JD Drew and other links

After speculating for months that there was no "Lefty McThump" in the free agent class, JD Drew has opted out of the end of his 5 year deal with the Dodgers, making him a free agent. There are serious injury issues with Drew and he opted out of an $11 million/year deal so there's that, but he's pretty much exactly what Littlefield has described himself to be looking for. Somehow, I don't think JD Drew opted out of that contract to come to Pittsburgh, though.

Jeff Stanek at the Duquesne Duke got an interview with Freddy Sanchez about his incredible 2006 season.


Keith Law at ESPN ranks the top 40 free agents. It's insider only, but #1 (which you can see)is pretty surprising.

Jeff Passan at Yahoo! Sports has a slightly more free ranking of the free agents.

Surprisingly, reports say that the Red Sox may have the top bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka.

In a non-Pirates link, the Pensblog is making me reconsider a reorganization of links so that I can include Pittsburgh blogs that aren't Pirate blogs. It's just that good. If your a Pens fan and you aren't reading it, you should probably start.

I'm gonna be out of the office 'till Sunday. Until then enjoy the Pitt/UConn showdown that no one cares about. Or PSU/Temple, if you're into that kind of thing.

UPDATE (4:17)- Then there's Sheffield to the Tigers for three pitching prospects. It seems like Leyland and Dombrowski are hitting the panic button after that World Series loss. Of the three prospects it seems like only one (Humberto Sanchez) is a blue chipper (the other two are relievers), but Sheff is 38 and crazy. I'm not sure this is a great move for the Tigers.