 straight postseason appearances and four World Series championships, yet faced scrutiny from George Steinbrenner on the daily. Why would Torre take a one-year deal after all the years he put into the Yankees?

Basically that is telling Torre, "you better perform in 2008 or you will be out of here." Why would Torre want to go through a full season with that hanging over his head? The worst part about this whole thing is that Steinbrenner gave Torre an ultimatum during the ALDS. That is no way to treat a manager.

Some say that the door is still open for Torre to return, but I doubt that will happen.

Those considered to be the top candidates to replace Torre:
Don Mattingly, Joe Girardi, and Tony La Russa.

Stay tuned for more.

Nice move by the Yankees though: keeping the attention on them on the day that the Boston Red Sox can be eliminated in the ALCS. Touché.

Game 5, ALCS 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
The ex-girlfriend of Red Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett, Danielle Peck, will be singing the national anthem at tonight's game. No word yet on whether she will give him a kiss of death before he pitches tonight. Double touché.