David Price has been called up.

Price was dominant in a short amount of time during the Rays’ 2008 Cinderella season, including a win in Game 2 and a save in Game 7 against the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS.

The lefty was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, and has been proving his worth to the Rays and their Triple A affiliate Durham ever since. He’ll be replacing Scott Kazmir on the roster, who went on the disabled list with a right quad injury, joining closer Troy Percival (shoulder) and second baseman Akinori Iwamura (knee).  Price’s timing couldn’t be better.

With a 23-23 record, the Rays are fourth in the AL East, behind the always dominant Red Sox, the surprise Blue Jays and surging Yankees. It’s early in the season still, but a repeat of 2008 is already looking doubtful for the Rays. A strong push now may be the only thing that prevents Tampa from returning to form.

Price will face off against Cleveland’s Fausto Carmona, who is 2-4 in 2009 with a 5.74 ERA. Carmona’s last win came against the Rays on May 14 when he allowed four runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Price’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM ET, plus the top of the first inning.

The New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez hit two homers in an extended spring training game, played some third base, and probably ruing any mention of Selena Roberts’ new book, “A-Rod,” which alleges many things like Rodriguez taking steroids in high school, as well as with the New York Yankees despite A-Rod saying he only did steroids during his tenure with the Texas Rangers, and also accuses him of tipping pitches to opposing hitters, which is probably the worst of all allegations.  So, yes, Rodriguez is primed to return!  Possibly even this Friday!

Considering the valid hulaballoo regarding the new Yankee Stadium and all of the baseballs going yard, can you imagine how many home runs Rodriguez will end up accumulating despite missing several weeks of the season?  And it seems it doesn’t even matter if he’s not juiced because everyone is hitting them out.  How about all of the media sure to bum-rush A-Rod upon his return?  Like it’s going to be any different than it is now?  Rodriguez is already under the microscope 24/7 and he seems to have this Barry Bonds sort of denial about him, but not really denial… more like, let’s talk about something else, wave of the hand sort of gesture.  The guy is just not going to say anything anymore, especially considering how bad he is at lying, so mass media, have at it!

But, you should all read Jim Caple’s defense of A-Rod for a view of all things A-Rod that I agree with.

This American League East season preview will be full of surprises… NOT!  Guess what kids, the New York Yankees spent a ton of money during the offseason, primarily on free agent pitchers C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and hitter of the winter that had every team salivating, Mark Teixeira.  Also, Alex Rodriguez was in the news again for his off-field shenanigans, including kissing himself in the mirror, which I find nothing wrong in doing, but hey, we all can’t be egoists.  In any case, despite spending a boatload of bucks again, the Yankees were actually getting a lot of money off the books and were simply replacing those dollars in other players.  Hopefully, these players pay off as the Yankees have not won a World Series since 2000 and the recent track record of throwing money towards “superstar” players have not gotten the Yanks any rings.  Will it pay off this season?  It better.

Apparently, Alex Rodriguez did some steroids back when his sport had a “Don’t Ask - Don’t Tell” policy about performance enhancing drugs. In retrospect, it’s hardly surprising that the world’s most competitive baseball players did something that was not being tested for in an effort to get ahead. Imagine how angry you would be if you were one of the best players in the game watching all the rest of the guys pad their stats and their wallets at your expense.

But this is more than being a steroid user apologist. What they did was illegal and wrong, in the end. How do we evaluate them against each other when it’s time to decide on the Hall of Fame? The numbers are almost certainly not clean on either side of the ball, so what sort of standard should we use in our deliberations of their possible drug effects on numbers around the leagues?

It’s not as simple as just taking 10% off the top. It would be nice to say that, in an effort to compare players of their own era, we’d come up with new benchmarks. Instead of 500 homers, we may have to put automatic entrance at 600 homers. We’d call it the Mark McGwire rule for good measure. But then what do we do about Rafael Palmeiro? He had multiple MVPs, 3000 hits, and 569 home runs… and one failed test after the program was in place. So our rubric needs some work, eh?

Something is wrong in baseball. There is no doubt about it. Does the economy alone explain the players that are still available after the new year? 

