It’s been over a week since the period of free agency officially began, and yet we have no big signings just yet. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been talks, or even money offered. But it does mean that certain players and their agents just aren’t ready to make hasty decisions without weighing multiple options, and perhaps driving prices up into the stratosphere.

Brewers’ GM Doug Melvin was miffed that the Yankees made the kind of offer they knew the Brewers couldn’t match–$130 or $140 million over six years, where the Brewers were hoping for more in the $100 million range. The Dodgers reportedly are getting set to offer CC between $110 to $120 million, plus the comforts of living on the west coast and getting the chance to swing a bat every five days. The Dodgers are also interested in trading for Toronto’s Roy Halladay, who suddenly is being mentioned in trade rumors. If the Dodgers are not able to sign CC or trade for Halladay, word is they will put their resources into re-signing one Manny Ramirez. Oh, and the Giants are also talking about making CC an offer. Imagine CC and NL MVP Tim Lincecum at the top of the rotation, something that could shift the balance of power in the NL West.

There is likely to be a bidding war between the Red Sox, Jays, Yankees, Orioles, Braves and Phillies for righty AJ Burnett, the most coveted pitcher in the free agent pool not named CC.

If you saw the Mets’ bullpen blow about a quarter of their losses last season (okay, maybe more), you know that GM Omar Minaya has made the pen a priority in the off-season. So not only are the Mets looking to sign a free agent stud like Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez or Brian Fuentes, they are also looking to trade for Seattle’s JJ Putz or newly acquired Rockies’ pitcher Huston Street. The terribly ineffective Aaron Heilman is being dangled as trade bait, but for the names they’re looking at, the Mets would probably have to offer up a lot more than that.

Talks seem to keep breaking down about the Padres trading Jake Peavy…first with the Braves, then with the Cubs (after they re-signed Ryan Dempster)….and now the Yankees are being mentioned. Hmmm.

And Mark Teixeira is being mentioned in the same breath as the words “Washington Nationals.” Raise your hand if you saw that coming…..

Besides from the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series or the Tampa Bay Rays having the best season in the history of their franchise, one of the best stories from the 2008 MLB Season was Cliff Lee, who won the American League Cy Young Award on Thursday.

Cliff Lee is a runaway winner for the American League Cy Young Award, capping a dominant comeback season that made him the second consecutive Cleveland Indians lefty to earn the honor.

Demoted to the minors last year, Lee went a major league-best 22-3 this season with a 2.54 ERA. He received 24 of 28 first-place votes and 132 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Thursday.

Toronto ace Roy Halladay finished second with four first-place votes and 71 points.
Lee became the third Indians pitcher to win the award, following Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry in 1972 and CC Sabathia last year.

Good to see Lee, and Giants’ youngster Tim Lincecum claim their respective league’s Cy Young awards this season. Both played on below average teams this season and still had tremendous success. When they pitched, their hapless teams won – and often because of them.

- C.C. Sabathia looked masterful against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon. He gave up one hit, and struck out eleven in a complete game effort as the Brewers defeated the Pirates 7-0. Many have questioned the official score keeper’s decision to score an infield hit by Andy LaRoche as a single.

Sabathia limited the Pirates to Andy LaRoche’s infield single leading off the fifth inning, on a play Milwaukee manager Ned Yost argued was an error on the pitcher, and the Brewers beat Pittsburgh 7-0 Sunday for their eighth victory in nine games.

“He accomplished a no-hitter and wasn’t given what he deserved. That should have been a no-hitter,” Yost said. “That’s a stinking no-hitter we all got cheated from. I feel horrible for CC.”

No-hitter or not, C.C.’s been looking sharp since joining the Brewers.

- Jason Werth hit his third home run in two days as the Phillies defeated the Cubs 5-3 Sunday to split the series. Carlos Zambrano missed his scheduled start in order to rest his tired arm. He’ll expected to start Tuesday against the Astros. The Phillies remain one game back of the Mets in the NL East.

- The Chicago White Sox are in a dead heat with the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. The White Sox, who are just a half game up on the Twins, defeated the Red Sox on Sunday to avoid a three game sweep at Fenway. Jim Thome hit a two-run homer in the first inning, which tied Mickey Mantle for 14th place on the all-time home run list with 536. Unfortunately for the White Sox, the Twins were able to demolish the A’s 12-4 behind a home run and four RBI’s from Justin Morneau.

- The New York Yankees continued to slide on Sunday, losing to the Blue Jays 6-2. Roy Halladay won his fourth consecutive start, and defeated the Yankees for the fourth time this season. It’s been a tough season for the Yanks, especially considering this is their last season at Yankee stadium.

- Brandon Webb failed to earn his 20th victory of the season against the LA Dodgers. The Dodgers were able to hit a couple homers in the first inning, and never looked back, cruising to an 8-1 victory. The Dodgers are now two and a half games back of the D’Backs in the NL West.

Show me a pitcher who wins games at a two to one ratio, and I’ll show you a guy I want at the front of my rotation. That, along with a low ERA and a high strikeout to walk ratio, are good indicators of excellence in pitching. It also helps if you have a guy who isn’t afraid to brush a hitter off the plate, like, ahem, the first guy on this list of all-time Top 10 in winning percentage for active pitchers…..

