Rick Maese's column wouldn't accept comments, so I'll say this here -- Peter Angelos is not the worst owner in sports.

He's probably in the bottom 10 percent. But he has a saving grace -- he wants to win and is willing to spend some money to do it. Even if he has built a paranoid organization whose focus is not often on building the best possible team on the field, his commitment to winning counts for something.

Right in our own backyard, he's a better owner than Ted Lerner (how does Jim Bowden still have a job?). I'll take Angelos over David Glass of the Royals, and Pittsburgh's ownership group as well.

It's not exactly praise to say Angelos might be the fourth worst owner in baseball. But it keeps the facts in perspective.

Pete,

What is the real deal with the Steve Davis situation? If WBAL is saying that the firing was a budget cutting move, then I will take them at their word. I am more curious about what happens now. Is it Sportsline with Peter Schmuck from here on out?

It makes no sense. They have two traffic reporters in the morning, when they only need one, but they cut their sports director!?

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Pete's reply: There is no deep dark secret here. WBAL had to make some hard cuts, and it isn't alone in that. Steve did a very good job, but the media economy is in crisis. To answer your other question, it will be "Sportsline" with Peter Schmuck for the next two or three weeks. I am not a candidate to take over the timeslot permanently.

I think it's silly to say that the Yankees DON'T care how much they pay. They got Texeira for market value by paying a little bit more than what seemed to be the highest offer. They signed a risky long-term deal with Sabathia, but his annual salary is basically in line with what was expected. Most importantly, they haven't actually raised their payroll this offseason. They're just being smart by replacing aging guys whose contracts are up with young players. Pettite for one year is a good deal as your 4th or 5th starter.

Having that much money to work with is great, but the Yankees have been very smart this offseason by not wasting money on mediocre players.

Looks good on paper yes but come on...it's the Yankees! They'll screw it up! A tradition unlike any other in sports!

bad news for the O's...Petite's the 'Mother of Oriole killers'.

Hello Pete,

I know this question comes completely "out of the blue" and is totally unrelated to the blog topic, but I frequently ponder about something, and I have yet to hear a final resolution. Remember last year when we traded Chad Bradford to Tampa before the trade deadline. We were supposed to get a "player to be named later" in exchange. How much later? Jeez, it has been a long time now. Did we ever get someone or are we still waiting?

Thanks.

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Pete's reply: They made my job a lot harder with that deal because this is about the 200th time I've answered this. They never announced a resolution to the deal, but I've been told they received cash compensation instead of a player.

It's very simple. The top echelon of players (and I mean a scant few) haul in the other-worldly contracts, and the rest get the (relative) slim pickings. I think this is how baseball will work until it is financially crippled, which I think it cannot avoid at these breakneck paces. The economy will not support it and the fans will at some point balk at the escalation.

But at any rate, this is what occurred with Pettite, imo. Incentive-laden contracts for regular players, and humongous contracts for the upper echelon. I think in the end the team that adopts the New England Patriots philosophy of good players on (relatively) reasonable contracts will turn into the year-round contenders. Because these lunatic contracts like that of CC and so on will (and have) come back to haunt teams.

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Pete's reply: Maybe, but there has been a huge influx of young players in the post-steroid era and baseball revenues have dramatically outpaced salaries, so I don't see any end in sight soon.

Luckily, it doesn't seem like the key guys on these mercenary yankee teams usually do stay healthy. maybe lack of chemistry breeds injury. or maybe its wishful thinking on my part.

I think Petitte over-estimated his market value and had no choice but to 'cave' in-how else even showed interest? As far as this being a 'bargain', time will tell. Maybe he hasn't got much left, in which case, it's another 5.5 mill ill-spent not to mention, his presence blocks another young starter like Hughes or Kennedy.
As far as the downward trend of free-agent salaries, I believe it will continue. Teams will probably cough up inflated $$$ for the big names like Teixiera & CC but the '2nd tier players like Dunn/Sheets/OCab will probably have to settle for shorter/cheaper deals. What I think will happen is that players will likely find somewhere they like to play and sign longer deals before hitting free-agency. The grass isn't always greener and guys like Varitek are probably regretting turning down more lucrative extensions.

It is a shame that Steve was let go. I listened to him quite often and called him a few times.

