I'm about to head back to the 'Burgh for Christmas and perhaps New Year's... I probably won't be doing much (if any) posting while I'm home, so even though it's become decidedly un-PC (and maybe even "retro") to say it, may all of my readers have a merry Christmas. (If you're not one of my readers you get decided on a case-by-case basis)...

Yeah, I know some OMB readers don't exactly celebrate Christmas and a holiday salutation of "Happy Christmahanukwanzakah" or "Happy Festivus" might be more appropriate, but unless you're an EMT or a radio personality, you probably get a day off from work, so feel free to celebrate that. You can also share in the magic of tracking Santa Claus with NORAD...

For the past few months, I've been having a recurring type of dream from time to time. In these dreams, I'm still in school... sometimes high school, sometimes college... Sometimes, there's a back story about why I'm in school (since I've finished all the schooling I'm likely to get), sometimes there isn't... But in every dream, there is a class or two that I'm enrolled in that I completely ignore and only realize that it's a problem when it's just about too late to do anything about it (i.e.: around the end of the semester, but a week or so before any final exam or major papers are due)...

Strangely, I've had two new variations on this theme in the last week. In one dream, I actually recognized the situation as something I had been dreaming about while I was in the dream. The very next night, I was back in school again (albeit a different school), only this time I was pretty gung ho about getting my homework done... completely out of character for both my dreaming and waking lives...

All of this makes me wonder if I'm learning some kind of lesson subconsciously... That was the subject of a Star Trek episode some years back; when Captain Picard woke up from a dream, he actually remembered how to play a flute-type instrument that he'd learned about in a dream. Now if only I could harness that type of education, I'd teach myself Spanish while I'm sleeping... that would be cool!

Part one of new Pirates beat writer Dejan Kovacevic's interview with Kevin McClatchy was published in today's PG. Naturally, McClatchy doesn't offer much to give Pirates fans hope. To me, the most damning part was this:

Q: Can you envision a scenario in which the payroll would again top $50 million?

A: Yes, I can. All we have to do is win, and people will come out.

As Kovacevic notes, it's a bit of a cart-and-horse type of argument. This isn't the first time McClatchy has expressed this sentiment and it's still a formula for disaster. But over at the Let's Go Bucs blog, the author finds plenty of additional points to object to in the interview. His picture at the end of the post might be even more effective, however, if it included the next two names in the sequence: Zack Greinke and Prince Fielder (not to mention others to come later, including Khalil Greene, Scott Kazmir, Nick Swisher, James Loney, 2001 Pirates draft pick Jeremy Guthrie, Joe Blanton, Dan Meyer or Mark Teahen). Also, note the byline at the end of the post, which may be familiar to some of you...

UPDATE: Part two of the interview is also assessed at Let's Go Bucs

The Wabash Tunnel, one of Pittsburgh's great curiosities, re-opened for business on Monday after nearly 60 years of being "that hole in Mt. Washington." The tunnel has been wrapped in legend and mystique while it has been out of operation and has generated an interesting history that includes proposals to use it for everything from a SkyBus system to a cocktail lounge to a site for setting bowling records.

Even now that it has reopened, it retains some idiosyncracy since it will only operate in one direction at a time. Travellers will need to consult their schedules to determine whether or not they are eligible to use the passage that would take them between Station Square and Woodruff Street near route 51. After having leered at it from across the river for many years, I'll be looking forward to taking a trip through the magical mystery tunnel when I head home again this weekend.

Take an busy intersection between two roadways. Subtract the street signs, signals, crosswalks and blur the distinction between road and sidewalk. Sound reckless? Wouldn't you want to add more of this stuff to make it safer? Not according to Hans Monderman, a traffic engineer who has been redesigning intersections on both sides of the Atlantic with great degrees of success.

