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If you spend a chunk of your time putting your heart and soul into a blog, you probably crave more readers.  If you didn’t want readers, you’d probably just write a diary. 

If you happen to have your own sports blog (especially a baseball one), BlogRush might be useful.  You can see the BlogRush box now on my sidebar toward the bottom.  This box basically pulls up recent posts from blogs it feels may be relevant to my readers.  Each time you refresh, it pulls up five new links.  Since I just put it in, it’s not incredibly targeted.  It’s basically just showing sports blogs that are in the BlogRush network. 

For every pageview I give to BlogRush, MLBTR gets one on another site on their network.  So it’s a way of kind of sharing traffic among related bloggers. The video on their site explains it better than I just did.  If you have a sports blog, you should consider signing up for BlogRush through this referral link.  It could bring you some more traffic and there’s nothing to lose.  Everything is free and it took me about two minutes start to finish.  I have no idea if this will be cool or worth keeping on MLBTR so feel free to give me your thoughts on it. 

We’ve seen many stories in the last few days where players stated when they planned on retiring.  Let’s review.

• Gary Sheffield will be done after his upcoming two-year deal.  That’ll take him through the 2009 season and age 40.  Sheff believes his shoulder will hold up that long, but I’m skeptical.
• Here’s an option we didn’t discuss: Moises Alou.  He says he’ll retire if the Mets don’t pick up his $7.5MM option for ’08.  Playoff heroics could encourage them to do so; Alou can still mash when he’s out there.  2008 will be Alou’s age 41 season.
• Rudy Seanez has had a good year for the Dodgers and wants to play in ’08 as a 39 year-old.  He’ll stick with the West Coast, probably the Dodgers or Padres again.
• Reggie Sanders could be Seanez’s teammate next year.  If he plays, it’ll have to be for a winning West Coast team.  The Kansas City Star also mentions that the Royals were set to receive Melky Cabrera for Sanders last year before Sanders got hurt.  Is that true?  Wow.
• As we’ve written, Omar Vizquel wants to come back to the Giants next year.
• Cliff Floyd’s a 34 year-old in a 40 year-old’s body.  He’ll probably retire if and when the Cubs win the World Series this year.  In the unlikely event the Cubs don’t win it all, they’d be Floyd’s first choice for ’08.  Otherwise he might consider a guaranteed deal to play in the AL (DH would make sense).  Family concerns might cause him to retire regardless though.
• Mike Piazza wants to return for his age 39 season.  No hard feelings if the A’s don’t want him back.  The NL is up for consideration if he’s physically able to play catcher.
• We covered the Tom Glavine options here.
• We’ve also talked about Andy Pettitte’s plan: Yankees or retirement in ’08.

Here are some interesting links for Tuesday evening…

• Tim Marchman has a reasoned discussion of Alex Rodriguez’s possible destinations, and considers the Red Sox and Dodgers as the favorites (unless Brian Cashman goes back on his word and negotiates after A-Rod opts out).  Indeed, we learned in July that the Red Sox will make a "huge push" for Rodriguez.  We also determined that they’ll have an extra $31MM to play with even if they keep the payroll steady.  They could bump the payroll just a tad to $150MM to account for some role players.
• Lynn Henning wrote yesterday about former Pirates GM Dave Littlefield’s strong relationship with current Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski.
• Fire Joe Morgan takes on Mike Pagliarulo.
• Adrian Beltre: underpaid.

If you enjoy MLBTradeRumors, go vote for us in the Blogger’s Choice Awards!  I noticed we have only two votes.  We can do better than that.  You will have to create a login but it’s brief and I would appreciate it.  And leave some comments over there too! 

Let’s review the sidebar content here at MLBTR.

Here’s an important one: the MLBTR search box.  Scroll down a bit and you can’t miss it on the lefthand sidebar.  Type in any player, word, phrase, team, fragment, whatever.  Use it like you would Google.

Below that we have the MLBTR Features.  These are mostly the "series" type posts I do when I have some down time – Needs and Luxuries, GM Trade Profiles, and Team Outlooks.  I’ve also got the go-to list type posts, with the most popular being the 2008 Free Agents.  That one will always be kept up-to-date as players sign.

Then I’ve got our network, which basically consists of this site, RotoAuthority, and AllCubs.  RotoAuthority is my fantasy baseball site.  I try to post there at least once daily, and Adam Howe also pitches in.  Unfortunately I haven’t had time to post at AllCubs in quite a while.  That site instead relies on a roster of Cubs fans/writers I’ve recruited. 

Then you’ve got the 20 most recent posts.  Self-explanatory. 

After that is the Browse All Rumors section.  This is a great way to browse through player names.  Before the search bar I used this often to recall what I’d written on certain players.  For example, here are all the posts I’ve written that reference Hiroki Kuroda.

Then we have the Archives.  This contains the last 15 months, though if you click on the Archives hyperlink you’ll see that the site actually goes back to November of 2005.

Got A Rumor links to my main email address.  Feel free to drop me a line if you’ve got a rumor you haven’t seen on the site.  I read every email and appreciate 99.9% of them.  Sometimes I can take a while to reply though.

Then we’ve got the MLBTR Mailing List.  If you sign up for this, you’ll receive a daily email with all of my posts in full.  Your email adress will never be used for anything else.

Below that is Syndication.  Some of you know how "feeds," work, some don’t.  I just started using a feed reader a few months ago.  I’m glad I did.  Click here to read more about how these work.  We have over 4,000 feed subscribers currently.  Even if it’s new to you, give it a try!

