Wishful thinking...

There were some quickly-denied rumors that Comcast was looking to sell the Sixers. This fits with the sudden removal of AI from the market, but I strongly doubt these rumors are true. I don't think Comcast would sell the Sixers without picking up another team. I wouldn't complain if Comcast sold the Sixers to buy the team that plays across the street, but I just don't see it happening.

Maybe next year...

I heard a report earlier today that Pat Gillick was told to have payroll in the mid-70s for next season. Now, that sounds terrible, but a closer look reveals that it isn't so bad, so long as it's free to go up in the future.

ESPN.com has most of the salaries for this year in a nice, convenient, unupdated list. Taking off the guys who are no longer in town plus Wolf and Lieberthal, the remaining payroll is 44.57 million. This doesn't include a handful of minor leaguers, including Hamels, Mathieson, Sandoval, Coste, Roberson, and Sanches. But given another $10 million of contract increases and minor leaguers, $5 of money for Thome, and the big league payroll is at about $60 million for next year, as it stands right now. I strongly suspect that Lieber will be traded, either through waivers or during the offseason, freeing up another $7.5 million or so. I wouldn't be surprised if Rowand was moved as well, depending on how well Roberson and Bourn play, and moving Burrell would be great for payroll, but unlikely. But I think Gillick will have between $20 and $25 million to play with in terms of free agents, although the market isn't going to be so hot.

The team needs a top of the rotation starter, a third baseman, and a catcher, at the very least. I don't think any of these are coming from inside the organization, so we'll see what Gillick can do.

Trade thoughts

I'd rather keep Bobby, but that wasn't meant to be. I'm not shedding any tears for Bell, Cormier, or Lidle (even if he did come out and rip the team). I'm overjoyed to see "Home Run" Franklin gone. We'll see what the kids can do down the stretch, but expectations are low.

That being said, there'd better be a watch for Pirates fans on the bridges downtown there. They gave away two kids I would have tried to build that franchise around, sending Craig Wilson (who couldn't find a position this year) to the Yankees for Shawn Chacon and Oliver Perez (along with Roberto Hernandez) to the Mets for Xavier Nady. New York made out like a bandit at Pittsburgh's expense, though this isn't nearly as bad as the Reds-Nationals trade a while back. But seeing a franchise give away a couple of young, talented players having bad seasons for an average player and a struggling pitcher takes a little sting off the Abreu trade. Then again, they also moved Kip Wells, but that's nothing really significant.

No other big deals to report on, but I suspect there'll be something significant in the waivers period.

Biased opinions since 2005

I'm going to try to revive this. I'm going to try to post something substantial at least once a week. Hold me to this, and spread the word.