Useful parts like Eric Hinske, Joe Crede, and Jim Edmonds often have to wait until spring training to get a job. They are used to waiting around until teams decide they have a need and have a chance to compete and need to fill a spot with a veteran. The fact that these guys are still available doesn’t seem to really point to any core problem with the system.

“Stars” like Manny Ramirez, Adam Dunn, Derek Lowe, Bobby Abreu, and Oliver Perez are also often out of work at this time of the year. It’s not that they can’t get a job. No, this class of player has a highly disputed value. The player and their agent are steadily manipulating general managers and the media, trying to get the offers in line with what they feel is commensurate with the production of the player. Manny already had a 2-year, $45 million dollar offer, and Lowe has turned down 3 years and $36 million from the Mets. Those numbers still represent raises over what the player earned last year, so inflation in the steady rise of veteran’s pay is still in effect.

So why is there obviously a problem?

In a word, Orlando Cabrera.

There’s a lot of talk going around that the New York Yankees are killing baseball. They are outspending everyone, other general managers whine. They just bought the best hitter and the two best pitchers on the market! What are we supposed to do?

Get over it. The free market is the best way to go. Football has parity, but it’s almost ridiculous how quickly teams change. There’s no team identity from year to year, and very few trades (which are exciting for the fans). Basketball has an interesting mix of continuity and parity, but figuring out a deal in basketball is more a question of math than a negotiation of teams with needs. The maximum salary slots also create a sub-class of overvalued stars that just get shipped from team to team as the league waits for their bloated contract to expire (think Al Harrington).

No, the system baseball has is, for the most part, the best way to go. Teams have a chance of winning every year - just look at the small market teams that have found postseason success over the past five years (the Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins and even the Detroit Tigers have used revenue-sharing dollars to good use). Blockbuster trades happen almost every year, and the baseball trade deadline is the most exciting deadline in sports. The state of the game is strong, despite the Yankee’s spending a good $70 million a year more than the second-most extravagant team.

A salary cap would just give these billionaire baseball owners more money - and they are the richest owners in major league sports. Using a revenue-sharing system to penalize the Yankees for their huge payroll is not a terrible system - provided, of course, that the smaller market teams actually use the money for good use. And that’s where the problem lies. The Florida Marlins are the team that should be shouldering your complaints. Some of the numbers are staggering.

A few thoughts on whether the New York Yankees should sign Manny Ramirez.

First, the bad news… and we know it by heart. Manny being Manny. Petulant, moody, a proverbial thorn in the side of teammates, owners, and general managers. Pick your favorite verb or phrase and apply it. No question - he brings a lot of baggage with him. What to do? Grin and bear it.

Stats tell the whole story and Manny has a truckload of ‘em. A lifetime batting average of .314, 527 homers, 1212 career walks and a career slugging percentage of .593. Ten out of 15 seasons hitting .300+. Hits in the clutch, hits for average, hits for power. He is the best hitter since Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs, the scourge of pitchers in both leagues, and a first ballot Hall of Famer. He made the Cleveland Indians a contender, helped the Boston Red Sox win two World Series and led the Los Angeles Dodgers to the playoffs on the strength of .399 hitting.

Forget all the hoopla and remarks about Manny being Manny. It has nothing to do with his talent. He won’t win any popularity contests, but Manny does his real talking where it counts - at the plate. Everything else is more grist for the mill. At age 37, Manny is now approaching the end of his career, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing him down. Just look at the numbers he posted for the Dodgers. A .399 average, 17 homers, 53 runs batted in, a .489 on base percentage.  This writer’s stance on what the Yankees should do is a mere bag of shells. Do what it takes to sign him. If Manny wants two years, give it to him. If he wants an exorbitant amount of money, give it to him. Manny is no cakewalk in the clubhouse and he’ll require a ton of patience, but he is a proven winner.

The Cleveland Indians signed closer Kerry Wood to a reasonable contract: two guaranteed years at $20.5 million with an option year that only vests if he finishes 55 games in one of the two years. They protected themselves against an albatross of a contract in case his shoulder blows out again, and they got him below market rates: both things that a small market team needs to do.