Then we have Team Rumors.  Clicking on a team will show all posts that reference that team.  If you really only care about one club, you could just bookmark your team link and refresh that regularly.

Yet another collection of random recommended links…

• East Windup Chronicle discusses Chien-Ming Wang’s fame.  I hadn’t realized he boycotted the Taiwanese press.
• RotoAuthority takes a look at Mets starters in its Danger Zone series.  The feature is designed to identify starters whose innings have escalated by 30 or more this year.
• If the Dodgers don’t exercise his $1.4MM option for ’08, Mike Lieberthal will retire. 
• ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick recently mentioned that if the Royals are sold on Joey Gathright in center field, they could shop David DeJesus this winter.
• Could you imagine the Dodgers with Clay Buchholz?  L.A. scouting director Logan White wanted to use the 40th pick on him in the ’05 draft, but the Dodgers took Luke Hochevar instead (and failed to sign him).
• It will be the Padres or retirement for Greg Maddux next year.  He’s a fine deal at one-year, $10MM.  How has Mad Dog been so remarkably durable throughout his career?  What’s his secret? 
• Speaking of the over-40 crowd, Luis Gonzalez hopes to play two more seasons.

My apologies for the lack of posts the last couple of days.  I went on a mini-vacation, and as you know this is a slow time for trade and signing rumors anyway.  Things will pick up again in November.

In the meantime, let’s use this post for suggestions on some topics you’d like to see covered here at MLBTR during September and October.  Free agent player profiles and free agent position breakdowns are probably coming soon.  Also I received a suggestion for breaking down each position in terms of needs.  For example: who needs a catcher this winter, and which teams have a surplus?

Let me know any other ideas for posts for the next couple of months.

Some random rumor tidbits for the weekend…

• Buster Olney checked with some execs on the trade value of Eric Chavez.  Given the player’s declining health, indications are that the A’s would have to eat some money and would not receive any top prospects in return.  Might be better just to hang onto him for 2008 and hope he can rebuild some value.
• The Cardinals acquired Russell Branyan.  Branyan’s been well-traveled this year.  It looks like Scott Rolen may miss the rest of the season, so Branyan will add some depth there.  Brendan Ryan is still the starter at present though.
• Apparently a Ryan Klesko to Detroit rumor surfaced yesterday, but it didn’t happen.  The Giants did a nice job moving Matt Morris but are stuck with many, many overpaid aging veterans.  I fear this team might try to win and rebuild in ’08, and that rarely works.
• Randy Wolf signed a below-market deal guaranteeing him $8MM in ’07 with a $9MM club option for ’08.  Now that he’s having shoulder surgery, that option will be declined.  At the minimum Wolf could’ve snagged three years, $24MM last winter. Let this be a lesson to Matt Clement, Freddy Garcia, Jason Jennings, and Rodrigo Lopez – get the best deal you can.  Though to be fair, Wolf’s discount was more of the hometown variety than injury-related.
• Bucco Blog is endorsing Tony LaCava for the next Pirates CEO/President.  Support is building for this guy.  Too bad it’s not an election.

Here’s a random smattering of links and rumors for your enjoyment.

• Joba Chamberlain’s slider gives a whole new meaning to the term "unhittable."
• There’s informed speculation that the player to be named later going to Detroit in the Craig Monroe deal will be Clay Rapada.
• A source tells me the Braves have had internal discussions about trading Edgar Renteria in the offseason and giving the shortstop job to Yunel Escobar.  The Cardinals, Tigers, and A’s could be interested.
• Word on the street is that the Diamondbacks plan on re-signing first baseman/pinch-hitter Tony Clark for 2008.  He’s a good clubhouse guy with pop off the bench from both sides of the plate.
• The Red Sox signed Royce Clayton to a minor-league deal.  Why?  No one knows.
• Out with Brett Tomko, in with David Wells for the Dodgers. Jon Weisman reflects on a signing that never made sense.  Funny to hear Wells wisecracking about his replacement while standing a few feet away from Tomko.
• Jose Guillen’s now talking three years guaranteed for his next deal, and he’s no longer in a rush.  Talks are ongoing.

Now that Carlos Zambrano is officially an $18MM a year pitcher – and the open market would’ve given him more – the future of other top starters is the hot topic of discussion.  Even at a discount Zambrano’s average annual value is the highest ever for a pitcher’s multiyear contract.

We’ll start with the best of the best, Johan Santana.  We might as well get used to the Johan speculation, because it’s going to be filling newspapers until he signs his next contract.  As much as he’d like to stay, how can the Twins possibly sign him if the starting point is 5/90?  The Seattle Times’ Larry Stone dreams on the possibility of a Johan/Felix combo, but of course it’d require gutting the farm system (and Santana waiving his no-trade clause).  Not enough talk about his NTC.  Anyway, let’s face it.  Santana gives the Twins the best chance to win in 2008, so they’ll keep him through the end of his contract.  Minnesota’s staff looks excellent for ’08 with Francisco Liriano returning.

C.C. Sabathia also reaches free agency after the ’08 season.  The Indians haven’t begun active negotiations with him, and Paul Hoynes believes he could only fit into the payroll if the Tribe goes deep into the postseason this year.  Like Santana, the Indians would keep Sabathia through the end of his contract to try to win next year.  Jon Garland, Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez, and Ben Sheets are the other big names in the 2008-09 class.

Jake Peavy knows he won’t get a fair offer from the Padres.  He’ll be a free agent after ’09.  Erik Bedard, Kelvim Escobar, John Lackey, and Brad Penny are all set to join his free agent class.  I can see Bedard and Penny hitting the open market, while the Halo hurlers might sign extensions.