Friday Fancies

A man above the rest.

So I'm a loser and not doing anything on a Friday night. Most of my friends went down to Nashville to see a concert, and I had no desire to see the band. Therefore, I'm stuck here, which is actually kind of nice to just relax. It also gives me a chance to get back on here and write, which I haven't been able to do because of research papers due this week. I shouldn't have any other big papers until after the break, so things should be more regular around here.

- The Yankees gave CC Sabathia a six-year/$140M deal. Can you say pre-emptive strike?

- Cliff Lee won the Cy Young, which I have no problem with, but how the h-e-double hockey sticks did Dice-K end up fourth?

- Can Dustin Pedroia make it a clean sweep on Monday? It's hard to argue against him.

- Is Mark Teixeira worth $20M a year? In a word, yes. In more than one word, he is and might be the safest 10-year/$200M deal you can make.

- Royals added Mike Arbuckle to the front-office today. Best thing they've done this ... well, it's been awhile.

- The Tigers' free-agent outlook? In one hyphenated word, non-existent.

- Matt Holliday's fine with his move to Oakland. In a surprise move, the A's move in the fences.

- Brian McCann won the Silver Slugger. If Soto had won, I would have given up on awards. Nothing against Soto, but you can't really argue he was better than McCann.

- I almost gave up when I saw Wright and Jeter won Silver Sluggers. I think Chipper should have won, but I can go with Wright played more games. Jeter wasn't as great as he usually is, but the AL shortstops suck. Remember the good ole' days with Garciaparra, Tejada, Jeter, and A-Rod?

- Kevin Gregg was traded to the Cubs. Not that I think the trade wasn't even, but why do the Cubs want a fly-ball reliever? Gregg isn't that bad, but he made so much more sense for other teams.

- Nationals to make push for Teixeira. Teixeira asks for restraining order.

- It's good to be left-handed and a reliever.

- It's funny when all the articles on the Pirates' newspaper site has no Pirates articles. Oh, if you look real hard, there's a McLouth-Gold Glove article. So if not for a fluke, the Pirates would be totally inconsequential this off-season.

- Interesting question, where does Lincecum go from here. He really can't get any better can he? Will all his other seasons be disappointments?

- Randy Johnson and the D-Backs couldn't come to an agreement. Somehow, I think he ends up in Washington. I have no idea why, but I figure he will.

- Huston Street is excited to be a Rocky. Poor guy's delusional. Here's for a new nickname: "Wynkoop Street".