Ooops, meant to type !!!!!!!! after that.

Wow, what a smoking gun you've found.

The Witchhunter's Bible.... where do you fall? 1. Steriods are the only effect upon performance. 2. The effect of steriods can be quantified.... by me. (just don't ask to see the math) 3. Player X has big muscles, so he used steroids. 4. Player Y has a acne, so he used steroids. 5. Player Z had an outlier year, so he used steriods. 6. Player Q never tested positive, was never implicated in any report, was never brought before a jury or panel of any kind. His numbers are outstanding. But Mr. Writer knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who thinks he might've juiced. And that's good enough for me.

I also mis the stars, but appreciate you doing something different and I enjoy the new format. Well written and analyzed, best of luck to you going forward. I eagerly await to see how crappy my Brewers farm looks. ;-(

2.5 hours. NO! I really think an editor is needed. Podcasts should not be longer than The Tree Of Life.

I don't think he meant the "glamorous" comment literally. Anyway, this trade makes little sense for either team. I'm sure we'll hear more about it after the holidays.

Wow, I hadn't thought of r.s.bb in years. Good times. I do remember Greg's voice from those years. Many condolences to his friends and family.

I think it was good for both teams. Some A's fans are down after the bigger hauls of late, but Bailey didn't have nearly as much value. I've also liked Reddick for awhile and think he'll have value in RF for years to come. Hopefully one of the prospects will develop, but this is more of a position-for-position trade, unlike the other prospect hauls of late, and can't be compared to them easily.

Wow, a DH with all of 11 HRs gets a first place vote. No, those aren't the advanced stats that I'd normally use, but.... DH?.... 11HRs?.....in Texas? I guess he must have a "heart" that would put Secretariat to shame.

Overshadowed by the TB homer dramatics was, to me, the contrast of the night. A third string CF making the league minimum makes a fantastic catch to prevent Chipper from knocking in Bourn to win in the 9th. An hour later, an LF making 20 million caps a terrible year by dropping a catchable ball to end Boston's season. Fascinating drama all around.

"Pujols has been the Cardinals’ best player this season" Better than Holliday and Berkman?

I enjoy the All-Star game, but also don't take it all that seriously. Therefore, I couldn't write a lengthy defense, nor a lengthy critique. It is, as stated, only an exhibition game. That said, Joe's critics have to admit that the Selig idea that kicked off his rant (no A-S pitchers going on Sunday) is quite ridiculous.

Ooops, I meant read the writings, skip the comments. I could use an editor myself, y'know.

I agree 100%. These "criticisms" remind me of the crap that Doug Glanville gets in his insightful NYT pieces, in that they are largely criticisms of the job (former MLB star/agent to the stars) instead of what is actually being written. So, as with Glanville's writings, I will continue to ignore Mr. Kusnick's writings on BP and just skip the comments. Nice job.

Maybe it's just the fan in me, but I'm not quite ready to say that the A's aren't going to contend. Things need to break right, sure, especially with regards to health, but I think that's the case for the other four teams too. The ALW looks as wide open as it's been in a long time.

I loved Joe's columns. But he has moved on, BP has moved on, and I think that the readers need to as well. Whether it's with BP or not, that is your individual choice. But wherever Joe crops up, I'll read his works at that site, and personally, I'll continue to keep reading BP every day too.

Same here, + Karhl and Perrota (sp?). The latter mentioned some changes upcoming in his role, and I'm anxious to find out what they will be.

Thanks for all your work over the years, Joe. Wherever the future takes you and your family, may the road rise with you.

I didn't get to read all of these comments so it might have been said, but I did want to say that technically, Halladay didn't lose any guaranteed money, he added it. He had 9.5 mil guaranteed, now he has 69.5. Had he not approved this deal, who knows what would have happened in 2010? He could have pulled a Ben Sheets and lost a year to injury leading into an uncertain FA year, or any number of other things. I'm not saying it's likely, but absent this deal, it's possible Halladay could have only added guaranteed money in November of 2010, and who knows what would've happened in the interim?

I'm glad you broke it down like this. People are overreacting to his quote, and he didn't say anything off at all. He was, if anything, restrained and diplomatic. And though I love Joe's columns, and they are always the first thing that I go to when he's posts one on a given day, when I see him write "who the hell cares what Ryan Zimmerman thinks?", I think, if you don't then why center an entire column around his quote?

Seriously? Wow, thanks for the scoop! After all, I, like everyone else, just subscribed here two weeks ago.

I don't comment much, but I'd like to say that it was a fine post. I truly hate the Yankees and I check the scores daily with the hope they'll be on the wrong end of a 22-4 margin, but...... the opening of any park is a big deal to anyone's longtime fans and I appreciate the personal response to the experience.

Dang, I wished I had seen this before picking up Mauer -- last report, his back injury wasn't as serious as feared.

Great interview! Nothing else to add. I really enjoyed it.

One similarity is that in both cases, the Red Sox were lucky that they didn\'t get their guy. In Damon\'s case, because he wouldn\'t be worth the money, and he hasn\'t been. For Teix, he might be worth the money, but the Sox didn\'t need even need a 1B, and a 180 mil is too much to spend on a guy just to prevent him from signing with your rival.

Awesome to read! Congrats to Christina and Will.

Chip has it right.

Retractable roofs do not require baseball to be played indoors. Only when it is inappropriate outdoors, as it was last night. I don\'t see any games getting chopped off the schedule. Owners aren\'t likely to give up the money.

Do you think this might push baseball to require newly built stadiums to have retractable roofs? Do they even have that power? Just wondering...

Not sure, but if not, I\'m sure he\'ll pitch Friday on short rest. He only threw 75 pitches.