Thoughts on the offseason thusfar

Most years it feels as if not much happens the first week after the World Series. But not this year.

First off, the Phillies declined their option on Pedro Feliz. Feliz is not a spectacular irreplaceable player. But in the "don't fix what ain't broke" category, I think this was a mistake. He was a bargain at $5.5 milllion, providing excellent defense and average offense for a team whose problems weren't offensive related. Philadelphia isn't in the position to splurge in free agency either, needing to lock up Cliff Lee. Third base options include Chone Figgins (probably too expensive), Adrian Beltre (hard to gauge his free agency value), Melvin Mora (not as good as Feliz), and Mark DeRosa (probably too costly as well).

Minnesota acquired J.J. Hardy for Carlos Gomez in what might be a win-win trade. Gomez has shown improvement, albeit gradually, and might be able to put all his tools together and become more than just the raw talent he's shown in the MLB thusfar. Plus he's cheap, and Hardy was expendable with Alcides Escober waiting in the wings. And Gomez was expendable in the Twins outfield, which is full with Delmon Young, Denard Span, Michael Cuddyer, and Jason Kubel among others.

The Pirates acquired Akinori Iwamura for an average relief pitcher (Jesse Chavez). Rays shed money, which is a plus for them, and Iwamura immediately becomes the highest paid player on the Pirates with a salary just under $5 million.

And in what seems to be becoming a yearly tradition for the Red Sox, they acquired a former top outfield prospect (Jeremy Hermida) from a Florida franchise that can't afford him, don't have a spot for him, and are trying to get back what little value the player still has. If B.J. Upton has another poor showing this year, could he be next?

Thoughts on young players not getting a fair shot

Nothing bugs me more than to see MLB talent sitting in the minors, or sitting on the bench in the majors while some washed up veteran takes away at-bats they deserve.

The worst culprit of this is the Angels. I don't know whether this is an issue with Mike Scioscia or the front office telling him to keep playing the veterans, but over the last five years, they've wasted what's consistently one of the best crops of young players in the MLB. Brandon Wood has been ready for about 2 years for the MLB spotlight, but they insist on manning Macair Izturis and Erick Aybar at short, and Figgins at third. Really? Figgins is a good, not great player, that Wood would easily outproduce, and by now it's very apparent that the other two are nothing but light hitting defenders.

The Rockies were horrible too. But that's been covered in the blog about how bad Clint Hurdle was as manager.

Why is Emil Brown taking away 2 AB's from Fernando Martinez? That's ridiculous.

Travis Snider was hitting great in April, but couldn't get consistent playing time because the Blue Jays insisted on playing Jose Bautista. Jose Bautista.

Why is Alcides Escobar spending time down in the minors while the Brew Crew give Craig Counsell AB's at seecond?

I will never understand why teams leave their best players in the minors. Give the young guy a shot, the old guy already has proved he can't play.