Baseball

As baseball owner's wallets get bigger, so do the contracts of the player they purchase.

The more you pay for a player, the higher the risk of that player failing is. For every good signing, there's ussually about five huge mistakes. Your Carl Pavanos, Jason Schmidts, and Barry Zitos.

This article counts down the 10 worst contracts handed out in this decade. If you think I've left any off, just leave me a comment.

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If you're waiting for the Tampa Bay Rays to give you a big time free agent closer as a Christmas present, forget it. It's not happening.

No, your Tampa Bay Rays will be looking for arms in the bullpen but still do not feed the need to break the bank for a back end finisher.

"The bank is full," Principal Owner Stu Sternberg said. "There is no $7 million closer showing up."

Instead, look for the Rays to find role players. Guys like Jonny Gomes, Eric Hinske, or Wily Aybar. Guys who can give the team the most bang for the buck.

The best moves are sometimes the ones you don't make. I my opinion, one of the good no-moves of Yankees GM Brian Cashman was not trading for Johan Santana (and I think highly of Johan Santana, one of the best there is).

Likewise, I hope the Yankees only show interest in Halladay in order to drive the price up for BoSox. To land him they would first have to let go one of the young pitchers in which they still have high expectations—Joba Chamerblain or Phil Hughes—and at least one of the top prospects, Jesus Montero or Austin Jackson.

The revolving door that is the Red Sox shortstop position just got another new occupant.

After Alex Gonzalez signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston responded by signing Toronto’s shortstop Marco Scutaro to a two-year deal, with a mutual option for a third season.

A lot of people in the Red Sox organization are excited about the deal.

When fans think about center field for the New York Yankees, they think Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, and Bernie Williams.

All three of these Yankee legends were among the best players to roam center field at Yankee Stadium.

But of those three, only two are in the Hall of Fame and have had their numbers retired by the Yankees.

The only exception is Bernie Williams.

Williams was the Yankees cleanup hitter for most of his career and was part of the Yankees' dynasty that won four World Series from 1996 to 2000.

Remember, he won a batting title.

This past week, New York Mets beat writer, Brian Costa, of the Star Ledger was kind enough to allow me to submit to him questions regarding Mets Hot Stove rumors.

To obtain the questions I scoured the forums, as well as the chat room here at Mets Merized to try to come up with the best and most frequently asked questions regarding the team’s future.

I’m confident that this interview will give you, the fans, valuable insight on the team’s plans for the 2010 season. Enjoy!

The Chicago White Sox have never been an organization to shy away from the unorthodox.  The make trades that other teams may never even consider, and they are not afraid to give youngsters an opportunity, which sets the stage for Daniel Hudson.

Drafted in the fifth round in 2008, Hudson pitched at four different minor league levels in 2009 (and a cup of coffee in the Majors), impressing every step of the way, posting a cumulative Minor League line of:

14 Wins
147.1 Innings
2.32 ERA
0.94 WHIP
166 Strikeouts (10.16 K/9)
34 Walks (2.08 BB/9)
.287 BABIP

With baseball's free agency period already beginning well over a week ago, teams are slowly starting to make moves.

Marco Scutaro signed a deal to be the Boston Red Sox new shortstop.

Chone Figgins signed a deal to be the Seattle Mariners new third basemen.

The winter meetings are about to begin on Monday in Indianapolis with all the general managers in baseball and they will look to start making deals, maybe potentially looking to trade some top talent.

But more importantly, next week, a lot of people expect the free agents to start signing.

I had a bad dream last night, and it involved the Houston Astros letting go closer Jose Valverde without a fight.

In the dream, the Astros offered salary arbitration to Valverde. Just as I thought Houston would sign Valverde and preserve their closer role in the bullpen, all kinds of other evil large-market teams arose: Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago and others.