MLB Bullets Thought We Had A Deal

The news is slowing down as we get close to Christmas. I'm not covering the stories about how Masahiro Tanaka will or will not be posted because we've already done that here. Also, I'm not going into Starlin Castro's legal issues in the Dominican Republic as that's the domain of Cub Tracks.

Sorry about the delay in posting this, but we've had technical issues at SB Nation, in case you hadn't noticed.

• Although I'm not taking guesses about whether Tanaka will be posted, Steve Wulf and Jason Coskrey take a look at Tanaka's career, past, present and future. In the end, they argue that Tanaka is worth all the fuss and money and will likely be a star in America. But they add the caveat "but you never know."
• Marc Normandin notes that the uncertainty about Tanaka has frozen the starting pitcher free agent market, as no team is going to make a move until they know if they can get a shot at Tanaka first.
• In an event that may or may not be related to the delay on Tanaka, Jon Heyman says that the Rays are not getting any offers for David Price. It's not that teams don't want Price, but the Rays are demanding a lot more than what anyone is willing to pay. In other words, the Price is not right.
• Teams don't want to give up their prospects, but this study says about 70% of top prospects fail.
• Before I get into the rest of the news, this article by Pat Jordan is my favorite of the week. Jordan recaps the World Series, all the while ripping the Fox TV coverage of the Series to shreds. In particular, he goes at Tim McCarver like a puppy going at an old tennis ball. His essential point is that Fox saw the World Series they wanted to see, not the World Series that actually happened.
• Another free agent who isn't finding much success in finding a job is Kendrys Morales, as not many teams need a 1B/DH and those that do don't want to sacrifice a draft pick. Jon Paul Morosi thinks that it will take all of Boras's skills to get a good contract for Morales.
• Grant Balfour thought he had a deal with the Baltimore Orioles, but that deal is in jeopardy after the Orioles found something in his physical they didn't like. He might still sign with Baltimore for a reduced price, however, as Mike Napoli did in a similar situation with the Red Sox last winter.
• Former Cub Casey McGehee is back from Japan and is now a Marlin.
• John Axford signed with the Indians for one year, $4.5 million plus incentives.
• The White Sox signed Scott Downs for one year and $4 million with a vesting option for 2015.
• The Angels have their replacement for Mark Trumbo after they signed Raul Ibanez for one year, $2.75 million.
• The Braves got Ryan Doumit from the Twins for Sean Gilmartin.
• The Giants are going to sell Brett Pill to the Kia Tigers of the Korean Leagues.
• The Rockies got Franklin Morales back from the Red Sox for Jonathan Herrera.
• Shin-Soo Choo reportedly turned down seven years and $140 million from the Yankees.
• Jeff Sullivan says that for teams that find Choo too expensive, there's an alternative that's almost as good and almost free to a good home: Andre Ethier.
• Mike Bauman says the Cardinals are not standing in place this winter.
• Baseball Prospectus has some trade offers if the Angels decide to move Mike Trout. Some serious and some not, but it wouldn't surprise me if Real Madrid really did go after Trout just to make sure Barcelona didn't get him. Just on that chance that he is really good at soccer. Or on the chance that Real Madrid starts a baseball team.
• David Schoenfield thinks the Nationals are emerging this off-season as a better team than the Braves. Didn't we say that last winter?
• Brandon McCarthy says that protective headgear for pitchers could come as early as next season.
• Moving on to the Hall of Fame, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs says it's time for the Hall of Fame to start inducting Hall of Famers. He points out that throughout the history of Cooperstown, around 1% of players get inducted. That number has dropped to 0.1% for players born in the sixties. Even taking into account some that have yet to get inducted, that's a ridiculous drop off. The standards for the Hall have gotten way too high.
• Here's a great argument for someone who is, in my opinion, a Hall of Famer but is unlikely to get inducted anytime soon: Mike Mussina.
• This article has been making the rounds for being one of the most ridiculous arguments in favor of Jack Morris' Cooperstown candidacy. He rants against the sabermetricians who have argued against Morris's credentials and makes it clear he has no idea what sabermetrics even is.
• Rob Neyer rips that article apart.
• Grant Brisbee says he'd vote for Jack Morris for the Hall under two conditions. One, he'd have to actually have a Hall of Fame ballot. But two, in an example of Cooperstown log-rolling, he'd vote for Morris if a Morris voter would vote for Tim Raines.
• This Big League Stew post will lead you to a lot of great information on the Negro Leagues.
• There's a report that the owners of the Golden State Warriors are interested in buying the Athletics and building a new stadium in Oakland. One of the Warriors owners flat out denies it, however. But that would be rather ironic since the Warriors are leaving Oakland for San Francisco in 2017.
• Jim Caple lists the best ten baseball songs of all time. According to him, at least. Well, Caple and Paul Molitor, at least; Molitor provides commentary through the list.
• Finally, did you know that among his many other accomplishments,Vin Scully once beat Jackie Robinson in a race? OK, both of them were on ice skates, which probably made a lot of difference.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.