Uncategorized News & Rumors

The fine Cot’s Baseball Contracts site has a list of important dates for us to be aware of.  A few I want to highlight (quoting Cot’s):

Day after World Series: 15-day period where teams have exclusive rights to negotiate with own free agents.  Keep in mind that players can talk to other teams, they just can’t discuss contract details or sign.

November 5-8, 2007: GM meetings in Orlando (not the same as the Winter Meetings in December).

It’s been about six months since I last did a reader survey, so let’s give it another go.  I’d like to know what you like, what you dislike, and how I can improve the site. 

I take all reader feedback very seriously, so don’t pull any punches.  Take the three-question MLBTR reader survey here (completely anonymous, no logging in, should take you one minute).  I appreciate it.

I wrote an article for The Hardball Times entitled Why The Cubs Will Beat The Diamondbacks.  Please note that I wrote it before the announcement to go with Zambrano on three days rest rather than Marquis.

Fair and balanced: here’s Jim McLennan’s article with the opposite point of view.

Also, I know there are a lot of Braves fans on here.  Those folks, fantasy nuts, or perhaps injury buffs may be interested in my recent RotoAuthority Danger Zone post, assessing the risk of each Braves starter.

I invite you to visit our latest sponsor, The Blogs By Fans Network.  It’s a fairly new young network of sports blogs, with some solid baseball ones in the mix.

Did that headline make sense to you?  If not, don’t be scared.  I’m relatively new to RSS feeds and I think they’re an excellent way to keep up with my favorite sites.  ProBlogger does a great job of explaining RSS feeds in basic terms.  A choice quote:

What if you could tell a website to let you know every time that they update? In a sense, this is what RSS does for you.

So take a minute and read about RSS feeds and download Google Reader for free.  Then add the following feed for MLBTR:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/MlbTradeRumors

MLBTradeRumors.com is expected to generate more than 1.7 million pageviews in October, before things really explode in November and December.

I’m going to add some sponsored text links to the lefthand sidebar of the site.  You can snag a spot for your link for the rest of the month for $100.  They’ll be stacked under the Boston Red Sox Tickets link in the order they’re purchased.  I’ll be selling five spots.

If you’d like to get your website/product/whatever some exposure for the rest of October, drop me a line. 

For better or for worse, I have avoided almost all talk of manager hirings and firings here at MLBTR.  I guess it’s mainly because it doesn’t interest me.  Also because I don’t think managers have much effect on a team’s chances.  Just in case you were wondering why we’re not part of the Willie Randolph media crush today.

Let me know in the comments if you feel strongly that managers should be covered here…and maybe one day we’ll do it.

Unfortunately, I know nothing about hockey.  Is Ed Belfour still tending goal for the Hawks?  Fortunately there is someone to fill the hockey trade rumor void, and his name is Micah Williams.  He runs Hockey Trade Rumors.  While it’s not a part of my network, I highly recommend you visit if you’re into hockey and the rumor-type stuff we do here.

I know this post strays from our usual rumor arena, but it’s time to make some playoff predictions.  Here are mine, with a huge helping of Cubs bias.

Padres beat Rockies in today’s one-game playoff
Phillies over Padres in Division Series
Cubs over D’Backs in Division Series
Cubs over Phillies in NLCS

Red Sox over Angels in Division Series
Indians over Yankees in Division Series
Red Sox over Indians in ALCS

How fun would a Cubs-Red Sox World Series be?  The Cubs would of course take such a contest, probably in four.  Maybe five if Josh Beckett wins one.

Make your predictions in the comments!  Consider this the official Playoff Prediction thread.

I’m back from my weekend trip to Cincinnati; I’ll try to post a review some time soon.  I’m in a great mood with my Cubbies heading to Arizona for the playoffs.  As a Cubs fan you can’t take these things for granted.

I’ve read through Nat’s work and it was excellent.  I’m sure he’ll be helping us out in the future.

Tim