He never denigrated a caller for any opinion they had, even if he disagreed with it. Very friendly personality. He's not like a lot of the guys I hear now on 105.7, and I assume this move was done in respect to that all day sports talk network now.

Too bad Anita Marks was inked for another year. Steve and Scott Garceau would make for a much better duo than Anita and Scott. I gave her a chance, but man her catch phrases got old after 5 minutes, her voice is off-putting, and there are a number of times she honestly doesn't know what she is talking about.

If they wanted her because she looks nice (and I am not a fan of her looks anyway) they should just leave her on television. For radio, you should at least be articulate and be able to anunciate. She isn't and can't.

Adding Scott to her show really bumped up the credibility she was lacking.

As for Pettitte, he is still a very good pitcher and will definitely make that rotation stronger. You figure if either Wang isn't right or AJ breaks down, it will be a great thing to still have a quality pitcher like Pettitte around.

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Pete's reply: I don't think the situation with Steve had anything to do with anything but the bad economy.

A few year ago I would have agreed with the writer that would take Angelos over Glass but since they hired Moore as GM the Royals have started to come back and seem on the verge of turning into a contender. Angelos finally seems to have done the same with MacPhail but Baltimore is a much larger market than Kansas City so they should be able to afford more.

I have a digit in each of my hands pointed at Andy Pettitte, and none of them are index fingers, pinkies or thumbs. Why? Read stevO's entry above (fifth from the top). Go Orioles!

Sad to see that the Yankees are getting a break from Petitie.... Couldn't disagree more with earlier comments that Angelos wants to win and is willing to spend money. Signing Markakis is one contract, one player. Where else is he spending money? I still don't understand the Brian Roberts situation. Everyone talks like the guy is 40 years old. He is 31 and in great shape. He could play easily for another 6 years in top form and maybe another 3 after that. If a six or 9 year time frame is not within the Orioles time to be competitive, we are all being taken for a ride.

I spent some time with another owner of a major league team two years ago. He said that Angelos is not liked (I am using kinder words) by the other owners...we will never win with PA as owner.

The Yankees sign Pettite as a fifth starter and we are talking today about Walker needs a strong spring,,,,,,,,,,,you bet Peter the Great is the worst owner in sports,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ricky boy is correct and he hasn't even been here the past eleven years,,,,,,,,,,,,The O's are a joke....................when does training camp begin at Westminster?

petitte pitched pretty badly last year.
only the potent yankee offense will save him this year. some guys just don't know when to hang it up. if he pitches badly, he won't be such a bargain. this just shows you how much faith that check-writer cashman has in his young pitchers, and how much money the yankees have that they'd give the gimpy lefthander 5mm + incentives when no one else would even pony up a decent offer. well andy, so much for wanting to stay home and pitch in front of the family.
or maybe he simply intends to stay as far away from clemens as he can for another summer...at the end of the day, these guys are just way too funny.

The orioles Have made a few nices moves this off season and if they would just wake up and se that we arent as far off as they want all of us to believe. id we would just sign one vetern pitcher it would help more then any other move we made for this coming year. Cause if we dont we will have to rush young talent up like we always do. No matter what the AM says that they are not going to rush them what othet choice do we have? None you have to put some one out there to pitch every fifth day. And if we are plannig for the future explain to me how the best plan is to kill the young arms way before they are ready instead of signing a basement bargain deal like we could get for Sheets for right now. To me that part of the "plan" makes for sense. Build from with in at no cost? Come on if you break the young guys before they have a chance at developing the plan is worth nothing.

Scratching my head:

I read that Garland signed a cheap one year deal as well today. $6.5 million with a buyout of another 1 0r 2 million. Where were the O's in this one? That seems like a pretty low risk move for a very respectable starter. Now I'm reading that the O's are going after the 34 year old Looper who is a career reliever until 2008. I certainly hope its for nowhere near that Garland contract.

I disagree that Sheets asking price dropping is a catch 22. Sure the lower it drops the more teams that will be interested, but all the O's need to show is that they are committed and willing to pay a little bit more for him to sign with us. And at the current market rate that premium would'nt even equal what we paid Jay Payton per month in salary. The possible return is well worth the risk.

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Pete's reply: I'm sure the O's would have been happy to give Garland that deal, but he is a Southern California guy who apparently wanted to play out West. If you were picking between the O's and D-backs, what would you do?