A large part of Monderman's philosphy is based on his evaluations of driver psychology. Essentially, by removing all of the external direction from the roadway, drivers and pedestrians will spend more time looking out for one another and negotiate rights-of-way through eye contact and the like. So confident is he in his design system that he puts it to the following test:

Monderman tucks his hands behind his back and begins to walk into the square - backward - straight into traffic, without being able to see oncoming vehicles. A stream of motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians ease around him, instinctively yielding to a man with the courage of his convictions.

Ideas like these that are completely counterintuitive but yet at the same time more effective than conventional wisdom are my favorite ones. Sometimes, when the obvious solution to a problem isn't working or isn't possible, the answer lies not in doing more of the same thing or doing it better, but rather in not doing the obvious at all or in doing something completely different.

This CW-defying type of thinking often identifies advantages that usually aren't considered relevant, but are perhaps underrated. By throwing "the book" out the window and using a wholely different approach, the road can be paved for profound new strategic choices for everything from driving safety to building a baseball team... and it is in this realm of approach where so many great new ideas come from.

Tim Hudson, on Mark Mulder joining him in the National League:

"I told him I'm going to rake him when I face him ... We already have a bet about which of us hits the first home run."

Billy Beane has taken quite a bit of flak for dealing two of his "big three" starting pitchers, but if I were an A's fan, I'd look at the deals with cautious optimism. Beane has been quoted saying that he'd like to setup the pitching staff for the next five years. Between Rich Harden and Joe Blanton, Danny Haren, Dan Meyer and Barry Zito, the foundation for the next great A's rotation seems to be in place. To top it all off, the 2005 A's bullpen of Octavio Dotel, Hutson Street, Juan Cruz, Kiko Calero, Justin Duchscherer and Chad Bradford looks like dynamite. And despite having ownership about as willing to invest in its product as the Pirates, the talent evaluation and roster construction skills that Beane and his people possess have allowed them to be competitive in each of the last six seasons. If these moves work out for the A's, the next six years could be just as good.

I don't randomly go shopping very often, a habit that been reinforced by the last few years of being among the educationally-induced poor. So now that it has been time to go Christmas shopping, I can't help but think about buying a bunch of things for myself. Yeah, yeah... I know the way the holiday is supposed to work and I don't often actually do personal shopping now (even though it is tempting, what with all the sales and discounts and whatnot)... But last week while I was at Borders, I just couldn't resist the temptation to get myself a little present when I saw this book on sale for $6... after all, I love my crock pot!

I'm headed back to the 'Burgh for a day or three to be admitted to the Federal Court for Western Pennsylvania. I'm not likely to be posting while I'm gone, but in the meantime, go check out Telegrams From the Unconscious, where a buddy of mine started blogging a couple months ago. He's got entries about what happens when you forget your pants and some insights about what women can't do without once they're exposed to it...

From the letter I received today from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Continuing Legal Education Board:

Your compliance with the annual CLE requirement is achieved by attending twelve (12) hours of approved continuing legal education credit, including one (1) hour of ethics, professionalism or substance abuse.

I suspect proofreading isn't one of the classes they offer...

Looking for more music quizzes? Here's a site that can produce name that tune-style challenges for just about any band or genre. I linked to the quiz for a relatively successful Pittsburgh-based band, but you can change the artist simply by entering your choice in the upper right hand text box. The quizzes themselves are different each time, but they aren't terribly difficult. I managed 10/10 most of the time, but I suppose there is some challenge in getting the best average time to identify the song as you can.

A sampling of my results: Tommy James and the Shondells, 6.2 seconds... Polyphonic Spree, 5.2 seconds (they annoyingly flip between identifying songs by name and section)... U2, 4.1 seconds (despite half the songs I got being from the new album that I haven't heard yet)... AC/DC, 4.1 seconds... Bruce Springsteen, 3.3 seconds... and my best so far: Pink Floyd, 2.8 seconds (but watch out for bogus IDs on Dark Side of the Moon songs)...

No especially good news on any of my major issues lately, but I have had some victories to celebrate over the last week or so...

