[January 4th] -- When I was a kid, I got to see a dozen or so Senators' games at RFK every summer. Although I loved the sleek, clean lines of the state-of-the-art facility, I never understood why RFK didn't have outfield bleacher seats -- it was the only one of the 'cookie cutter' facilities not to have any.

I would spend much of my time in school doodling new configurations for RFK that always included outfield seats (I guess that explains why I'm a 50 year old college senior, doesn't it??). No matter how hard I tried, though, my efforts never looked very real.

With the myriad of photoshop-type programs available today, however, I can create a new RFK in minutes. Ever wondered how the stadium would look with double-decked outfield stands? No problem. Give me thirty seconds and I'll show you. Actually, the image above took about fifteen seconds to create.

So here's my final creation of RFK with outfield seats -- a design that I started in 1968. I completed this image on my laptop while being forced to watch "Lake House" with my wife. She told me that she's getting tired of me always "doing baseball stuff" on the computer.

She's right, you know. I guess I should start looking at porn like every other husband.

The Orioles Huff But Don't Puff. The Orioles signed Aubrey Huff to a 3 year/$20 million dollar contract. I have always been a fan of Huff from his early years with Tampa Bay. He's a good offensive player who can play the corner positions in both the infield and outfield. Wind him up, point him towards the field, and by year's end, he's going to have hit something near .280-25-90. A lefty, he hit's lefthanders almost as well as he does righties.

His age, the contract size and amount, make this a pretty good deal for the Orioles. Would it have been part of "the plan" to sign Huff for $6 million and then trade Austin Kearns for some starting pitching? I think so. Huff is only two or three years older than Kearns, and hits righthanders much better than Kearns.

Jamey Carroll: Ka-ching. Good news out of Denver. Jamey Carroll has signed a two year contract for $2 million a year. Now, I don't know that he deserves that much money -- that's not true, I do know he doesn't deserve it -- but I can't think of any player I'd rather see overpaid.

Though I was saddened by Carroll's move to Colorado last year, it was purely from a subjective perspective. I like the guy. His numbers certainly didn't indicate that he would be missed. As it turned out, he played superbly for the Rockies and his replacement, Damian Jackson, played the worst ball of his career.

Who'd a thunk it?

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 7:24 PM