Schmidt filed for free agency last week, but it may have simply been a formality.  "Leaving my options open," he said. "At this moment, no, I'm not thinking about pitching anymore. Down the road, I'm not sure. Initially, I'd say no way. I'm not planning on playing at this moment. In my mind, I retired when I left in August."

The 36-year-old right-hander made just 10 starts during his three-year tenure with the Dodgers, finishing 3-6 with a 6.02 ERA.  He has pitched 13 major league seasons, and, if truly done, will end his career with a 130-96 record, 3.96 ERA and 1,758 strikeouts.

• MLB.com's Brian McTaggart reports that the Houston Astros will decrease their spending in 2010, after the team's payroll exceeded $100MM the first time in 2009.
• Filing for free agency may have just been a formality for Jason Schmidt, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. The 36-year-old righty looks headed for retirement.
• Dick Kaegel of MLB.com hasn't heard anything that substantiates rumors of an Alberto Callaspo–A.J. Ellis swap between the Royals and Dodgers.
• Evan Brunell of The Hardball Times is "horrified" that the Phillies are considering Placido Polanco for their third base opening.
• Jenifer Langosch at MLB.com fields Pirates-related questions from readers. Most of them react to Pittsburgh's recent acquisition of Akinori Iwamura.

• No surprise that Gurnick lists Manny Ramirez as the biggest question mark heading into 2010. Manny's 37, and while many feel he's a lock to pick up his $20MM option for 2010, Gurnick cautions not to be too sure. As Gurnick points out, Manny is as unpredictable as they come, as is his agent, Scott Boras. Gurnick reminds us of 2006, when no one thought J.D. Drew would walk away from $33MM guaranteed, but he and Boras did just that, securing more years and more dollars with the Red Sox. Additionally, Manny's told his teammates that the pounding on his legs is getting to him, and that he ought to be a designated hitter.
• The Dodgers are set to have up to $40MM come off the books this offseason, which should more than cover the arbitration raises due to Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, James Loney, Russell Martin, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill, and Hong-Chih Kuo.
• Jason Schmidt accounts for $15.5MM of that $40MM sum. Gurnick says that Schmidt is "expected to retire."
• The Dodgers did extremely well signing Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf to one-year deals last offseason, but now find themselves right back where they started, writes Gurnick, with second base and starting pitching as the biggest needs.
• Gurnick lists outfielder Jason Repko as a non-tender candidate.
• Rather than give the second base job to Blake DeWitt, Gurnick feels that an acquisition for second base is "almost a certainty."

• Reds GM Walt Jocketty tells MLB.com's Mark Sheldon that no team has inquired on Francisco Cordero.
• Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports has a series of predictions for the season's final month. He doesn't expect Jake Peavy to win more than a single game for the White Sox. 
• MLB.com's Ken Gurnick reports that Jason Schmidt's season is over. Schmidt, who won three games in as many seasons for the Dodgers, hinted he may retire.
• Ken Griffey Jr. tells C. Trent Rosecrans of CNati.com he's having the time of his life back in Seattle. He's open to staying with the Mariners, but says he understands if the team decides to move on. Check out the entire interview – it's a great read.
• Roy Oswalt says there's "a dead feeling" in the Astros clubhouse, according to Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle. Justice argues that "the people in charge have screwed up the franchise."
• Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe reports that the Red Sox evaluated Billy Wagner in depth before trading for him.

• Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Rosenthal that he was "very aggressive" going after pitching help, whether it be high-end starters, low-end starters, or relievers. "I was on all of it," Cashman said.
• Cashman specifically targeted Jarrod Washburn, but the Mariners asked for top prospect Austin Jackson in return. The Yankees were also "one of several clubs" to inquire about Felix Hernandez.
• Rosenthal says Heath Bell was their primary target among relievers, as the idea was to make him the primary setup man for Mariano Rivera, and possibly put Phil Hughes or Alfredo Aceves back into the rotation.
• The Dodgers "never got close" in their attempted blockbuster for Adrian Gonzalez and Bell. The deal would have helped Los Angeles' rotation by shortening the game from the back end with another elite reliever.
• They still have issues in the rotation however, as Jason Schmidt topped out at 87 last night. Only two National League clubs have gotten fewer innings out of their starters than the Dodgers.
• We won't know the true result of the Pirates' firesale until 2011 or 2012, but the early returns on the Jason Bay trade are not good. Rosenthal says the Rays may have been willing to pay more for Bay at the time, possibly including the since-traded Jason Hammel and/or Edwin Jackson in a package.
• Hitters and relievers will be in "ample supply" during the August waiver period, but quality starting pitchers … not so much. Doug Davis might be one of the best available starters, and the Diamondbacks will need to be realistic about a return since they are unlikely to offer him arbitration after the year.
• There was "precious little action" on Davis in July. When Rosenthal mentioned to a club official that the offers for Davis might not be much better in August, the official responded "they can't be much worse."

• MLB.com's B.J. Rains says that Troy Glaus is going to work out in the outfield as he rehabs from offseason shoulder surgery. The Cardinals haven't committed to using him in the outfield when he returns, they're just giving it a try to see what happens. Glaus played five innings in left field tonight before moving to first base. The Cards have been looking to add a bat seemingly all year.
• John Perrotto of Pirates Report.com says that it's unlikely Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez sign extensions. This morning we learned that the Bucs lowballed both players with their offers.
• Jason Schmidt will return to the Dodgers' rotation on Monday, reports MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. It'll be just his seventh start for the Dodgers since signing his three year, $47MM deal in Decemeber 2006, and his first since June 16th of 2007.
• The Cubs have signed second round pick D.J. LeMahieu, according to Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. LeMahieu was the 79th overall pick in last month's draft, which has an expected slot recommendation of around $460k.
• Bronson Arroyo wants to see the Reds kept together at the trade deadline rather than having the veterans sold off, says MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.

On to the linkage…

• Matthew Pouliot of Circling The Bases says that Dayton Moore's moves over the last season and a half are enough to warrant his dismissal. He notes they have a more than qualified replacement already in-house in senior advisor Mike Arbuckle.
• Ben Bolch of The LA Times notes that Jason Schmidt threw 104 pitches over 7.2 shutout in a rehab start yesterday. We know the Dodgers are looking for pitching, but a healthy and reasonably effective Schmidt could lessen that urgency.
• Tracy Ringolsby writes that Garrett Atkins' recent hot streak creates "more of a possibility of another team having interest in acquiring him." Atkins is hitting .340-.415-.553 in June.
• The Rangers have been getting good production from unexpected sources like Jason Jennings, says Ken Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News.
• Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez says he's happy to be in Colorado, according to Susan Slusser of The SF Chronicle.
• Joe Cowley tweets this Ozzie Guillen quote: "The people that run baseball teams now are soft." I wonder what Kenny Williams thinks about that.
• Marc Carig writes that the Rockies had begun combing through the Yankees' farm system in advance of a potential Huston Street trade back in May.

• Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about the Giants' lack of interest in Adam Melhuse and considers other players who could help.
• Alex Speier of WEEI looks back at the Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz trade of 1987.  According to former Tigers GM Bill Lajoie, the Braves would have taken Steve Searcy instead of Smoltz.
• Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald says the Cubs "appear to be getting some trade feelers" on out of options relievers Chad Gaudin and Angel Guzman.  Moving one could create space for Rule 5 pick David Patton.
• Tyler Hissey of Around The Majors looks back at the Delmon Young/Matt Garza swap.  What did MLBTR commenters think when the deal went down on November 28th, 2007?  Click here to find out.  Garza will face the Twins for the first time today.
• Eddie Bajek of Detroit Tigers Thoughts says the Tigers are apparently trying to recreate the bullpen of the 2007 Rays.
• Joel Sherman of the New York Post believes Melky Cabrera would be best served as an NL bench player.
•  T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times discusses the Dodgers' $47MM bust, Jason Schmidt.
• Aaron Shinsano of East Windup Chronicle has more Korean prospect news: the Royals signed catcher Shin Jin-ho, while the Mariners signed catcher Choi Ji-man.
• Jose Lima is back playing baseball in the U.S., according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times.
• Will Sommer of Mets Fans Forever talked to GM Omar Minaya.
• Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post looks at the Marlins' decision to non-tender reliever Joe Nelson.  It would've made a lot of sense to bring him back.