Along with trading for Joe Smith, and previous holdovers Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, Masa Kobayashi and Jensen Lewis, the Indians bullpen looks, on the surface, like a revamped and solid bully that could become a strength for this team.

So why the headline? Why does this seem so futile? Why does every GM count the bullpen as an area needing improvement in the offseason? Why do some bullpens that look good going into the season turn into bullpens of horror?

Because the bullpen is the single most volatile sector of any team. Why don’t we go down the list of bullpen candidates in Cleveland and detail their dark side?

It took some fancy footwork and a bundle of buckaroos but the New York Yankees landed top pitching free agent, C.C. Sabathia, to a record shattering seven-year $161 million dollar contract. The Steinbrenners and general manager Brian Cashman enlisted the help of Hall of Famer and former Yankees great Reggie Jackson to ice the deal. Reggie of course was only too happy to - pardon the pun - “pitch” his glory days in the Bronx to Sabathia. Well, it’s the thought that counts, right? Go waving around a $23 million dollar a year contract and it’s a pretty safe bet that that player’s agent will recommend that his client sign on the dotted line.

Javier Vazquez was traded from the Chicago White Sox to the Atlanta Braves today and the balance of power shifted in the National League East.

Okay, nothing quite so impressive happened. And the reports differ on who the Braves gave up - was it Tyler Flowers, the brawny powerful catcher with great on-base ability that was the cornerstone of the deal? Or was it Jo-Jo Reyes, the mercurial lefty with poor results so far in the major leagues? The reports agree that speedy infielder Brent Lillibridge is in the deal either way, but Lillibridge doesn’t sting too much, as he’s struggled to reclaim his former top prospect status since hitting the high minors. And the remaining players will surely be long-shots from the low minors.

In order to really get at whether or not this trade was worth it, let’s assume the more expensive trade, the one with Flowers, is the real trade. Was it worth giving up a top offensive catcher prospect for two years of Javier Vazquez?

Okay, not quite million dollar arms, but a California sports marketing group has found a $100,000 arm. And a $2,500 left-handed arm as well.
Confused? Seems like equal parts Hail Mary and brilliant strategy, but an Indian reality show joined the marketing group in trying to find major league arms in India, a country with no baseball infrastructure whatsoever. The idea was that one man in a country of a billion would own the natural ability to throw a baseball 85 miles per hour (roughly the speed of Greg Maddux’s fastball - last year).

Seems like a reasonable idea, doesn’t it? I mean, the overall talent level in baseball has taken a huge leap forward ever since the doors were opened and talent was cultivated throughout Latin America and South America and Japan. Baseball talent has found its way to the top in countries around the world and slowly crept towards America, and they’ve broken stereotypes along the way. We’ve had all sorts of hitters and pitchers from around the world. The World Baseball Classic is opening further doors around the world. And in a country of 1 billion, you’d think there be all sorts of baseball talent teeming just under the surface in India.

Philadelphia Phillies 2B Chase Utley will rehabilitate from hip surgery for a significant amount of time.  How significant will be determined by what the surgeons see this week when Utley undergoes his surgery, but it’s pretty much a given that he will miss the beginning of the 2009 MLB season.  If the surgery relieves Utley of pain, a month won’t matter much for, arguably, the Phillies’ best player (with others arguing for former MVPs Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins).  It’s hard to choose who Philadelphia’s best player is, but considering Utley’s last four season averages (.305 BA; 28.8 HR; 103.5 RBI; 110.3 R; 13.5 SB) at a thin position, you’re not going to find stats like Utley’s, which makes him very valuable.  However, the Phils won’t have him to start, but they probably only care that he finishes the season with them… as late as late October 2009.

