Remember when people were talking about a market correction in baseball? I think it is safe to say things are back to normal. The deals that have already been struck set the table nicely for free agents like A.J. Burnett, Roger Clemens, Trevor Hoffman, and our own Johnny Damon.
Hideki Matsui – 4 years, 52 million to stay with the Yankees
B.J. Ryan – 5 years, 47 million to Toronto
Billy Wagner – 4 years, 43 million to the Mets
Esteban Loaiza – 3 years, 21 million to the A’s
Steinbrenner must be popping Atavan like a kid with a king-size bag of Skittles on Halloween night to remain calm and quiet as Omar “drunken sailor” Minaya monopolizes the back page with the deals he is making. When George emerges from his bunker, he’s likely to start throwing bags of gold at Damon. Meanwhile, Joe Torre mentioned the possibility of moving A-Rod or Jeter to center field. Wow.
And back in Boston, the GM-by-committee is quietly building a contender. With an open house at Manny’s condo today (6.9 million plus 4K in monthly condo fees), it is safe to say he really wants out. To the Mets for Floyd, Milledge and Heilman, perhaps?