• John Manuel and Jonathan Mayo get us ready for the Rule 5 draft.  Manuel has a second post on it here.
• Sarah Green looks at A.J. Burnett’s possible commutes.
• LEN3 suggests the Twins might be part of Adrian Beltre’s limited no-trade clause.
• K-Rod signing analysis from Dave Cameron, Jesse Spector, and Keith Law.  Also check out the usual solid analysis over at Ken Davidoff’s blog.
• Law also takes on the Edwin Jackson, Ramon Hernandez, J.J. Putz, and C.C. Sabathia moves.
• The Red Sox are likely to non-tender Kevin Cash.  Josh Bard is one free agent on their radar.  Also, Tony Massarotti learned that the Red Sox are strongly opposed to opt-out clauses.
• UmpBump found some C.C. Sabathia rumors we missed on Monday.  Also, the Brewers’ offer to C.C. had unique clauses and two club options.
• The Dodgers knew Jason Schmidt had a partial rotator cuff tear when they signed him.
• Rany Jazayerli on recent Royals rumors, reliever and otherwise.
• Bruce Miles says the Cubs have some interest in bringing Paul Bako back.
• Jason Davis, Raul Chavez, and R.A. Dickey became free agents.  Davis may be headed to Japan.
• Nick Piecoro says Junior Spivey is looking for a job.
• Much of the money saved from recent White Sox trades was repurposed for Dayan Viciedo.

The first one is that the Mariners didn’t get ripped off on the Horacio Ramirez for Rafael Soriano trade.  This opinion began forming before I read about Soriano looking like a lost puppy on the mound and topping out at 91.

There’s been a lot of Horacio-bashing, and obviously the thought of a soft-tossing bottom-rotation guy doesn’t excite the way a flamethrowing setup man does.  But some points on Ramirez first.  He’s left-handed and he just turned 27.  He gets groundballs 54% of the time.  A concussion, hamstring strain, and torn finger ligament marred his ’06 season.  He’ll give up a ton of hits, but could be good for 32-33 starts, tons of grounders for Lopez and Betancourt, and decent control.  I could see a 4.50 ERA from him in 200 innings next season.  He’s got three years before free agency; league average pitchers make a lot more than $3MM these days.  League average guys could cost $10MM in 2008.

I can see how this trade still favors the Braves but it doesn’t seem like a huge rip-off to me.  The bummer is that Bavasi could’ve gotten more for Soriano.

On the other hand, I’m not impressed by the Jason Schmidt signing.  At least here I have some good backup.  I ran my own projection for Schmidt the other day, and arrived at a 3.95 ERA in 198 innings.  The ZiPS projection system at Baseball Think Factory came to a very similar conclusion.  Schmidt’s not an ace anymore, and paying $16MM for the 36 year-old version could be ugly.  I don’t think the Dodgers made a mistake here; they can afford Schmidt and he makes them a better club next year.  I’m just not calling this a bargain or the deal of the winter or something.

I quote:

"DeWitt and Jocketty have been told that there’s no deal yet — and that they (Schmidt and his agents) would like to still have discussions…. so as far as the Cardinals are concerned, there’s still reason to have discussion with Schmidt’s agents… and I am told the Cardinals are making a ’strong" offer.’"

This would be quite a development, as the deal has been reported all over.

This gives the Dodgers a fantastic rotation: Schmidt, Derek Lowe, and Brad Penny at the top, followed by Randy Wolf and one of Chad Billingsley, Mark Hendrickson, Brett Tomko, and a few other possibilities.  That, of course, would change quite a bit if Penny is included in a deal for Manny Ramirez. 

By Jeff Sackmann, Brew Crew Ball