What a day (and night) yesterday for baseball fanatics like myself.

December 20th (yesterday) was the tender deadline for arbitration-eligible players and it brought with it a whirwind of activity.

Johnny Damon is now a Yankee. Wow. I'm assuming he's already got his appointment scheduled at Floyd's Barbershop to cut the locks per the Yankees policy. Damon to the Yankees allows Joe Torre to move Derek Jeter to the 2 hole; ARod to hit 3rd and Sheffield and Giambi behind to drive in the runs. What a lineup.

The Rangers were active yesterday as well. Jon Daniels pulled a stunner, trading hometown hero Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez and recently aquired Terrmel Sledge to San Diego for Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka and a minor league catcher.

If you are a big Rangers fan and want some in-depth analysis on the deal, I suggest you check out Jamey Newberg's insights.

My gut feeling is the deal was a bad one for the Rangers. Newberg suggests the Rangers sold Young high and bought Eaton low, but Eaton is slated to become a free agent after 2006, meaning the Rangers likely get only one year out of Eaton. Eaton has already stated to a San Diego Tribune writer that, "It's (pitching for the Rangers) notconducive to my style of pitching; I'm a fly-ball pitcher. If I was to staythere, it'd have to be for crazy money.

The problem for the Rangers is their inability to attract top-flight, quality starting free agent pitchers. There is a theory that the Rangers are going to have to trade for pitchers like Eaton -- pitchers who are on the verge of free agency -- and allow them to pitch at Ameriquest Field for a year to overcome the "Coors Field" factor that equates Ameriquest to a hitter's haven.

I hope it works...but I am very skeptical.

On the downside, I hate to see Chris Young leave. I know he hit the wall after the All-Star break but he was the Rangers second best starting pitcher in 2005. He is not eligible for free agency until 2010. Essentially, the Rangers let loose a guy they had locked up for four more years to, in essence, rent Adam Eaton for one year.

If the season opened today, the Rangers would go to war with a rotation of: Vicente Padilla, Adam Eaton, Kameron Loe, Juan Dominguez and R.A. Dickey, he of the newfound knuckleball. Is that rotation better than last year's rotation? It is arguable, but I say no.

That being said, all bets are off if the Rangers can land Kevin Millwood. Last year's American League ERA leader was in Arlington yesterday and the Rangers made a pitch for his services. If they can somehow land Millwood, the rotation shapes up much better: Millwood, Eaton, Padilla, Loe and Dickey or Dominguez. I could live with that much better than I could the current rotation projection.