I for one appreciated the reference to that sandwich which is now unmentionable, as mandated by myself to myself. It clearly transcends time, gender, race, religion, and now is even in the hall of fame. Wow.

You know, something that peeves me about baseball recently is the media’s propensity to use the strikeout to walk ratio. I say they don’t have anything to do with each other. A guy that walks too many guys still walks too many guys regardless of how many he strikes out. I would MUCH rather have a pitcher that walks nobody and strikes out nobody than a guy that walks a ton and strikes out a ton.

I was looking back at the 2006 pitching staff compared to the 2008 pitching staff and the difference is walks. To a man, the 2006 staff walked fewer than the league average, and the 2008 staff walked more (or roughly equal) than the league average; Lopez and Glover are the exceptions. Perhaps our new pitching coach can reverse that trend.

Oden (Motown): I’ll bide my time hoping that Tram and Lou get inducted together by the Vet’s committee. I know, I am dreaming. Uou are a GM, and I promise you Alan Trammell and his career, or Ozzie Smith and his, who would you select? I gotta go with Tram, the extra O clearly outweighs the (still very good) lesser D.

Keith Law: (1:53 PM ET ) I wouldn’t wait on the Vets Committee. One year, they got their Hall ballot confused with their lunch menu and accidentally inducted a ham sandwich to the Hall of Fame. It’s not even the worst selection they’ve ever made.

EDIT: I didn’t realize Verlander was arbitration eligible right now (I thought he had 1 more year). Maybe the Tigers will do something longer term to get some cost certainty with him. Perhaps that’s why they’ve been fairly frugal this offseason.

Still don’t get the Rodney hate. I also hope he’s not closing games in ‘09, but he’s above league average. 10K/9 and a 1.41 WHIP aren’t terrible. Really. Rodney or Fossum? Rodney or Glover? Not his fault if he’s the closer.