Wow, three big happenings in the baseball world today...

Let's talk about them, shall we?

I'll start with the Silver Slugger awards...

Cano and Jeter won this year, the other winners are as followed: C Joe Mauer, 1B Justin Morneau, 3B Joe Crede, OF Manny Ramirez, OF Vladimir Guerrero, OF Jermaine Dye and DH David Ortiz...

First thing you can see is the absurdity of Crede getting picked over A-Rod...

Let's do this comparsion as simple as possible (split: AVG/OBP/SLG):

A-Rod: .290 .392 .523 with 35 HRs and 121 RBIs...
Crede: .283 .323 .506 with 30 HRs and 94 RBIs...

However, the Silver Slugger (like every other award that's not the batting title or the like) are quite subjective... from Wikipedia:

In Major League Baseball, the Louisville Silver Slugger award is given annually to the best offensive player at each position in each league. Winners are picked by major league managers and coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.

Selections are based on a combination of offensive statistics, such as batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage, as well as general impressions of a player's offensive value.

I highlighted the bold to ask a ridiculous question: do managers and coaches really think that Joe Crede hit better than Alex Rodriguez this year? I guess the New York media did more than brain-wash much of Yankee fans...

I'm also very excited about Cano winning this year... he turned it on late in the season, and being 3rd in the AL batting title doesn't hurt either... Jeter was, more or less, a lock... congrats to Cano and Jeter for winning the Silver Sluggers... you guys definitely deserved them...

Second piece, from Buster Olney:

The Boston Red Sox may have posted the top bid for the right to negotiate with Japanese right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, according to Major League Baseball sources.

There has been no official announcement, and the Seibu Lions, Matsuzaka's team in Japan, have until Tuesday to accept or reject the high bid.

But, according to officials monitoring the bidding, the Red Sox bid may be between $38 million and $45 million.

Matsuzaka, who pitched for Japan's World Baseball Classic champions, is considered among the top prospects available this offseason.

If the Lions accept the top bid, the winning bidder has 30 days to reach an agreement with Matsuzaka. If a deal cannot be reached, he would return to the Lions for the 2007 Japanese baseball season.

Ok... 15 mil is decent (Ichiro got 13 mil when he was posteD), 25 is excessive, but ok... but 38 to 45?!?!?!

Of course, Olney can be wrong, but if he isn't, the Red Sox have to be prepared to pay 38 to 45 million plus a rumored 15 mil per year for 5 years... the Red Sox can also go low, offer him a small contract that he would have to reject, Matsuzaka goes back to the Lions, and the Yankees won't get a crack at him until next year...

Whatever happened will happen, but what can be said is this: the Red Sox bid more than 10 million dollars more than the rumored Yankee bid of 27 million, and they are spending this money on a guy who has won against "powerhouses" like Mexico and China, and did well against Cuba...

To me, it's a ridiculous deal... Ichiro's bid was only 13 mil, and the hype was there... however, the more hype there is, the bigger the price tag... and that's where Matsuzaka and Boras come in... if it wasn't for Ichiro, the bids wouldn't be this high, plain and simple... I think the bid's SO excessive for an unproven pitcher in the MLB level, but that's the name of the game... Matsuzaka and Boras are playing the hype incredibly well... because of that, more money will be in both their pockets as well as the Lions...

I was also thinking about the consquences of a failed signing... and what will it do to the MLB and the like...

One of the reasons why the Red Sox bid 10 million more than the Yankees' rumored bid of 27 mil was to keep him away from the Yankees... part of that reason was of Theo's failure to improve his team before the trade deadline, and believe me, if you had to hear about the Abreu trade and the Yankees' winning and about the Massacre and your failure to do anything significant before the trade deadline over and over again, it can get to you, and apparently, it got to Theo to make this ridiculous deal...

However, let's say this: if the Red Sox don't sign Matsuzaka, it can be even more disasterous than most people would think...

Think about it: look at us bloggers! Many of us have written on the guy (positively or negatively), many of us are drooling over his YouTube clips of his games, we want to see this guy pitch in the MLB to see how he will do... Matsuzaka wants to pitch in the MLB... the Japanese are going crazy about him coming over... if they threw a parade for Hideki Matsui when he became a Yankee, imagine the celebration they will throw for Matsuzaka...

It would be absolutely terrible if Matsuzaka isn't signed... most of us want to see this guy pitch... and if the Red Sox don't sign him, he will be stuck on the Lions for another year... it would be terrible for Theo's image and rep... it would be disasterous for the MLB and the relations between the MLB and Japanese ball players (if they don't sign arguably their best pitcher, what does that show?)... most of all, it would be a bitch-slap to anyone and everyone who desperately wants to see him pitch, including me...

The Red Sox's playing keep-away may backfire miserably if they don't sign Matsuzaka... that's why, most likely, he will definitely get signed, and he won't get disrespected with a low contract deal... Boras isn't stupid, he wants the money for the guy, and my belief is, he'll get it...

Only two questions remain: If the Red Sox do win the bid and make the huge deal, where was this spending with Johnny Damon? Where was this adventurous spending when Abreu was available last year?

The deal screams of a panic move against the Yankees... and I hope, for the Sox's sake, it won't backfire terribly for them...

Lastly, the Sheffield trade...

From ESPN:

Detroit has acquired Gary Sheffield from the New York Yankees for three right-handed pitching prospects, the Tigers announced Friday.

In return for Sheffield, the Tigers sent Humberto Sanchez, Kevin Whelan and Anthony Claggett to New York. Detroit agreed to a two-year contract extension with Sheffield through the 2009 season...

Sanchez, 23, was a combined 10-6 with a 2.53 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 123 innings with Triple-A Toledo and Double-A Erie this year. Whelan, 22, was 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA and 27 saves for Class A Lakeland. Claggett, 22, was 7-2 with an 0.91 ERA and 14 saves for Class A West Michigan.

I like the trade, we get three more pitching prospects, and in my mind, you can never have too many good prospects...

According to Baseball America, we got two of the Tigers' Top 10 prospects: Sanchez at #6 and Whelen at #10. This is also with Verlander and Zumaya in the majors. Claggett doesn't look like a scrub as well, with a 0.91 ERA in Class A.

The only thing I would have wanted in the trade was a left-hander, but I can't really complain much, good job Cashman!

And one last final note... Bubba Crosby is now a Red:

The Reds made their first acquisition of the offseason on Friday, signing outfielder Bubba Crosby to a one-year contract worth $400,000.

By signing him to a Major League deal, Cincinnati protected Crosby on its 40-man roster. But he's not assured a 25-man roster spot for Opening Day 2007. The 30-year-old will go to Spring Training and compete for a job as a reserve outfielder.

Crosby, a left-handed hitter, has split the past three seasons shuttling between the Yankees and Triple-A Columbus. He batted .207 with one home run and six RBIs in 2006 for New York and .238 in 22 games for Columbus.

I'm not shedding any tears for a guy who barely hit above replacement-level this year, and I supported Melky over Bubba earlier in the year, but I do wish him the best...

Thanks Bubba for giving all of us a chance to say "Bubba" and "Yankees" in the same sentence!

Happy reading!

B(rent)