Hot Stove Ruminations - Catching Up with and Active Week

Well, I take two days off from posting, and there is so much to catch up on....

• The Pirates sign Lyle Overbay. The best line on this signing comes from Bloggin' Bob Smizik: "The Pirates have decided to replace Garrett Jones with....Garrett Jones."
• Signing of Overbay seems to signal the end of the Ryan Doumit era. Both guys will make $5+ million, and Doumit's batting numbers are better than Overbay's against right handed pitchers (if you want to make Doumit a platoon player). So, why not just keep Doumit? Perhaps, the Pirates a) really think that Overbay is a better player, and b) don't want to put up with Doumit's annual trips to the DL, or c) maybe Doumit has contracted the Jason Kendall "Welcome to Hell" Disease and he just has to be cleansed from the Pirates clubhouse.
• Can't wait to see what kind of deal GM Neal will swing for Doumit.
• I had my annual lunch with Pirates Prez Frank Coonelly yesterday (see, SABR membership does have its perks) and stated that if I were a Washington Nationals fan I would be very excited over the Jason Werth signing and that, as a Pirates fan, I'm not so thrilled with the Matt Diaz signing (didn't know about the Overbay signing at the time of our conversation). FC goes on to say that this will prove to be a disastrous signing for the Nats, and will turn out to be one of the worst free agent signings of the decade. Maybe, but I'm STILL excited today of I'm a Nats fan.
• OK, I then says to FC, then how about doing what the Reds did over the weekend with Jay Bruce and sign someone like Andrew McCutchen up long term for reasonable dollars. That, he says, is exactly what they are seeking to do. We'll see.
• At that point, I cooled my jets. After all, Coonelly was picking up the tab for lunch!
• Some other info: expect to see Rudy Owens pitching in Pittsburgh this season with the possibility of even opening the season with the big club; Jameson Taillon will start the season in Class A West Virginia.
• Baseball people outside of the Pirates organization are already ranking Taillon as one of baseball's Top 15 prospects, before he's even thrown a professional pitch.
• In other baseball news, two big shockers over the last few days - Carl Crawford signing with Boston and Cliff Lee signing with the Phillies. Never even heard those two teams mentioned in the feeding frenzy leading up to the signings.
• Lee left a lot of money on the table, apparently, with both the Yankees and the Rangers. Perhaps he is the rare athlete who says "it's not about the money" and really mean it.
• Of course, no matter how much money left on the table, a hundred mill buys you an awful lot of principle.
• If the treatment of Lee's wife by the Yankees fans at the Stadium this season really was a factor in his decision, what happens when the Phillies visit the Mets this season? I'm guess that Mrs. Lee will stay in Philly for those series.
• I have not bothered looking at the NY papers, but I am wondering how much revisionist talk of "Lee's not that good anyway" is taking place. Can our Loyal Reader in Atlantic Highlands fill us in on that?
• Still, it is interesting that the two big guys that the Yankees wanted (reportedly), Crawford and Lee, went elsewhere in this season's free agent sweepstakes. Gotta be a lot of gnashing of teeth in Pinstripe Nation right about now.
• Saw the "world premier" of the MLB Studio 42 show of the 1960 Game 7 on Monday night at the Waterfront in Homestead. The show airs tonight and any baseball fan will enjoy it. Hope you are all watching.
• Oh, and speaking of the 1960 Pirates, Coonelly told me yesterday that with the wrapping up of the taping of that Game 7 show, he is finally turning the page and closing the books on the 1960 Pirates. Can't say that I blame him.
• On the other hand, he does have to start preparing for all those 40th anniversary celebrations for the 1971 team this coming season.
• We are also in the mid-point season of 20th Anniversary celebrations of the 1990-92 Eastern Division championships. Bring on the bobbleheads for Doug Drabek, Bobby Bonilla, Jose Lind (without pants, of course), and it all culminating with the unveiling of a Barry Bonds statue on the PNC Park Riverwalk on Barry Bonds Night!