On a cold, snowy day, a few baseball stories, big and small, are in the news:

* The way people around baseball have taken an unrelentingly righteous tone in attacking Pete Rose of late, not without good reason, I find it hard to see how Major League Baseball could justify moving a franchise to Las Vegas. Also, while I’ve never been to Vegas, I’m a little skeptical as to whether such a tourist-based location could consistently support a major sports franchise. A parallel might be the Orlando Magic, but they’ve been so bad of late that it is hard to gauge their support. Of course, I suppose I’m a little biased because I’m in favor of moving the Expos to the DC/Virginia area.

* The Giants have agreed to change the name of Pac Bell Park to the even-more-antiseptic-sounding SBC Park. Much as these corporate stadium names bug me, it wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep changing all the time. Like your local bank, it’s getting altogether too difficult to keep some of these parks straight due to their frequent name changes. Grumble, grumble. (Check out this site, if you’re motivated to do more than grumble.)

* On the Met front, I was a little surprised the other day by the extremely minor, yet somewhat baffling, trade of reliever Jaime Cerda for Shawn Sedlacek, whose track record is truly awful. Again, this is not a big deal, but it makes you go hmmmm.

* Met pitchers and catchers report in 22 days...and counting.