With the reporting of catchers and pitchers only a few weeks away, I wanted to give a little content time to this past free agent season not only because I was disgusted with what it was lacking, but mostly because a few issues are getting beaten like a dead horse. There was just no fire to the free agency period unlike in past years. The Mitchell Report stole a lot of the thunder, granted, but for the most part it just laid an egg so to speak.

Once the A-Rod issue was over, and the Tigers snagged Cabrera and Willis, what was left? It was one of the shallowest talent pools in years, especially with pitchers, other than Pohlad dangling Johan Santana in front of the Red Sox and Yankees like a carrot in front of a horse. That really killed any and all respect I had left for the Twins owner, and there wasn't much there to begin with, seeing as how he has such deep pockets and short fingers, if you catch my drift. I really feel sorry for all those long time faithful Twins fans. You definitely deserve better.

For me, the whole let down started in Game 4 of the World Series when A-Rod's classless agent made the announcement that the MVP had opted out of his contract with the Yankees. Not only was it an unethical act, but it made Rodriguez look like the epitome of greed in pro baseball. Then the press release came out, after he had crawled back to Yankees management, stating that he was irate over the stunt that Boras had pulled.

Despite what you may or may not be thinking, the whole issue was an attempt by the sleazy Boras to fleece the Yankees out of a cool $350 million. Thankfully it didn't work because Rodriguez took the bull by the horns, rained all over Boras' parade, and wound up in better shape after he negotiated things on his own. That works for me, and all the Yankees fans are once again happy. Scott Boras took his toys and went home - oh well.

Moving right along, we now come to the league hoppers (not leaf hoppers) of the free agency period. There were five that I keep thinking about, but I'm saving two of them for later in the article under the category of "better not count those chickens yet." Did you hear the one about Miguel Tejada? Oh it's a gas! The day after the Orioles announced he was going to Houston, he gets named in the infamous Mitchell Report. Good timing, Angelos and MacPhail. Miggy went to Houston and in return, Baltimore got five ballplayers, namely outfielder Luke Scott, third baseman Mike Costanzo, and three

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