Walkoff Walk

Hey kids, all human wisdom is summed up in two words -- wait and hope.

• HOW will million dollar baby Carl Pavano fare in his new Cleveland Indians jersey? Financial terms have not been disclosed on the one-year deal, but anything over $2 million is absolute highway robbery.
  
  
• WILL Jason Johnson find success with his ninth major league organization? He'll compete with Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Alfredro Aceves, Kei Igawa, and the ghost of Wade Taylor to become the fifth Yankees starter.
  
  
• WHY can't Andy Pettitte and the Yankees just get along? Seriously, a one-year, $10 million offer is nothing to spit at nowadays.
  
  
• ARE any of our commenters roasting a chicken tonight like Chief Wahoo did last night? Let it dry out in the fridge first, use a lotta butter, and nuke the hell out of it.

That's it for today. Be good tonight! I stole that nifty picture from Gaetan Lee's Flickr stream.

As per Buster Olney at ESPN.com, Jason Giambi is heading back to Oakland. He'll sign a one-year deal worth just $4 million with a $6.5 million option for 2010. There's a $1.5 million buyout, so let's just assume that Billy Beane is paying just $5.5 million for the right to upgrade his offense with a proven slugger.

Dave Cameron over at Fangraphs has Giambi worth about 2 wins above replacement; at the going rate of $4 million per win, the A's are getting quite a deal here. In fact, with Giambi, Milton Bradley and Pat Burrell signing under-market deals in the past two days and Manny Ramirez and Adam Dunn still unemployed, perhaps it's time to break out the headline "Miserable Masher Market Makes Many Moneyless".

Just five days deep into 2009, it's already been a trying new year for President George W. Bush. His wildly popular replacement has landed in town, his wife joined a bunch of his former employees by signing a multi-million dollar book deal, and there's another large-scale humanitarian crisis on the other side of the globe that he can't fix. It's the kind of thing that makes a man want let loose, blow off some steam, and host a gala dinner party for seven of the biggest names in baseball!

This past Sunday, President Bush invited Rays manager Joe Maddon and his wife, and six other baseball couples to the White House for shrimp and steak. The dinner was a set-up by noted talking head-slash-gadabout-slash-baseball purist George Will; the guest list included Brad Lidge, Lance Berkman, Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Dempster, Buck Showalter, and Aaron Boone. That's quite a guest list of accomplished baseball figures, plus Aaron Boone! But really, that's a lot of white folks. George Will couldn't throw a bone to Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols and integrate the party a bit?

What direction do you suppose the dinner conversation took? I assume former Rangers owner and self-proclaimed baseball lover George Bush and the boys chatted about the national pastime instead of national security. Perhaps Bush asked Maddon for advice about turning around a habitually underperforming organization. Perhaps Brad Lidge counseled the prez about recovering from a near-career-ending failure. Or maybe Aaron Boone and G.W. commiserated about being a part-time cog in a terrible Washington organization.

Says Maddon about the affair:

"He's a baseball fan, and he likes our team. I invited him anytime to come see us, and to come address the group, so that's out there."

Yes, Joe. That certainly is an "out there" invitation. Being successful was fun while it lasted, Rays fans.

Big news out of Minnesota last night. The courts announced the results of their recount and apparently they declared that Carl Pohlad died. Wait I'm mixing up my news from the Gopher State. Carl Pohlad died of natural causes, not popular vote, but you'd never know it by the way some Twins fans talked about him over the years. A friend of mine that who roots for the Twinkies, and shall remain nameless, sent me news of his demise last night via text. With a smiley.

This AP Article spends a good chunk insinuating (in that way only the AP can) that he was despised by fans. Indeed, if the owner of my favorite team volunteered them for contraction in exchange for a buyout, I'd hold a little bit of a grudge too. Also, if some shady dealings and ransoms got him a new stadium financed mostly by the public, there may be a part of me that thinks it's payback that he doesn't get to see it open.

But those parts of me would only be the human animal part and not the logical part. We're not talking Vince Naimoli here. The Twins won 2 World Series while Pohlad owned them. Even after the contraction snafu they won 3 straight AL Central titles. Last year, in a free agent market that was nowhere near as crazy as this winter, they signed 3 players to $155 Million in extensions. If Pohlad wasn't a freespender he clearly knew who to hire to get the most out of every penny. Bill Smith was GM for 13 years, and in Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire, they've had 2 managers in 22 years. He clearly was a guy you could work for.

So listen, Twins fans. say see ya to an owner that made a bunch moves that ticked you off. But also say goodbye to an owner that oversaw the most successful era of any pro team in the history of the Twin Cities.

• Cubs Sign Milton Bradley To Scare Bleacher Bums: This 3 yr $30M Deal beefs up the middle of the Wrigley order and gives it some much needed street cred. Apparently the Tribune didn't take my advice to just look past the man's outbursts and into his soul and/or OPS.


