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Another day, another…well, not very much, really. Doesn’t look like anything will officially be announced on the Johnson front until Tuesday at the earliest. The commissioner’s office is closed until then, and they would have to approve any deal in which a significant amount of cash changed hands, as this is almost certain to do. So, we can expect a lot more speculation, but probably little in the way of solid facts, until then. As far as we know, the D’backs haven’t even been given the go-ahead to talk to the Big Unit about an extension for 2008 - he’s currently holidaying in Hawaii. And I wouldn’t say Randy passing the medical was a foregone conclusion - so we could still be some days from signing anything. Sigh…

Let’s go through the latest reports, in descending order of credibility. In the Tribune today, Jack Magruder writes that the Yankees “are believed to be seeking a pair from among reliever Brandon Medders and starters Dustin Nippert, Ross Ohlendorf and Micah Owings.” If we’re down to two players, this would reduce the amount of money we get back, but I can live with that. If NY are insisting on Medders, I’d demand AZ gets to choose the other prospect, which I would personally put in this order: 1) Nippert; 2) Ohlendorf; 3) Owings. That and $4m in cash would be tolerable. On the other hand, if they want a specific prospect, then they get Vizcaino instead of Medders.

Interesting note in that story: “Johnson has a full notrade clause and must OK any trade, but it is believed he would be amenable, especially if the D-Backs restructure payments of the $40 million in deferred compensation to speed up dispersal. Johnson’s deferments are believed to go through 2012.” The danger of this approach is that it could limit our room for manoever at the end of 2007, when we will probably have to look at replacing Hernandez 2.0 and Davis, who’ll be free agents. Even if we get Johnson for 2008, he is not the long-term future of the franchise, and I’m very reluctant to carry out any action which would imperil us there.

There’s a piece on SI.com, where Jon Heyman says something interesting about the Yankees’ need to trade Johnson: “The Yankees’ efforts in trying to trade Johnson could enhance their chances to land Clemens. Beyond the fact that by trading Johnson they would free up dollars, word is that Clemens doesn’t particularly like Johnson to the point where he might even prefer to go to Boston or stay in Houston if the Yankees fail to unload The Big Unit.” This would appear to tilt the balance towards AZ, though if they don’t trade Johnson, could the Yankees afford to take on Clemens’ salary as well, even the above isn’t true?

The piece also mentions that Johnson is looking for $12m in 2008, which if he is as good as I’m hoping he’ll be, would be okay. However, other reports suggest Randy wants more than that - his agent is now not commenting on whether negotiations with Arizona have begun, a change in stance from previous denials. This is backed up by the New York Daily News, who write, “The Yankees’ possible trade of Randy Johnson…has slowed over the structuring of a potential contract extension for Johnson, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations.” They also say that the Padres aren’t out of the running, but I think this is NY-BS, to try and convince Arizona they aren’t the only players in the game.

Finally, if you want every unsubtantiated whisper under the sun, head over to MVN.com, where you can read that “Conor Jackson will be coming to New York” and “The Yankees will be sending a second player over to Arizona in this deal.” The comments on that story - including ones from “Darryl Strawberry” are a most amusing reality-check, though even the writer has now backed off the Jackson suggestion.

To summarize, at the moment, I would say the most feasible scenario appears to be something like Medders and Nippert, for Johnson and about $4m in cash. But we’ll see how things progress over the next couple of days. Good though this certainly all is for the number of visitors here, let’s hope this gets resolved sooner, rather than later. And that’s a wrap for 2006; all the best to everyone for 2007, and may the new year bring you all you wish for. Unless you’re a Yankees fan, of course.

By the time I first saw Band of Horses this year in March, I only barely recognized their name and had little to no clue if going to that show, a last-minute decision, would even be worth it. Three live shows, a digital album and vinyl purchase later, Everything All the Time (Sub Pop) was […]

I enjoyed the second Tatuaje Havana VI I’ve tried.

