The move comes as a bit of a surprise, not only because the Padres indicated that their search would not include former MLB managers, but also because Baker has suffered a significant tarnishing of his reputation at the hands of frustrated Cubs fans in the past few years. I haven't followed the Cubs closely enough to know is this is deserved, but regardless, San Diego would be taking on a serious marketing liability by hiring Baker. In this light, the only way that Baker can be brought on board is if San Diego's brass can convince Padres' fans that the Dusty era doesn't imply defeat by default.

Let's not discount Dusty's achievements: he has 3 NL Manager of the Year awards, and he got the Giants to the 2002 WS and the 2003 Cubs into the postseason. And don't forget that in 2003, Cubs fans were wearing "In Dusty We Trusty!" t-shirts. (How fickle the love of the public is.)

However, I think hiring Baker will send the wrong message out to the Padres' faithful. While the team came apart at the seams in the divisional series, 2006 was a good season, and fans want to see this success built upon to create a stronger 2007 campaign. Is hiring a manager who barely escaped the wrath of Chicago fans a move in this direction?

Padres GM Kevin Towers recently commented, "I think ultimately what the fans want is a winning organization and someone who can win year in and year out…" The question is, can Dusty Baker win year in and year out in southern California?

Everyone knows that the team with the most "mojo" wins it all. The Tigers had mojo all season long, and they certainly had mojo in the ALCS. But you could almost see that mojo slip away from the Tigers in the WS (all those errors!) and slowly make it's way into the hearts of the Cardinals.

Throughout the series, I kept thinking back to that comment Tony LaRussa made in the last week of the season, something to the effect of "If we win the division, we'll win it all." The media jumped all over this: IF we win? And just how will you win it all with your team in such a shambles? Despite the long list of injured Cardinals, and the appearance that the team was being carried by some guy named Albert, LaRussa's red birds came through. It's just too bad for me that I'm not a Cardinals fan.

Aside from the fact that the team I picked lost, I feel a little jipped with the past two World Series. Can we please make it a full 7-game series in 2007? No more WS sweeps or 4-1's, OK? I want to squeeze every single game I can get out of a season!

With his declining speed, it's safe to assume that more than a few American League GMs will be thinking of dropping Bonds into the lineup as a DH. Assumming Oakland re-signs Frank Thomas, I think we can rule out any West Coast destination other than Anaheim for Bonds. MLB Trade Rumors suggested that New York would be an interesting place for Bonds to wind up, and based that suggestion on the Yankees moving Gary Sheffield. Now that the wheels are in motion to carry Sheff out of the Bronx, it's a distinct possibility that Barry Bonds will wear pinstripes in 2007. If you thought the Yankees line-up was tough in 2006…

The Cubbies snagged Piniella. That leaves us with Manny Acta, Terry Pendleton, Tony Pena, and [cough] Dusty Baker. Acta's the only one with any familiarity with the organization, having been a third base coach for the Expos. The managerial search has been secretive so there could be other candidates in the running that we simply aren't aware of. (But really, what gets past the baseball blogosphere?)

UPDATE: Terry Pendleton bows out 

This year though, it appears that MLB.com is trying to further monetize Gameday Audio subscribers by hiding the audio launch links to the post-season games! See for yourself: just visit MLB.com and click Audio & Video > Gameday Audio. You're redirected to a MLB.TV page where you are asked to subscribe to listen to last games of the season. Frankly, I have no idea where to find the "real" Gameday Audio page now and my emails to MLB.com about this issue have been ignored.

I paid to listen to the whole season, yet all of the sudden I have no obvious access to the most important games of the year! I figured out that I can wait until the game has started, then click the tiny audio icon on the home page of MLB.com to get the home broadcase of the game. That works fine, unless I want to listen on my Mac laptop and I want to listen to the away braodcast. If I try and switch between broadcasts on the iBook, it crashes Firefox immediately–every time.

So, where's the love, MLB.com, for your faithful Gameday Audio subscribers? Why did you take away our Gameday Audio page and replace it with another attempt to get into our wallets? Why won't you provide me with easy access to the games when I've already paid to listen to them? Why won't you return my emails? And finally, where's the Mac support? Sheesh.

UPDATE: I just spoke with MLB.com tech support and they showed me another way to find an audio link. Great, but what they couldn't tell me is why the Gameday Audio page has been redirecting to a MLB.TV subscription page since the post-season started. I remain suspicious of MLB.com's motives here.

I've been listening to the New York broadcasts of the NLCS, and twice this week I thought I was listening to the St. Louis broadcast by accident! The Mets broadcasters were lacking enthusiasm on New York plays, but strangely didn't hold back from praising some of St. Louis' work on the field. What's with the Cardinal love? I want to hear these guys HOOT and HOLLER when Delgado swings that bat!

Broadcaster enthusiasm will influence which team I listen to for the World Series. I like those guys who call the Tigers' games…

MLB Trade Rumors has a dissected the 2007 free agent hitters market and Greg Norton finds himself in the thick of the running for top slugger and walker. In 294 games this season, Norton posted a .520 slugging percentage and managed to acquire a 10.5% walk rate. The big names on either side of Norton's respectable stats? David Delucci and Rich Aurilia, and Carlos Lee and Frank Catalanotto. I suspect that Norton's relative obscurity won't command him the same salary as his peers, but this could be a very good thing for a team on the lookout for an affordable slugger.

So, who might be a good suitor for Norton in 2007?

At first, the Jays came to mind but Norton is primarily a corner infielder, something that the Jays have mightily covered in Glaus and Overbay (plus a solid 1B rookie in Adam Lind). If Norton had more experience in the outfield, he might have been a suitable replacement for Catalanotta, who will likely not return to Toronto next season.

Todd Walker has performed very well since coming over to the Padres this year. He's been that "professional hitter" the team was looking for while providing some solid defense at third. But will he be back? Other than Walker, San Diego has Russell Branyon and the light-hitting, Mark Bellhorn to man the third bag. Norton could be a good fit here.

In Houston, Morgan Ensberg could be on the move, so they might be advised to take a look at Norton as well.

Big free agent signings always attract a ton of ink in the off-season, but I often find myself more attracted to the quieter deals, the ones that appear to be smaller but turn out to be significant acquisitions. Greg Norton just might be one of these surprises in 2007. 

A season that began with the biggest of dreams ended with the smallest of victories… The campaign did, however, end on a bit of a bright note and offer a sliver of hope for next year.

I did not realize that the Jays hadn't finished above third in the American League since 1993! This makes 2006's second place finish quite a victory indeed.

Great hitting at inopportune times. A defensive black hole at shortstop (Oh, how we missed O-dog!) An injury-riddled pitching staff. A frustrated–and apparently volatile–manager. A little bad luck on the side. These were the Achilles heels of the 2006 Blue Jays. Therefore, the obvious needs become: a proven shortstop who can defend, hit and bunt; a 4th outfielder with some pop (Catalanatto probably won't be returning); another front line starter (Barry Zito!); and perhaps a change of guard at the managerial level.

On a side note, how long to you have to be playing at the Major League level to earn the title of veteran? According to this article, Lyle Overbay–who played 2 games in 2001, 10 in 2002, and became a regular in 2003–is a veteran. I suppose that's 5 years total, but I think "veteran" implies "long service". Something like 8 years seems more appropriate.