Stop the Insanity! Winter News Stuff and More Signings

First off, hope everyone is well.

Um, the silliness ... Gil Meche. WTF! The Royals, (aka the worst team in baseball) overpaid big time (so, they had to), but they were robbed, stabbed and thrown to side of the road in this deal.

I thought Juan Pierre's with the Dodgers deal was insanity. This takes the cake.

Meche got 5 years and 55 million! I think the Lilly deal bordered on how bad the market was, but Meche got more money than Lilly? I can understand the Royals desperation, but if he sucks and only has a .500 record and sub 5 era, this contract is a killer for this organization. His history does not indicate any brillance to justify the years and money, though he's got some ok stuff. Why? Outrageous.

His numbers DO NOT rationalize this deal.

Link: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/12/07/meche.royals.ap/index.html

White Sox trade Freddy Garcia for Gavin Floyd and a player to be named later: The Phillies made a good move getting a good pitcher who has the experience and has the moxy to pitch in Philly, which is not the easiest place to play in. Floyd underachieved in Philly, but he's going to the White Sox with their solid foundation and could be a good candidate to improve. Garcia was a year out from free agency and his salary was pushing $9 million per year, so the White Sox dumped some salary, but yet added a tool to their future. Garcia should strengthen the Phillies, as they contended last year, but just missed the Wild Card.

Mike Piazza to the A's: Good move. It's for 1 year, 8.5 million. The A's got a bat, and if they get anything close to what Frank Thomas did for them from Piazza, they'll be favorites to win the AL West again. He'll DH anad it seems to be a low-risk, high-reward deal.

M's trade to Rafael Soriano for Horatio Ramirez: The Braves got the better off the deal, as Soriano had a great track record in the AL. Ramirez is a decent pitcher and had a good season 2 years ago, but he's injury prone and his numbers this year were just average.

And for those who care about the Winter Meetings:

ESPN's Coverage: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2690258

Another ESPN article: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/news/story?id=2689745

CNN/SI Coverage: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/

Fox Sports Coverage: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb