This hot-stove season’s 3rd base free agent pool has already been the subject of much debate, thanks to one Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez. Then there’s the other premiere free agent third baseman on the market—one Michael Averett Lowell, better known as Mike. And after that, well, we have…the rest. All of them, coincidentally (or maybe not coincidentally, come to think of it) hail from the National League, and most are light-hitting utility infielder-types in their thirties. Yikes. Teams who don’t have a great 3B under contract already and who don’t win the A-Rod/Mike Lowell sweepstakes may well be SOL.

The options:

Jeff Cirillo of Arizona These days, he’s another mid-200’s hitter with good defense, but approaching old-as-hills status at 38.

Aaron (Bleepin’) Boone of Florida Last season, he spent more time at first, and more time on the DL, but provided he can stay healthy he could probably move back across the diamond with little difficulty (if “little difficulty” means “the same high error totals we’ve come to expect from Aaron Bleepin’ Boone”). He can still hit, but his power has been gone since the steroids crackdown. One day, Tim Wakefield will find him where he sleeps.

Mike Lamb of Houston Not a bad option—he hit .289 this season with a .366 OBP. No great shakes, defensively. 32 years old.

Corey Koskie of Milwaukee Didn’t play this year after suffering a concussion on the field in 2006. The Brewers declined to exercise his 2008 option, as their hot corner will be anchored for the foreseeable future by Rookie of the Year candidate Ryan Braun. If he can make a comeback, he’ll still be a bottom-of-the-order type guy. Plus, he’s 34 already. Theoretically, he could work as a defensive replacement. Alas, this is complicated by the fact that he’s never really played any position except third. I’m guessing the Brewers are planning on making Braun take grounders 6 days a week for the next four months. He could well end up a non-roster invitee.

Abraham Nunez of Philadelphia Great defensive range, but another light-hitting 31-year-old.

Russell Branyan of St. Louis Strikes out three times as much as he walks and finished the season hitting under the Mendoza line. 31 years old. Defensively, more of a utilityman than a real third baseman.

Pedro Feliz of San Francisco Of third basemen with enough at-bats to qualify, this guy was last in the majors in OBP. However, he’s among the top 5 in defenisve ability. 32 years old.

Tony Batista of Washington Another mediocre utility infielder in his mid-30s who hits in the mid-.200s. Yawn.

Geoff Blum of San Diego Ditto, but better on defense.

Today, Mike Cameron got busted for using banned stimulants. The free agent was suspended for the first 25 games of next season. But Cameron wants you to know he wasn’t using steroids.

“The one thing I wanted to make sure was explained is, no steroids,” Cameron told AM 1090, the Padres’ flagship radio station. “I never took nothing like that before in my life. That would be 50 games, and that would affect me a whole lot more.”

You got that? Mike Cameron doesn’t use steroids. Now booze, that’s another question. Cameron plays drunk all the time. He told us so in Todd Gallagher’s book, Andy Roddick beat me with a frying pan.

“‘Shit, I’ve played drunk.’

“When?

“ ‘New York City.’

“What were the circumstances?

“ ‘I went four for four with two jacks and eight ribbies. I’m not saying that’s the only day I played drunk, but that was the best one.’

So there you go.  Steroids = bad. Long Island iced teas = good. Mike Cameron, you are the man.

Thanks to the good folks at Random House for the tip. 

Of course, everyone is talking about where A-Rod will land, and rightfully so. But since that won’t be settled for quite some time, and since talking about A-Rod gets old after a while, let us today turn our attention to the second most arrogant free agent on the market: Curt Schilling.

Actually, I don’t know if that’s fair. Since Barry Bonds is a free agent, Schilling might only be the third most arrogant free agent. Let’s just agree that he’s up there among the arrogant elite.

Recently, the 700 Level instituted “Schilling Watch.” And today, the Philadelphia Inquirer tells us that the Phillies are interested in Schilling. And, I’ve got to admit, I’m a little conflicted. Schilling the pitcher would be a perfect fit for the Phillies. He’s only looking for a one-year contract, so he’s a low-risk investment. And he showed this season that he’s still got some gas left in his tank. Schilling could win 15 games next year behind the Phils’ high-powered offense and be a strong playoff pitcher, should the team make it that far.

On the other hand, it would take a real effort on my part to cheer for Schilling. Simply put, I find him supremely unlikeable.