• After many years and much suckitude, I have finally beaten Super Mario Brothers! I might be the last person to do this, but at least it's on the resume now... and yeah, it's a bit disturbing that my greatest Nintendo triumphs come when I really should be doing other things...



• My team in the All-Time Pittsburgh Pirates simulation league rallied from three games out with six games remaining to tie for the league championship, forcing the first playoff in the league's seven year history. With the best-of-seven series tied at two, my team blew a five run ninth inning lead and lost game five in 17 innings. Despite this, they went on the road and pulled out game six to set up what would be an epic game seven. Leading 2-0 heading into the ninth, my team once again couldn't hold the lead as Roberto Clemente launched a two run homer to tie things up. We took another lead in the 15th, but a Lloyd McClendon error allowed Braddock to tie it up. Game seven wouldn't be decided until the 22nd inning, when Billy Southworth knocked in Ed Abbaticchio and Arky Vaughan added a sac fly to give my team its fourth title.
  
  As a point of background, the league is a Diamond Mind simulation based on actual seasons played out by real-life Pittsburgh Pirates. Teams were formed by drafting players, who would play out their Pirates career in sequential seasons, such that when I drafted Andy Van Slyke, his 1987 Pirates debut was the basis for his performance in our season one, his 1988 stats the basis for season two, 1989 for season three, etc. Upon the termination of a Pirates career, the player is deemed to be "retired" and replacements are drafted. Teams may also release up to four players a year (two in season, two out of season).
  
  The league has three years remaining and my goal is one for the thumb, giving me half the championships... That might have to wait a year or two, but in the meantime I'll get my jollies by benching McClendon in favor of Craig Wilson in season eight, and then perhaps releasing McClendon along with Dick Littlefield in a gesture that will surely be more satisfying for its symbolism than anything else...

If you're nerdy like me, Google can be a fun thing to play around with. You can search for Googlewhacks - combinations of two dictionary words that when searched without using quotation marks, return one and only one search result. (i.e.: hairbrained marmoset - which of course will cease to be a googlewhack as soon as this page is indexed...)

Then there's a feature called Google Sets. What it does is take up to five items as input and produce a list of other items in that set. For instance, when I enter a list of players who should be on the 2005 Pittsburgh Pirates, I'm returned a list that includes players from Fernando Tatis to Jacque Jones to Adrian Beltre to Bill Serena (the only non-current player on the list, Ty Wigginton and Rob Mackowiack are in his top 6 comparables). Expanding the list adds names like Chris Singleton, Bubba Trammell and Frank Catalanotto.

Other new features they've added lately include Google Suggest, which fills in likely searches as you type along with the number of hits for each and Google Scholar for searching high-minded type reading materials...

Mia Hamm played her final international soccer match this week, retiring after a magnificent career that saw her set the international record for goals scored (by men or women) and lead the US women to two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals. The familiar number 9 jersey that Mia wore in the game's first half was shipped off to the US Soccer Hall of Fame, but it was her special second-half jersey that made headlines.

A spot in the Hall is assuredly being saved for Mia who was not only a great athlete, but also the public face of an entire sport for half a decade and the first superstar in women's team sports. But for all her accomplishments, my lasting memory of Mia Hamm won't be from any of her on-field exploits.

When I was leaving my office in the Omni William Penn hotel one evening, I got off the elevator, headed toward the lobby and walked passed someone who looked really familiar... but I couldn't quite put my finger on who it was. Sure enough, as I got to the lobby, there were a smattering of USA Soccer jackets and immediately I turned and recognized Mia waiting for an elevator. I thought about going back to say something, but I figured famous folks like her probably appreciate not being bothered. Besides, I couldn't get over how short she was... and for me, that's the lasting memory: I ran into Mia and she's short.

