Wait...there are more than 2 Major League Teams?

Ok, despite what has been written so far on this blog, it really is intended to be about baseball in general and not the sport's two big name teams: the Yankees and Red Sox. But, in my defense, over the last couple weeks, it really has only been about those two teams, with the Yankees supposed anarchy within the organization and the Red Sox winning the World Series. Yeah, the Rockies were there and I gave them their due of course, heck, I was stupid enough to predict a purple and black World Series. Now that the World Series is over, it really is time to focus on MLB as a whole and check out what is going on:

In Cincinnati, the Reds made a wise decision picking up the $13 million option on LF/1B Adam Dunn. Dunn, I know you may have heard of him as a great power hitter, and he is, but he is probably one of the more underrated players in Major League Baseball. Today, some people, non-intelligent ones I call them, no offense to anyone in particular, have become obsessed with stats like batting average and what I think is its equivalent for pitchers: wins. Both of those are overrated stats. Adam Dunn did not hit for a high average this year, or ever. His stats for 2007: he hit .264, not bad, had an On Base Percentage (OBP) of over 100 points higher than his batting average at .386, that's phenomenal, and to top it off, he slugged .554. He walked over 100 times, fifth best in the league, hit 40 homers, third best in the league, and added 106 RsBI, which was good enough for tenth best in the league. Those are solid numbers. Yes, I know, he strikes out a lot, and yes, he is probably made for the AL seeing as how he is not a great fielder. But you don't hear enough about Adam Dunn, he is a great player, and I was hoping the Reds wouldn't pick up that option and maybe the Yanks could pick him up, seeing as how they're going to need to replace a certain players run production...Good move for the Reds. Now they just need to help Dunn and new manager Dusty Baker out with more good players.

In New York, there's another team, whom I don't really like but have made some noise lately with A-Rod talk, and some other news. In the other news first, the Mets have exercised their team-option on 41-year-old outfield Moises Alou at $7.5 million for 2008. Alou is old, and yes, he only played in 87 games, but he did hit in 30 straight games at one point, and that's not bad. Their hope is probably that he will stay healthy and can contribute for more than just over half the season...Their other little pick up was solid back-up infielder Damion Easley. They re-signed him to a one year, $950k contract. He's a good player off the bench and with the Mets already having a solid second baseman in Luis Castillo, who they traded for during the season, Easley is a good player to have around. Now, speaking of the infield, there is talk that the Mets have entertained A-Rod talk. They certainly are one of the few teams that could pay for him, but...where would they put him? They have 24-year-old David Wright at third, and he is a stud, and they have a shortstop, who is believed by many to be the most exciting player in baseball in Jose Reyes...where would A-Rod go? The talk is that Wright would be asked to move to second base, which would make Castillo expendable. Hmmm, replace light-hitting Luis Castillo with Alex Rodriguez? Yeah, that would make sense. I hate the Mets but this would be a good move, thing is, I wouldn't move Wright to second. I would move Jose Reyes, who is susceptible at short to second, keep Wright at third and put A-Rod back to shortstop. Plus, with doing that, there are plenty of teams out there who could take Castillo, extend him as bait and pick up some more pitching, since it looks as though Tommy Glavine is looking elsewhere for next season. It will be exciting.

That's it for this morning. Yes, "4 home runs in one game, and I had a horrifying face-to-face collision with Carlos Beltran", Mike Cameron was suspended by Major League Baseball for 25 games for a second positive stimulant test, but he's a free agent, so that doesn't matter...Oh, and I think I made a mistake earlier. I think I said Grady Little had managed in LA for just one year, yeah, that's not true. 2007 was his second and last year in the Dodger Blue. My apologies. Meanwhile, there is serious Joe Torre discussion in LA, we'll see what happens. Let's see what transpires on this Thursday, shall we?