Odds and Ends: Darvish, Maddux

The Yu Darvish rumors could outlast Brian Roberts by 7 years. He will be hated by all on this site by the time he comes over.

I don't see the rush to move Edwin Jackson. As I said in another post the guy is young/cheap and has a huge upside with his arm and with Garza/Kazmir sidelined he is needed. Even with Niemann's promising start and some of the big three (Price,McGee, Davis) likely to be ready by the end of this season there is no reason to move a commodity. He kind of reminds me of Carmona (ceiling) with his velocity and ability to induce ground balls.

I'm not talking about now Tim, just mentioning the fact that he may not be posted for 7 years and there is a ton of media coverage on him already across many sites. Certainly was not being critical as I am very intrigued by him...just saying it is amusing, especially in light of the whole Roberts situation or even the Santana trade, that we could be talking about him for the next 7 years. He definitely sounds deserving of the hype and a potential $100 million bid may result in seeing him sooner, chances are we'll be talking about him for a long time.

I hope it's not his last season. He has at least 1 or 2 more years in him. I just hope he retires once he's passed Clemens on all time wins. It would only be right.

Maddux could probably be a good pitcher til he's 50. As long as he can light it up to 85 MPH, he could be a good pitcher. He's got that sneaky fastball, and he's probably the smartest pitcher to ever live. He's been using guile and smarts to beat guys his whole career, moreso lately than ever, and it's still working. The guy is an incredible athlete, and proves that even if you aren't incredibly athletic, you can completely dominate guys who are. I would argue that in terms of pitching, he's the greatest pitcher of all time. Some guys are better at "throwing", but when it comes to the act of pitching, nobody has ever been better.

And I think that the Rays should hold onto Jackson. The guy has an electric arm, and showed some upside last year. He pitched far better in the second half, and has started out 2008 pretty well. If he can manage to harness his awesome stuff, he could still end up becoming equally as good as Kazmir.