I left out of my list at least 25 CDs that I really liked this year, like the Crocodiles’ CD, and Spinnerette, and Band of Skulls (those were three of my favorites of the summer (probably should have made room for all of them, now that I think about it) and Wayne Hancock’s Viper, which I really forgot came out this year, and Dutchess and the Duke’s latest, which I just bought and have listened to maybe three times, and Wolfmother, which I’ve only listened to twice… And of course I probably left out several others I would have found deserving but that I haven’t gotten around to buying yet, like Robert Earl Keen’s latest. Gives you some idea of how difficult (and time-consuming) it is making such a list. Unfortunately, I think ones you’ve listened to a lot lately tend to leave more of an impression when putting together a list like this. But I don’t want to start making changes after the fact.

:wah:

:boohoo:

:<

;(

;<

unfortunately Gonzo and Soriano are rated the two best.
Following is some of KLaw’s ideas on the

Closing the market

Thursday, November 19, 2009

If there’s an area of depth in this winter’s free agent market, it’s in relievers, including relievers who have either closer experience or closer stuff. Mike Gonzalez (No. 17), Rafael Soriano (No. 20), Billy Wagner (No. 24), Ryota Igarashi (No. 26), Rafael Betancourt (No. 34), Jose Valverde (No. 37), Fernando Rodney (No. 43), and Brandon Lyon (No. 47) all made my top 50 free agents (appearing on the site at 12:01 a.m. on Friday), while the injured ex-closer J.J. Putz is also available.

Getty Images

Gonzalez just hired Scott Boras as he eyes a big deal.

That market is made deeper by the availability of several comparable arms in trade, including Cleveland’s Kerry Wood (one year plus a vesting option remaining on his contract), Cincinnati’s Francisco Cordero (two years and $25 million remaining — thanks, Wayne!) and perhaps San Diego’s Heath Bell (two years of arbitration remaining).

The sudden surfeit of relievers on the market is in part an accident of timing, but it may also reflect changing attitudes toward closers and relievers in general as more teams recognize the volatility of reliever performance. Teams have handed out some of their worst long-term contracts to relievers in recent years:

* B.J. Ryan, Danys Baez and Kyle Farnsworth all received deals of three-plus years and were complete disasters.
* Cordero hasn’t been terrible, but he is overpaid to the point that the Reds may be unable to move him without paying part of his remaining salary.
* Billy Wagner gave the Mets two-and-a-half good years out of four, and his replacement, Francisco Rodriguez, had a shaky start to his three-year deal.
* Brian Fuentes’ debut year for the Angels made K-Rod look like a bargain.
* Brad Lidge’s three-year extension to keep him away from free agency now looks like a total loss.

Some teams are still willing to play in the deep end of the reliever pool, but many others have chosen to stick to short-term deals or avoid the deals altogether and try to build their bullpens from within:

* Oakland has been playing games with closers for years, first creating and flipping veteran closers, then running a series of kids through the role, including this year’s AL Rookie of the Year, Andrew Bailey.
* Pittsburgh has said it views relievers as risky commodities and will build its ‘pen on the cheap.
* The Red Sox don’t currently have any reliever under contract beyond 2010, nor do the Rangers.
* The Padres don’t either, although they have only two players total who are currently signed to multiyear deals.
* The Rays have just one reliever on a multiyear deal, Dan Wheeler.
* The Twins have just Joe Nathan, the best closer in the game, under a long-term deal, although the three-year deal they gave Jesse Crain, who went down with a torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff three months after signing it, just expired.

We already saw some signs of this change in the way teams approach relievers last winter, when K-Rod got three years and Fuentes and Wood each got two plus some sort of option, this only two years after the Blue Jays gave Ryan his five-year boondoggle and 12 months after the Reds gave Cordero four years. With a glut of closers and potential closers on the market and only a handful of teams looking externally or internally for pitchers to fill that role — Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore and not many others — it might be a good year for teams hoping to nab a power arm at a middle-relief price.