So I went into Gaithersburg yesterday in search of a good barber. As it turned out, both of the places I had on my radar when I left the door were in the "Olde Towne" section of the city. As it turns out, I went to neither of them, instead opting for a place that immediately looked like my description of a proper barber shop. As it turned out, one of the two places I was looking for was almost right across the street, but even though I drove by it first, it didn't catch my eye.

Like any haircut, it's hard to judge this one right off the bat... you have to let 'em grow in a bit... but it seems to be above average. As he was looking at my hair and trying to get started the barber said, "God... make one mistake with this and you're screwed," confirming my suspicions that I have awful hair.

Afterwards, I took a stroll around Olde Towne (two gratuitous e's? c'mon!) and managed to find the first redeeming value of Gaithersburg: a Guatemalan bakery. If you should have one in your area and have the chance, I highly recommend a visit. The rolls I got were mostly sweet, sort of like Hawaiian rolls... but different... The cookies were crisp on the outside but very soft inside, with perhaps less sweetness than the rolls... I also got a pastry that was flaky but in a wheaty sort of way... covered in a type of icing, it was delectable. Basically, Guatemalan baked goods were most of what I ate yesterday... Anyone who comes to visit me here in Gaithersburg will be rewarded with a trip to the bakery... (how's that for incentive!)

Since CMU has yet to produce the magical robot barbers I've called upon them to create, I once again have to go find a motral human to cut my hair. Back in my Pittsburgh days, this wasn't too big a deal... I'd just head down to Joey Media's across from the Palumbo Center and have one of the guys there take care of business. Only now I'm in Gaithersburg (*sigh*) and I don't have a regular place - or even a place known to produce non-awful haircuts. Of course, given that I don't exactly provide a barber with good raw material to work with, it makes it all the more difficult to find a good barber... you have to be really good to fix this mess...

That said, I'm getting ready to apply my tried and true formula for finding an appropriate shop: find a place that's an appropriate mix of Norman Rockwell and crusty old guy. Some characteristics of the shop I'm looking for: There should definitely be a barber pole out front. The shop should have an assortment of magazines to entertain the patrons waiting... they absolutely must include Sports Illustrated and they can't be too well organized...

The barber shop shouldn't be a "salon" and the barbers shouldn't be "stylists"... I'm not looking for anything fancy, just a haircut done right... The corollary to this is that the prices should be fairly low... The barbers must be older guys... not so old that they're senile, but not so young as to make you wonder if they've done this before or if they aren't between other jobs... And yes, they must be men. Not to be sexist or anything, but two of the worst haircuts I've ever gotten have been from women in barbershops that otherwise fit my criteria.

Looking through the yellow pages, I'm seeing something called the "Old Towne Barber Shop" here in G-burg... In theory, this sounds good, but the gratuitous extra "e" strikes me as hokey and makes me wonder... I'd probably prefer a place with a less pretentious name... something simple like "Nicks's Barber Shop" (but it's in Silver Spring) or "Gary's Barber Shop" (doesn't exist, but in a coincidence, my last two regular barbers were both named Gary)... It's choices like these that I spend way too much time on, while perhaps not spending enough on more pressing issues, like how to get a job... I'll make a choice (about the barber shop) this afternoon and report back, if anyone cares...

Think you know your 80's music? Go take this fairly extensive 80's lyrics quiz and report how well you do... I went through it fairly quickly and scored a 51.55... I'm a little embarassed... A few misspellings and mental lapses here and there definitely cost me some points... Went back through (after looking at the answers) and figure I should have scored a 68.35...

Voting is well underway over for the 2004 Weblog Awards and while there are many more categories than I can keep track of or have much of an opinion about, there are a few blogs that I'm willing to give endorsements to. Of course, in some way I "support" all of the blogs linked to in the right column. That said, I have different reasons for listing some and I definitely have favorites among them. Here's four of my favorites that you should be checking out (and voting for, of course):

• Michael Totten - Last year's winner in the best liberal blog category is up for the title of best of the top 100-250 blogs (based on the blogosphere ecosystem) category this year. I'm not familiar with much of his competition, but Totten's is one of my two favorites...
  
