Vegas, baby!  Vegas!

It's a Who's Who of baseball gathered together in Sin City and unlike the popular saying would have you believe, what happens in Vegas will not stay in Vegas.   The comings and goings of the winter meetings will be widely reported.  Kinda like the news of Casey Blake, Derek Lowe, and Manny Ramirez declining their arbitration offers from the Dodgers last night.  It happened and we all immediately heard.  The same sequence of events will likely accompany the next bit of news to develop, although it's not worth waiting perched 24/7 by your laptops scouring the wire for info.  As Ned Colletti noted, developments are likely to play out slowly.

And perhaps not necessarily in windfall fashion, from the perspective of talent around the league, specifically the Man Ram.  The player considered baseball's premiere joker (a space cowboy, if you will) hasn't thus far attracted the whirlwind of suitors projected just a couple months ago.  For the time being, advantage Team McCourt and the effort to not bid against themselves.  Such a strategy succeeded with a still-on-the-market Raffy Furcal.  Perhaps more patience can, at best, land them a few good players at a reasonable price.  At worst, it simply avoids Andruw Jones, Part Deux. 

Ironically, as agents posture on behalf of their clients, Greg Maddux's Hall of Fame career comes to an official end with a lack of hoo hah mirroring how the Professor conducted himself.

AK

Then never let it be said the folks over at Blue Notes don't aim to lift your spirits.  And this couldn't have happened to a better team, right?

AK

And J.D. Drew is still not a Red Sox. 

BK

Had Steve Henson's mailbag gone to press a bit later, I'm sure today's news would have made the cut.  For the second time in a week or so, it looks like another marquee name is heading to the NL West.  Or in this case, returning.  The Diamondbacks and Yankees have agreed on a deal that would bring Randy Johnson back to Arizona, and likely keep him there through 2008, when he will be approximately 73 years old.  The Snakes are giving up a reliever and some prospects, none of whom are top shelf types (as far as I can tell), so it basically costs them a pile of money.  The question is, will it matter?   On the one hand, Johnson is a 43 year old, coming off his worst season on the field and back surgery off it.  He started 33 games but threw only 205 innings, struck out "only" 170 and sported a robust 5.00 ERA.  As a means of comparison, he went for 245 in 35 starts in '04, fanning 290 with a 2.60 ERA. 

Because it looks like Barry Zito isn't headed to New York to play for the Mets, but will stay in the Bay Area and hurl for the Giants.  Ironic, since the composition of the roster had generally made their fans want to do the same.  Who can blame them?   It's irritating to see pros pocket all that cash, then stand in line with them at the movie theater and watch them get their senior discount, too. 

Since he's not really going anywhere, Zito won't even need to sell his house and brave the pricey San Francisco market.  Of course, at $18 million per year, he could if he felt the urge.  Assuming they ever get younger, this obviously helps the G-Men.  But next year, all Zito does is slide into the #1 slot vacated by L.A.'s very own Jason Schmidt.  They weren't very good last year, haven't improved over the winter, and I don't see this getting San Francisco back to the top of the NL West.  But Zito should have success at whatever they call that stadium these days, and could help the Giants avoid being really bad.  Who knows?  Zito and a healthy Bonds could prove me wrong, but right now, I still wouldn't worry too much about San Francisco. 

BK