Every offseason around this time (calendar turns to February) I look at the remaining free agents and compose a 25-man roster/team out of the unsigned. Below you will find my 2012 version of the unwanted.Starting 9:Jason Varitek/C (39) - .221/.723, 32 R, 10 DBL, 11 HR, 36 RBIDerrek Lee/1B (36) - .267/.771, 55 R ,17 DBL, 19 HR, 59 RBI.Aaron Miles/2B (35) - .275/.660, 49 R, 23 XBH...

There has been lots of talk lately about the revolving door of Red Sox shortstops since the early 2000's. Edgar Renteria had one terrible year. Alex Gonzales had two stints and both times refused to re-sign. Julio Lugo was a bad free-agent signing. And now Mario Scutaro, after two fairly productive years, is gone in a trade. A "Red Sox Beat" article in the Herald by...

There has been lots of talk lately about the revolving door of Red Sox shortstops since the early 2000's. Edgar Renteria had one terrible year. Alex Gonzales had two stints and both times refused to re-sign. Julio Lugo was a bad free-agent signing. And now Mario Scutaro, after two fairly productive years, is gone in a trade. A "Red Sox Beat" article in the Herald by...

Jeff Keppinger It is starting to look more and more like the Rays opening day lineup will consist of players currently on the roster. But that won’t stop the Rays from adding a player to bolster the bench. According to Jerry Crasnick, the Rays have “expressed interest” in Jeff Keppinger. And Marc Topkin says the Rays have “had talks with” Ryan Theriot...

Yesterday I proposed offering Juan Pierre or Johnny Damon a contract to be a bench player on the Phillies. Neither option is likely because they're looking for starting gigs, and the Phils don't have that to offer. Also, someone in the comments section mentioned that a right-handed bat would be preferable to a lefty, so I looked over the list of remaining free agents and...

Yesterday I proposed offering Juan Pierre or Johnny Damon a contract to be a bench player on the Phillies. Neither option is likely because they're looking for starting gigs, and the Phils don't have that to offer. Also, someone in the comments section mentioned that a right-handed bat would be preferable to a lefty, so I looked over the list of remaining free agents and came up...

As The Common Man noted on Notgraphs earlier today, O-Cab is hanging up his spikes. The journeyman shortstop announced his retirement after a 15-year career, including eight years in Montreal, three years in Anaheim, and a series of one-off stints in Minnesota, San Francisco, Oakland, Boston, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and the South Side of Chicago. But though he spent more than half...

A year ago, the San Francisco Giants were coming off a shocking World Series victory. A curious side story was that the 2010 season was disappointing on an individual level for their young third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who ended up getting benched in the playoffs to make room for the likes of Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria. A post-World Series picture of Sandoval settling down in...

Bryan in new york city sent in the following e-mail: “Now that the Mets have signed their “swingman,” with Miguel Batista, what do you think is Alderson’s next move for the Mets?” I am pretty confident this is it for moves that impact the 40-man roster, which is what Anthony DiComo reported yesterday for MLB.com. That said, I do know they’re still...

Happy birthday to Giants Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, born on this date in Mobile, Alabama in 1938. On this date in Giants history… 1907 : The New York Giants’ John McGraw plays the role of off-field hero as he prevents a team of horses from injuring two women at a game in Los Angeles. 1928: The New York Giants trade second baseman Rogers Hornsby to the Boston...

When the Detroit Tigers traded pitcher Jair Jurrjens and outfielder Gorkys Hernandez to the Atlanta Braves for shortstop Edgar Renteria it soon became one of the more regrettable Tigers trades in recent memory. Although Hernandez really never panned out, Jurrjens certainly went on to become a nice addition for the Braves while Renteria continued to age and prove why he wasn’t...

The Mets, Yankees, Giants and Cubs are still in search of a utility infielder, according to CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman, who points out that free agents Edgar Renteria, Jack Wilson, Ronny Cedeno, and Aaron Miles are still available. Last week, Heyman said the Mets had talked with both Wilson and Cedeno. Wilson, 34, hit just .243 with a .274 OBP and just 9 extra base hits in...

