How is your week going?  We never talk about you.

  • From what is being reported, Johnny Damon is available on a one-year contract in the neighborhood of $5 million plus incentives.  How is every team in the league not in on him?  Damon is a mercenary, so a one-year contract should be all the motivation he needs.  He hit .282 with 24 HR, 82 RBI and scored 107 runs last season.  He walks (.365 OBP) and he runs a little (12 for 12 in steals).  Plus, he's a great clubhouse guy and a proven winner. 
  • Granted, Jim Thome is much cheaper, but Damon would have been a perfect fit for the Twins splitting time between DH and outfield.  Instead, Minnesota signs Thome, who is a one-trick pony that cannot play the field.   
  • Damon will likely end up in Oakland with Ben Sheets, who signed a one-year deal yesterday.  $10 million sounds like a lot, but it's worth the risk when the upside is Cy Young and the downside is only one year.  The AL West should be tightly packed next season with the Angels sliding backwards and the Mariners, A's and Rangers ascending. 
  • As long as he can play the field, Xavier Nady should provide the Cubs with the production that Milton Bradley failed to deliver in 2009.  Nady is a 25 HR/85 RBI guy who is solid in the clubhouse.  Basically, he's the anti-Bradley.  So far, he's the steal of the offseason.
  • National Signing Day is a week away.  I'm hosting a California Signing Day Special on iBNSports.com next week if you're interested.  Looking at the landscape, Oklahoma and Florida did very well in California this season.  The Sooners struck gold in San Diego with RB Brennan Clay and WR Kenny Stills, ranked #6 and #7 in the state by Scouts.com.  Meanwhile, Florida landed the Golden State's top player, DE Ronald Powell from USC's backyard, and top cornerback Joshua Shaw.  Pete Carroll's departure had no influence either way.  USC has been poaching players from Florida and Texas for the last decade, now Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer are answering in kind. 
  • Rick Neuheisel will land a decent class at UCLA, but he's still taking the Trojans scraps for the most part.  Oaks Christian RB Malcolm Jones is the jewel of the Bruins 2010 haul, but USC offered Jones as a fullback or linebacker.  Of course, USC famously told Stanford's Toby Gerhart that he was not a running back, so they could be wrong.
  • As for the rest of the prospects, Jeff Tedford has the habit of collecting the most overrated talent at Cal.  His top California signing is LB Cecil Whiteside, who was the most unimpressive 4-star player that I covered this season.  Due to name recognition, Steve Sarkisian will be forced to play Nick Montana at Washington, so Montana better turn out to be more than just a name (expect a Chris Simms/Major Applewhite controversy).  Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh is like a bargain shopper, limited by GPA not money.  However, he targets the right kids and he's got another future star in Tustin RB Anthony Wilkerson.
  • For all his recruiting prowess, Pete Carroll missed on two important linebackers last season, Manti Te'o (Notre Dame) and Vontaze Burfict (ASU).  Instead, he landed Frankie Telfort, but sadly, he will never don the cardinal and gold thanks to a heart condition.  USC is depleted at linebacker, but it's not an impact class at the position. 
  • On the positive side for Lane Kiffin, his passing game is set for the near future with Matt Barkley and the two top receivers in the country, Kyle Prater and Robert Woods.  Plus, Xavier Grimble will provide some cover at tight end if Blake Ayles never gets his head on straight. 
  • When he was at USC, O.J. Mayo said that South Carolina's Devan Downey was the toughest guard in the country.  Now a Senior, Downey has landed on the national radar by singlehandedly topping the #1 team in the nation last night. 
  • By the way, if Kentucky is the favorite, March Madness will be wild.  The Wildcats are capable of winning it all, but they are too young for those kind of expectations.  Kansas should be the clear front-runner, but they've looked stale for a month now.
  • Speaking of Kansas, Cole Aldrich is the next Chris Kaman.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

I told you karma was comin' for ya Coach Cal!