Opinion

Detroit Tigers General Manager, David Dombrowski, has already signed two free agents to help the team that finished at .500 in 2010, which was a huge disappointment.

You had Jim Leyland as the manager, so it was even a bigger, busted team.

All-Star catcher Victor Martinez was signed to be the middle of the order guy, and help protect slugging Miguel Cabrera in the lineup.

Recently I wrote an article asking a very interesting question: “Did Jose Canseco save baseball?” 

I had numerous comments and appreciate everyone who took part in the discussion. I found there were more than two sides to this complex issue. From my point of view, the chain of events that led up to that fateful day in Congress deserves to be looked at more closely. 

Black Friday has come and gone and the Yankees and Derek Jeter have yet to strike a deal. Everyone knows what has gone on thus far. The Yankees have offered a deal to make Jeter the highest paid middle infielder in the big leagues when he is not performing like one. Jeter wants the Yankees to give him an Alex Rodriguez type contract, with rumors floating around of six years at $22-25 million per.

After reports of New York Yankees Shortstop Derek Jeter turning down a 3 year, $45 million deal, general manager Brian Cashman told Jeter and his agent Casey Close to test the free agent market.

Criticism fired from all directions at Cashman.

Life long fans couldn't believe that Cashman could let the face of their franchise, a captain, talk to other clubs about possible deals.

Neither could I.

However, this all makes sense in the end.

Since 1901, only nine shortstops age 37 or above hit over .270 in a season. Derek Jeter will qualify as the 10th player in that category next season, and the New York Yankees are well aware of that.

Sure, if you are going to bet on someone entering that group (that happens to include six Hall of Famers), it might as well be Jeter. For the Yankees, who have more money floating around than we can imagine, it is an easy bet to make.

How can the New York Mets expect fans to pay more money to attend games to see a team with the fifth highest payroll in baseball, yet have finished in fourth place two seasons in a row?

They can't.

Thus, the Mets have announced that ticket prices for the 2011 season will be lowered.

The Mets announced on Tuesday that the average cost of a ticket will be reduced by 14 percent. Overall, 62 percent of tickets at Citi Field have been reduced.

Linking permitted roster size and the Rule 5 Draft to recent multi-year franchise W/L records, holds the key to evening out the talent-acquisition-slash-market-size-slash-financial-resources-gap problem of baseball...and at that, doing so would be more effective than an NFL-style or NBA-style artificial ceiling on salaries.

Ought There Be Joy in Mudville?

The Red Sox lost Victor Martinez to the Tigers because they were outbid by $8 million dollars over four years. That amounts to just $2 million per season. While the Red Sox were willing to offer Martinez the four-year deal he wanted, they weren't willing to go to $50 million for him. But the Tigers were. 

The Red Sox made two separate offers to Martinez: a three-year deal worth $36 million and a four-year deal worth $42 million.

Courtesy of Yankees 'n More

What's that bad taste in my mouth?

No, it's not left-over Thanksgiving turkey. It is the taste of left-over October Turkey, as in, the bad taste that has been left in my mouth since watching Ryan Howard end the Phillies season with his bat in his hand as he watched a full-count strike three go by him.

Isn't it crazy how quickly we forget that the Phillies finished the 2010 regular season red-hot and with the best record in baseball?