• 41-year old Trevor Hoffman signed a one-year, six million-dollar deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. He still gets dudes out pretty well, but we thought the same thing when the O's signed Steve Reed a few years ago. Not that I'm putting Trevor Hoffman and Steve Reed in the same class since Hoffman might make the Hall of Fame, but...well, but nothing. Steve Reed stunk.
• John Smoltz, who turns 42 in May, finalized a one-year, $5.5 million deal with the Red Sox. It will be damned odd for me to see Smoltz in anything but a Braves uniform, and he was the last of the Braves Big Three to look elsewhere for employment. Another guy with a Hall of Fame case.
• Derek Lowe isn't over 40 and doesn't have a Hall of Fame case, but he's got a preliminary agreement with the Braves for a four-year, $60 million deal, just after the Mets balked at three years and $36 million. So you can take two things from this: (1) the Braves are not master negotiators, and (2) the Mets will probably be kicking themselves if Lowe has a good run in Atlanta. Frankly I thought a 3/$36 deal for Lowe seemed like a bargain, but whatever.

Around SBN for those teams: Brew Crew Ball, Over the Monster, Talking Chop

Also around SBN: Lone Star Ball and the Michael Young PR disaster

Elsewhere: Shots of the New Yankee Stadium, followed by a ton of ridiculous comments, some hilarious

If we do sign Gregg ZAUN (as it appears we will), I insist that we only call him ZAUN -- and always in capital letters.

ZAUN: SERIOUS BUSINESS

Just in case you've yet to experience the thrill, check out ZAUN DOT INTERNET.

And bring your Z-GAME, you pansy!

In other news, Brian Roberts will not be marrying Fergie.

From Ken Rosenthal via Roch:

Ken Rosenthal reports that the Orioles have shown interest in Jim Edmonds as a first baseman. I haven't heard this, but anything's possible. It would be a curious move, however, given that they'd prefer a right-handed bat.

Edmonds was a spark for the Cubs last season, hitting .256/.369/.568 with 19 homers in 250 at-bats after looking completely, 100% finished with the Padres. His decline began in 2006, and he's going to be 39 in June.

If he could hit like he did with the Cubs, he's a great help. Preferring a right-handed bat is ... well, whatever. Ryan Garko is a right-handed bat, but he's really not very good, and Peter Schmuck says he's told the Orioles and Indians have had no discussions about Garko anyway.

A few brief thoughts:

1. Edmonds > Millar, period.
2. If they think it's a good idea to run Chris Gomez out there in a platoon role at first base, they're bonkers. He's a nice guy to have around, but as much as I don't mind having Gomey back, he hit .273/.322/.333 last season with the Pirates. He's 38. It's about time his extended career collapses.
3. Can't we just play Huff at first base, Scott at DH, and figure out Montanez or Reimold in left field during spring training? Adding a player for addition's sake seems silly, and with names like Richie Sexson and Jim Edmonds floating around, it's really all we're talking about.
4. At least no one's mentioned Darin Erstad.

From Yahoo:

The Boston Red Sox and pitcher Brad Penny reached a preliminary agreement on a $5 million, one-year contract, according to several reports Monday.

The team also struck a tentative agreement with catcher Josh Bard and both deals are pending physicals, the reports said.

Cheap and one season removed from being one of the National League's most effective pitchers. Meanwhile we fart about with the likes of Mark Hendrickson.

Sun via Yahoo:

Pitching and catching remain the biggest needs for the Baltimore Orioles, but there are some questions to be answered at first base as well according to the Baltimore Sun.

The club could install Aubrey Huff, who started 23 games at first last year, as the team's everyday first baseman. They also have had trade discussions to fill the vacancy, with the Texas Rangers' Hank Blalock among their targets. Kevin Millar, their everyday first baseman last season, Eric Hinske, Doug Mientkiewicz and Sean Casey are among the free-agent options. Slugger Adam Dunn, who has hit 40 or more home runs for five straight seasons, is also a free-agent option, though his price would probably have to come down significantly for the Orioles to get involved in the bidding.

"We did not allow this to sidetrack our other endeavors," MacPhail said. "We're focusing on our pitching and catching primarily at this point."

