I'm Not An Athlete

i before e

Well, I was planning on doing a run-down tonight of the top-tier starting pitchers still available on the free-agent market (I was inspired by a comment I left over at A Citizen's Blog, semi-ranting about how none of these guys were really worth a multi year commitment). That is, until I read the big news -- The Phils inked Jon Lieber to a 3-year, $21 million deal.

I guess the first thing that should be addressed when talking about Lieber is his injury history -- the guy missed the 2003 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Personally, I think this is much ado about nothing. I mean, the Phils took a chance on another guy that had recently missed a whole year because of injury and he did pretty OK, right? I'll also add that Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll gave Lieber a "green" rating as a free agent, meaning he had little or no injury risk:

"There's nothing wrong here. Quit thinking about the surgery that cost him 2003 and focus on what he did in 2001 and 2004. That's the Jon Lieber a team will be getting... The teams that had an advantage due to their understanding of Tommy John surgery are starting to lose it as the knowledge spreads."

So, yeah, he should be OK. That said, Lieber will be 35 this season, so he'll be part of the Phillies' new, puzzling anti-youth movement. I'm not thrilled about a 3-year deal, either, seeing as the team has got 3 young potential starters waiting in the wings (yes, I'm including Ryan Madson in this group). Oh well, I guess Wade could have done worse.

say it ain't so

It's not the best Photoshop job in the world, but this is the only thing I could think of this morning when I read about Bonds finally admitting to using steroids...

(artwork stolen from this, obviously.)