  
• Winds of Change - One of the most informative blogs out there, WoC is nominated for best group blog. WoC has a team of correspondents who post regular reports mostly on important developments in all areas of the world, but also on other issues such as new energy sources. The competition in the best group blog category is tough, with a number of worthy candidates (Volokh, TCS, OxBlog), but Winds of Change is one of the best there is.
  
  
• Althouse - Ann Althouse, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin, doesn't quite understand why she was nominated in the best conservative blog category and even setup a poll for her readers to help figure it out, but nevertheless she urges readers to vote for her. OK... Often, she posts reflections on law school, links to stories about cereal cafes and other interesting musings... occasionally stuff that's politically or legally related, but just as often not. Among her competition are two other blogs I link to - VodkaPundit (updated relatively infrequently of late) and OTB, which gave me my first external link...
  
  
• InstaPundit - Yeah, I saved the most polarizing figure for last... He's nominated for best overall blog and for me, the competition isn't even close. Sure, he's often painted as "conservative", but socially, he's about as liberal as you get... he clearly supports gay marriage, abortion, drug legalization, stem cell research and sex on television. Like Ann Althouse, he also frequently posts about nonpolitical subjects - and that's critical to me, since there is sooooooooo much more to life than politics. He's also a great jumping off point for finding other interesting blogs to read...
  

So those are my endorsements. At the moment, only Totten is winning... InstaPundit is in the ballpark, but WoC and Althouse appear destined for 5th place or so... Even if I won't push them to victory, they're definitely worth checking out...

It's finals time for the students among us and although you're a lot more likely to hear complaints about all the studying and testing to be done, the finals period was always my favorite time of the semester. For a couple weeks, you don't have to worry about going to class or little homework assignments or conflicting priorities. Instead, all you have to worry about is studying for a few tests or perhaps polishing off a paper. For me, the studying although not exactly fun wasn't terribly arduous. It's the time to be studying... it's what you're supposed to be doing... it just felt appropriate. For the law school folks, it may even be the first time you're seeing how the material you've been stuyding all semester fits into the big picture. And sometimes it finally makes sense.

When the tests are over, you're done... you're free. Rarely in life do you get over a hurdle like finals and really have the sense of finality in an accomplishment as well as the time to enjoy being done as you do after finals are over. In a funny kind of way, I'll miss not having finals to take... or be done with... Enjoy it while it lasts, students!

Fans of sunlight can smile a little today as yesterday marked the earliest sunset of the year. Starting today, the sun will set later every day for the next six months. Although there will continue to be decreasing amounts of daylight for the next two weeks leading up to the winter solstice (commonly known as the shortest day of the year and the first day of winter), this is due to the sun rising later each day both in absolute times and relative to the sunsets. Here in Gaithersburg, the sun rose today at 7:13 while sunset is at 4:45. On December 21, sunset will be 4 minutes later (4:49) while the sunrise will be 11 minutes later (7:24). You can look up times for your very own sunrises and sunsets (not to mention civil twilights and moon phases) at sunrisesunset.com.

When I moved down here to Gaithersburg, I got a new cellphone to go along with the new number. The new phone isn't terribly fancy, but it does have a camera. It took awhile to get the service working such that I could upload pictures from my phone, but that's settled now. So far, most of my pictures have been embarassing shots of friends and family to associate with entries in my phone book, but I've also snapped some shots of my apartment for your perusal.

The deer hunting season got underway earlier this week in Pennsylvania. Much like Dan, I can't conceive of a circumstance under which I'd actually go out and join the hunt. That said, I'm glad that there are people willing to go out and take a deer or two.

A traveller driving I-79 between Pittsburgh and Morgantown, will see deer remains every mile or so... sometimes right in the middle of the lane of traffic. Often, these scenes paint a tragic picture for all parties involved in the accident. The Audubon Society offers some thoughts on Pennsylvania's oft-maligned deer management program.

