I've just added $12 to Chris's bid in the software, as well as here; was under the impression that the Cardinals had imported someone else to close. If he's throwing strikes in spring training, I'll throw some more money his way.

I've just entered the bids that are in software. It would seem that Chris's hitting stats were so weak that the database here refused all bids in the initial upload.

You've made a non-believer of me. I've just chopped $2 off his bid -- here and, more importantly, in the software.

He's the kind of guy who won't lose you any money at $4, but he'll also prevent you from getting someone who might turn a profit. He's a rotisserie clubhouse cancer.

No.

He's also associated with a number of memorable plays that stick in the memory of fans---from Jeffrey Maier to the tumble into the seats vs Boston to the backflip vs Oakland (still, to my mind, the single most astonishing play I've ever seen in sports)...which doesn't hurt.

But I also think that contrast heps Jeter, too. He's so unlike the other stars of his era (like his non-beloved 3B, or Barry, or Sosa/McGwire, or Roger, or Manny) in the way he carries himself that it seems like a bigger deal than it is. It's reminiscent of Barry Sanders' post-TD routine: there was a time when everybody behaved normally, until everybody did some sort of bizarre dance, to the point where guys now dance if he make a tackle they're supposed to make. The contrast made announcers remark on it often. And he was in Detroit, not NY.

Rotoman, tying the Yankees' failures to win a title to Jeter is like blaming Belgium for WW2.

Speaking of which, I saw a photo of the 2005 NY rotation in the Times the other day: Pavano, Wright, Brown, R.Johnson. Yikes.

Eugene, for a team that played Bernie Williams in CF for about 5 years too many, I wouldn't be surprised to see Jeter head out there regardless of how bad an idea it may be...

Agreed. Am, on purpose, trying to avoid seeing him play this spring, afraid I will get amnesia. That said, is he a $4 keeper in an AL only league where at auction Aviles and Yuniesky are the only reasonable available SS? My other keepers are BjRyan at 9, Liriano at 10, Slowey at 6, Ellsbury at 7 and Napoli at 7 (could keep Laird at 5 but am trying to deal him).

Thanks, Alex, for the mound stats. Any chance we'll see some prospective bids for Chris?

John Dewan's Stat of the Week for this week: Batting anywhere else besides leadoff, Hanley would have driven in about 112 runs.

The reasoning (spelled out in more detail in The Bill James Gold Mine 2009)? "The number of runs a player can be expected to drive in can be estimated by dividing his total bases by four, and adding his home runs. The majority of major league regulars last year were within 10% of the RBI estimated by that formula, and more than 80% were within 20%."

As might be expected, the cleanup spot has the highest percentage of AB with at least one man on base (50%) but even the No. 9 spot sees men on base 45 percent of the time. For the leadoff hitter, a man is on base only 33 percent of the time.

Going to Hanley's splits, we see that the Marlins did give him a brief trial in the No. 3 position and it didn't work out very well: in 56 AB, a .268 BA and .357 SLG. Leading off an inning (250 AB), he hit .316. With runners in scoring position (109 AB), he hit .239.

If Cameron Maybin's half the player that he appears to be, Hanley will bat third all year long and soon enough be very comfortable. Making Jorge Cantu an even more attractive cleanup hitter.

The R4s are the only ones that are really obvious: - Tillman, Arrieta, Cahill, Marcum.

The $2 and $3 pitchers are a little harder to suppose.

I'd assume Mark Hendrickson, for example, is an R3. However I don't want to embarrass myself if your bid limit on him is $3.

Explanation of the R bids under AP4 in the Projector:

R1 = prospects who should make a big splash this season

R2 = prospects who might make a medium splash this season

R3 = vets and prospects who don't figure to make much of a splash ever but might be worth a place on deep reserve rosters

R4 = prospects whose splash is at least a year away

R5 = prospects whose big splash is at least a year away

In the next update of the software (March 1), as we have to shave our bids to fit the $260 salary cap, I might bring the bid for Rollins down a buck or two. But I do like the fact that in a difficult season he, for the first time, walked more often than he whiffed. According to the Baseball Forecaster, his xBA was .311.

Phil Hughes, Clay Buchholz and Brett Cecil have been changed to R1, R2 and R2 respectively in the software; who else did you see like that, Mike?

He's down for $2 in the software because of a flaw in the upload; he should be an R2.

Explanation of the R bids under AP4 in the Projector:

R1 = prospects who should make a big splash this season

R2 = prospects who might make a medium splash this season

R3 = vets and prospects who don't figure to make much of a splash ever but might be useful on deep reserve lists

R4 = prospects whose splash is at least a year away

R5 = prospects whose big splash is at least a year away

I'm not an NL guy, but I wouldn't expect too much improvement from a 30 year old at a skill position. He's not going to improve upon 47 steals in 50 attempts. His HR may rebound a bit, but his rate stats were right in line with his age progression career numbers. In a down offensive year across the league, his OPS+ was right in line with ever year since 2004 except for his MVP season. His Patton$ were as well mainly due to a half-dozen extra steals.

In Sportsline, I grabbed Roy Corcoran and Miguel Batista at $1 apiece and now Walker with a fifth round reserve pick.

More than a few of the touts seemed high on Lowe when he was drafted (also at $1), but I see a pitcher who had five lousy months followed by one good month. It's obviously all a crapshoot, but I don't think Lowe has the inside track on anything except one of the jobs in that pen.

I like Walker because he's got that "proven closer" pixie dust sprinkled on him from his days in San Francisco and Tampa Bay.

Just picked him up in the 4th round of the Sportsline reserve phase of our auction/draft.

He strikes me as the 2009 version of Edwin Jackson. I don't expect him to be a (relative) world beater and earn $17 again, but he's far more likely to earn $6, $2, or ($0) than he is to earn ($20).

He's most like Jackson because - like the Rays - I suspect the Tigers won't give Robertson another opportunity to lose $20.

I certainly won't.

There might be a number of players like that; as much as I like Brett Cecil, his $2 salary seemed a little odd.

I see he's showing as $1 under AP4 in the Projector. Something was lost in translation: he was meant to be an R1.

I like him better than Buchholz, who shows as $2 in the software but is meant to be an R2.

We will get the kinks out when we post the first major update of the Projector on March 14. At that point, if both of these once brilliant, now tarnished rising stars look like they will stick with their teams, they will get $ bids.

Yesterday he admitted that the ankle injury in April '08 didn't fully heal until December. Should improve across the board this year.