I haven’t done any writing lately, but at least I’ve made some headway on the photography front. I recently used three rolls of slide film in the panoramic camera, but I wasn’t very happy with the results.

I failed to come up with any kind of “Best of” lists for this past year so I’ll point you to the best list I’ve seen so far. Hopefully our Constitution will win the “come back player of the year” in 2007.

Happy New Year!

Shortly after Thanksgiving we begin to decorate for the holidays. This has been a tradition ever since I was a young boy. My grandfather made a big deal about Christmas and his house was always the one that people stopped in front of to admire the lights and decorations. When he got to the point where he could no longer decorate, I went over each year and placed the decorations up for him. It became a service project I looked forward to each season. When he passed I inherited his outdoor decorations and I have diligently set them out each year in his memory. It is always fun to retrieve the decorations from storage and remember all of the times we spent together. It is exciting to place each strand of lights around brightening the dark winter evenings. The kids are always on their best behavior and in great moods to help since the hanging of the decorations signifies the beginning of the Christmas season. Soon though the holiday arrives and afterwards there becomes the task of taking down all of the brightly colored decorations.

So, yeah, there’s the title to that song, the new single from Rob Crow’s solo album Living Well, due out Jan. 23 on Temporary Residence. It’s either a healthy dose of sarcasm or some serious self-reflection by Crow, frontman of Pinback and member of other assorted side projects (including the unfortunately named Goblin Cock).
Living Well […]

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Yes, it is true, evident in fact, that we can be quite redundant somedays.

Back as 2002 began I was working for Motorola. It was an awesome place to work. We were building semiconductors for Apple Computer and creating the circuits that would power the next generation of cell phones. We were a rogue bunch of engineers who were defining the information technology space for the next 3 to 5 years. The Winter Olympics were coming to Salt Lake City Utah just a few short months after the September 11 tragedy and the Arizona Diamondbacks crowning as world champions. My friend Jeff Isaacson and I had tickets to the Olympics to attend about a dozen events. I could hardly wait to see what the Olympic experience was like. Of course I was dressed in the warmest Diamondbacks apparel that I owned as we made our trek to the frozen tundra of Utah. While watching the women’s halfpipe snowboarding event I received a phone call from Trina. She said that she thought I had just been laid off from my job as a large amount of money was just deposited into our checking account. The amount did sound like a severance package so she was probably right. Given that I was now unemployed I asked if it would be ok if I stayed a little longer at the Olympic games. She agreed so I had a few extra days to play in Utah.

The NBA is being hit hard right now with injuries to it’s superstar players.  The most recent injury involves the New Orleans Hornets stud Chris Paul, who will be out for a minimum of 4 weeks w/ an ankle sprain.  This one hurts me personally, since I just traded for him 2 weeks ago to bolster my fantasy team’s assist totals.

Injury report:

• Chris Paul (Hornets) - Severe ankle sprain, out at least 4 weeks.
• Paul Pierce (Celtics) - Stress fracture, out 1-2 more weeks.
• Josh Smith (Hawks) - Back surgery, will miss remainder of season.
• Yao Ming (Rockets) - Fractured tibia, out 6-8 weeks.
• Lamar Odom (Lakers) - Sprained knee, out 2-4 weeks.
• Shaquille O’Neal (Heat) - Knee surgery… Riley says late January.
• Nenad Krstic (Nets) - Torn ACL, will miss remainder of season.
• Peja Stojakovic (Hornets) - Back surgery, out indefinitely.
• Chris Bosh (Raptors) - Bruised knee, expected back January 1st.
• Rashard Lewis (Sonics) - Torn tendon in hand, out 2-3 months.

Fantasy owners are scrambling to find replacement players to fill the holes left by these stars.  There’s enough injuries to affect almost every team, so team owners should all be facing the same situation… that is of course you’re like me and you have Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Peja and Chris Bosh (ok, their split over 2 teams, but jeez).