Finally!

I know the Casey Blake and Adam Everett signings were setting your world on fire, but the first big signing of the offseason is official. CC Sabathia has been signed by the New York Yankees for 7 years at $161 million (with an opt out clause after only 3 years) making the 28 year old, the second richest player on his team. Many reports were saying that Sabathia wanted to play for a west coast team but as Ted Dibiase always said, "Everybody's got a price."

Breaking news: Dude is fat.

The Yankees' starting rotation looks a wee bit better with the big guy at the top. A healthy Chein-Ming Wang shifts down to number 2 and the second coming of Roger Clemens, er, I mean Joba Chamberlain will be third. Now MLB.com has some guy named Alfredo Aceves after Joba followed by Phil Hughes. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say New York is going to sign one more starting pitcher but if they don't, that's Sabathia followed by 4 right handed pitchers all of whom are under 30. The fun stat of the day is that CC is 21-8 lifetime against the four other AL East teams.

If the Rays end up dealing Sonnanstine or Jackson, they can still put David Price into a rotation that won 97 games last year. I haven't heard anything out of Tampa Bay, but I would consider using the Jonathan Papelbon model and converting Price into a lights out closer. Either way, that starting five is tremendous. A healthy Josh Beckett is still one of the best in the game, but he needs to show up to camp in shape next year so he can avoid those nagging injuries. But he along with Daisuke, Lester, possibly Masterson and whatever free agent Boston inevitably signs (John Smoltz, really?) comprise a pretty formidable rotation as well.

Of course, Sabathia signing with the Yankees leaves the Dodgers a little high and dry. Lowe is obviously not staying and they don't seem to be on Burnett's radar. So without a top pitching free agent to sign, I think Ned Coletti has do something he wasn't too keen on doing: paying Manny Ramirez a lot of scrilla. Fortunately for LA however, not too many teams seem to be chomping at the bit to sign Manny. On a side note, I love how the GM meetings are at the Bellagio. Awesome.

So will Teixeira be the next one to sign? Are teams seriously considering giving Derek Lowe a 4 year deal? Also, can we expect a few big trades (hey Kenny Williams, I like Jermaine Dye, don't trade him, thanks) before the New Year? Why don't I have Peter Gammons' phone number? We should totally hang out!

UPDATE: The Yankees just offered A.J. Burnett five years for $80 million. Hmmm....

UPDATE #2: Friday - Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, Joba, Phil Hughes. Yikes.

Monday...Meditations?

Damn it. Monday Musings sounds sooo much better than Sunday Musings AdamMan! Oh well. Thanksgiving slowed down the production at SPLP but we're getting back on track. Of course, this is just going to be me talking about random things incoherently because I don't (never?) have the ability to put together an actual structured column right now. My brain is fried from being back at work for one day. Okay ramblers, let's get ramblin'.

I had a feeling last Monday that the first big free agent signing was going to happen before the holiday. It's a week later and all we have is...Mike Hampton? Wow, way to make headlines Houston. This guy is like the Family Guy flashback when they remade Peter into the six hundred dollar man. He's not quite human, not quite cyborg, but all kinds of washed up. I know they aren't going to pay him a lot of money but where's the huge Teixeira deal? How come the Yankees haven't signed Sabathia yet? The Hot Stove is cooler than Freddie Jackson sipping a milkshake in a snowstorm.

Speaking of AdamMan, I can't even begin to imagine what it was like at Gillette yesterday. Apparently no one told Matt Light that poor Matt Cassel is playing for a contract. The running game continues to fail and I have never seen Randy Moss drop two wide open catches like that in the same game. The Patriots might have to win every game from here on out just to make the playoffs although only one team will make it out of the AFC West. James' absence is oddly conspicuous so far today. How could anyone be proud of that Colts' win? Whether you like them or not though, they are building some serious momentum. And I HIGHLY doubt Manning will ever have a game like that for the rest of his career.

If you have plans on Saturday night, break them immediately. Manny Pacquiao is set to put the beatdown on the Golden Boy himself, Oscar De La Hoya. Pacquiao is regarded as the best pound for pound fighter in the world. I know next to nothing about the sport, but I've watched a bunch of Pacquiao's fights and they never fail to entertain. Now he's in the biggest fight of his career against a very unlikeable opponent who will most likely outweigh him by at least 15 pounds when they step into the ring together. Manny started his career at 108 pounds (or lbs.) and critics are hailing this as nothing more than De La Hoya not wanting to fight someone his own size. If you are on the fence about watching the fight and have HBO, watch the great 24/7 series. Initially when the fight was being discussed, Oscar said it would be his last fight. He has already changed his mind and will most likely fight again. But he'll keep ducking guys like Margarito. On the other hand, a Pacquiao/Ricky Hatton showdown could be infinitely entertaining and could quite possibly be one of the last great fights of this era. Let's face it folks, boxing in the United States has been on it's deathbed for some time. And whether Pacquiao wins or loses, the sport is only a few years away from finally kicking the bucket.

Has fan(s).

Saturday night, I attended the Clippers/Heat game at the Staples Center. Believe it or not, it was actually a pretty exciting game with LA squeaking out a 97-96 win. Miami had just beated Phoenix the night before and just didn't have enough gas to close out the game. They were outscored 29-23 in the fourth quarter despite good showings from Dwayne Wade (duh), Michael Beasley who came off the bench, and Udonis Haslem. One player who wasn't so productive was Shawn Marion. But that didn't really matter to one dedicated fan of "The Matrix." We were sitting in section 301, halfway up. And as stated before, I am a Heat fan. Apparently I'm not taking my team seriously enough. There was this dude in a Marion jersey yelling in a deadpan voice (if that's possible) "Let's go Shawn Marion! Let's go Matrix!" to the point where other people started chanting in jest. DID NOT bother this guy one bit. It also didn't bother him that Marion scored 5 points in 33 minutes. I had to go over and high five him at one point just so he didn't hurl himself off the balcony. Good times.

And just to throw this out there, I just finished Bret Hart's autobiography. If you were ever a fan of the Hitman or professional wrestling in general, it is a fascinating read. He kept an audio diary of his entire career and man is it in depth. The tragedies and struggles of Bret and the entire Hart family are truly monumental. It's a good 550 pages, but once you start, it's tough to put down. Kind of like a package of Peeps.