And I’m not alone. There are lots of folks in Philly who don’t like Schilling. The guy didn’t exactly endear himself the first time around. Mitch Williams, who is currently one of the hosts of the Phils’ post-game show, is still pissed that Schilling put a towel over his head so he wouldn’t have to watch while Williams pitched in the 93 World Series.

Should the Phillies bring Schilling back? Probably. Do I want them to? I just can’t decide.

Somebody make me feel better about Schilling returning to Philly.

At the beginning of the year, I thought the Red Sox made the right move by holding off on re-signing Curt Schilling. After all, this was supposed to be his final year on the diamond. His fastball is no longer fast. And his waistline is wee a bit, shall we say, Papi-esque.

Based on his regular season stats, the Sox should just let him walk away: for $13 million, you expect better than a 9-8 record and a 3.87 ERA. Contrary to what some in Boston have written, his transition from a power pitcher to a wily, finesse pitcher was not seamless.

But there are at least eight compelling reasons that the Red Sox should let Curt retire in a Red Sox uniform:

1. The old guy’s still got it. This season he came his closest ever to pitching a no-hitter, in June against the A’s. With two outs already recorded in the 9th, he was one good pitch away. (Random aside: In his successful no-no, Clay Buchholz didn’t shake of Varitek once. Curt shook Tek off on that last pitch, certain that the batter, Shannon Stewart, was taking. I will defend Varitek’s pitch-calling to my grave! TO MY GRAVE!)

2. And he can dial it up a notch in the postseason. In four playoff starts, Curt gave up 2 or fewer earned runs in three of them, getting through a full seven innings work in two. His only rough start (5 earned runs in 4.2 innings) came in Game 2 of the ALCS.

3. He makes those around him better. By all accounts, having Curt Schilling in your rotation is like having a second pitching coach on the staff. After Daisuke Matsuzaka’s sub-par start in Game 3 of the ALCS, Curt Schilling took the young hurler aside and gave him some tips on locating his fastball. Can it really be coincidence that Dice-K was much improved in his last two starts in the postseason? With younguns Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz (both 23) joining the rotation next year, Schilling’s wisdom could be a real asset.

4. He’s good in the clubhouse, too. Before Game 5 of the ALCS, when Boston was down 3-1 in the series and was facing the prospect of winning three in a row to keep their season alive, Schilling and David Ortiz called a players-only meeting. Their advice? Take it one game at a time, one inning at a time, one pitch at a time. Simple enough. But it was coming from two guys who could say, “We did one better than this in 2004; we were there; we know what to do.” To the press, Curt Schilling may always be a bit of a blowhard. To the fans, he may always be something of an enigma. But to his teammates, he’s The Guy.

5. You can never have too much pitching. In Boston, we call this the Bronson Arroyo Corollary. Moreover, with another 40+ pitcher almost certainly returning (17-game winner Tim Wakefield, who has a unique contract with Boston where each side mutually decides to re-up his $4 million recurring option), we could very well see a situation in which Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling alternate brief DL stints. As long as the young guys can stay healthy and as long as Curt has enough left when October rolls around, I don’t really care how much time he misses during the regular season.

6. Boston can afford it. The Red Sox have a healthy revenue stream, thanks not only to the deep pockets of the ownership group, but to their 80% ownership of NESN (on which almost all Red Sox and Bruins games are broadcast, as well as popular pregame and postgame shows, and even a reality dating show called Sox Appeal). And let’s face it, Fenway Park is a cash cow—it sells out every game despite having the highest ticket prices in baseball (by far) and every night there isn’t a game, the Red Sox rent it out as the most popular event venue in Boston. When I attended a Scotch nosing (I kid you not) there in September, there were two other events taking place at the same time, and a park official told me they were booked solid straight through the Christmas season.

7. Free agent pitching is scarce this year. Including Schilling, who filed yesterday, the other starting pitchers on the market are Matt Clement (whom Boston will almost certainly not retain), Carlos Silva, Kyle Lohse, Joe Kennedy, Bob Wickman, Eric Milton, Elmer Dessens, Jason Jennings, Tony Armas, Kip Wells, and Russ Ortiz. Then there’s Bartolo Colon, the 2005 AL Cy Young winner, who is coming off two very rough years. There’s Livan Hernandez and Jon Lieber, but neither are what they once were. David Wells is on the market again, but if you’re going to sign an old, chubby guy, why would you pick Wells over Schilling?

8. The Bloody Sock. Need I say more? This man has to end his career with Boston. Lest you doubt his Boston bonafides, consider this: he’s already released a list of teams he’d be willing to go to if Boston doesn’t re-sign him; that list contains every team to make the playoffs this year, except one; and the single, solitary team that Curt doesn’t want to play for is…drum roll please…the New York Yankees. Why? Because, as he’s said in the past, it would mean that everything he did in Boston was a lie.

