1. Mets
Even Mets great Darryl Strawberry chimed in with an assessment of the Mets’ offseason Tuesday night, diplomatically summing it up by saying it “could have been better.”
No kidding.
While the Mets signed the big hitter they sought in Jason Bay on a reasonable $66-million price (at least compared to Matt Holliday’s $120-million deal), they mostly imported a collection of backup catchers like Henry Blanco and Chris Coste, comfortable old friends like Alex Cora and Fernando Tatis and question marks like Kelvim Escobar. The result is that they will take a paper-thin rotation into spring along with a slew of unproven catchers and tons of other questions.
They could have had Joel Piniero for $18 million over two years and surely Bengie Molina for $10 million over two (Molina was the bigger loss in my estimation, since he’s a catcher with power and a rep for handling a young staff), but they played hardball with each and are left lacking at both key positions.
They were also stuck with Luis Castillo at second after spending weeks trying to trade him so they could make a run at Orlando Hudson. But the topper to a soap-operatic offseason has to be their public fight with star center fielder Carlos Beltran for having a knee surgery all sides agreed was a good idea. Now that’s not a good idea.

8. Braves
They were remarkably cheap this winter, and the result is a rotation diminished by the loss of Javier Vazquez and a lineup that still needs another big hitter. Melky Cabrera was the only immediate help received for Vazquez, who was brilliant last year. Troy Glaus could prove to be a $2 million bargain, and Eric Hinske seems to be a lucky charm (he played for the AL champion the past three seasons). They also got former All-Star closer Takashi Saito. Meanwhile, the real goal had been to trade Derek Lowe so they could free up money for the much-needed impact bat. Unfortunately for them, there were no takers. Billy Wagner is a fair replacement for Rafael Soriano (though at this point, I’d take Soriano). But overall, there was no discernible improvement.

3. Dodgers
The newly divided Dodgers and their divorcing owners couldn’t afford to risk going to arbitration with Randy Wolf, couldn’t quite afford Piniero and could do no better or their staff than bring back Vicente Padilla and Jeff Weaver, leaving plenty of rotation questions. Veteran infielder Jamey Carroll, solid-hitting infielder Ronnie Belliard, utilityman Alfredo Amezaga, catching pro Brad Ausmus, underrated outfielder Reed Johnson and rotation longshot Ramon Ortiz were signed, all useful players that are less than marquee men for the storied franchise. GM Ned Colletti wisely locked up their best young players, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Chad Billinsgley and Jonathan Broxton, avoiding any more bitterness for an organization that’s run by baseball’s version of the War of the Roses.

It’s a long article, but a good read.  Verducci provides numbers to show the disproportionate home-field advantage enjoyed by domed teams, including specifics about Manning and the Colts and Brees and the Saints.  Here is the upshot………… 

So welcome to the new NFL and a Super Bowl that defines the massive changes that have hit football. This is the matchup wrought by the Age of Domes. Forget what you learned about defense winning championships; there are 17 teams with better defenses than the Colts and Saints sitting at home.
Instead, we have two teams that spread the field and leveraged crowd noise and benign conditions to get here. The Colts and Saints played 25 of their 36 combined games indoors, going 22-3 in those games. They played 33 of their 36 games in temperatures of 56 degrees or warmer, rolling to a 31-5 record in such pleasant conditions. In the three games they actually played in cold weather — 36, 30 and 12 degrees — they went 1-2.
The Colts and the Saints deserve to be there at the Super Bowl. They are the best at how today’s NFL game is played.

The reason I am posting this here is because Verducci also talks about domed teams and home-field advantage in MLB, singling out the Twins, who are moving to an outdoor stadium this season (as Pete noted).  Check this out……….

The Minnesota Twins will lose one of the greatest homefield advantages in baseball this year when they move from the Metrodome to Target Field, an outdoor ballpark. The Metrodome’s white ceiling, fast turf and tricky lighting played havoc on opponents. The Twins played .541 baseball in the Metrodome since 1982 and .441 baseball elsewhere, a 27 percent greater home/road split than the major league average in those years. Over the past decade, here are the biggest home/road splits in baseball from 2000-2009:

Team:            Home/Road/Diff
Tampa           .504/.355/.169
Colorado      .557/.391/.166
Minnesota   .587/.478/.109
Pittsburgh   .475/.367/.108
Montreal/   .490/.388/.102
Washington

The top five homefield advantages include three domes and a ballpark at high altitude — venues well outside the norm. The Twins’ home/road splits are likely to be more in line with major league averages over the next decade simply by moving outside.

