Around the NL East: Adam LaRoche hopes to cash in, Gold Gloves, and New Managers

If you're still pining for baseball and have an XBOX, download the ESPN app, and watch some South American leagues' baseball games. Never know when you'll see Karim Garcia, Dmitri Young, or the occasional hotshot prospects down there.

Welcome back to the basement.

Adam LaRoche wins his first Gold Glove - Nats Insider
With perennial GG favorites such as Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez out of the equation this year, the steady-fielding Adam LaRoche didn't really have that much opposition at first base en route to winning his first ever Rawlings Gold Glove award. Despite the fact that this meant our own range-inhibited Freddie Freeman came up short, I'm happy for 'ol Roachy. And this will hopefully help him in his pursuit for a long term deal because...

Adam LaRoche, Sean Burnett decline options, become free agents - MASN
Roachy's turning down a sure $10M for one year with the Nats, and going for a long-term deal, whether or not that comes from the Nats. A smart move for Roachy too, because a monster season capped off with a Gold Glove is a great time to try and cash in, especially in an off-season where competent first basemen are at not flooding the market right now. Sean Burnett on the other hand is a little bit of a surprise, because I would have imagined him to have exercised his option, considering the fact that he's not even a set-up guy, let alone an actual closing option.

Stephen Strasburg's financial situation actually explained - Nationals Journal
Anyone else confused by the $15M deal that Stephen Strasburg signed when he was first drafted besides me? Well, if you were like me, this article actually breaks down the yearly salaries for Strasburg since he was drafted, and the interesting thing is that essentially he was getting paid like a pro from the very beginning, and this is all before he even makes it to arbitration; and if he produces close to what he did last year, then he'll be en route to even more millions and millions when he does hit arbitration.

Nationals' all-time leaderboards - Nats Insider
And for once, this doesn't include any Montreal Expos names at all. But since this is a list that's just seven years old, it's no surprise that pretty much Ryan Zimmerman and Livan Hernandez own these boards.

Bryce Harper's Halloween costume - Nats Enquirer
Could it really have been anything else?

How you know you've made it - Nats Enquirer
The only time I ever see Halloween costumes that involve a Braves jersey, they almost always, include a Kenny Powers wig and mullet.

Mets pick up options on both David Wright and R.A. Dickey - NY Times
Considering the slow dance both parties are going to employ when it comes to discussing the terms to extensions, it's no surprise that these options are picked up to ensure that they'll at least start 2013 on the Mets. Kind of a no-brainer.

David Wright probably deserved to win the NL 3B Gold Glove... - ESPN NY
But Chase Headley had more RBI. NO-BRAINER

Mets likely to pass on big-name free agents this winter. Again - MetsBlog
Purportedely, Sandy Alderson wants to have the Mets' payroll at around $100M next season. Despite the fact that just a handful of players, including Jason Bay, will be eating up around $80M of that, with several arbitration raises expected to end up giving the Mets less than $10M to play around with.

Regardless, of all people to have on their radar - NY Post

One NL official summed it up this way: "He was a pretty good player with the Yankees, fat and terrible for Atlanta, very good last year [for Kansas City] and unbelievable this year. Who is the real guy?

I wonder if this unnamed NL official worked for the Braves? I'm betting so. Love all the backhanded compliments about the Giants too. Gotta love the Post.

Phillies exercise Carlos Ruiz's option - Phillies Zone
I guess this wasn't a mutual option, and Ruiz could have declined it, because frankly after the season he had, this would be a perfect time for him to try to leverage himself into a fatty payday. It's not like he doesn't deserve at this point. But for a team saddled with horrendous contracts, this is about as good as it comes for the Phillies.

Jimmy Rollins wins yet another Gold Glove - Phillies Nation
It's funny, because it's like every year, there are these slick-fielding shortstops that always make people wonder if finally someone is going to take the Gold Gloves away from J-Roll. Yunel Escobar imploded and went to the AL, Troy Tulowitzki can't stay healthy, and had Andrelton Simmons not gotten hurt and missed so much of the season, who's to say that he wouldn't have put himself in the discussion too?

Placido Polanco really didn't change much from his predecessors - Beerleaguer
I think what really has to sting the most is the veiled jab at the fact that old and brittle as he may have been, Placido Polanco's offensive contributions were barely at best, really superior to the all-glove, no-bat of Pedro Feliz.

Phillies hire Dave Brundage to manage AAA-Lehigh Valley - High Cheese
Why is this notable? Because Dave Brundage is the guy who had been managing the AAA-Richmond/Gwinnett Braves since 2007, meaning the Phillies have taken away from us, one of our own, which always sucks.

Marlins hire Mike Redmond as new manager - Palm Beach Post
The former Marlin who spent time with the Fish dating back between 1998 through 2004 has been hired as the new manager for the Miami Marlins. He signed a three-year deal with the terms of the contract still unspecified. The fact that he will likely hardly be the clubhouse distraction that Ozzie Guillen was, the Marlins will probably instantly improve on the field, but their locker room entertainment will diminish quickly.

John Buck makes a ton of presumptuous predictions about how much respect Redmond will get - Fish Bytes
John Buck has boatloads of complementary things to say about Mike Redmond - despite the fact that they've hardly spoken to one another. But apparently through hearsay, Buck is convinced that Redmond is the sun and the moon, and will (seriously) probably do some wacky (crap) like throw naked BP if the team is in a losing streak.

Mark Buehrle wins yet another Gold Glove - Fish Stripes
Fourth consecutive, first one in the National League though. Still not as good as Greg Maddux.