It wasn’t all that long ago that premier A’s blog Athletics Nation was wondering if Billy Beane wasn’t losing his touch, and a majority of voters in their poll said that Brian Sabean of all people was “out-GMing” Beane this offseason.

But now, in the fullness of time, Beane’s offseason is looking pretty good. Beane has completely rebuilt an offense that was among the worst last year by adding sluggers Matt Holiday and Jason Giambi, upgrading significantly at shortstop from Bobby Crosby to Orlando Cabrera, and now bringing in Nomar Garciaparra cheaply as a bat off the bench.

Beane was desperate to acquire a shortstop to replace Bobby Crosby, who can’t stay healthy and can’t keep his OBP above .300, but by holding the line on Rafael Furcal and waiting out everyone else, he was able to not only sign Cabrera to an unbelievably low 1-year, $4 million deal, but also had enough cash left over to get reliever Russ Springer and Nomar.

Who would have thought that Cabrera would have gotten only $4 million back at the start of the offseason, before the bottom fell out of the free agent market? It’s hard to blame Sabean too much, but his 2-year, $18.5 million pact with Edgar Renteria sure is looking pretty silly now, since Cabrera is probably actually the better player at short.

The Nomar signing is also very crafty, especially at such a low cost. The only real skill that Nomar still has left is that he absolutely crushes left-handed pitchers (1.067 OPS against them last season), and this fits perfectly with the A’s who remain one of the most heavily left-handed hitting teams in the majors (Cust, Ryan Sweeney, Giambi, Eric Chavez, Jack Hannahan, Daric Barton, and Travis Buck all bat left handed). Plus Nomar can still manage defensively at 1B and 3B, which are two positions where the A’s still have some uncertainty.

A lot still depends on a young and untested rotation stepping up, but as the dust finally settles, the A’s project as about an 84 win team right now. With the Angels expected to come back down to normal Pythagorean levels this season, they project as an 87 win team, so it should be a more interesting year in the AL West than many people expect.

If the Dodgers want to win in the NL West, they’ll have to run a very tight pitching ship as their offense is below the fold in almost all categories (nearing rock-bottom in RBIs for instance) and not looking to improve much in the next two weeks. Much of that offensive mediocrity, however, can be credited to the fact that three of the major (would-be) run producers and scorers in the team are on the DL. Nomar Garciaparra is out with a bad calf (and the genetic disorder that prevents it from healing quicker), Andruw Jones is coming off knee surgery to repair torn cartilage, and Rafael Furcal has been battling a stiff back for almost two months now. All three are scheduled to beign rehab assignemnts with Triple A Las Vegas on Monday.

So far the Dodgers have managed to remain two and a half games behind first-place Arizona (albeit with a 37-42 record) due in part to the strong pitching from (of all people) Chan Ho Park, who’s 1-0 in three starts with a 1.20 ERA (after being in the pen to start the year) and Eric Stults (2-0, 0.60 ERA). Manager Joe Torre wants to up the ante, announcing a six-man rotation after Hiroki Kourda comes off the DL, and specifically because of Stults’ results (trying saying that three times!).

I doubt the Dodgers will be buyers in the trade market, if only because they’ve already got a bloated payroll with nothing to show for it. In fact, they’ve been having “cryptic meetings” with Derek Lowe and his agent, Scott Boras, and its their young’uns that are producing (like Andre Ethier above).

Maybe if the coerce a few more wins out of Lowe and Chad Billingsley, and if they get their superstars back from Triple A rehab stints soon enough (not to mention the eventual return of Brad Penny and Jason Schmidt – but don’t hold your breath on Schmidt), they might be able to hold on to make it interesting in the NL West.

- What They Need Index -

So Bobby Jenks tied the MLB record for consecutive batters faced and retired. Former Giants pitcher Jim Barr held the record on his own, (he retired 41 straight and won two complete game shut-outs in the process). For one, Barr isn’t upset that Jenks could brake his record tonight.

