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If career ERA is all that matters, Ryan was 248th all time. It's too easy to name pitchers who did better that no one considers an all time great...

Let's not get into using no-hitters as a measure of greatness. Hideo Nomo had two. Pedro, Clemens and Maddux combined for 0. And any argument about a dominating pitcher is incomplete if Pedro never gets mentioned...

Baseball has more parity than any other sport. How many other sports see all the teams win between 40% and 60% of their games nearly every year? And when teams fall outside that range, it usually isn't by much. Ever seen a season in the NFL when every team was between 10-6 and 6-10? Or the NBA where every team was between 49-33 and 33-49?

For all the talk about Machado and/or Harper, the Phillies could probably just go sign Keuchel and Kimbrel together for the cost of one of those two players. And it would be smarter - consider this. Manny Machado through age 26 - 30.4 fWAr in 6 seasons. Evan Longoria through age 26 - 28.6 fWAR in only 5 seasons Afer his age 26 season, Longoria signed a 19-year %135mill contract. Evan Longorai ages 27-33 - 19.7 fWAR This kind of drop is what scares teams...

There... that only took a short 16 months....

Does it make baseball any different from any other sport?

That feels so PC. But then again, having a ligament strain is by no means a disability...

Is it the Apocalypse?

The thing is, last year most people would have told you Oakland was eliminated in March and same thing with Minnesota the year before. In fact, despite acquiring Yelich, Did Milwaukee look like that great of a team one year ago? They came within one game of the World Series. One of these teams you listed will surprise you this coming season...

There was a brief time when Ryan and Steve Carlton kept leap-frogging each other for the All Time strikeout lead. Each would hold the lead until the other’s next start. Until Ryan pulled away. Also Bert Blyleven is like fifth all time with 3,715 strikeouts, I believe. How did it take so long to get him into Cooperstown?

They’ve been connected to Machado, which would be a great move for them. But I have my doubt that Machado or Harper sign or Realmuto gets traded anytime before the Earth crashes into the sun...

3+ years of Brad Hand, who was valued at 3.3 fWAR total in the two previous season was traded with Adam Cimber gor a two time top 3” prospect Francisco Mejia. Two years of Kirby Yates, valued at 2.3 fWAR over the two previous seasons, won’t get you anywhere near a top 30 prospect, unless they drastically up the additional piece over Adam Cimber. The Padres could use a 3b, but the Sox are a tough match. Devers is worth far more than Yates, Dalbec isn’t a major leaguer and might not be as good as a few Padre infield prospects. And Chavis is a butcher at third. San Diego also isn’t looking for prospects as far as anyone can tell. They have those by the bushel. They would probably prefer a third team involved who might have interest in Chavis’bat and a 3b they can move. Matt Duffy of Tampa might be a good fit if 1) Tampa had some interest in Chavis, which they might since he can hit and doesn’t make much money, and 2) Tampa was willing to be involved in a trade with Boston. One thing we have learned about Tampa is, they do seem to like 3 team trades...

I’m actually surprised the Sox still have Chavis. Dalbec looks like Russell Branyan 2.0. Is he really so untouchable?

I see you’re continuing as President and all the members of the Marco Hernandez Fan Club...

As Spring Training nears, it starts the Annual Question - who will win the Jeff Bailey Award this year? The Jeff Bailey Award goes to that one player that has an outstanding spring, spurning much debate over whether or not he should make the opening day roster, despite a lackluster career before. I nominate Sam Travis for this spring. Thoughts?

Kimbrel’s second half was worse than his postseason, made from a bigger sample, and probably a bigger issue on his signability...

I am starting to wonder what “close to signing” really means. Are the two sides even close to an agreement? Or are they just struggling to find a pen?

Digressing from baseball a bit, but to be fair, this off-season does encourage that. Anyway, you’d be surprised how little actually gets recycled.

How about robot pitchers? Then you could program them when to pitch...

But at least it’s more environmentally friendly to spend $4 on one plastic water bottle than to spend $4 on 24 plastic water bottles....

Now the Giants are in on Harper. This ought to speed tings up...

Just don’t expand the rosters and enforce existing pitch time rules...

Unless you are a joint taxpayer filing singly or the moon is in alignment with Venus but not after the 15th of the month, in which case alternate batters are issued the IBB and academic probation until either team scores a touchdown or before 10pm on alternate Wednesdays. Eastern Standard Time. But not in Tennessee. Sorry...

Or fake an injury. That’s always fun and not time-consuming...

But the 3 batter rule is stupid...