1. Pedro Martinez, New York Mets (.689)—Like I said, Pedro isn’t afraid to throw inside. He also is one of the baddest badasses ever to take the mound, and for about a decade he had the nastiest stuff in the game. In 1999, his best season, Pedro went 23-4 for Boston, with a 2.07 ERA (in the American League!) and 313 strikeouts. That’s just sick.

2. Johan Santana, New York Mets (.673)—Santana does not have overpowering stuff, but he throws all of his pitches for strikes and just knows how to get hitters out. His percentage would be even higher if it weren’t for the Mets bullpen blowing five or six games for him this season.

3. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays (.665)—With 127 wins against 64 losses for a mostly mediocre Toronto team, you could say Roy Halladay is awesome and you’d be telling the truth.

4. Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros (.663)—Oswalt has 124 wins in less than eight seasons. I say this guy is one of the few young pitchers who have a shot to win 300.

5. Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians (.658)—Everyone wants to know where Cliff Lee came from, but did go 18-5 in 2005. Still, at 19-2 on a team that has 65 wins, that’s almost 30% of his team’s wins. Let’s hope the Tribe can hold on to Mr. Lee.

6. Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves (.655)—When he’s not battling injury, Tim Hudson is a pretty dominant pitcher. I know I always cringe when he faces my Mets.

7. Randy Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks (.649)—When you strike out 4,764 batters over your career, you’re going to win many more games than you lose. The Big Unit is 294-159, and is inching closer to that magic number of 300.

8. Mike Mussina, New York Yankees (.638)—He won a lot of games in Baltimore and he’s won a lot in New York. This guy doesn’t blow hitters away, but he has great stuff and a nose for winning.

9. Andy Pettite, New York Yankees (.635)—When you’re always in the 15-20 win range, you’re going to wind up on this list. Andy Petitte has been winning since he broke into the league in 1995.

10. Mark Mulder, St. Louis Cardinals (.632)—Wait, this guy is still pitching? Sadly, he only lasted 1.7 innings this season and may be done for his career, but Mulder’s 103-60 record is still pretty impressive.

Source: Baseball Reference

Show me a pitcher who doesn’t walk many batters, and I’ll show you a pitcher that wins games. Plain and simple, if you don’t hurt yourself by putting guys on base, you’re going to be in games and win a good portion of them. Here, we take a look at those active pitchers with the best control, i.e. those hurlers who yield the least amount of walks per nine innings. Interestingly, the Top 10 consists of all starting pitchers……

1. Carlos Silva, Seattle Mariners (1.634)–Okay, so Carlos Silva has lost more games than he’s won (59-60), but he’s pitching for the pathetic Mariners this year. What I’m saying is, 4-14 for a team that is 46-75 isn’t bad. And check this out…in 2005 with Minnesota, Silva pitched 188 1/3 innings and walked only nine batters. That’s just sick.

2. Jon Lieber, Chicago Cubs (1.725)–Journeyman Jon Lieber has been in the bigs since 1994, and has never walked more than 51 batters in a season. There’s no doubt his career ERA of 4.26 would be much higher if it weren’t for his excellent control.

3. Greg Maddux, San Diego Padres (1.803)–What, you expected not to see Mr. Maddux on here? Control is to Greg Maddux’ game what hot sauce is to Buffalo wings.

4. Ben Sheets, Milwaukee Brewers (1.960)–Sheets has never won more than twelve games in a season, but part of that is because he can’t stay off the disabled list. Sheets has nearly four times as many career strikeouts (1181) as walks (303) in seven-plus seasons.

5. Curt Schilling, Boston Red Sox (1.962)–It’s too bad that if we play word association, I’ll say “Curt Schilling” and you’ll say “bloody sock.” Then again, that also sums up the grit and determination of this guy. If I need to win a game, he’s one of maybe five pitchers I’ll give the ball to.

6. Mike Mussina, New York Yankees (1.987)–If you can see the concentration in a pitcher’s eyes, you know he’s focused on putting the ball over the plate and trying to get the hitter out. And how about this? In 18 seasons, Mussina has only hit 58 batters and thrown 71 wild pitches. Also, his 265-151 career record shows that my theory above has a bit of validity.

7. Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox (2.060)–Though he’s only won 117 games in almost nine seasons, Mark Buehrle is a workhorse (has never pitched less than 200 innings in a full season) who keeps his White Sox in games.

8. Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros (2.084)–Do you get the feeling Roy Oswalt hasn’t yet reached his potential? The guy is 122-62 since breaking into the majors in 2001, with a 3.20 ERA and 1286 strikeouts. And his control (360 walks, 16 wild pitches) isn’t too shabby, either.

9. Paul Byrd, Boston Red Sox (2.119)–I’m not sure that Byrd throws harder than 80 miles per hour, but there’s no doubt he can still get hitters out, which is why the Red Sox just obtained him from the Indians. And he gets better with age….in 2005 with the Angels, Byrd walked 28 batters in 204 1/3 — that’s 1.2 batters per game.

10. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays (2.127)–With a 124-64 record over 11 seasons with mostly mediocre Toronto, Roy Halladay has consistently been one of the game’s best pitchers during his career.

Source: Baseball Reference