Rare Non-Poker Post....The Cynic

I'm a huge baseball fan and I have a lot of time on my hands while I'm at work. Consequently, I generally read everything ESPN.com has to offer about baseball. I'm pretty sure the Insider supcription I paid for at the beginning of the year has been worth every penny too. At any rate, this offseason, free agent contracts are skyrocketing and more or less out of control. When the Dodgers sign Juan Pierre for $45M over 5 years and the Angels sign Gary Matthews, for $50M, then Gil Meche gets a 5 year $55M deal from the Royals, you know the world is going crazy.

The funniest part of it all though is ESPN columnist/blogger Keith Law. Law formerly worked in the Toronto Blue Jays front office and generally seems to know his stuff when it comes to evaluating players. Well, everytime there is a new signing, Law blogs about it. Generally, the tone is "this contract is ridiculous, they're really overpaying for a mediocre guy, etc." In fact, it seems like he's soundly criticized almost every free agent signing or trade that's happened so far this offseason. Here's a gem from today after the Giants announced that they'd signed Bengie Molina..."The Giants' quest to field the slowest and worst defensive team in baseball made significant progress this week with the signing of Bengie Molina to an inexplicable three-year deal." LOL.

Imagine my surprise and utter glee then, when the Dodgers signing of Jason Schmidt was announced and Law had nothing but praise for the move. Needless to say, this makes me very happy about having Jason Schmidt in Dodger Blue pitching for my favorite team. I really hope that Dodgers can now pull off the currently rumored trade for Vernon Wells. I definitely wouldn't mind giving up Brad Penny, and a prospect or two, though really no more than one prospect unless we can be certain that we can turn around and sign Wells to a long-term deal. Either way, I'm pretty damn excited about next year's Dodgers.