Holiday Leftovers

• I spent the holiday weekend in New York, where it is always fun to read the purple prose provided by the New York Post and New York Daily News (I wish I had a dollar every time I saw the word "perv"). It's especially fun when one of their heroes has been wronged, at least when that is how those papers see it. "JEETED" screamed the Post headline (get it?) last week on the day after Derek Jeter lost the American League MVP award to the Twins' Justin Morneau. Please. The question is not whether Jeter deserved to win. Of course he did, at least if you accept that "deserved" means that it would not have been an outrage if he had won. But, c'mon, Morneau had a monster season: .321 BA/34 HR/130 RBI/.934 OPS for a division-winning team that had the best record in the majors after June 1. A vote for him was hardly jeeting.
• Wait 'till next year might by an old baseball expression, but it sure doesn't apply to general managers this off-season. The strike-less new labor agreement demonstrates that there is lots of money for everyone in baseball right now. What I don't get is why GMs think they have to spend it all this off-season on a seriously mediocre crop of free agents. I won't change my view that Soriano signing is the worst of the group, if only because it will cost the most money. But why would the Dodgers give Juan Pierre 5 years and $44 million? He's a leadoff guy whose OBP has not cracked .330 in two years and is only .350 for his career. The Gary Matthews, Jr. deal is even worse. He had a "career" 2006 season in his walk year -- and still managed only .313 BA/19 HR/79 RBI. Basically, his best season ever is what Albert Pujols manages to do by the All-Star break. No matter. Matthews got 5 years and $50 million from the Angels (memo to Juan Pierre: fire your agent). The Angels will be begging teams to take that contract off their hands within two years.