NL Central

It's been noted in traditional media sources, online, blogs, and reader comments on this and other sites that if Matt Holliday is not signed by the St. Louis Cardinals, they will move to their best Plan B: re-signing Mark DeRosa. 

DeRosa is a name that has been bandied around quite a bit in connection with several teams. I have to admit I'm a little stunned by just how interested teams are reported to be in him and at the amount they've been potentially interested in spending on a player who has been mostly a non-impact one for most of his career.

With Matt Capps seemingly on his way to the Nationals and the Cubs still in need of a right handed set-up man at the back of their bullpen, I ask, why not turn to an all too familiar face in Kevin Gregg?

Let me start out by saying I am a Cubs fan, and this suggestion is in no way meant as ill will towards the North Siders.

Simply put, Kevin Gregg is not a closer, at least not in large market such as Chicago where each outing is put under a microscope. While he was seemingly unable to take the pressure of the ninth inning, he is in no way a bad pitcher.

Baseball may not be on the hearts and minds of many right now, but it will be in the next couple of months.

In part one of this series of seven on the Houston Astros baseball team, we took an in-depth look at the potential pitching rotation for next year’s team.

So, the Redskins would have us believe that because they got a flighty, minority assistant coach to conduct a token interview for a not-yet-vacant head coaching gig , they aren’t a racist organization.

Please.

What we know right now is that there is one team pursuing Matt Holliday.

Despite Scott Boras' best antics, everyone that follows baseball knows only the St. Louis Cardinals are in the running for Holliday.

Why hasn't Holliday signed yet?

Boras.

Boras won't let Holliday sign until they have exhausted every option and gotten the offer they want from the Cardinals. In other words, he wants to prolong this until he gets his way.

In the early going, Joey Votto has an ADP of 26.39, going late in the second round or early in the third round of fantasy drafts.  That’s before fellow first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, and Justin Morneau.  That’s before any starting pitcher outside of Tim Lincecum.  That’s before Justin Upton.  The question is, should he be targeted that early in drafts?

Former Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley (Cubbie Nation/file)

You see plenty of moves like this in football, but contract restructuring is not nearly as common in baseball. But yesterday, the Reds and Scott Rolen agreed to a restructured deal that will keep him in Cincinnati for the next three seasons:

A few days ago, I talked about the limited interest Orlando Hudson was receiving thus far on the free agent market (which included some great comments about possible landing spots for Hudson!). That same day, the Cubs traded away Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva , in a swap of horrible contracts that frees up some money for the Cubs to spend.

Sigh. I just finished watching the Red Sox press conference introducing Mike Cameron.

Charming. Charismatic. Humble. Relaxed. You got to see so many of the reasons why managers love Cameron, and what I had been hoping to see over at Clark and Addison sometime this winter.

That said, first off let me say that I was wrong. I didn't think it was possible for the Cubs to let Cameron pass them by. Somewhere, I suspect that Lou Piniella is still muttering things under his breath about it, and perhaps about Jim Hendry as well, but it's done. He ain't coming.