brendan ryan continues his remarkable lease on life not being traded. the orioles, after trading for jj hardy, baltimore decided they needed more suck in their lineup and resigned cesar izturis. izturis hit a peak value (1.5 WAR) in his one year with the cards: the three years previous he was worth 0.1, -0.1, 0.0 WAR; in the two years since, 1.0, -0.3. he's now hit 30. i'm not sure that he makes any sense as an acquisition. $1.7M is not a huge chunk of cash, but a replacement value shortstop is not worth much.
this follows the padres' signing of jason bartlett which leaves the primary bidders on shortstops stocked. that hardly means that someone won't trade for boog to fill a utility role, but it does make the trade market a bit quieter. somewhere out there, orlando cabrera sits as well. it's as if the fates, or karma, or something doesn't want him to go. either that or other teams just aren't that into you, brendan.
in an interesting transaction, the angels took scott downs for 3y/$15m. downs was Type A, and the value of his picks runs about $6m. the 3y/$15m seems like it would barely cover his value, especially given the years relative to his age (he'll be 35 in 2011). losing a first round pick adds insult to injury. that strikes me as a pretty substantial overpay for a reliever, even one like downs. downs is good, but is not the exceptional type that might merit a Type A signing.
i'm afraid i have nothing much to add this week. enjoy your saturday.