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The Captain For All Time

It was 1994 all over again at Madison Square Garden last night for the ceremony sending Mark Messier's #11 to the rafters. Messier, known forever in these parts as "The Captain", belied his tough image by weeping throughout the ceremony and I, like anyone who was in New York for that glorious Spring, felt chills remembering what he meant to the Rangers, hockey in general and this city.

Winter Meetings Explode

After the post last night about baseball's winter meetings, they up and exploded with some big news. I'll cover the Yankees in a seperate post and focus on everyone else here:

• Rangers trade Alfonso Soriano to Nationals for Brad Wilkerson, Termel Sledge and minor league P Armando Galarraga. Huge trade for Washington as Soriano, for his flaws, is an offensive machine, 30-30 guarantee and star player who anchors the lineup. The next question, as it's been for some time, is who will buy the Nationals and if they will keep Manager Frank Robinson and/or GM Jim Bowden. Both did well last season and this is another good trade for Bowden. Word is Jose Vidro may be done, so there won't be a need to switch anyone on defense and Soriano is a Free Agent after next year so he can be moved should ownership want to go in a different direction. Wilkerson will likely start in Texas' OF and allow them to move a player on hand for help elsewhere.
• Milwaukee trades 1B Lyle Overbay to Toronto for P Dave Bush, OF Gabe Gross and minor league P Zach Johnson. Overbay, a good hitting first baseman, needed to move to open space for Prince Fielder in the Brewers lineup. His acquisition gives the Jays a strong lefty bat and allows them to shop Shea Hillenbrand/Eric Hinske or both if they land Nomar Garciaparra. Bush is a dependable back end starter for an increasingly deep Brewer rotation and Gross is a good 4th OF type. A good trade for both teams, with Fielder's ascension the key on the Brewer end.
• Trevor Hoffman resigned with the Padres, Bob Wickman did the same in Cleveland which should draw a close to this year's closer roulette.
• In arbitration moves, the Rangers walked away from the Gambler, the White Sox rid themselves of a Big Hurt and the Astros decided to gamble that someone beats the Viz.