Curt Schilling is a probable Hall of Famer. And he must go to Cooperstown wearing a Red Sox cap. The Red Sox should cough up the dough.

In 2003, his last season with Texas, Alex Rodriguez led the American League in home runs, runs scored, and slugging percentage, and won his second consecutive Gold Glove Award.

Rodriguez also became only the second player to win an MVP award while playing for a last place team. Who was the first?

Rumors were flying all over the baseball world last night that the Dodgers have all but decided to fire manager Grady Little and replace him with Joe Torre.

As a Dodgers fan I would have mixed feelings if this whole thing actually goes through. On one hand, I have no particular love for Grady Little, who in two years at the helm of the Boys in Blue proved himself to be a borderline incompetent in-game manager, but even worse, completely lost control of his clubhouse down the stretch this year.

In this day and age of high-salaried, high-maintenance ballplayers, a manager’s biggest job has become managing the egos in the clubhouse (second biggest job: dealing with the media), and Grady decisively proved that he couldn’t do that.

So I’m not sad to see Grady go at all.

But on the other hand, Joe Torre is a supremely overrated manager. Granted, he was adept at performing what I just said were a manager’s top two jobs of managing the egos and managing the press, so credit where credit is due, but where the overrated part comes in is all the additional credit he gets for all the World Series titles that the Yankees won.

The fact is that Joe Torre was blessed with supremely talented teams for all twelve years he was with the Yankees. All twelve of those teams were the best team on paper heading into the season, and all twelve would have been expected to go far into the playoffs, no matter who was managing.

Joe Torre lived up to what we would have expected from any manager under those circumstances. He did an okay job. In the first five years (with no small amount of luck - Jeffrey Maier, anyone?), he won four World Series, but in the last seven years he didn’t win any.

Moreover, any sort of close examination of Torre’s in-game managing calls reveals that he was a less than stellar tactician, extremely rigid in his use of the bullpen and the bench, abusive with his star relievers to the verge of ruining careers, and prone to irrationally overplaying personal favorites.

Look, I’m not trying to say that Torre was a terrible manager by any stretch of the imagination. As I already said, he was good at PR, and he also brought a sense of dignity to the team and was popular with his players and the fans. And those are all good things.

But what it boils down is, are Joe Torre’s managerial skills really worth between $15 to $20 million over the next three years? I mean how many extra wins a year was Torre worth to the Yankees? 1? Maybe 2 at most? How many wins did he cost by playing Miguel Cairo at first base? Wouldn’t the Dodgers be better off spending all those millions on a starting pitcher, or three stud relievers, or a third baseman?

To me this is just more evidence that Frank McCourt and Ned Colletti really have no idea what they are doing and continue to be afflicted by one of the worst cases of big-name-itis in the majors.

I would much rather see the Dodgers spend big money on actual ballplayers, or scouting, or player development, than on a big-name manager. There are lots of baseball guys out there who could make players feel good and not say stupid shit to the press, but there are decidedly fewer guys who can hit 30 homers a year or throw 95 mph with movement.

Today, on ESPN radio, Peter Gammons elaborated on his comments last night about A-Rod and the timing of his announcement. The winner of this one-sided smackdown? Why, Gammons of course, just as surely as the Red Sox just thrashed the Rockies. Below, a transcript of sorts* compiled by yours truly:

“Why did it have to be done before…the end of the World Series? It is a pitiful act [coming from] a desire to always get attention. It’s narcissistic. And you know what? I don’t care. Sports Center may be like Entertainment Tonight and they may care about that far more than I do. But the best story in baseball this year is not Alex Rodriguez, it’s Jon Lester.

“Jon Lester’s velocity is not back [yet], but nine months after coming off chemotherapy he went out and pitched the clinching game of the World Series. That to me is a lot more important than whether Alex [laughing dismissively] Rodriguez—who has never done what Jon Lester or Dustin Pedroia have done, that is, play in a World Series game—makes, you know, 38 million or 56 million or whatever he makes a year, and it disgusts me [voice cracking] and if I were the owner of a baseball team I would say, what are the priorities here? Is it winning? Or is it just simply getting my name out there and being on the front page of the New York Post?

