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This and that

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Here’s the two second version. I swear I’ll write more at length shortly. :)
We signed Marlon Byrd to a contract, probably will be a backup outfielder. We signed Kenny Lofton to play CF for 2007, and we signed (apparently) Eric Gagne today for the pen.
Finally, some movement on the transactions chart.
I also saw today that our old friend Gabe Kapler has retired. He had that horrific injury a year ago or so, and I thought he was done, but he came back in 06 with the Red Sox. He’s apparently going to stay in the Sox organization in an undetermined capacity. Liked him when he was here, shame he never rose to his potential. The Sox have given him a job as the manager of one of their A level teams (link).

Ouch

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I know a lot of small fiddly stuff has happened in the last few days. I’ve meant to write about it, but my mind has been elsewhere. Had a root canal surgery this morning, so my mind is not completely with it due to the happy pills they gave me. :)
When my head clears, and my teeth aren’t aching, I’ll play catch up – I do have a lot of thoughts on what’s going on, buit haven’t found the time to get them out of my head and into the keyboard.

Padilla resigned

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  • P Vicente Padilla signed to a 3 year contract with a 1 year team option [ Link ]

Marlon Byrd

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  • OF Marlon Byrd signed to a 1 year contract [ Link ]

Rule V Draft

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  • SS Johany Abreu, RHP Kendy Batista and C Brian Munhall were selected in the Triple-A phase of the 2006 Rule V Draft [ Link ]

Don Carman

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This week is filled with stories about Barry Zito, Mike Piazza, Vicente Padilla, and other names from the Winter Meetings. I want to take a minute to talk about former Ranger pitcher Don Carman. If you don’t remember Don as a Ranger, that’s not surprising. He had even less than a cup of coffee with the Rangers in 1992. His entire Ranger career was two games in 1992 for a total of 2.1 innings pitched. His name is not up there in Rangers lore with Nolan Ryan.
But that’s not why I bring him up. Visitors to my site know I’m also a Phillies fan, and have been since I was a kid. I knew Carman fairly well in the 80’s with the Phillies. A friend of mine sent me a link this afternoon to a story on slate.com about Don Carman and fan mail. It’s a really nice story which shows players aren’t all about what Scott Boras can get for them in negotiations.
It’s the story of a kid (now an adult) who wrote to Don Carman back in the 80’s and never got a reply back. Until now. 15 years later Mr Carman found a box of letters in his garage, and decided to write back to them. Some of the things told in this story are a nice thing to hear in this week of meetings that are so awash in cash, one wonders if Lucifer himself is behind all the evil that that much money does.
Anyway, check it out. It’s a pretty darned nice story to read. It’s written by a Bryan Curtis; I wonder if that’s the same Bryan Curtis who is a news reporter for NBC5 news here in Dallas.
I have a few of these outstanding letters myself from many a year gone by – I wonder if I’ll ver get some of them back – problem is the address I would have sent them from has been out of my family for a decade now. Oh well. :)

Andy Pettite

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One guy I know some of my other Ranger fan website brethren have advocated, Andy Pettite, appears to be close to resigning with the Yankees. Ugh. I hate it when someone helps the Yankees, and you know that $7 mil a year we’re sending Steinbrenner really frosts my weenie. ;)
Seriously, I wouldn’t have minded seeing Pettite here, but I didn’t think it was a realistic option. I figured it would be Houston, New York, or the baseball game that comes with the Nintendo Wii.

Padilla re-signs

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I was at the Stars / Sharks game tonight at the AAC. I return to find out we’ve apparently resigned Vicente Pidente to a 3 year $33 million deal, with a team option fourth at $12 mil (or $15 depending on whose story you’re reading).
It’s probably a signing we needed to make, and given the overall market, it’s what he’ll get – probably more than he deserves, but if he can hold up 2006’s performance I’ll take the pitching, even if the paycheck is bloated.
I’m tired, I’ll have more to say about this tomorrow.

Arbitration Decisions

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No surprises at all in the arbitration department. We offered it to Vicente Padilla, and did NOT to Rod Barajas or Eric Young. I would have been stunned if EY came back, and the same with Barajas, and especially after his botched contract signing up in Toronto.
On another note, the A’s did offer it to Barry Zito, which is probably just a formality so the A’s can get an extra pick. Assuming we sign Zito (big if), I’d surrender our draft pick for that.
Also, not that this would affect us in any way, but I noticed that the Padres offered salary arbitration to Chan Ho Park. He’s been in the majors for some time now – what the heck does he still get salary arbitration for? I would have thought he was past that by now.