If At First You Don't Suceed, Try, Try, Try, Try Again

With AJ Burnett off the market, what's a GM to do? We know he can't sacrifice Darrell Rasner at the altar of Frank Robinson again. John Halama? Pass.

The answer is, you offer large free agent contracts to every premier pitcher left on the market. Kevin Millwood, Matt Morris, Kenny Rogers, and Jarrod Washburn, C'mon down!

Ladson reports they've offered Burnett's 4/40 deal to Millwood. (Barry says he's heard it's higher) Word had floated that the Mariners had offered him 4/44, but Seattle's GM, who's a long-time friend of Millwood's agent, denied them.

MLB.com's Milwaukee writer reported that Bill Ladson reported (which it doesn't appear that he has) that Bowden had offered 4/40 to Jarrod Washburn as well. Four years is a bit much for a decent, but flawed pitcher. But the Nats are probably going to need to overpay to get a player here -- and there's money in the budget.

Morris has had a lot of interest from around the league, notably with the Giants. He's had a solid career, but he'd worry me about, especially with the money he'll get thanks to the competition for his services.

Barry says that Bowden says (are you making a chart?) that any offer to Rogers would be for one year plus incentives.

Strangely, Jeff Weaver's name is nowhere to be found. Given his durability and flyball tendencies, he seems like he'd be a good fit. I guess there's not enough money in the Munchies budget.


If this were a baseball video game, I'd be afraid of clicking next day and being stuck with 4 pitchers I didn't really need! Still, that'd be a pretty good rotation. But I don't think Selig would be happy with the payroll!

Interested in knowing more about the schlubs we're talking to? I looked into their stats and assessed them last month.

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Other crap gleaned from the articles:

Bowden is still on the Juan Pierre hunt, but it appears that the Cubs have that all but locked up.

The Nationals are looking at Howie Kendrick, a minor leaguer for the Angels to provide depth!? huh?

The Dave Roberts/Terrmel Sledge idea was proposed by SD. Bodes views Roberts as a 4th OFer. (Well, so is Sledge!)

I'll let Ladson's words speak for themselves. They don't quite make sense to me: "It's seems highly unlikely that the Blue Jays will acquire outfielder Brad Wilkerson, according to a baseball official. Toronto has nothing that Washington wants. As a last resort, the Nats may be interested in right-hander Miguel Batista."

Brad Wilkerson to the Pirates for one of their pitchers: Josh Fogg, Kip Wells, or Mark Redman?

They're still keeping a flicker of hope alive for a Javier Vazquez trade.

From the mouth of the Times to your ears (sort of!): If the Nationals can't land Pierre, veteran speedster Dave Roberts remains a possibility, though Bowden also said yesterday he may be willing to give minor leaguers Brandon Watson, Tyrell Godwin and Bernie Castro a chance to win the leadoff job. You're kidding, right, Jim?

The Yankees have expressed interest in Joey Eischen, but the Nationals are expected to re-sign him. They have until midnight before he turns into a pumpkin (or hits the arbitration deadline, either one)

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Distinguished Senators has a look at the free agent market, and continues his infatuation with the camera-slapping Kenny Rogers. (There's a special appearance from Professor Bacon, too!)