• Pat Burrell To Join Thousands of Retired Wrestlers and Blue Wig Aficionados In Tampa: The Rays finally made their much rumored "veteran slugger" acquisition by signing Pat "The Dick" Burrell to a 2 year $16 million deal. If he can continue putting up his eerily identical numbers of the past few seasons, $8M seems like an unmitigated steal in this market.


• JC Romero suspended 50 Games For Ingestion Of Clif Bar Or St. John's Wort Or Some Crap Like That: The Phils' setup dude was told last season that the over the counter supplement he bought at a US health food store (I'm thinking it was this one) was legal by the Players' Association. Oops! Gonna cost him $1.25M.


• What Would Spring Be Without Brian Roberts Trade Rumors That Never Happen: Last year he was supposed to go to the Cubs for Mark DeRosa or something. This year he's supposed to go to the White Sox for Gavin Floyd. Next year it'll be the Bulls for Andres Nocioni and the year after that, to Cheap Trick for Rick Neilsen. Don't give yourself away!

• IS 2009 the year of the woman in baseball? Probably not, but I'm glad they're letting Logan Young tryout for her high school baseball team. If she's good enough she'll make it. She can't be any smaller than Dustin Pedroia.


• WHO will be first pick in your fantasy gardening league? I already have a name for my team. The Lyle Azaleas.


• HAVE you seen any of the MLB Network? I've heard good things from Donkey Time, UU and Rob, but haven't yet caught a glimpse. Other people seem excited too.


• HOW long do you say "Happy New Year" to people? I usually give it about 3 weeks if I'm talking to people for the first time. Lobster Baby takes the sash off around the same time.


• SHOULD there really still be a debate about Joba's role on the Yankees? No. Kepner has it right.

The dominoes are falling into place now. Oft-traveled outfielder Milton Bradley is about to sign a three-year, $30 million deal with the defending NL Central champion Chicago Cubs, as per MLB Trade Rumors.

According to ESPN Radio's Bruce Levine, the Cubs signed Milton Bradley to a three-year, $30MM deal. Bradley had a monster .321/.436/.563 line this year for the Rangers, but he spent only 165 innings in the field. This is the first multiyear deal of his career.

He's been an Expo, an Indian, a Dodger, an A, a Ranger, and now he's a Cub, at least until Chicago decides to trade him back to Cleveland to get Kerry Wood to return to Wrigley in 2010. That just makes too much sense to not happen.

Okay, MLB general managers: Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu, and Adam Dunn still need work!

Miniature baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the defending AL champion Tampa Bay Rays (it still feels weird to type that) are on the verge of consummating a two-year, $16 million deal with former Phillies slugger Pat Burrell:

Burrell, 32, will serve as the team's designated hitter. The Rays, nearing their payroll limit, could use some combination of Ben Zobrist, Gabe Gross and Fernando Perez in right field.

Rosenthal cites "major league sources," also known as "someone inside the Rays organization who is pissed off they didn't sign hard-partying Jason Giambi". Well, Phillies fans, you lost a gritty hero, but at least you've got a fancy defensive outfielder to prowl left field this season and you can reap the benefit of that Tampa draft pick! Oh, right, nevermind.

It may seem far from opening day where you are, but I'm in Florida right now and the high today is going to be in the low 80s. I'm not having a hard time envisioning pitchers and catchers reporting any day now. So whether or not you need a break from the cold, or you just wanna see some baseball, Spring Training is always a good time.

Not only that, but the smaller parks, cheaper concessions and the relative ease of getting a ticket is a throwback to baseball's simpler past. Unless you're trying to get a ticket to see the Rays in Port Charlotte this year. The team's press release reads like Japanese stereo instructions or Joe Maddon's recipe for fennel braised duck leg with hoisin sauce.

Single-game tickets will go on-sale next week, in the following procedure:

January 6: Rays Spring Training season ticket holders will be able to purchase up to four tickets for each game online beginning at 9 a.m. Rays regular season ticket holders and the Florida State League Charlotte Stone Crabs season ticket holders will have that same opportunity beginning at noon. Passwords will be sent to the season ticket holders' email addresses on Monday, January 5th.

Well that part isn't too complicated. Giving some perks to the season ticket holders and throwing a bone to the minor league fans in Port Charlotte sounds fine to me. And also, stone crabs are delicious. Joe Maddon has a wine, basil and clarified butter sauce for them that is divine. Let's move on to the next part of the "procedure."

January 7, 9 a.m.: Special Password Card Pre-sale. Special password cards are available at the Charlotte Stone Crabs offices at Charlotte Sports Park, 2300 El Jobean Rd., Port Charlotte, FL 33948. Fans interested in obtaining the password cards will need to pick up a password card, based on availability, on January 6th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The password card gives users the opportunity to purchase up to four tickets for each Spring Training game, during the January 7th online presale, beginning at 9 a.m. For more information, please visit raysbaseball.com/springtraining.