Looking for something new to listen to? Josh is counting down 2004's top releases over at the eclectic_workshop. Check it out.

Sunday night at 8:00, TNT will be airing an original film about the one man who protects history's greatest secrets (the Golden Fleece, Ark of the Covenant, etc.) from the forces of evil. The film's hero also provides its title: THE LIBRARIAN: Quest for the Spear. No, I'm not kidding and yes I laughed when I first saw the commercial also. I mean, it sounds a lot like a show that George Newman would be putting on Channel 62! This will also officially exhaust the list of people left to be portrayed on film as "superheros."

Let's say you're a girl whose father ditched your mother and you're looking for him... Wouldn't it make sense to take off all your clothes and hope daddy finds you when he's browsing a racy magazine? If you're Jennifer Lee, it most certainly would. Sounds like it would make for an interesting reuinion...

Speaking of former Pirates, Jason Kendall has recently joined the club, being dealt to Oakland last week while I was down in Richmond for a family Thanksgiving fiesta...

What this trade amounts to is the Pirates giving up the best catcher in the National League - a talented albeit expensive player - in exchange for a couple nondescript, somewhat replaceable pitchers that will neither push them toward contention this season or in the future. The savings from the deal strike me as insufficient to make up for the difference in talent and the ownership's track record suggests that the team isn't likely to invest the savings wisely - or at all - to make the team any more competitive.

Certainly it can be argued that the time to deal Kendall was now. The track record of catchers in their thirties is not good and Kendall is coming off back-to-back good seasons. His trade value may never be higher so the Pirates should "sell high." In addition, the Bucs have a squad of talented young catchers moving through the minor league system and moving Kendall is dealing from a strength and creating opportunities to evaluate guys like Humberto Cota and JR House before Ronny Paulino, Ryan Doumit and Neil Walker are ready to hit the show.

Nonetheless, at the moment this looks like a very bad deal for the Bucs. Although they may be dealing from a strength positionally, they are dealing from a weakness in terms of skills. As it was, the 2004 team fielded a very weak lineup, placing 13th in the league in runs scored. A good deal of this offensive ineptitude can be attributed to a lineup loaded with out machines. Only four Pirates with at least 100 AB posted an OBP above .340 and Kendall was the only one over .360, checking in at a whopping .399. In short, Kendall was the Pirates' only table setter. Nobody in the lineup can replace his contributions at the top of the order and as currently constituted, the already bad offense looks to be even worse in 2005.

The loss of Kendall wouldn't be a problem if the Pirates were able to fill one or more holes in the deal... but they didn't. The haul for Kendall essentially amounted to Julian Tavarez and Kris Benson. OK, neither Tavarez nor Benson was involved in the deal, but the actual principals' career stats are most comprable to each of these former Buccos.

In Mark Redman, the Pirates get an innings-eater who can be expected to put up average-ish numbers. Sure, he had a very good season two years ago, but there's little to suggest that his 2002 season was anything but a career year. Arthur Rhodes had a nice run where he was a very good reliever in the late 90's and early 00's. But now he's 35 and he's seen his strikeout rate drop while his walk and home run rates have gone up each of the last two seasons.

While the pitching wasn't fantastic last season, it wasn't bad either. Even if it were, it's hard to imagine how these two guys would help that much. Beyond that, the Pirates' greatest organizational strength is probably the depth of their pitching prospects, all of whom are blocked by the addition of two more pitchers (Unless DL pulls a Herges and waives Redman or Rhodes before the season).

Also by trading one for two while creating another hole - the team has acknowledged the interest in signing a veteran catcher to split the duties with Humberto Cota - the Pirates have two additional spots on the 40 man roster that need to be filled. The extra players, much like many of those already on the roster, reek of mediocrity. Building a stockpile of Rhodeses, Wiggintons, Meadowses and Foggs isn't going to help the Pirates compete. Instead, the Pirates should be consolidating their collection of mediocrity into a few genuinely above-average players and looking to fill in around them.

