Phightins

Andrej Meszaros has stolen my heart.

Arbitration is avoided with Kyle Kendrick. 1 year, $2.45M. Yawn.

Nah, Toronto Globe and Mail reported this yesterday, before the captains were announced. Supposedly he is pissed about the NHL's lack of progress on banning head shots or some nonsense, so he was going to skip the ASG to send a message. But today his agent called BS.

Haha, Sidney Crosby is supposedly threatening to skip the All Star Game.

Weird game, but I will take it. Hey, rest of the NBA, did you see that Iguodala fellow, the one who hit the big shot in OT? Yes, trade for him.

And just like that, he has a new job as DC in Carolina!

Hah.

I am rooting for the Jets, you mad?

Just finished up the stretch of 9 out of 10 games on the road. Went 7-3. Can't complain.

More scapegoating.

Brian Fuentes to Oakland. Two years, option for a third. Interested to see the dollars. Doesn't really seem like a Billy Beane signing, so I am kind of surprised.

I know I am late on this, but wow, I am jealous. If we had school cancelled for a week every time we got 7 inches of snow when I was in grade school, I'd have missed like 80 days a year.

Squier* And this is what I did when I was starting out. Definitely the best value for a beginner.

Joey Votto knocks out his 3 arbitration years. $38 million. Great for the Reds.

Jim Mora Jr. and Bill Davis will be in for interviews, supposedly.

If only he were half as good at in-game management as he is at game planning and talent evaluating. But yeah I agree to an extent. He is a very good coach and is pretty unappreciated by a lot of Eagles fans. He has some HUGE flaws (horrible at making decisions during the game, is a pain in the [expletive] to the media from what I have heard, etc) but the fact is that his teams are almost always in contention.

http://bowlingballgalaxy.com/columbia-300-bowling-balls/columbia-scout-blue-white.jpg It's a bowling ball, FYI. Most worthwhile purchase I have made in a long time.

I would probably like to see them bring in somebody from the outside with a fresh look. AKA not Jauron. But with all of Andy's flaws, one thing he is awesome at is finding talented coaches, so he has my trust with this one.

C'mon man, you should know Andy better by now. "McNabb will be back next year." "Kolb is our QB." "Vick is our QB." "Kolb is our QB again." "No wait, now it's Vick again." Jauron does seem like the logical choice, but who knows. I wish the Eagles linebackers didn't suck, or else I'd totally want them to bring in a guy to convert them to a 3-4. I think that would be awesome for Trent Cole and Brandon Graham, but I don't think they have the rest of the personnel to make it work.

Sean McDermott fired. Rejoice, Smitty!

He came back a while ago, and now he is on his way back to Springfield with Tony Battie set to return Monday.

I'll do one.

Ben Francisco signs for 1 year and $1.175M to avoid arbitration. A slightly more affordable starting RFer than Jayson Werth would have been.

My guess at the Opening Day 25 man roster, as of today... Rotation: 1. Roy Halladay 2. Cliff Lee 3. Roy Oswalt 4. Cole Hamels 5. Vance Worley Closer: Brad Lidge Setup: Ryan Madson LOOGY: JC Romero Middle Relief (LHP): Antonio Bastardo Middle Relief (RHP): Danys Baez Long Relief: Kyle Kendrick C Carlos Ruiz 1B Ryan Howard 2B Chase Utley 3B Placido Polanco SS Jimmy Rollins LF Raul Ibanez CF Shane Victorino RF Ben Francisco Bench: C Brian Schneider 1B/OF Ross Gload OF John Mayberry Jr. IF Wilson Valdez IF/OF Delwyn Young IF/OF Michael Martinez Many, many roster spots to be determined in Spring Training, though. My projected roster assumes that Joe Blanton will be traded, and also that Domonic Brown will be in AAA. The odds of both of those things happening are about 50/50. I do, however, think they will go with a 6 (maybe even 5?) man bullpen, which is almost unprecedented. But when you have a starting rotation that averages 7 innings per start, there is really no reason to waste roster spots on extra bullpen guys. I am still holding out hope that Chad Durbin signs, in which case they could look into releasing Danys Baez. I also feel that Dom Brown is not ready to hit MLB left handed pitching (and his defense leaves much to be desired at this point), so I'd like to see him in AAA playing every day for now. The last thing I want is him in a platoon at the MLB level. If there is anything that will stun his development, it is that. He could very easily force his way onto the team with a great spring, though. I have thought all along that 2012, when Raul Ibanez is gone, is the most reasonable ETA for him. As for the bench, I wouldn't be shocked if Michael Martinez doesn't make it, since it sounds like he is still very raw in many aspects of his game. But the Phillies love giving Rule 5 guys a shot, so I am penciling him in for now. Also, as you could probably tell from the picture above, the Phillies are putting in a new video board. It is going to be SICK!!!

NJ represent