Manny in the West?

The hot rumor going into the winter meetings is that it's a 3 way horse race between San Diego, Los Angeles (Da Bums), and San Francisco to come up with the best deal to obtain LF Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox. It's interesting that all 3 are working the phones because:

1) Each team wants Manny partly to prevent him from going to their opponent in the NL West.

2) Theo Epstein, Boston's GM, used to work for Kevin Towers, San Diego's GM - and they've traded between each other previously.

3) Ned Colletti, LA's GM, used to work for Brian Sabean, San Francisco's GM - and they are clearly trying to outdo each other this offseason.

Will Manny wind up in the NL West? It's questionable at best, because Manny's a 10 and 5 guy, so he has the right to approve or veto any deal. He's never played outside the AL, aside from Interleague games, so he might not be inclined to switch leagues. Of course, Omar Vizquel made the switch a couple of years ago to come to SF, at an older age - so perhaps Manny would consider it.

The question is - who will come up with the best deal? Will he come West?

I will say this: Manny's one of the few players today worthy of the salary he's getting (by comparison to recent contract signings). Gary Mathews Jr and Juan Pierre are NOT worth the $50 million and $40 million each are getting (and I'm glad the LA teams are the suckers in that bet).

So...whaddya think?

CY Young Pride in Ashland, KY

As a tribute to our hometown hero Brandon Webb and his winning of the Cy Young award, my family declared today as Brandon Webb Day. Actually, every November 15th will be celebrated as such from here on out!!

This holiday will consist of Will wearing his jersey to school. But now that the D-Backs have changed there color scheme, I guess this is now a Throw-Back Jersey. Cool huh!

Yesterday, Andy sent me the message that Brandon had won the award and I jumped out of my seat when I found out. I started calling everybody I knew and telling them. Exciting stuff for a kid from Ashland, Kentucky to accomplish and it's exciting for me because I have batted against him (He was 7 years old and it was a wiffle ball), but it still counts!

The news last night told how Brandon was out shooting yesterday when he got the call from his agent about the good news. He said he was stunned and actually thought the agent was pulling his leg! He's a humble guy and all of us in Ashland are very proud of him.

Happy Belated Halloween

Another season has passed and as I sit here reflecting upon yet another disappointing effort by the men in pinstripes, I look ahead to next year. Although the highest paid team in all of baseball choked again, there's always next year. However, this blog has been much fun and I've enjoyed getting to know you guys. Have a great offseason!

PS- Congrats Randal!!!