January 8, 9 a.m.: Rays Insider subscribers will have the opportunity to purchase up to 4 tickets for each Spring Training game at raysbaseball.com. Passwords will be supplied to the registered users by email on Wednesday, January 7th. The deadline to become a Rays Insider subscriber, and receive this opportunity is Monday, January 5th, at raysbaseball.com.

Jesus, are Phish playing for the Rays now? The last time the residents of Port Charlotte did something this complicated they escaped from their nursing home using a bedsheet rope.

I understand that demand will be higher for tickets this year after the Rays successful 2008, but let's get some perspective here. We're talking about a multi-tiered series of presales for SPRING TRAINING for the once perennial attendance laughingstock of pro sports. It's good to have high expectations for fan turnout, but don't get cocky. This shit is strictly Calvinball.

OMGLOL NUDIE HANNAH MONTANA LOLCATZ OBAMA

Most blogs and newspapers we read do their year-end nonsense during that week between Christmas and New Years, when there are usually few breaking news items and even fewer people reading. Not us. We took a big fat break and didn't think far enough ahead to do a year-end review until now. After all, we're not exactly a forward-thinking blog here: we still haven't done our "Top Players of August" post.

So on that note, here are the top ten most viewed blog entries during the eleven months of 2008 that Walkoff Walk existed, in reverse order:

• 10. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel: The Walkoff Walk Interview: Our own Kris Liakos has been on the Rinku and Dinesh beat longer than any other blogger in the baseballblogosphere, and he was rewarded last month with an interview with our Indian heroes. Still, it's too bad Kris didn't ask them about the trucks.
  
  
• 9. 2008 MLB First Year Player Draft: The Liveglog: Back in June, I decided it would be quite the lark to liveglog the amateur draft. Despite the fact that I knew nothing about the players and even less about scouting, I pretended I knew what I was talking about and chugged along. This was not the first time we blogged about the Dodgers' first-round pick, Georgia high-school pitcher Ethan Martin.
  
  
• 8. The Case for Expansion: Perhaps this was the piece I was most proud of during the season. I did actual research and spent a good deal of time putting together a listicle of the top destinations should MLB decide to expand. I even resisted listing North Jersey as the #1 item in the list.
  
  
• 7. Incoming: Conspiracy To Drill High School Ump In Face?: Because, you see, Ethan Martin was the brother of the pitcher in the famous video of the high school pitcher beaning the home plate umpire. Perhaps you remember when the catcher called for the high hard one and then ducked when the fastball came over the plate. It was a huge video in the baseballblogosphere and one of the top YouTube sports clips in the month of June.
  
  
• 6. Umpire Face Beaning Update: The Consequences Of Folly: Even the update post got a lot of pageviews.
  
  
• 5. Yankee Fans Decry Brian Cashman's Inability to Predict Future: Anytime Kris writes about the Yankees, it's a big story. Not because he's a Red Sox fan, but because Yankee fans are a selfish folk and crave coverage of their favorite teams like Rush Limbaugh craves hillbilly heroin. So back in April, Kris shamed Yankee fans for criticizing Brian Cashman and correctly forecasted that 2008 would be a wash for the Bronx Bombers because they passed on Johan Santana. Good for him.
  
  
• 4. Dey Took Our Jerbs: Starters Moving to the Bullpen: One of our first listicles! I think the only reason this post got a lot of hits was because I did it in April, got linked by Deadspin, and included a dated quote from an episode of "South Park" in the blog title. I'm so clever it hurts.
  
  
• 3. Anyone Know If There's An In-N-Out In Peoria, AZ??: Back in March, we noticed that all the beat writers we read in our RSS readers were including shoutouts to their favorite spring training dining destinations. We also noticed that almost every single one of these guys talked about the In-N-Out in Peoria as if it were Mecca. This pretty much cemented our reputation as a food blog disguised as a baseball blog.
  
  
• 2. Joe Morgan Besmirches Ernie Banks, Is Completely Wrong: This wasn't exactly original content on our part; I only reported what I read on other blogs. But hey, that's the nature of the baseballblogosphere and this ended up being one of our most-linked-to pages of the entire season. Joe Morgan said something incorrect about Ernie Banks and then got taken behind the woodshed by bloggers and beat writers everywhere. We were just in the right place at the right time.
  
  
• 1. Mostly Naked Woman At Skydome!: And our number one most-visited blog post of the year included the word "naked" in the title and featured a picture of said woman. Again, not original content, but if this doesn't speak about the nature of the ENTIRE INTERNET, then I don't know what does. In fact, to increase traffic in 2009, we are going to append the following words to every single blogpost: "OMGLOL NUDIE HANNAH MONTANA LOLCATZ OBAMA".

This post is already our most-viewed entry of 2009.