Opinion

Pots atop the Hot Stove have been boiling furiously over the past few days.

Jason Bay signed with the Mets. Adrian Beltre signed with the Red Sox. Matt Holliday is nearing a contract with the Cardinals. The market’s best offerings are suddenly disappearing.

Lost in all this was the news about the Cleveland Indians.

After three months of ranking among the most stagnant teams in baseball, the Tribe has quietly signed two free agents in 24 hours.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m the same guy who said heading into last season that I thought the Red Sox had made enough savvy moves to challenge the Yankees for the pennant.

Not quite. My prediction that cost-effective reclamation projects such as John Smoltz and Brad Penny would pay serious dividends landed somewhere between woefully off base and numbingly stupid.

So take what you will from this: I really like the team the Sox are preparing to roll out in 2010.

Congratulations to the Mets. After all those other teams' offseason signings where Omar Minaya appeared to be sleeping (literally), the Mets finally made a move, signing former Pittsburgh Pirate and Boston Red Sock (is that the singular?), Jason Bay. 

Bay, 2004 Rookie of the Year in the National League, is a great player. A top-15 outfielder without a question, probably even top 10. 

But the Mets signed the wrong guy. 

He was an early 30's (in age) slugger, traded several times during the early part of his career until a team in the NL Central finally gave him the opportunity to play full time. At this point, he began to produce big offensive numbers.

The New York Yankees are arguably the MLB organization of the year; 27-time World Champions, 103 regular season wins, and an unobstructed run to the World Series.

You ask, how can the TinCaps of Fort Wayne, the Midwest League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, top the evil empire ?

With the official balloting results set to be announced January 6, I decided to make my predictions at how this year's MLB Hall of Fame voting will shake out. This is not necessarily how I would vote, but instead a prediction of what I think will happen. Let's look at the ballot.

The First Timers:
Roberto Alomar, Edgar Martinez, Barry Larkin, Andres Galarraga, Fred McGriff, Mike Jackson, Ellis Burks, Pat Hentgen, Robin Ventura, Kevin Appier, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Shane Reynolds, David Segui, and Todd Zeile.

So far this offseason, the San Diego Padres have yet to make a change to their roster in trade or free agency.

According to Bill Center of the San Diego Union Tribune , that could change prior to players reporting to spring training next month.

Owner Jeff Moorad has already been quoted as saying the team has about $5 to $6 million to spend and with that money the team could go bargain hunting for a few free agents that are still on the market.

Recently, former Boston Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay signed a new contract with the New York Mets for four years and $66 million.

Why the Mets wanted to overpay for an average hitter, I don't know.

Jason Bay was instantly beloved by the Fenway Faithful after being acquired on Trade Deadline 2008, which saw the Public Enemy No. 1 in Boston, Manny Ramirez, leave for Los Angeles.

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

When it was time to see Alex Cora step into the forefront last season when Jose Reyes went down, it was impressive to see how he took it all in stride. He played solid defense, provided essential leadership, and knew what it was like to lead a team.

But that is not why he was brought in here.