Some things to read once you're done with haiku on the Cardinals' offseason.

So it looks like the rumor about the Yankees offer for Mike Cameron was pretty accurate, or at least close to it, but it also looks like Doug Melvin didn't take the bait. It is about the money, stupid thinks the Yankees might be trading for Cameron in an effort to help lure in his friend, CC Sabathia. If that's the case, one has to wonder if Yankee executives spend their evenings trolling the bars for girls who might have hot friends.

I don't know if Prince Fielder has hot friends, but regardless of that the Nationals are showing interest in him. They might need one of their new uniforms in a really big size.

In all seriousness, though: Do the Nationals have any bargaining chips good enough to warrant unloading Fielder? I can't think of anything.

Because all things in life require balance, here's a trade rumor going the other way: Athletic Supporters looks at what it might take to get Huston Street to Milwaukee.

Ryan Braun finished eighth and CC Sabathia 12th in the SB Nation Voting for NL MVP. Braun appeared on 11 ballots but didn't get a single vote above third place. CC Sabathia picked up two second place votes but only appeared on four ballots. Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman and Hanley Ramirez were the top three, respectively.

In other ranking news, Brewer second basemen ranked 13th in all of baseball Baseball Musings' Probabilistic Model of Range. Rickie Weeks was slightly above average (100.55, with 100 being average) and Ray Durham was fifth from the bottom (92.86). Related: mgl bludgeoned the theory that players with better range make more errors.

Infield Chatter has made a list of the top 50 free agents and projected their destination. His list includes CC Sabathia the Angel, Ben Sheets the Astro, Ray Durham the Met, and Mark Grduzielanek the Brewer.

This will certainly shock you: The Hardball Times has a list of the worst free agent signings in 2008, and Eric Gagne is on it. In his brief appearance, he gave up a home run.

Here are today's notes from the hot stove:

Phillies: Pat Burrell and Jamie Moyer filed for free agency.
Red Sox: Jason Varitek is looking for a deal similar to Jorge Posada's, which pays $13.1 million annually. He'll be home if you need him.
Rockies: Brian Fuentes' agents are supposedly working on a four year deal with the Mets worth around $44 million.
Yankees: Declined Damaso Marte's option for 2009. Marte will be a Type A free agent.

Following up on the Phillies note: their backup plans, should Burrell leave, are Jerry Hairston, Rocco Baldelli...and Kevin Mench. They'd better bid high for Burrell.

No player with 500 home runs has ever been denied entrance into the Hall of Fame. Could Sammy Sosa be the first player to be denied with 600? It seems possible.

Nominations are open for the 2008 Weblog Awards. So if you have, by chance, a favorite sports blog, you could perhaps consider nominating it.

Oh, and apparently time loses all meaning when you work on a cruise ship.

Drink up.

The rules governing All-Star Game roster construction have changed over the years, but one thing has been constant for quite some time: Every team must have at least one representative on the team.  Naturally, this makes for some undeserving selections now and then.

There are plenty of examples, but in recent years, my favorite has been the 2006 selection of Mark Redman.  (I've been fascinated with Redman for a while now--see this article from March 2007.)  In browsing through some ASG history yesterday, I came across another galling Royals pick--Jose Rosado, who made the team twice in four-and-a-half year career.  Seriously--he was an All-Star twice in the late '90s, and I barely remember the guy.

Of course, the Brewers weren't a good team for quite a long time, and one member of the team needed to be selected every year between the Molitor/Yount era and the Ben Sheets era.  In fact, the Brewers had only one All-Star thirteen years in a row, from 1989 to 2001, including such luminaries as Kevin Seitzer, Ricky Bones, and Fernando Vina.

Looking over this year's All-Star rosters, one can find a few picks of this sort, but they are few and far between.  I don't know what it says about parity--even bad teams ought to have one good player, right?--but it is encouraging that we'll see close to 18 half-innings of good pitching.

Here are a few of the 2008 All-Star selections that might raise eyebrows:

• Cristian Guzman.  He's having a career year, but even his empty .313 batting average leaves him with a 102 OPS+, far behind guys like Jose Reyes and JJ Hardy.  Actually, the Nats aren't that hard up--either John Lannan or Jon Rauch would've made for a credible selection.
• Brian Wilson.  This one baffles me.  At first, I thought, "Yeah, of course the Giants are sending a lame All-Star."  But of course, the Giants are also sending Tim Lincecum.  Wilson has 25 saves with a WHIP over 1.5.  He's racking up the numbers because the Giants offense never scores enough runs to amass anything bigger than a 3-run lead.
• George Sherrill.  He's the Wilson of the AL.  He's got 28 saves, which makes him the easy choice as a token team rep, but he's not even the best (or second-best) choice from the bullpen.  Brian Roberts probably deserved the spot more than Sherrill, too.
• Miguel Tejada.  This, like the Wilson pick, is just weird.  Lance Berkman is a no-questions-asked starter, so there's no need for Tejada on the team, and Miggy's performance certainly hasn't earned him the trip.  Tejada has been out-hit by Guzman (his OPS+ is 95), meaning that he's less deserving than someone who really isn't very deserving.  Jose Reyes should be ticked.  Heck, even Ryan Theriot should be ticked.  At least he's not a lying druggie with no range.
  

Such a list wouldn't be complete without Derek Jeter (740 OPS with crappy defense!) and Jason Varitek (299 OPS!), but the fans and the players (I presume) are to blame for those. 

In other words, the one-player-per-team rule didn't bite too hard this year.  Really, Guzman and Sherrill are the only guys who snuck in under that rule, and either one could've been replaced by a better option (if not a slam-dunk All-Star, in the case of the Nats) without wreaking too much havoc on the roster.