Of course, no discussion of the deal would be complete without addressing the financial aspects of the trade. Reports have the Pirates saving about $15 million over the next three years. Most of the savings ($8 million) are backloaded into 2007. Many of the folks praising the deal cite the benefits of this extra money as the key to the deal... but is it really? I don't really see how this will help the team become more competitive. Over each of the next two seasons, the Pirates will save $3 and $4 million, respectively. For that money, Dave Littlefield could go out and sign a player the caliber of... Christian Guzman? Vinny Castilla? Ugh...

It is also an open question as to whether the Bucs will even bother investing the savings in additional players. The Aramis Ramirez trade was made entirely for "financial flexibility," but yet payroll has continued to be cut since then. The team took in $13.3 million in revenue sharing this year... basically free money... and it was all allegedly earmarked for player development. Player development is essential for a low-revenue team like the Pirates, but the costs are also relatively fixed and there's no reason to think that at least half of that money couldn't have been put into major league payroll. Given the reluctance ownership has shown to invest in its product, it's reasonable to assume they would just prefer to line their pockets or at best wait until attendance increases to bother putting any more money into the team. I say "at best" despite how backward a plan this would be.

Upon shuttling Kendall's contract, one organization official stated that, "Now, we can rebuild." To me, this only further underscores the incompetence in the Pirates' front office, especially in conjunction with reports that the team is showing interest in bringing over Toshihisa Nishi - a 33 year old Japanese version of Abe Nunez. Adding aging and un-special players at a position where you're stocked with players with upside isn't "rebuilding."

Rebuilding is done by collecting talented young players and playing them. Despite this, in the past few years, the Pirates have shuttled or sold off young talent such as Chris Young, Kody Kirkland, Roberto Novoa, Chris Shelton, Jose Bautista, Jeff Bennett and JJ Davis. When players like Davis, Tony Alvarez, Bobby Hill or Craig Wilson are ready, they're chained to the bench in Pittsburgh unless they do something like tie the record for pinch hit home runs in a season. It shouldn't take that much to displace the Randall Simons, Chris Styneses and Abe Nunezes of the world.

What would make me happy? For one, better options at first base, third base and center field as far as scoring runs goes. Dave Littlefield has reportedly been interested in Milton Bradley, and given his recent arrest for disorderly conduct, it's possible that his price tag has dropped. Initial speculation was that Arthur Rhodes might be shipped to LA to get Bradley, probably in a package with Craig Wilson. Kendall for Redman and Bradley? Fine. Kendall and Wilson for Redman and Bradley? It's a wash... at best.

Beyond that, I'd like to see the Pirates hit the free agent market and hit it hard. A guy like Carlos Delgado comes with some risk, but his left-handed swing is tailor-made for PNC Park's right field fence. Another name that has been somewhat under the radar this offseason has been Odalis Perez. Again, there's risk, but he too is left-handed and like Mark Redman, he actually posted better numbers away from his pitcher-friendly home last season. It would also let the Pirates corner the market on O. Perezes (as they already have on Redmans). The Since the Pirates have a well-known fetish for lefties, I don't think either of these guys would be completely out of the question if they did decide to open the pocketbook.

I'm pretty upset about this deal, but I also reserve the right to update my opinion as events unfold. The management in place has a horrible track record of poor player evaluation, roster management and willingness to spend money. To be optimistic about their ability to competently lead the team to competition would be akin to holding out hope for Josh Fogg to turn in a Cy Young performance in 2005; it might happen, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

That wacky Anna Benson is it again... She is quoted in today's New York Post thusly:

"I told him [Kris] — because that's the biggest thing in athletics, they cheat all the time — I told him, cheat on me all you want. If you get caught, I'm going to s- - -w everybody on your entire team — coaches, trainers, players. I would do everybody on his whole team."

You listening Pedro?