- 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