On Monday afternoon, the former Giants pitcher didn’t seem too distressed by the prospect of imminent dismissal from the spot he has occupied in the major-league record book for 35 years. At least, that’s what he told John Smith, the head baseball coach at Sacramento State, where Barr has mentored the pitchers for the past 13 years.

“He called to see if I was in mourning,” Barr, now 59, said over the phone. “And I said no, I knew what was going on, but it doesn’t bother me.”

Well, at least us White Sox fans have something to root for, even if the team keeps losing in the process. We could cheer as Ozzie mounts a challenge to Bobby Cox’s newly-set record for ejections.

On with the links:

• Your 2006 Major League Baseball Comeback Player of the Year is injured… again.

• Dan Connolly of the Balitmore Sun is impressed by Scott Boras (and Boras, Inc. HQ).

• The Nats signed a high school pitcher that goes by the name of Smoker.

• Here come the St. Louis Cardinals to take over the NL Central, led by the feel-good story of the year in Rick Ankiel, and Cy-Young award candidate… Kip Wells?!

• The Indians are sellouts for selling Yankee memorabilia at the Jake. Hell Yea they sold out (and cashed in).

• Terrence Moore, the sports columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a friendly chat with Jack McKeon. The former Marlins manager doesn’t think the Braves can win it all. Terrence, of course, doesn’t agree:

Although Jack McKeon is wrong about the next king of the National League East, the accomplished manager of yore is right about everything else along the way to the divisional throne.

Gee, Terrence, how can you be so sure the Braves will win the Pennant?

I mean, with apologies to McKeon, the Braves will overcome Andruw Jones’ microscopic batting average. They will survive the significant holes on their pitching staff. They will discover ways to have as much energy in the division against the little boys of Florida and Washington as they do against the big boys of New York and Philadelphia. They will return tonight to Turner Field against the San Francisco Giants after splitting six games on the road with the Mets and the Phillies to sharpen their focus for the stretch drive.

They will win the division.

Over the past 4 or 5 years, Nomar Garciaparra could always be counted on to do two things.  Hit like a maniac when he was healthy and not be healthy very often.

But this season Nomar is having a decidedly un-Nomar-like season.  As far as anyone can tell, he seems to be perfectly healthy, to everyone’s amazement, but he is also not hitting .350, also to everyone’s amazement.  He’s not even close.

As of this writing, Nomar is batting, .273 with a .313 on-base percentage and a .333 slugging percentage, which makes him one of the worst everyday first baseman in the Major Leagues. This past week he was even benched two games in a row in favor of James Loney.

It’s not that Nomar is slumping, particularly. He shows up every day and gets one hit every night. But he is hitting for no power, and not drawing any walks.  Not that Nomar ever drew many walks, but people tended not to notice that little fact back when he used to bat .350, giving him an OBP in the .380s.

All of which has us Dodgers fans wishing Nomar would get back to being the injury-prone masher he used to be.

Because you’d much rather have two amazing months with a first baseman OPS’ing over 1.000 and four months of DL than an entire year with a first baseman who posts an OPS of .646.

I have been waiting for this day ever since I heard Nomar Garciaparra, who was then the beloved shortstop of the Boston Red Sox, and Mia Hamm, who was then the idol of every soccer-playing girl in the Western Hemisphere (including this one), were an item.

Like two champion racehorses carefully selected for speed, agility, and bone strength, Nomar and Mia have produced two infants of prodigious athletic ability. The twins, whose dam surely spent the gestation carefully monitoring her intake of folic acid, calcium, and whey protein, are expected to hit .400, leap tall buildings in a single bound, and start speaking in about two years. With Garciaparra as their sire, however, doctors should carefully monitor their tendons.

From the AP:

LOS ANGELES –Former soccer star Mia Hamm, wife of Dodgers first baseman Nomar Garciaparra, delivered twin girls late Tuesday.

“Both are healthy and over five pounds,” Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said, adding the births took place in the Los Angeles area.

While 5 lbs may not seem like much, we must take into account that at 3% bodyfat, the tykes are still in the 99th percentile for their age (1 day). Moreover, there’s nothing wrong with them that a little time and HGH won’t cure.

So the Social Security set of Major League Baseball continues to rake it in.

