Election Day

It seemed tempting, but I refrained from writing in Cole Hamels for president. A local merchant posted that note last week on one of the signs outside of his store; Greg was tempted to stop today and ask if anyone voted for Hamels, but he ran out of time on his way to work. He probably ran out of time because I think he stopped at more than one Starbucks for his free coffee. And yes, he did vote, even though it was no longer required to claim a cup of joe.

A few random thoughts and notes tonight as I await election results.

**Les Walrond's short-lived Phillies career is over. He was claimed today by the Blue Jays. (It is so refreshing to say "Blue Jays" without having the cloud of 1993 hanging over my head anymore.) And yesterday, Rudy Seanez filed for free agency.

**As the 2008 team disperses, I'm reminded of something important that I overlooked the other night. As I was reminiscing about players who will soon be part of the Phillies' past, I forgot to mention Chris Coste. I'm afraid that he's not long for this team. Lou Marson is waiting in the wings, and it's only a matter of time before he's in the big leagues for good. I expect that Marson will start in AAA in the spring, but once he's ready, Coste will probably be expendable. Sadly, he probably already feels that way, as Charlie Manuel made it clear in September and October that Carlos Ruiz is his preferred catcher. Well, whatever happens, Coste will always be welcomed in Philadelphia, and I'm glad that he got the chance to play here and be part of the magical 2007 and 2008 teams.

**Last week, after the Phillies won, I checked the Baseball Prospectus page. I wanted to see it officially say that the Phillies had a 100% chance of winning the World Series. But a little part of me still thought that it would say something like the Phillies only had a 99.2% chance of winning. (OK, so maybe it will take a while to shake away all of the negative thoughts.) Anyway, I love looking at those numbers - on Sept. 30, the Phillies were given only a 5% chance of winning it all.

**Following the Phillies lead, the Red Sox signed their GM. Jeez, what has he done to deserve a new contract? It's not like he's won any World Series lately.

**Crazy Scott Boras thinks Jason Varitek is going to get a huge contract, along the lines of Jorge Posada's 4-year $52 million contract. I think Scott Boras is nuts. I'm not the stats person on this blog, but 2008 was a dismal year for him. Yeah, he can still catch, but he was a liability offensively. Carlos Ruiz was no better offensively, but he's seven years younger than Varitek. Not to mention the fact that Ruiz is making just over the league minimum and isn't even due for arbitration until 2010. If baseball really is going to be feeling the economic crunch, I think the Sox should take a pass on resigning their captain.

**Current Sox and former Phil Mike Timlin filed for free agency today. Actually, barely a former Phil. I forgot that he was with the team for only half a season. It seems like it was longer. I guess because I've had to listen to Greg rave about him for the past six years. And complain about him this year.

I'm off to set up camp in front of CNN until Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert come on at 10 p.m. Let's hope this election is decided earlier in the night than some of those marathon playoff games I endured over the past few weeks.