Talking Baseball

More news on the Hot Stove front began to make its way through the grape vine today as a chunk of players filed for free agency and a couple of players had their club options picked up for the 2009 season.

The Mets picked up the option on first baseman Carlos Delgado in hopes of unseating the Phillies as reigning NL East Champions come 2009 while a handful of players filed for free agency on Friday.

The Red Sox also exercised their club option for 2009 on pitcher Tim Wakefield.

The Phillies also announced that they had declined their club options for 2009 for reliver Tom Gordon and outfielder So Taguchi.

Players that filed for free agency were Curt Schilling, John Smoltz and Kerry Wood.

Now a total of 107 players have filed for free agency in baseball in only two days. The total number of pitchers that filed for free agency on Friday was 21.

More players will file as the days go on and have until Novemeber 13th to file for free agency.

It was a busy day in the world of Major League Baseball on Thursday, the day after the Phillies won the 2008 World Series with a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night.

The first major story of the day was when the Florida Marlins traded slugging first baseman Mike Jacobs to the Kansas City Royals for right reliever Leo Nunez. The deal was pretty much etched in stone on Wednesday night but couldn’t be announced until the conclusion of the World Series.

The Marlins wanted another setup man for the back end of their bullpen and the Royals wanted to add a superior power threat to their lineup at firstbase even though they already have a log jam at first with Ross Gload, Ryan Shealy, Billy Butler and Kila Ka’aihue.

The other important news of the day was that the Milwaukee Brewers hired their new manager. GM Doug Melvin announced that former A’s manager Ken Macha signed a two year contract to manage the Brewers for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

The deal was in place before Thursday but the Brewers had to wait to make any announcement regarding the move until the end of the World Series.

Game 5 of the World Series is set to resume in roughly one hour from now; 8:37pm.

The game will pick up in the bottom of the sixth inning with the score tied at 2 and the Phillies leading the series 3 games to 1.

Grant Balfour will be on the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays but might be lifted once the Phillies show a pinch hitter for pitcher Cole Hamels, who is scheduled to lead off the inning.

The Phillies will likely counter with Greg Dobbs or Matt Stairs, both left handed hitters. The Rays have Trevor Miller, David Price and J.P. Howell available in the bullpen as lefty relievers to counter the Phillies move but manager Joe Maddon might stick with Balfour with the switch hitting Jimmy Rollins and righty Jayson Werth to follow.

If the Phillies win tonight they will clinch their first World Series title since 1980 and their second overall.

If not, then the series will shift to Tampa Bay for at least a game 6, which would be played on Thursday without a travel day.