On the heels of the Dodgers throwing $18.5 million for two years at old-for-his-age Nomar Garciaparra (a rickety 33), other teams continue to add past-their-prime stars to their rosters.

Greying Mike Mussina (38) re-upped with the Yankees for a slightly less than he was making before ($23 million for two years, as compared with $88.5 million over six).

The Mets have hired Moises Alou (40) for the year, paying him $8.5 million for his services at the plate and in left field. And in a formality, they declined their option on Tom Glavine (41), who is vacillating between staying in New York and going home to Atlanta. Earlier this year, they re-signed Orlando Hernandez (41) and Jose Valentin (37), and added Damion Easley (37) to their bench. Next to fellow benchwarmer Julio Franco, these veterans all look like mere pups. The first baseman (and 1990 All-Star Game MVP!) is 48.

The Reds signed lefty reliever Mike Stanton (39) to a $5 million, two-year deal with a $2.5 mill option for 2009. And, of course, the Tigers earlier gave up young pitching for 38-year old Gary Sheffield, while rumors continue to swirl around 42-year old Barry Bonds.

That makes the biggest deal to get finalized this offseason, Alfonso Soriano’s $136 million with the Cubs, also the youngest. The infielder-turned-outfielder is just a couple months shy of his 31st birthday and will be 39 when his deal with the Cubbies runs out. (Though, as Nick pointed out, he hits like he’s ten years younger, so maybe the Cubs were just confused. Or drunk.)

Free agents are signing faster and earlier than ever before as teams look to lock up coveted players in what looks to be the hottest market in several years.

Sunday news broke that the Cubs signed Alfonso Soriano to a ridiculous 8-year contract worth $136 million that also reportedly includes a full no-trade clause. The Cubs probably feel grateful that they were able to get this year’s number one free agent for only $17 million per year when many were predicting he would command more than $20 million per, but I have to question tying the team’s fate to a player for that long when said player has yet to learn plate discipline at age 30 and is still living off his “young player” skills of speed and bat speed, yet will be 38 years old at the end of this contract. Once Soriano’s speed gives way and his bat starts to slow but he still doesn’t know how to take a walk, I can only imagine the Cubs will regret this contract. Unless they win a World Series or something.

Another scary contract that came down the pipe today was the Dodgers signing Nomar Garciaparra to a two-year, $18 million pact. Although Garciaparra won the Comeback Player of the Year award for sorta playing a whole season after years of injury woes, he certainly didn’t shake the “injury-prone” label this season, playing through serious injuries to his rib cage, oblique, and calf that all caused him to miss time and to hobble around even when he did play. And this was all with Garciaparra playing first base to avoid injury! What’s so scary about these injuries is that none of them happened on any specific play like a dive or a slide – they just sort of randomly cropped up for no reason. That is the definition of “injury-prone.” And with the Dodgers hoping to move Garciaparra back to third base (a more physically demanding position than first) to make room for prospect James Loney, we are likely to see many more strange muscle tears and ligament sprains troubling an increasingly brittle Nomar over the next two years.

From an MLB press release:

Nomar Garciaparra of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Jim Thome of the Chicago White Sox are the recipients of the 2006 Major League Baseball Comeback Player of the Year Award presented by Viagra® (sildenafil citrate), it was announced today.

Coincidentally, there was this other release:

While trying to leg out an infield single in Game 2 on Thursday night, Garciaparra partially tore his left quad muscle, which he had previously strained. He will try to be Kirk Gibson for the rest of this postseason, however, since he is unable to run — let alone start — Garciaparra will likely be limited to selective pinch-hitting duties. Teammates and club officials issued words of appreciation for his unselfish efforts.

For all you newbies, we here at umpbump have hinted at such a Gibson / Garciaparra allusion.

Honestly, though, I shouldn’t be hoping for such late-inning heroics if I want my predix [see previous post] to have any resemblance to what’s actually going on. So let’s not stretch things.

Btw; it seems my fellow umpbumers have taken a temporary leave, deciding to unilaterally assign all blogging duties to me. So, deal with it.