Olney's Latest: DeRosa, Nationals, Bay

"Olney says the expectation is that a flurry of signings will occur in final 3 days leading up to the August 17 deadline due to "enormous pressure on teams to stay within the slotting recommendations set by the commissioners office."

Oh yeah, ENORMOUS pressure.

Nobody wants to receive an angry e-mail from the commissioner's offeice..

"# In response to the Nyjer Morgan/Lastings Milledge rumors, Olney says Washington is determined to purge their system of dysfunctional players."

You would think that they would be trying to land as many dysfunctional players as possible. Huh.

If they don't want Elijah Dukes, I'm sure that practically every team in the league would take him.

"Nyjer Morgan? Why would they even want another sub par outfielder?"

Morgan is actually pretty decent.

There's not a lot of power, but he gets on base, has some speed, and his defense is absolutely fantastic, he's one of the best in the field.

Kenny Williams, where are you?

I know that Pods has been a pleasant surprise, but Morgan could be a nice, reasonably priced addition.

"I have seen him play defense, he is great in left.
He looks exactly like Pierre from a uniform standpoint, plays like him but does not make 9 million."

Honestly, I think that I would take Morgan over Pierre, even if you ignore their contracts.

Morgan walks far more than Pierre, plays far superior defense, and has similar speed.

regarding milledge - if you're trying to trade someone, you're better off not saying that they are a dysfunctional presence until they are out of town.

Slot recommendations are collusion.

If Bay is willing to accept a 4/60 or 5/70 deal then he's a good value addition considering he's likely to give you a .280/.370 line w/ 25 hrs and decent defense in LF. Add to that fact that the contract would end before he turns 36 makes it even better. However, from a Yanks perspective I doubt he would sign that cheap since Boston wants him back as well. IMO, I can swallow the Yanks paying him 5/75 because we can go cheap to fill CF/RF/DH with Gardner, Cabrera, Swisher and Austin Jackson and a 3/4/5 combo of Tex/Arod/Bay is excellent. If we have to give him anything close to 18 mil then we should just pass.

Milledge is 4 years younger and has a higher cieling but why would the Pirates want to trade a young guy w/ know publicly mentioned charachter issues for a guy with charachter issues who has not taken his demotion well and is currently underperforming in AAA w/ a .256/.295 line w/ 1 hr in 82 at bats. If he can lock down a job on a team with the worst record in baseball then what does that say about him? He's worth the pickup but not for a talent like Morgan. Again, Milledge has more talent but will it ever develop if he has charachter/motivation issues?

Bay was probably looking at a 3yr deal at 12.5m prior to the season and has parlayed his big contract year season into a 4yr deal at 15m per.

Gotta remember that this guy has a chronic knee condition. And that Matt Holliday is probably going to slot in at that same 4/60. There'll be competition to man the post in LF at Fenway. It's a good gig. Especially for a RH pull hitter with bad wheels. A short LF means less running after balls...

Re: The Owners' Tools Office, does anyone take Selig seriously? A fish rots from the heads down. And, well, just look at the guy...