“There’s a great story about Pedroia, who’s one of my favorite players because he’s just a little five-foot-five guy who can really play. After his freshman year at Arizona State the Sun Devils did not have very much pitching, so Pedroia gave up his scholarship [shouting now] so that they could take the money and go sign a couple of pitchers so that Arizona State could win. And when they went to the college world series in 2004 when he was already a professional player, the coaches and the players all had “DP” on their hats, playing in Omaha, in honor of Dustin Pedroia and his leadership and what it meant to him to win and get to Omaha. Alex doesn’t have that in his resume. So I thought yesterday was a very sad state [of affairs] and I think it’s even sadder that people are making such a big deal of it.

“[The Red Sox] are not going to pursue A-Rod. What’s amazing to me is, the way the Red Sox travel. There were a good 15,000 people at least, Red Sox fans, in Coors Field last night. I have no idea how much money they all paid to get the scalped tickets, but as the players came back on the field after the game, over an hour and a half after the game, Theo epstein came out and a chant took over the whole ballpark, which was, “Don’t sign A-Rod.” The fans were chanting that. It was kind of an interesting contrast to when Lowell was out on the field earlier, and they were all chanting “MVP” and “Sign Mike Lowell” and all of that. If you go back to 1985, and I haven’t gone back any further than that, there hasn’t been one team that’s won the World Series with one player who’s made more than 16% of the team’s payroll. This isn’t basketball. This is baseball, where the money gets spread out and it’s about 25 guys and a team concept. And that notion that one star [can get you there]—it’s a great idea if you want to lead Entertainment Tonight or Sports Center, but it doesn’t always do a lot of good when it comes to win world championships.

“I really like Alex, I think he’s a really good guy, but I think that sometimes the attention thing gets in the way…This whole thing just reeks with everything that’s wrong with sports and frankly, what’s wrong with the culture. It’s not about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, it’s about who is really accomplished. And this thing really was a bad move. Now I don’t think Tom Hicks in Texas is smart enough to understand it and maybe they can buffalo Artie Moreno in Anaheim into saying, “Boy, this is what we really need.” But in the end, when you go back and look at the great Yankee teams of ‘96 through 2000, there weren’t any guys hitting 40 home runs. There weren’t any guys who were cover boys. As much as people love Jeter, he’s a very private person and the ultimate team player. That’s just not what dominated the last forty years of the sport.”

*I cut out all the stuff that wasn’t about A-Rod, because honestly, I’m feeling a little bit sensationalist right now, even though that sort of goes against the point Gammons was making. Unsurprisingly, I have an US Weekly addiction, too.

Last week, Alejandro put his Spanish-speaking skills to use and translated an interview that Edgar Renteria did with a Colombian newspaper, where he suggested the Braves trade him. His wish has been granted.

The Braves today traded Renteria to the Detroit Tigers for a couple of prospects.

But what does it all mean?

We have answers to all of your Edgar Renteria trade questions.

Q: Who are these prospects?
A: According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Rookie right-hander Jair Jurrjens went 3-1 with a 4.70 ERA in seven starts for Detroit after being promoted from Class AA Erie, where he gained notice by going 3-0 with an 0.78 ERA in his final three starts, with 24 strikeouts and only one walk in 23 innings.”

Baseball Prospectus says Jurrjens had a 7.51 K/9 ratio, 1.27 WHIP and a 3/1 K/BB ratio in 19 starts at AA. Not bad.

Then there’s Center fielder Gorkys Hernandez, who the AJC says “just turned 20 in September and was named the MVP of the Class A Midwest League after batting .293 with 25 doubles, four homers and 54 stolen bases in 124 games. He was voted the league’s most exciting player and fastest baserunner by league managers.”

The Detroit Free Press describes Jurrjens and Hernandez as “two of the Tigers’ top four prospects”. That’s a steep price to pay for what might be a one year rental.

Q: Renteria sucked as a Red Sox. Will he suck again in the AL?
A: Renteria’s 2005 struggles had more to do with playing in Boston than they did with playing in the AL. After all, it wasn’t just his offense that dipped. Renteria made a career high 30 errors in 2005. The consensus is that he simply didn’t respond well to playing in the high pressure Boston market. Detroit is an AL team, but Tigers Stadium is not Fenway. Renteria should be fine.

Q: Renteria is pretty old. How much longer can he keep it up?
A: A legit question. But Renteria doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. And he’s only got one more year left on his contract. It’s a chance worth taking, I think.

