Wilson voiced his frustrations for thousands of Bucs fans everywhere (urbansaddle/flickr).
As a new feature here on “The Diamond Cutter” we will be reviewing some of the things that are happening in baseball and around the blogosphere. You’ll see this pop up from time to time as I come across items in the news. It’s also a quick way to voice my opinions and ideas on topics without writing an entire column. So without further ado…
· As eager as I am to see where Mark Teixeira ends up, I’m getting a little tired of the whole hoopla around it. Now I know this is a big decision for him as its planning out where he will play for the next 7 or 8 years, but I really wish he’d hurry up and decide. I talked about his options earlier this week along with reasons why he should or shouldn’t sign with these teams. And of course ESPN chimed in yesterday saying Boston is out and today saying Boston may still be in. Please pick soon, Mark.
Furcal better watch himself in Hot-lanta (dizzy-eyed/flickr).
· The Atlanta Braves are furious with Rafael Furcal’s agents calling them “despicable” for the way they handled things. Brave’s Blog also chimes in on the status of the Braves and their need to reassess their team. Personally I have to agree with the Braves. It does sound as if Furcal’s agent pulled a screw job on Atlanta and threw a HUGE wrench in their off season plans. It was lining up to look as if the Braves had the ability to trade Yunel Escobar to the Padres now for Jake Peavy. This was especially important after losing AJ Burnett to the Yankees. Even if they didn’t trade the shortstop they still would have had another good bat in their lineup and burner on the base paths. I feel for Braves fans, I really do as they have had a giant disappointment this winter after having such high expectations.
· Jack Wilson let his frustrations be heard regarding the Pirates’ lack of competition for the past 17 seasons. His actions voiced frustrations of Pirates fans everywhere as well as indirectly asked the question of “why the hell haven’t you people traded me yet?!?!” The Bucs Dugout chimes in on Wilson’s rambling with a funny twist.
As a life long Twins fan, I'd love to see DeRosa in Minnesota (chicagoenergy/flickr).
· In the yearly quest to fill in a huge hole at third base, the Twins appear to be still showing interest in bringing in free agent Ty Wigginton to plug it until some prospects are ready. Both La Velle E. Neal III and Nick Nelson discuss this option and Nick brings up Mark DeRosa’s name as a potential trade target (which I would love). All I know is the Twins need to figure something out as this has been a problem for years ever since Corey Koskie left after the 2004 season.
That was a quick recap of some of the happenings around baseball and the internet. Let me know your thoughts on these stories and this new feature too. Also make sure to chime in on our poll below on the Braves/Furcal situation.
By Matthew Whipps
“The Diamond Cutter“
Major & Minor League Baseball Columnist
mlbdiamondcutter@gmail.com | thefranch15e
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The Diamond Cutter 
Oh so in case I haven’t mentioned this before in regards to me putting links up for other blogs, if any of you readers have baseball blogs/sites of your own please feel free to advertise them in the comments section or email me at mlbdiamondcutter@gmail.com. I’m always looking for new baseball content to read.
Please no dirty sites or you will be banned.
On the Rays top 5, how close were you to putting Nick Barnese in the top 5. What do you think of this kid, Rays scouts have compared him to Matt Garza.
I actually like Barnese a lot. If there wasn’t so much competition in the top five he would have cracked it. If I were to extend my list I would have him ranked seventh (or as high as sixth) right behind Niemann. The kid has a good fastball (mid-90’s), nice breaking pitch and change. Plus he seems to be improving and I think will have a really good year this upcoming season.
He’ll be in the top five next season for sure.
What do you think of Jake Odorizzi in the Brewers system. He has a great arm and maybe better than Barnese. Also when are you going to do the Cleveland Indians top 5? I don’t know if you heard of a young kid in their farm system named Trey Haley, he has Buchholz comps.
I think your poll, which currently shows that “167%” of the respondents believe the agents acted inappropriately, says it all. I think that’s a big fat ‘0’ in the agent’s corner. I guess Boras has company after all.
Yeah who know that there were agents as slimy as Boras out there. And who knew you could have more that 100% of people in agreement.