I do like the White Sox rotation, as would anyone, but I’m hesitant to write off the Tigers.  One of the reasons is that as sick of Matt Holliday talk as I got, as sick of Johnny Damon talk as I got, the fact of the matter is that Damon is still out there, and I think he’d fit nicely in Detroit, and there is talk of a match.  Damon’s baserunning in the Series is still fresh in my mind, as are his 2 homers in the ALCS in 04 in 1 game.  He’s a real solid contributor wherever he winds up, and I think Detroit is as good a guess as any.  I also recall the way the Tigers blew the division last year, and I suspect that’s a motivator.

Speaking of things that people are sick of, Rueben pleaded his case again in the press Tuesday morning on why it was right to trade Cliff Lee.  Tim Dierkes, who I believe runs MLBTradeRumors.com, and I believe to be very knwledgable posted this today…

<<Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. further explained his rationale behind the Cliff Lee trade, reports Scott Lauber of The News Journal.  Amaro’s reasoning didn’t sway my opinion; none of the three prospects he received are in Keith Law’s top 100 (though Ramirez is #101).  The long-term value of Phillippe Aumont, J.C. Ramirez, and Tyson Gillies should not outweigh the extra 4-5 wins Lee would’ve provided in 2010.  And did Amaro even shop Lee around for the best package? >>

I’m very anxious to see history prove him wrong, mostly through the development of Phillippe Aumont.  Only time will tell if this was a right move, but until proven otherwise, I remain on board with Rueben.

Speaking of money, Jayson Stark wrote an article last week in which he claimed that money, specifically revenue-sharing, could be the most volatile issue standing in the way of the next labor deal.

It seems that the big-budget teams who pay the most into the revenue-sharing pool (Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, Mets) are now pointing fingers at the small-budget teams (Pirates, Royals, Marlins, Padres, Blue Jays) who receive this money without “improving their performance on the field”, like the Basic Agreement requires them to.

Anyway, back in 2006, I watched a lot of games between the Twins, White Sox, and Tigers on MLB Extra Innings.  Great race and a lot of good ball between them that year.  This was when Liriano burst onto the scene.  Looked like he was really going to be something.  Now the Twins are hoping he still can be.   BTW, I am also glad that Thome ended up with the Twins.

The Royals are a puzzler.  Signing Kendall, Podsednik, and Ankiel kind of deviates from the blueprint, doesn’t it?

As I was reading your summary of the Tigers, I was reminded of an article I read last fall (Sept. 22nd) in Sports Illustrated.  It went on at length about how, even though Detroit has been very hard hit by the economic downturn, the Tigers are doing OK…………

The sweetest image of this baseball season is the sight of Comerica Park, filled from the box seats to the bleachers. At the end of spring training, the unemployment rate in metro Detroit had climbed to 23%, the average home price fell below $12,000, and the Tigers calculated that season-ticket sales were down 13,000. Corporate sponsorships and luxury-suite sales were also taking a hit. “I was here in 2003, when we lost 119 games, and a lot of nights this stadium felt like an empty cathedral,” says third baseman Brandon Inge. “I expected it to be like that again.” Anybody familiar with the economics of baseball could envision how the summer would play out: Paltry attendance would lead to slashed payroll and a second straight last-place finish. “My only hope,” says centerfielder Curtis Granderson, “was that people wouldn’t go on vacation to Orlando or California and would come to our games instead.”

Comerica Park may be located in the heart of the majors’ most depressed market, but you wouldn’t know it on game days. Former Tigers outfielder Willie Horton, who used to deliver newspapers as a boy on Woodward Avenue, walks the street before games and gets chills as he sees buses full of fans rolling in from as far away as Toronto, Toledo and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. At CZ’s Sports, a souvenir shop bordering the stadium, part-owner Ernest Carr estimates that his profits are up almost 40% from last year due to the team’s improved record. 

  Of course that was last year and they were winning.  It may prove very difficult to sustain it in 2010, especially if they aren’t in the race.