MLB News and Notes - Week Ending November 30, 2007

- I'll start with the big trade of the day, which saw the Mets trade Lastings Milledge to the Nationals for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church. While I know the Mets were looking to settle their catching situation, I'm left scratching my head here. After rebuffing suitors for years, it seems to me that the Mets made a quick, thoughtless trade. Yes, Schneider is a gifted receiver who handles pitchers well and throws well, his offensive contribution is minimal at best. Church, while a decent producer, is more in the Trot Nixon mold, and will serve as nothing more than a fourth outfielder in New York. I know there is concern about Milledge's character, and he had fallen in favor among GM's, but his potential is still there and with the glut of teams looking for outfield help, the Mets could of held out a little longer to get a better deal.

- The Astros filled their vacancy at second base by signing former Rockies second sacker Kaz Matsui to a three-year, $15 million deal. Matsui, who was a bust after signing with the Mets, has somewhat revived his career after his trade to Colorado. This is a good move for him, as he stays in the NL, where he is comfortable, and in a hitters park. However, it tempts the question on which is the true Matsui, the one who revived in Colorado or the one that flopped in New York. The Astros took a risk, albeit a somewhat inexpensive one, in locking him up for three seasons, but if he pans out, he'll be a solid solution at the top of that line-up.

- The rumors continue to float about Johan Santana. There is thought that the Red Sox may have pulled ahead of the Yankees, with their willingness to package Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, Jed Lowrie, and Coco Crisp to acquire the two-time Cy Young winner. However, since this is floated by the hometown Boston Globe, which is also saying that Boston could be in talks with Oakland for Dan Haren, you have to look at it as a pipe dream until a deal goes down. While I would love to see Santana throwing change-ups in Fenway for years to come as a Red Sox fan, I'm somewhat disheartened by the fact that the two leading contenders are once again the Yankees and Red Sox, proving once again the disparity between the upper and lower classes of major league teams. Yes, Boston and New York have managed to build their farms systems to the point where they can offer a deal that could land Santana, but the fact that they could do this while floating the two largest team salaries is proof positive that a salary cap structure of some sort is needed in baseball to ensure that the parity we've enjoyed in baseball for the past decade is not an aberration.

- With Torii Hunter, Jorge Posada, Mike Lowell, Mariano Rivera, and Alex Rodriguez now off the free agent board, we now have a real view of just how dry the free agent market is this year. Teams are now left to try and take an expensive chance on Andruw Jones, give Gil Meche money to Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse, or overpay for Aaron Rowand, Mike Cameron, or any other bat they can scrounge from what's left. A lot of those decisions are likely to wait until midnight on Saturday, when teams must decide whether or not to offer salary arbitration to their free agents.