Mark Mulder's contract expires following the 2006 season, but he's not sweating it.

"I remember Huddy saying last year that if it wasn't done by camp, that's it. And they got it done before spring," Mulder said. "That's the only example I know about. But that's not me. I don't think I'll approach it that way."

Cool as a cucumber.

Here's something to think about: Mark Mulder makes $7.75 MM next year.  PECOTA projects him at 4.4 WARP, with a 90th percentile WARP of 6.9.  Esteban Loaiza makes $6 MM next year.  PECOTA projects Loaiza at 4.6 WARP, with a 90th percentile WARP of 7.6.

Translation: Loaiza and Mulder are projected to have roughly similar seasons, with a higher upside to Loaiza - the older, more right-handed of the two.  Think about what this means for 2006:

Decent Pitcher + 2 draft picks or Decent Pitcher + Stud Young Pitcher + Setup Guy with Wicked Slider and Creaky Elbow + Excellent Hitting Prospect + $1 MM.  The Mulder deal is looking better and better by the day.

It could be worse.  You could be the Yankees, who are paying Mike Mussina $17 MM this year.  Mussina said that he would like to return to the Yankees next year.  Problem is, he'll be 38 years old.  I think the Giants might come a-knockin'.

David Gassko retools DIPS by using batted-ball types and averaging via the probability that each batted-ball type turns into single, double, etc.  At first blush, it appears to use a lot of the same methodology of PrOPS, except all discombobulated to look at a pitcher's line.  Dubbed DIPS 3.0, Gassko's example shows that Washburn had a DIPS RA of 5.19 last year.  Mariners beware.

Statheads with some time to kill will love Studes' new Batter's Batted Ball Tables.  What percentage of balls in play were line drives for the A's last year?  What about Mark Ellis?  Come to think of it, there's a lot of good information here even more the non-statistically inclined.  Some of the simpler numbers help you look at if a player has made a pronounced change in his swing.  

OK, this dump isn't done.  But the boss is calling and I gotta get outta here.  Take it from here, kids.

Update [2006-2-17 11:17:8 by salb918]: I don't mean to be a jerk, but I saw some comments about how the date on this DLD is wrong. All I can say is: You have no idea what you're talking about.