Q: Who will replace Renteria at shortstop in Atlanta?
A: For the Braves, sending Renteria to Detroit means Yunel Escobar will finally get a shot to play everyday. The Braves are way high on Escobar. Of course, they were way high on Andy Marte, too. And he hasn’t exactly lit up the big leagues. But Escobar looked like the real thing playing in place of an injured Chipper Jones this summer. He’s earned his shot.

Q: Who got the best of this deal?
A: There’s little doubt that the Tigers got the best of this trade in the short term. It seems likely that Renteria will out perform both Jurrjens and Hernandez in 2008. We are, after all, talking about an above average defensive shortstop who very nearly won the batting title this season. Besides, it’s unlikely Hernandez will even play in the bigs next year.

Beyond 2008? That’s where it gets interesting.

Q: When will the Tigers run out of prospects to trade?
A: Last season, they traded not one, not two, but three pitching prospects to the Yankees for Gary Sheffield. The Yankees got right-handers Humberto Sanchez, Kevin Whelan and Anthony Claggett.

Here’s what ESPN had to say about Sanchez, Whelan and Claggett:

The 23-year-old Sanchez was a combined 10-6 with a 2.53 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 123 innings with Triple-A Toledo and Double-A Erie this year. He is a hard thrower and was mentioned in trade speculation last summer before hurting an elbow.

…

Whelan, 22, was 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA and 27 saves for Class A Lakeland. Claggett, 22, was 7-2 with an 0.91 ERA and 14 saves for Class A West Michigan.

Now the Tigers are giving up one more young arm for what may be a one year rental. When will the Tigers run out of young pitchers to trade?

Q: Does this mean the Red Sox are off the hook for Renteria’s salary?
A: According to ESPN, when Boston traded Renteria to Atlanta after the 2005 season, they agreed to “pay $8 million of the $26 million Renteria is owed for the next three seasons. In addition, the Red Sox must pay the $3 million buyout if his $11 million option for 2009 is declined.”

Sarah tells me the Sox paid $3 million to the Braves in 2007 to help with Renteria’s contract. And Boston was scheduled to pitch in some more money in 2008. But I don’t know if the Sox will now be sending money to Detroit, or if they’re done paying for Renteria. Anybody out there know something about this?

I bet the most “free-spirited” pitcher to wear a Red Sox uniform since Spaceman Lee is wishing he’d never kicked up his heels after clinching the division title. An encore was demanded after the Sox clinched pennant, when Papelbon added a pair of diving goggles and a cigar to the routine. Now, Boston’s mayor is demanding that the closer perform at least once more, at tomorrow’s parade:

“He promised the people he would do the dance,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said today at a press conference at City Hall, “and he will do the dance.”

And it should be noted that while the Associated Press is usually quite meticulous, the headline going out with this article isn’t quite accurate:

PAPELBON TO WEAR DANCING SHOES FOR TUESDAY PARADE

The AP should know by now: when Paps dances, he kicks his shoes off.

You may not know this, but back on October 19th, the Kansas City Royals named Trey Hillman as their new manager (the news was rudely overshadowed by the Boston Red Sox who insisted on playing Game 6 of their series against the Indians the following day, thus putting themselves above the game of baseball). So who’s Trey Hillman, you ask? Well, even if you didn’t ask, I’m going to tell you.

Hillman was last employed by a MLB team in 2002, when the Texas Rangers appointed him as Director of Player Development, and was a manager in the Yankees farm system for eleven years prior. For the last five years, though, Hillman was on the other side of the earth, managing the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Nippon Professional Baseball league. And no, the team name is not the “Ham Fighters”. It’s just the Fighters. Nippon Ham is a company that owns the club. And yes, they make ham. Let’s move on.

Hillman had much success managing the Fighters, winning the NPB title in 2006. And somewhere along the line, he became a cult icon. As Joe Posnanski writes, “They love Hillman in Japan”. (By the way, even Bobby Valentine has a huge fanbase over there. In fact, Valentine has a hamburger named after him called “Bobby Burger”, which is sold at the fast-food chain Lotteria. The burger apparently has cheese, barbecue sauce, and a pineapple.)

Hillman even has a restaurant dedicated to him in Sapporo (where the Fighters play) called Hillman’s Hangout, which according to the website is an “American-style Bar & Grill”. The Hangout had its grand opening on October 11th! Then eight days later, it was announced that Hillman was leaving Japan to manage the Royals… Ouch…

But if you’re ever in the Sapporo-neighborhood and get a hankering for an Onion Loaf with a Thousand Island sauce, stop on by to Hillman’s Hangout. Tell them UmpBump sent you (and you will most likely receive some puzzled looks).