Best Third Week of December 2006 Ever.

Yes, this is somewhat old news, but two class acts who represented their respective teams well over the last decade + have retired.  

Brad Radke and Jeff Bagwell had some links to Boston.  We all know about the Larry Anderson trade.  Brad Radke was pursued by Boston in 2004 as a FA.  He ultimately chose to take less money to stay in Minnesota.  Brad Radke is actually one of my favorite pitchers from the 90s/00s.  He's basically the Twins' own Tim Wakefield.  If you read (or have read) the SI piece about his retirement, you were probably just as amazed as I was to learn about what he had to go through down the stretch last season.  He also went 8-3 with a 2.68 ERA during that time.

Bagwell, to me, is a first ballot HOFer.  Those numbers we see Albert Pujols put up?  Looks a lot like the numbers this guy put up.  Before his shoulder condition, he was one of the best defensive 1B in the game and I don't recall any match to his total offensive game among 1B at the time.

Elsewhere around the league...

* The Mariners have finalized the acquistion of their big "prize" of the offseason.  Read Lookout Landing for some articles about how excited Mariners fans truly are to have Jose Vidro.
* The Giants have signed Ryan Klesko.  Apparently they weren't buying enough arthritis medication to qualify for the bulk-rate discount.
* The Padres should be introducing Marcus Giles on Wednesday.  I like this signing for the Padres, even if they should've hung-on to this younger cost-controlled option instead.  Can you tell I'm not sold on Kevin Kouzmanoff?
* Rod Barajas to the Phillies.  Another better-than-Fasano option off the table for the Yanks.

And in Red Sox "news", we're still awaiting word on the new language in JD Drew's contract.  There may not be a contract, the Red Sox may be protected significantly, and/or Drew may end up with simply less money for less years.  I don't know.  NBarnes brought up a great point earlier, that Drew's shoulder condition may sap his power, not his ability to play.  In that case, anyone who thinks we should've kept Trot Nixon anyway...come on out!

No new word that I've seen on the closer situation.  Feel free to correct me in the comments.

P.S. Look for a new Know Thine Enemy... tomorrow or Thursday.  I have an idea on which team I'm going to cover, but if I get enough suggestions for one team in particular, I'll probably cave to what the masses want.  Hey, it works for this guy.