Karl Marx famously opens his Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by writing that “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” While the attribution to Hegel is somewhat dubious, the application to yesterday’s events is all too applicable. Late...

Had a good Twitter discussion last week about some of the Marlins’ best and worst ever prospects. My top five in no particular order: Miguel Cabrera, Josh Beckett, Edgar Renteria, Luis Castillo and Adrian Gonzalez. My bottom five: Jaime Jones, Josh Booty, Jeff Allison, Jason Stokes and Chip Ambres. Turns out, CBSSports.com last weekend put together the Miami Marlins’...

Tonight! I will be making an appearance in Connecticut as I play bingo for the first time. No, I mean, I have played bingo before. But this is, like, $$$$BINGO$$$$ SPANISH BOMBS IN MY DISCO CASINO BINGO!!!Used to be I only went to CT for Defenders games and lord how I took it for granted. How was I to know they'd go on to win a World Series with people like Cody Ross and Edgar Renteria...

Reds owner Bob Castellini left the owners' meetings in Milwaukee a happy man.The approval of the sale of the Houston Astros to Jim Crane was approved with the stipulation that the Astros move from the Reds' division -- the National League Central -- to the American League West. That means the Reds are in a five-team division again beginning in 2013. "It's about...

Hockey and football have conferences. Basketball does, too – or at least basketball did , in the good old days when the millionaires played nice. But baseball is different. Baseball is better. Major League Baseball has two leagues . They don't operate separate offices, as they once did, but they are distinct. And I'm not just talking about David Ortiz and his DH brethren...

The last time, and only time, a baseball general manager asked me for my advice it was about the quality, aroma and drawing power of a hand-rolled Dominican cigar. I gave him a two-thumbs up. And as a life-long fan of the Cleveland Indians, beginning in my childhood as a resident of Akron, I feel a closeness to the Tribe, even though I live 250 miles away from Terminal Tower and...

Today marks the first day free agents can sign with new teams. Every MLB club is looking to improve their team with some outside help, and the Reds are no different. They have potential holes to fill at several positions and thankfully for them, there may be a few players out there to help with that. Here are five free agents Cincinnati should consider signing (keep in mind they...

The Marlins named the four streets surrounding their new stadium, honoring the Orange Bowl  and two hispanic baseball legends. “We tried to come up with the two most important people in Marlins history, baseball history or Hispanic baseball history, and we got to Felo Ramirez fairly quickly,” Samson said of Ramirez, the Marlins’ Hall of Fame Spanish-language broadcaster. ...

Athleticism like this will earn BP 12 mil with the Reds next season. We’re all balls deep in football season, but we can take a brief timeout to check in on what ol’ Uncle Walt is doing with the Reds. Cincinnati started their offseason with a flurry of roster moves within the organization, most notably picking up the $12 million tab on 2B Brandon Phillips’ services...

(All entries courtesy nationalpastime.com) 2010: Edgar Renteria, who drove in the winning run for the Marlins against Cleveland in the 11th inning during Game 7 of the 1997 Fall Classic, joins Yankees legends Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra as only the fourth player in baseball history to collect two World Series-winning hits. The Series MVP’s three-run homer off...

Not that Penguin. What's it take to get the Penguin, Ron Cey, in the press during this World Series? A WSJ article on the cleanup spot, which strangely is not the place in the batting order that has generated the most WS MVPs: A guy who hits eighth is on the verge of becoming World Series MVP. Which, given the inscrutable history of the award, sounds about right. From No...

The Red Sox and Cubs were long linked by their playoff futility. Until 2004. Now, with one of the biggest architects of that World Series-winning team, Theo Epstein, taking his talents to the north side of Chicago, the link has been recreated. When Keith Foulke fielded Edgar Renteria's comebacker and underhanded it to Doug Mientkiewicz for the final out of that '04 World...

Six division titles, seven playoff appearances, and two World Series appearances with one trophy in a highly unlikely year make the St. Louis Cardinals the best team of the decade. The franchise that boasts the second most World Series championships in baseball only to the New York Yankees also had the advantage of having the same manager throughout the decade and a lineup that features...