Phightins

*In before Kingfish loses his shit about Greinke*

Why hasn't Fish said anything about Matt Harvey yet???????

It's great news. A lot of money, but less than he'd have gotten on the open market. Barring injuries or a Lincecum-esque collapse, he should be worth close to every penny. And he will only be 34 when the deal ends. Very manageable.

Not asking for a whole lot then!

There are a few things they can do, but all will require some creativity. I am a big fan of making a play for Chase Headley. We don't have the pieces to make a trade work as is, but maybe a 3 team trade involving Hunter Pence might work. Third basemen are very hard to come by and I've always been a big Headley fan. Pence will be easily replaceable this offseason via free agency (Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, Melky Cabrera, Cody Ross, or Josh Hamilton if they are feeling adventurous). Another idea: Call up Dom Brown already!! I suspect this will happen when Victorino and/or Pence gets traded in the next week, but they really need to give him a chance.

Voracek re-signs...4 years $17 million. If he gets some chemistry going with Giroux, this will likely look like a steal in a few years.

And Alex Semin has signed a 1 year deal with Carolina. I am a fan of that.

In a stunning turn of events, Tim Thomas has decided to "stand with Chick fil A". And to think I really liked this guy less than a year ago...

Tommy Hanson with one of the weirdest lines I have ever seen. 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 7 BB, 7 K 108 pitches, 7 SB allowed 1 run!!

I am not as high on Turner as some people are, but you guys still won this trade easily. Very strong pitching prospect in exchange for a 2 month rental SP and a utility infielder. Hell of a deal, even if Turner doesn't totally pan out.

Awesome. Finally some good news!

BTW... Between this, the Sixers' dreadful offseason, and the Phillies, this is easily the worst sports summer I can remember.

For the record, I am happy for the Predators. They may have never recovered had they lost Weber. For the Flyers, this is bad. Nothing worse than a pissed off, desperate Ed Snider. If Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn are not both on the roster come October, I will not be happy.

Predators match. This sucks, a lot.

lolHowson

This division is too good.

Shane Doan in town for a visit today. If they are even considering him, it pretty much guarantees that a big contract will be on the way out of Weber winds up here. Getting Voracek signed should be priority #1 IMO.

Well, not all teams are owned by cable giant multi-bajillionaires. But yes, the timing is pretty funny. I am sure there are a decent amount of owners who are very angry with us right now.

Never a dull moment!

Late on this, but the new draft slotting system really, really sucks. Totally screwed over the Pirates (and Mark Appel). It was supposed to help with competitive balance but so far it's just made things worse. And it's making owners richer. Good job Bud!!

Also, completely unrelated to baseball, I saw Roger Waters perform The Wall last night at CBP and it literally blew my mind. Most amazing night of my life, not even a question.

Somewhat lost in this mind[expletive] of a season is how absurdly good Carlos Ruiz has been. I really have no words for it. Can't figure it out. A 33 year old catcher that has one previous season with an OPS over .800 suddenly turns into one of the game's elite hitters. Makes no sense. (Don't bother answering ECN, I know exactly what you are going to say).

I don't either. I watched it about 50 times and I still don't get it.

Just when I thought I had an idea about this team's direction.... I would be fine with this, normally. But in this case it makes absolutely no sense. So many problems here, namely the player option for year 2. Also, he is supposedly going to start, with Hawes starting at 4. What in the hell makes them think Hawes can defend power forwards? Sure worked out great against Garnett in the playoffs... I didn't freak out over the Brand amnesty when it happened like a lot of people did, but now I will. We seriously cut Brand so we could sign Nick Young and give Kwame Brown a 2 year contract? Good grief. Already pencilling draft lottery night on my calendar. I guess the good news is that in the Sixers' case, it is better to be bad than mediocre. Going to be one hell of a long season, though.

Are you [expletive]ing kidding me?