Pitching = Mark Hendrickson

Catching = totally unimportant, find someone that can handle the position defensively and hopefully hit his weight until you bring Wieters up

It disgusts me that we're talking about Kevin Millar (.234/.323/.394), Hank Blalock (.287/.338/.508 in 65 games), Eric Hinske (.247/.333/.465), Doug f***ing Mientkiewicz (.277/.374/.379 in 225 AB) and Sean motherf***ing Casey (.322/.381/.392 in 199 AB) as everyday first base options for 2009, while we say that Adam Dunn (.236/.386/.513, and healthy as a horse every single year) is "too expensive" in a butt ugly free agent market where he's really not that pricey at all.

It's astounding the lack of progress we're making on the free agent front. The eggs are almost entirely in the farm system basket -- we're counting on ALL of these guys to pan out, basically, if this is the sort of free agent player the O's are going to be under MacPhail. The offer to Teixeira was a joke -- let's call a spade a spade there. They put in an offer and never budged on it for the sake of a public that was in love with the idea of Maryland-born Mark Teixeira coming to crack the code and save us. We were never in the running. The Royals could've made the same offer if they'd felt like it.

I know you have to patch holes, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't have a firm belief in ANY front office at the Warehouse. I'm trusting Andy MacPhail, but it's a cautious trust. The problem I'm seeing is this division is not going to get worse any time soon. The Yankees are going to make a load of money every year and spend it on the team. The Red Sox develop and spend at the same time, and do both quite effectively. The Rays have a lot of years left on that team, probably, and a front four of Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, James Shields and David Price could be terrifying for many, many seasons.

2009 is another fifth place finish. We all know that. And I've said before that saying rebuilding is OK is one thing -- watching rebuilding happen, the struggle of it all and the seemingly futile daily grind, is another thing entirely. It wasn't pretty to watch after a while last year. It won't be pretty this year, either.

What past that? These young players (Jones, Wieters, Tillman, Matusz, Arrieta especially) have to work out. If they don't, then a whole lot of other guys who are worse bets at becoming impact players have to work out. That's hard, man. And if the team doesn't win or doesn't expand its budget, free agents still aren't going to come here.

I've had this feeling burrowing in my gut for this entire offseason. I don't really like the direction we're headed, and it's not even so much the direction or MacPhail's vision. Developing young talent is not THE ONLY THING that has to drastically change under Dandy Andy's watch. The buck doesn't stop there. If the franchise thinks it does, another decade of this mess is on the horizon.

Yeah, I know.

ESPN.com says that Kevin Youkilis is the newest of relatively few players to take up arms for Team USA in the upcoming 2009 World Baseball Classic. Boston teammate and AL MVP Dustin Pedroia was the last to commit, if I recall.

ESPN says that Youkilis, Pedroia, Derek Jeter, David Wright, Chipper Jones, John Lackey, Brian McCann and Grady Sizemore have also signed on, though you can expect at least one of those to drop out by the time the rosters are officially set.

Davey Johnson's going to have a hell of a time, really. The first WBC saw the Americans pretty well embarrassed, including a loss to Canada, and the word back in '06 was that the next time out, some of our proud American ballplayers might step up and compete for national pride or whatever it is they're competing for in the WBC. Instead, A-Rod took his purse-slapping and purple lips and old woman fetish to the Dominican team.

Also, if you were waiting, it's that time of year where Sammy Sosa wonders aloud why no one's knocking his door down.

"Those who saw me training know that I'm hitting the ball with the usual authority. I just hope to get the chance to prove that I'm still a threat," said Sosa at a charity event sponsored by his foundation.

I remember the olden days, when Mr. Sosa's English was so patchy he had to bring a translator to Washington with him. Baseball been berry berry goo to he. It's so reeeeaaaal.

From RotoWire (sort of):

It’s apparently a mutual interest, while Hendrickson could provide a veteran presence in what figures to be a very young rotation. He fell apart as a starter in Florida last season, so we doubt that a move to the American League East is going to make him a better fantasy option.

Hendrickson is really not any good at all. There's my analysis.

My feelings in song:

Career ERA: 5.05

Career WHIP: 1.55

Career BB/9: 5.1

Have fun, whatever team decides to hitch a star to this crap wagon.

So long, sucker!