Man, this has been a real drag. Analytics has kinda taken the fun out of everything, to be honest. And while it might be great for the organizations' profits, it just reinforces awful optics and values about business and enterprise in general. Perhaps some of these rising values should be offset towards repaying taxpayers who funded the palatial ballparks a lot of these teams forced on their regions. They'd definitely have loyal fans if they did that.

They're going to need to blow up the salary cap in the next CBA. Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox are maxed out. So players can't use them to get a better offer elsewhere.

Darvish to the Brewers? Really? Is that even remotely possible?

Alex, find myself rooting for the Pats to beat the Birds. As a fan of the Washington NFL team, I just can't see me rooting for the Iggles.

But ST is less than a month away. I wonder if Cash is going to spring a surprise or wait until the deadline to add a starter.

[2] I've been reading a lot of RAB lately, and Mike Axisa makes a good case for going "slightly" over the cap this year, though I wonder what it means down the line if they want to sign Judge, Sanchez, Severino and Torres and more through their prime years before they reach free agency. It may or may not be an issue when the CBA ends...

The luxury tax is looking more and more like the biggest scam in sports history; it wasn't anything about parity, seems like it's more about spreading big market wealth among all teams so small market under-performers (Brewers included) wouldn't have to face contraction (who wudda thunk it?). That's worked out really well for the Rays, Pirates and Marlins. Meanwhile, the Mets, Orioles and Athletics are in development hell because the ownership refuses to put real money into the team, yet can't develop and keep their own players and refuses to sell the team. Great job, MLB!

i have something that's not boring!

apparently, ellsbury was seen vacating his apartment today. someone i know in the music field knows someone who lives in the same building and saw Jake moving out. interesting!

!!! Could be upgrading though. $22 million can get you in a lot of places...

...but it can't get you out of New York soon enough, apparently.

[5] Cue Billy Joel's I'm Moving Out.

[7] Good one.

Or The Jefferson's theme song.

I'm sure he's already on the East Side, but the Mets are a bit farther east. ;>)

[8] Even better one! >;) But hey, why not? They gladly took on Grandy Man and he was good for them for a season or two. It would be nice. All the Yanks should ask for in return is their Shake Shack stand.

[9] And speaking of Grandy, good luck to him in Toronto! I see that team in 3rd place in the AL East this season, following NY/BOS (pick 'em), trailed by the Rays and O's.

[10] Yeah, I liked him a lot on our team, he seemed to embrace the culture and give it his all. He had a hero moment in CF where he made a diving catch on a ball hit over his head that had me slow-clapping for a minute. I couldn't even dislike him as a Met after that.

Moose is trending up on HoF vote. Mo’s on the ballot next year as is Andy. I think Andy gets in eventually despite HGH.

Rare cold wave hit the Tokyo Metro Area, I'm not used to that no more, down to -1C. [8] You enjoying it, Boat?

This offseason is so dull and the NBA is a great diversion but ultimately no one is beating GSW so kind of takes the excitement away.

I got a new podcast episode with a bunch of new music to feature coming soon (plug alert, sorry AB!) so at least there's that.

Trenton Thunder, in an attempt to captalize on... err, connect with the region's cultural history, are doing a promotion this summer in which every Friday, instead of the Thunder they will be called the Pork Rolls...

For a team that wants to be competitive, that elicits quite an interesting image... Good luck, Trenton!

[14] and per RAB, CC is now a raw vegan.

I can’t believe Vlad’s going in as a Halo and not an Expo. I mean, his MVP and playoff appearances were with California and this isn’t Boggs going in as a Devil Fish, but still...

I hope Moose makes it in with Mo next year!!!

Good luck to Moose, but I'm sure he'll have that stupid bird on his hate

[16] As a Nats fan, I concur.

hat.

[15] A summer rehab start on a Friday in Trenton would be slightly awkward, but I believe in CC...

[16] I wasn't sure how that worked since players usually chose which cap they wore until Wade Boggs purportedly messed that up. Generally, a player chooses, but the Hall will step in if they feel that it flies in the face of historical accuracy; Vlad played for the Rangers and Orioles for one year each, so they would have put the kibosh on either of those choices.

At any rate, he's not the first to choose a place he spent less time in; Reggie was only a Yankee for five seasons and Randy Johnson was with the Diamondbacks for seven, but they were at the pinnacle of both their prime and fame together in those places. But then Dave Winfield was more famous as a Yankee, but choose his roots as a Padre. You never can tell; there will be a lot of toss-ups like this in the near future. There's also the option of going in with no logo, like Tony LaRussa and Greg Maddux. I respect Vlad's decision though. Strangely, when I looked up the Angels on the Hall of Fame (LA/California), they list Nolan Ryan's primary team as the Angels, but the logo on his hat is the Texas Rangers. I wonder how that works. So, Vlad is the first to wear an Angels logo.

Question: if he does make it, does Moose go in as an Oriole or a Yankee? Same general question with Albert Pujols and Manny Ramirez (Big, Big IFs) We're in that era where free agency and long-term productivity balance the tables and makes that decision even harder for whomever is honored.

[17] It's up to him. I'll bet there'll be a big push from Yanks fans tho; betting that they are the most vocal about his chances of getting in.

[19] I like how they handled Junior's case: hat on backwards

That was a win-win. Thank you Big Hurt for "making that happen" >;)