Yesterday, apparently at the mere thought that I would include Scott Kazmir on the All-25 and Under Team, the Tampa Bay Rays signed their young ace to a three year, $28.5 million extension. Last week, the Marlins and Hanley Ramirez agreed to a contract extension. Then today, the Brewers inked Left Fielder Ryan Braun to an 8-year $45 million deal. So to recap, the Rays, Marlins, and Brewers are signing all of their young talent while the New York Yankees trot out Shelly Duncan, Jose Molina, and Darrell Rasner every so often. Now that’s what I call the universe being restored to order.

Kristen asked me to comment on the Kazmir deal specifically, as she is aware that I have a borderline-unhealthy man crush on him and hate the Mets for trading him away for a pile of garbage. This is my favorite of the 3 deals previously mentioned, because the Rays are giving Kazmir far less than the open market would. And there’s no disadvantage to it. There is for the Brewers. Two words: Prince and Fielder. If you remember, the first baseman for the Brewers got very upset this offseason that he did not get an extension from the team. And now Braun gets one. So that may make Prince very angry. Which may force him to start eating meat again, in the form of GM Doug Melvin. For the Rays, they lock up Kazmir until 2011 where he will form the two headed, left-handed monster known as “The Price of Kazmir,” along with last year’s top pick, flamethrower David Price. And yes, I’m thinking about patenting the phrase “The Price of Kazmir.”

My thought from last night’s Celtics/Cavs game:

1.) Still not sure what James Posey was thinking. Even worse than Posey’s really terrible pass however was team cancer Sam Cassell’s response to it. If you noticed, Sam I Am (An Alien) practically ran onto the court making faces (or was that his normal face?) yelling at Posey. What a great teammate. I am beyond sick of Sam Cassell at this point and am contemplating sending a box of rabid badgers to the TD Banknorth Garden, care-of Sam Cassell.

2.) As Matt knows already, I am finally pledging my love for Rajon Rondo. I’m sorry it took me this long, but people, he’s the second best player on this team right now. Yes, better than Paul Pierce, who as a certain sports writer put it yesterday, “…Looks like he has mono.” Rondo could not be stopped last night, slashing into the lane.

3.) Ray Allen, however, can be stopped.

4.) I still hate Doc Rivers. Accordingly…

5.) This is my starting lineup for the Celtics for Game 6 tomorrow:

PG: Rajon Rondo
SG: James Posey
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Glen Davis
C: Kevin Garnett

This lineup allows Posey to be in the lineup to cover LeBron. He is far better against the “King” than Paul Pierce is. This frees up Paul to cover Wally Sczerbiak. Glen Davis can cover Ben Wallace because I can. He can also pull him away from the basket. And KG, well, he’s slightly more athletic than Zydrunas Illgauskus. Then you have Ray Allen coming off the bench with, hopefully, fresher legs, and Kenrick Perkins coming off the bench to abuse whoever the Cavs trot out to play center. Finally, with Sam Cassell dead from badger bites, Eddie House plays 14 minutes of backup point guard, as he did when the Celtics went 66-16 in the regular season. And if we need to, we can bring in “Mr. Instant Offense” Leon Powe.

A few corrections from yesterday’s Team:

1.) BJ Upton no longer plays 2B for the Rays. Akinori Iwamura plays at second. Upton is in the outfield. He, therefore, should not have been considered for the second base position.

2.) Second base was a point of emphasis, as I also made another slight error. While I would still keep Kinsler at 2B, I also should have taken a longer look at Dustin Pedroia. Someone tell him I’m sorry.

3.) I, however, am going to keep Tim Lincecum plugged in as my staff ace. While Cole Hamels is a very good pitcher, he’s also pitching for a much better team. I mean, compare the Giants offense to the Phillies. Yes, Hamels pitches inside of Citizens Bank Park, which is actually the size of a bank, and has put up good numbers, but what Lincecum is doing is being completely overlooked by baseball people, because he plays for a black hole.

Game O’ The Day: New Orleans @ San Antonio. Game 6. Spurs win by 14. Yep, that’s my pick…