Fantasy Baseball Impact: Luckily, in fantasy baseball, there is such a thing as the disabled list in real baseball, which Utley will surely go on.  So, if you draft Utley, you can stash him on your team’s DL and wait for him to get back on the field and wreck havoc at the plate like he has been the past several seasons.  However, the question is, where do you draft Chase Utley?  Well, we’ll have to wait and see how long he’ll have to rehab, but depending on the size of your league, you will probably have to “stretch” for him in the second round, especially if he’ll only be out a month of the regular season.  If, worst case scenario, Utley doesn’t come back until June, somewhere in the late third/early fourth round sounds about right.  Crazy, isn’t it?  To grab a guy who could be out three months in the third or fourth round?  But, that’s how good Utley is.

The latest news from the owners’ meetings is the bidding war between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for Toronto Blue Jays hurler A.J. Burnett. No one needs to be reminded that there’s no love lost between Boston and New York and this is one deal that’s shaping up to be a no-holds barred free-for-all. No word yet on what each team has offered Burnett, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Hank and Hal Steinbrenner will not allow Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein to outbid them for Burnett’s services.

Mike Mussina decided to retire today, and in the Northeast, there’s no doubt. He’s a future Hall of Famer.

But all of this because he finally won 20 games? After two decades of consistent elite performance, why did a random number make so much difference? Well, the answer of course is that voters and much of the general public are a little too conscious of the ‘counting’ stats. How many home runs did he have? How many wins? Case closed.

Mussina has 270 wins in his 18 year career, an average of 15 wins per season. He has a career 3.68 ERA and 1.19 WHIP.  He’s only finished in the top three for the Cy Young once. So, no real hardware, no eye-popping statistics, no Hall of Fame - or so goes the story. But, let’s take a deeper look.

The C.C. Sabathia Stakes are underway. Qualifications are as follows: 1) Teams are required to have deep pockets for competitive bidding. 2) Team owners and general managers must have an abundance of patience while C.C. shops around for a lucrative multi-year deal. 3) California and National League teams get bidding preference. Sabathia is a native Californian and has expressed a desire to pitch for a Golden State team. Same deal for NL squads—pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers made C.C. an NL convert. 4) Major market teams also get a leg up by virtue of the fact that they attract lots of fans and rake in major advertising revenues.

The New York Yankees are flexing their money muscles as they have already offered free-agent pitcher, C.C. Sabathia, a substantial contract that rivals Johan Santana’s six-year $137.5 million contract signed last offseason after a trade from the Minnesota Twins to the New York Mets.  Sabathia, the gem this offseason of pitching free-agents, will be getting offers, or at least interest, from many MLB teams, but at this point, no one can compete with the Yankees’ money.  It’s known that Sabathia, a California native, would rather go to Cali and hit in the National League.  However, will the lure of the almighty dollar be enough for Sabathia to say no to where he really wants to go?

It seems like every Hot Stove Season, the dumb rumors start to fly. Maybe it’s just a little worse in New York City, but here are some of the ideas that have been floating on chat boards and talk shows in the tri-state region:

Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera & Ian Kennedy for Josh Hamilton
Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera & Ian Kennedy for Jake Peavy
Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera & Ian Kennedy for Matt Holliday

Sense a pattern here? My flotsam and jetsam for your prized prospect currently being paid at under-market rates. I suppose this kind of thing goes on everywhere, but how dumb can you get? Are these the people in our fantasy leagues that are dropping their turds on your doorstep in trade proposals for your best players?

The Washington Nationals traded for left-hander Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham from the Florida Marlins for second baseman Emilio Bonifacio, first baseman Jake Smolinski, and righty P.J. Dean. While Bonifacio is a solid defensive second baseman with some on-base ability and tons of speed, and Smolinski may yet be a good hitter one day, this trade seems lopsided in the Nationals’ favor. Smolinski is only 19 years old and in his first 390 at-bats, has just five professional home runs. Bonifacio has no power. P.J. Dean has fifteen starts under his belt.

In the other corner, we have a solid major league left-handed pitcher with some upside still at 24 years old, and an everyday left fielder with middle-of-the-order power and a career .800+ OPS (not to mention his 62 homers in the past three years). Three young prospects with limited upside for two major league regulars controlled at under-market prices for at least the next couple of years - that seems like a slam dunk, even for an embattled GM like Jim Bowden.

Unfortunately, this deal really doesn’t make much sense for both sides in the end.