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Michael Bourn and the Cleveland Indians made the big news in Pitchers and Catchers Report Week on Monday, agreeing to a four year contract worth $48 million (and a vesting option for a fifth year.) That's a little less than we might have expected were it not for the specter of the qualifying offer—that fifth year probably would have been guaranteed—but it's plenty of money. Does it provide hope for Kyle Lohse? That and more in Wednesday's VEB Monitor.
(If you have a link you think VEB readers might enjoy—yours or someone else's—and you're not trying to sell something, feel free to send me an e-mail for a future edition of the Monitor. If you're a VEB regular who thinks collating a weekly link-dump sounds like a good time, also feel free to send me an e-mail.)
Let's Go Tribe: With Bourn in Hand, Lohse Makes Sense for the Indians
With the Indians vaulted suddenly into win-now mode—and their protected first-round pick off the board—Let's Go Tribe suggests the Indians run the table and grab Kyle Lohse while they're at it. Which would be good news for Kyle Lohse, at least.
STLToday: Baton passes to a new Cardinals ace
Adam Wainwright on his role at the end of the Carpenter era: "I think it was, 'Hey, Adam, we want to make a shrine out of this locker, but somebody needs to fill it so it doesn't look weird.'"
Baseball Think Factory: Jason Giambi signs minor league deal with Indians
Just a reminder that Jason Giambi, who came up as a 24-year-old rookie third baseman when Tony La Russa was managing the Oakland Athletics, will be competing for a big league job in 2013. Last year he hit .225/.372/.303, which is a very Giambi thing to do. (The year before that—.260/.355/.603.)
Baseball Think Factory: Rangers pass Cowboys as most popular team in DFW
Predictably (and awesomely), St. Louis is the baseball-loving outlier to end all baseball-loving outliers. "… evidently 81% of the population saw a Cardinals game last year as opposed to 48% watching the Rams." (Probably it was because the Rams' stadium wasn't expensive enough.)
RetroSimba: Carlos Beltran nears joining top 10 switch-hitters in RBI
I would not have guessed Beltran was still behind—well, at least two of these guys. Worth guessing before you click through: Which two Cardinals switch-hitters make the list ahead of Beltran?