Pointless

Were I not such a disciplined, restrained person, who's always struggling to see the positive in everything, giving you the alternative bright-side perspective to the "tradmed", I'd be railing about the pointless cockamamie signing of the eternally sucky Tony Batista and Wil Cordero All-Star, Dmitri Young -- In Soviet Russia, wife beat you!

The Twins dabbled in Tony Batista last year and floundered with his crappy offense and immobile defense for about two months. They cut him, filled his position with an athlete and rocketed to the top of the division while Tony, who has the nicest eyebrows in the majors, sat on his couch eating Doritos.

Since I'm Mr. Positive, I'll let others do the ranting. Uber Twinsblogger, Aaron Gleeman takes the hatchet to Batista here. Opening line: Any optimism I had in regard to the Twins' offseason was ruined yesterday when the team signed Tony Batista to a one-year contract. But perhaps more importantly, he previously used the pathetic case of Mr. Batista to show the folly of focusing on RBI as a measure of performance.

In Young's case, he's an interesting hitter, but one who carries around a ton of baggage. Fat, Drunkard, Wife-beater: pick your poison. The Tigers dumped him mid-season last year under circumstances that've never been entirely cleared up.

Regardless, he's been on a four-year slide. Now 33, his severe inattention to his conditioning has turned him into the poor man's Daryle Ward.

Bowden says that he's accumulating assets to trade in the pennant race next year, but that's folly. Both Batista and Young sat on their asses during the pennant races, unclaimed, even though both would've been freely available to play for the major league minimum.

The only way they'll be in a pennant race is if Columbus does what it looks like they're capable of doing. The Clippers are going to be loaded, and have to be one of the favorites for the IL crown. Interestingly, it looks like the average age of the Triple-A team is going to be higher than the MLB roster. And I can't wait for the press release at the end of the year trumpeting the Nats improved minor league record in 2007, built on the backs of 35-year old retreads, is an indication that "The PLAN!" is humming along.