- If you thought we had it bad, Raffy Soriano went to bed last night completely unaware that he had been dealt. His agent didn't find out until 9 or 10pm, and by that point Soriano was out cold because he's currently got the flu. Contrary to several reports, he hasn't taken a physical yet, so nothing's official. Nobody's quite sure whether they'll want him to take it in the DR or the States, but given that he's pretty sick right now, it could be a little while.
- Via Dave, the Mariners picked up Sean White from the Pirates after he was selected in the Rule 5 Draft. Seemingly for no reason at all. He's a groundball pitcher who's able to keep the ball in the yard because he doesn't throw strikes, and we already have one of those in the bullpen. There's not enough room in this city for two Sean + Colors. White's not going to stick around, because if he does, um, that's embarrassing.
- The Mariners let Joel Pineiro's agent know that they have renewed interest in his services. Eventually it's going to get to the point where all this stuff is funny and we can share a blithe chuckle, but we're not there yet, not by a long shot.
- Want to know the value of a good relief pitcher in this market? The Nationals want a starting pitcher and a top prospect for Chad Cordero. The Pirates had Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez before the Braves realized they could get another terrific arm for free. Eric Gagne is being hotly pursued despite having thrown only 15.1 innings in the last two years. Scott Linebrink has been discussed as the primary return in a Manny Ramirez trade. The Royals got Brian Bannister for Ambiorix freaking Burgos. Baltimore gave three-year contracts to Chad Bradford, Jamie Walker, and Danys Baez. And so on. The most maddening thing about this Soriano trade is that Bill Bavasi very clearly isn't cashing him in for anything even remotely close to max value. Instead of signing John Thomson and then dealing Soriano for (say) Adam LaRoche or a good starting pitcher, he ignored John Thomson and dealt Soriano for back-or-the-rotation junk. Don't analyze this trade in isolation. Doing so will only lead you to the improper conclusion that it somehow isn't as bad as it really is.
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